Arguments and shouting, social media blocking: Russian families clash over conflicting views on war in Ukraine
India Today
Various stories of Russian families clashing over conflicting views on war in Ukraine have emerged ever since President Putin declared war against Ukraine on February 24.
The war in Ukraine has left many families in Russia divided over the chaos unleashed by Russian troops in Ukrainian cities. Russian actor Jean-Michel Scherbak's fallout with his mother is one such result of the clashes being witnessed in many Russian families, keeping in view Russia's actions in Ukraine in recent times.
Taking to Instagram, Jean-Michel Scherbak said his mother called him a "traitor" when he wrote on social media that he was ashamed his country had started a war in Ukraine.
"She texted me on Facebook saying that I was a traitor and that I had made my choice," Scherbak, 30, an actor and head of a production studio's press relations, told Reuters on Wednesday.
Jean-Michel Scherbak, who was not in Moscow at the conversation, said, "Before leaving Moscow, I sent my mother some amount of money and was about to tell her that I was flying away for a week and did not hold a grudge against her. Usually, I always write to her before a flight, but this time I wanted to write a letter. Letter from her son."
"Mom was ahead of me with the answer: She returned the money to me and wrote that she did not communicate with traitors to the Motherland and Russophobe," Jean-Michel Scherbak said in his Instagram message posted some five days ago.Sharing about his inner turmoil, Jean-Michel Scherbaksaid, "There is an emptiness inside me. I don't feel anything at all anymore," he said.
In a message to his mother, he said, "Mom, I promise myself that I will never do to my children what you did. And you can always contact me if you want. #No war."
Scherbak, who shares social media posts and videos showing events in Ukraine, said it was not the first time his mother had tried to influence his political opinions.
