He is 27 years old, he was born in Russia, in Mursmank, one of the closest cities to the North Pole. At the age of two, her parents moved to Crimea. And from there she began a journey that took her to western Ukraine, the United States and Montevideo, first to Casavalle and then to another neighborhood where she now lives.
In your current house, Maryna Anandez opens the door to give his opinion on the Russian invasion in Ukraine. She is wearing a yellow shirt and blue jeans, to make her position clear. Beyond being born in Russia, she is Ukrainian.
In the living room, on one of the walls there is a television on that transmits a Ukrainian signal. “Ukrainian channels have all joined, in a national network. They transmit the same information 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are no shows, nothing, just news,” he comments.
As a child, she came to Sevastopol, in Crimea, when the peninsula was part of Ukraine. In 2014, Crimea was annexed by Russia following a military invasion. But that annexation is not recognized by the Ukrainians; in fact they consider it illegal. “Crimea is Ukraine”, says Maryna looking straight into the eyes.
In 2011 he met Martín remotely. She lived in Sevastopol and studied journalism in western Ukraine. Martín was in Montevideo, together with her parents in Casavalle. A year later, through different organizations, the two won a scholarship to study English in the United States. There they met personally and decided to strengthen their bond. The scholarship ended and they made the decision. They were married in Crimea, in 2014, before the invasion. Months later and after considering several options, Maryna ended up in Montevideo to live with Martín in her parents’ house. Now they live alone.
Leonardo Carreno
Maryna and Martín, at their home in Montevideo
“I knew something about Uruguay because he had told me. When I arrived I was trying to insert myself to try to understand the language, I did not speak Spanish. He would look at a lot of novels to grab a few words and phrases,” he recalls.
He began studying at the Faculty of Information and Communication at Udelar, to finish the degree he had started in Ukraine. “I came from Casavalle alone, it is a long journey, I had a problem with the language, having to get good grades in college. I suffered from it at the time, but it helped me, ”she indicates. In 2018 she finished all subjects. She now she works in advertising.
Television continues with the information, with different news presenters.
“My country is resisting in an impressive way. There is a lot of spirit, of courage, of defending one’s own, the land. Defend freedom, freedom of expression. Something that Russia does not have. That sometimes has more force than weapons, ”she states.
He said that in the first days of the Russian invasion, many people in his country wanted to enlist as combatants, either in the army or as volunteers. And that compares him with citizens of Moscow who sought to withdraw money from ATMs in the face of uncertainty due to the announced economic sanctions. “While they want to get the money, in Ukraine there are people who are enlisting. I didn’t expect to see that resistance,” he adds. “They said (for Russia) that they were the number 1 army in the world. I’m not seeing it. Now let’s see how it goes”it says.
Maryna understands that information about what is happening in her country is extremely important and that is why she tried to spread her message through different channels. She also has friends in kyiv and in other parts of Ukraine doing the same and with whom she is in daily contact. “My friends try to contribute in the digital area, in social networks. They make and translate videos to spread”, she comments.
He argues that the difference between Ukrainian and Russian citizens is marked by the position they have taken against the war. And he highlights his own. “In Mariúpol people get together, there are 2,000 people facing a tank. In Nikolaev the same. I see 2,000 people standing in front of a tank not to let it pass. Or a person, with a friend, who goes in a car and throws a Molotov cocktail at another tank. That is value”it states.
“That is the difference. There are young people at home in Moscow who are calm and tell you ‘I’m afraid to go out on the street’, instead of calling to meet in Red Square”, she indicates.
“They say that there are a lot of police in Russia, but there are a lot more people. If people agreed that they should do it in order to live freely and not be afraid, it could be achieved. But unfortunately it is achieved by blood”sentence.
That fear that Maryna tells was reflected in an article published in The Observer days ago about the Russian community that lives in San Javier. Some did not want to comment for fear of reprisals.
Maryna appeared on some television mobiles a few days ago to publicize a collection she was making for her country “I thought before appearing on television. I have my family in Crimea, you have to enter through Russia. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get in. But later I said: one has to have things clear. To defend freedom you have to have an opinion. You can’t be lukewarm,” she says.
“I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. But you have to speak up because what they are doing is an atrocity. And just because I’m afraid I’m not going to shut up. If we were like this (Ukrainians) we would live in Russia”, Add.
Every now and then he thinks about visiting his family. “We were going to go a couple of years ago, but the coronavirus started. We couldn’t see my parents, my grandparents. I haven’t seen them for four years. My grandfather almost died last year of coronavirus, this in CTI ”, he recounts. “But he survived. He now tells me: don’t lie to me, tell me when you’re going to come. And what do I tell him? I don’t know, if I don’t know what’s going to happen. I try not to think about it because it hurts so much”, he concludes.
Sometimes, Martín helps her with a term and Maryna apologizes. “Excuse me, I have four languages in my head”, she excuses herself. And there she launches a comment with an otherwise Creole tone. “Sometimes they asked me: In Ukraine, what language do they speak? They speak Ukrainian. What do you want them to talk about? In Ukrainian!” she expresses waving her hands.
Creole posture
Martín cannot stay out of the situation in Ukraine. “On the one hand, I try to think of it as a Uruguayan. We always defended freedoms, democracy. I think that any citizen, Uruguayan or from elsewhere, is hit hard. It gives impotence, ”he points out.
“On the other hand, like her, I am concerned about all the people I know there; her family, which for me is like mine”, she adds.
