Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Kremlin-backed RT network, seems to have admitted that Russian authorities are increasingly concerned that the war in Ukraine could turn ordinary, apolitical citizens against the government – not through battlefield losses, but through disruptions to their everyday lives.
In a televised appearance re-posted on X Simonyan described how recent Ukrainian drone strikes on the resort city of Sochi and the nearby Sirius educational center forced her children and relatives to sleep in a hallway during an air raid.
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“There are no military targets in Sirius. It’s just one big school,” she said. “My kids, along with nephews and godchildren, all spent the night on the floor. Why is this happening?”
Sirius, a town located about 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of the Black Sea resort city Sochi, is home to a Lukoil-operated fuel storage facility that was targeted by Ukrainian drones on July 24. Video footage shared by residents showed flames rising from the site.
Simonyan claimed the purpose of such attacks was not military, but psychological – aimed at unsettling Russians who have remained neutral about the war initiated by President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“They’re trying to shake people who are neutral,” she said. “They want to politicize them – but in the opposite direction. To make sure that being able to fly to the sea becomes more important than the future of the country.”
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She argued that the outcome of Russia’s war in Ukraine – which Moscow continues to call a “Special Military Operation” – depends on the public’s willingness to tolerate inconvenience and sacrifice.
“Sometimes you might not be able to fly somewhere. Sometimes you may even have to cancel your vacation,” she said. “They [Ukraine and its Western allies] want us to defeat ourselves — like we already did twice in the 20th century.”
Her comments come as Ukraine has stepped up its long-range drone attacks deep inside Russian territory, frequently halting dozens of flights from Russian airports, striking oil facilities, and other infrastructure in major cities. Some strikes have also disrupted civilian life in popular summer destinations like Sochi.
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