It Wasn't Putin Who Was Holding The Remote Control

Yan Valetov
31.10.2026, 4:30
1,270

Every Russian war crime has a specific perpetrator.

I realize that calling Russians scum is completely pointless and meaningless. All you’ll do is earn the nickname “Captain Obvious.” Just make a mental note of yesterday for the future.

Civilians killed in Dnipro.

Civilians killed in Chernihiv. Drones targeting minibuses and bus stops in Zaporizhzhia… Is Putin to blame? Well, that creature is, of course, to blame.

But it wasn’t that creature personally who sent the “Geran” drone in real time to strike a platform full of people. It wasn’t he who targeted the two girls in Chernihiv. It wasn’t he who struck at people in downtown Zaporizhzhia.

I’m certainly against collective responsibility, but it depends on which group we’re talking about. In Russia’s case—as the priest goes, so goes the congregation.

This isn’t happening because some scoundrel has climbed to the top and is issuing criminal orders from there, forcing innocent sheep to carry them out under threat of death. It’s the choice of a rabid pack.

Putin is simply the materialized collective dream of the people—one that fully corresponds to their aspirations, hopes, and inclinations. Those who find this repugnant have long since left the menagerie.

Inside Russia, there are only those who tolerate, fear, and obey—yet indirectly participate—and those who simply participate—with joy and enthusiasm.

Sorry, there are also those who don’t care. But they, too, support the regime. Perhaps the most powerful and numerous group of all.

Yesterday was an ordinary day. Nothing special. Just another ordinary autumn day, during which Russia killed Ukrainian citizens and destroyed homes, train stations, power substations, and shopping centers… In short, the Russians were doing what they do best—bringing grief, death, and destruction to those around them. Not Putin. Not Medvedev. Not Gerasimov. Not some abstract “Mr. Nobody.”

The operator of the drone that killed 15 people waiting for a commuter train in Dnipro has a specific last name, first name, rank, tax ID, address, and family…

He is a citizen of a murderous country. A murderer himself. His children are the children of a murderer. And when the war ends, neither the country, nor he, nor his children will become anything else. They are criminals.

And don’t tell me that children aren’t responsible for their fathers. They grow up and take their fathers’ place. They are raised on the “heroic deeds of the Special Military Operation” and the examples of “unparalleled courage” of those who beat people in the streets of Chernihiv, for example. No good fruit comes from bad seed.

Putin is not the father of evil. Nor is the “gene of evil” to blame. A society sick with chauvinism gave birth to the leader it needed. The leader provided that society with the fertile ground necessary for its development. They complemented each other.

Years will pass, my dear compatriots, and much will be forgotten, but I strongly urge you to remember this: it is impossible to overcome the nature and inclinations of millions without military defeat and a long process of education.

And even with a military defeat, the outcome is not guaranteed.

But there will be no military defeat. And there will be no denazification in Russia. Instead, there will be a new epic—the epic of Givi and Motorol.

And it’s very important for the future never to forget that it wasn’t Putin who held the remote control. It was 140 million Putins, Medvedevs, and other evil spirits who killed, destroyed, looted, and raped.

I already wrote about this after Bucha. But it doesn’t hurt to repeat it. A leader isn’t something that materializes out of thin air. A leader is the image that the people carry within them.

It is their dream and their very essence.

Peace will surely come. But the murderers won’t go anywhere—they’ll be waiting for the next opportunity to kill. You can’t change a carnivore.

Yan Valetov, Ukrainian writer, Facebook

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