At a time of justified anger at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it is easy to forget that decency and courage can still be found in the country today. On February 23, 2022, pianist Polina Osetinskaya wrote on her Facebook profile, “Current mood: turn over in your pillow not to see this reality and cry over Handel, whose birthday is today.” Osetinskaya did not turn over when the Russian invasion began a day later. She felt “horror, shame and disgust,” she wrote in a statement to VAN and on social media. Even before that, Osetinskaya had not turned away. She protested the Bolotnaya trials in 2013, spoke up for Kirill Serebrennikov and Pussy Riot, and in February 2021, she was among the first participants, along with London-based Yevgeny Kissin, in a protest by Russian musicians concerning state repression and terror against its own people.
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