Дорисовка: Петр Саруханов / «Новая газета».

“Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich!” – millions of letters, petitions and videos on social media begin with these words. What follows can be anything, but more often than not, it’s a request: to protect from shelling, to preserve a hospital in a village, to repair the water supply – with all these requests, people turn to the president. In the country, a phenomenon has formed over many years: mass consciousness believes that justice can only be achieved through the head of the state. This belief plays into a personalized form of power: if people believe that only one person can protect them, they will support him. Therefore, the state cultivates such relations – for example, through “Direct Line”, during which the whole country sees how officials are dismissed, criminal cases are initiated, and roads to remote villages are built after complaints from the population and presidential anger are aired online.

However, in most cases, things happen differently: there is no pounding on the table, and justice does not prevail. Even blogger Victoria Bony’s appeal in April, which gathered over 20 million views and 1.7 million likes, led to nothing: the oil pollution in Anapa she talked about was not cleaned up, beaches were opened for swimming; social media accounts were not unblocked, and cattle began to be confiscated not only in the Novosibirsk region, but also in other regions. And yet this heartfelt cry, unlike many others, was not only seen in the Kremlin but even commented on – the president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov stated: “These are very resonant topics, significant work is being done on them, a large number of people are involved, it has not gone unnoticed.” The result is not visible. If not to say it is negative. Nevertheless, both before and after Bony, thousands of Russians wrote and write letters to the president, publish appeals to him on social media, hoping that he will pay attention to them.

“New Newspaper” found out from people who asked the president for something why they did it, what they hoped for, what they achieved, and what they think about this action now.

“In Grayvoron, I think no one hopes for Putin anymore.” “We, residents of the Grayvoron district, are trying to reach out to say that we are part of Russia! We want to inform you that for over 13 months, our district has been under daily shelling by the Ukrainian armed forces. Residents who have the opportunity to leave – are leaving their homes ” – with these words in June 2024, more than 2000 people from the Belgorod border region began their appeal to the president. They asked the head of state to ensure security, provide housing for those who lost their homes, and help with renting apartments in other regions for those who want to leave due to shelling. None of this was fulfilled. – The same measures as in 2022 remained. People are only resettled from individual villages that decide to close. They just cut off the electricity and all communications, close the shops, pharmacies, etc. – it becomes impossible to live, so people, of course, agree to leave. Some are sent to temporary accommodation centers, some are paid compensation for rental housing – 20,000 rubles per month or 40,000 for large families,” says Ilya N., who was one of those who signed the appeal. – But at the same time, you cannot rent an apartment in another region – no compensatio…

“It is worse to note that people are only resettled from those villages that are included in the list of dangerous ones. Most of those who signed the appeal to Putin were from Grayvoron itself, where, according to the authorities, it is possible to live.” – “And here we have something flying every day. Every day they either shoot or explode. Probably every third apartment is empty,” adds Ilya. – “Just today a drone fell on a house.” The division into dangerous and “safe” settlements in the Belgorod region is indeed very conditional. They can be literally across the road from each other, like the villages of Kozinka and Glotovo: the houses on the right are Kozinka’s, where it is unsafe to live, the village is resettled, and 30 meters to the left are Glotovo’s, where supposedly it is safe to live. Ilya says that in February 2022, he sincerely supported the military actions and even quarreled with neighbors who were worried about relatives living in the Kharkov region. He thought that civilians would not suffer on both sides. By 2024, this illusion had disappeared, but there was still hope that the country would protect its own people. – “We appealed to the local administration and the regional government for relocation. But there was no help. The only thing they threw us was a one-time payment of 10,000 rubles for those whose housing was affected. What is this? I don’t even want to talk about it. But hope for the president still remained – we really thought he did…

The appeal of the Grayvoron residents reached the president’s office, but the response from there shocked the people, according to Ilya. “Due to the lack of information on the consideration of the issue raised in the appeal by the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergency Situations and the Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters, which is responsible for its resolution, in order to ensure you receive an answer to the substance of the question raised in your appeal, your appeal has been forwarded to the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergency Situations, and the Elimination of the Consequences of Natural Disasters,” the document said. – “What the hell is the EMERCOM?” – even two years after receiving the response, the man is still amazed. – “You are the president’s administration, there is no one above you at all. And you are simply passing our problem on to a lower authority? What should it do: give us money for renting an apartment? Protect us from shelling? What exactly here relates to the responsibilities of the EMERCOM?” Simultaneously with the appeal to the president, says Ilya, the Grayvoron residents also signed another one – to the Minister of Defense Andrei Belousov. They asked him to strengthen the army’s supply with anti-drone weapons and “push back” the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the border of the Belgorod region. – “As a result, we were provided with ‘anti-drone weapons’ ourselves,” joked a Grayvoron resident. – “They fenced off schools, hospitals, clinics in all cities with nets. As if this solves the problem. And people are dying as they used to.”

Similar requests to the president were made by residents of other shelled settlements – Shebekino, Belgorod, Kursk. Residents of the border areas of the Kursk region, evacuated in 2024 after the incursion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, filed appeals to the president multiple times – with requests to issue them the promised vouchers, which could be used to buy housing in a new location. One of the latest appeals was sent in August 2025. “Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich! You have repeatedly said that the authorities should reach out to each person in a difficult situation first and foremost to solve the housing problem. But in reality, everything is exactly the opposite. It has been two years since we have been left without housing and wandering around temporary accommodation centers and rented apartments. They brush us off with all sorts of excuses, as if we are annoying flies,” people said. Six months later, the situation had not changed, and in August 2026, the residents of the border areas were even offered mortgages, albeit at favorable terms of 2%. Ilya admits: if he had known how the appeal would end, he would not have done it – “just a waste of time”.

“The only thing useful I got out of it is understanding that no matter what mess is stirred up, an ordinary person must clean it up themselves. If I knew this right away, I would have packed up and gone to Tula in 2022, where I live now. I moved here in the fall of 2024 – when it became clear that there would be no proper resettlement from Grayvoron. I called an army friend who has a small store here. He gave me a job – enough to rent an apartment and eat. In Grayvoron, I think no one hopes for Putin anymore – only those who really can’t leave: those without acquaintances or money. Well, the elderly,” he says.

“The first step towards a civil society” Sometimes there is no expectation of help from the president from the very beginning.

“We, residents of Korolev, Mytishchi, Moscow, ask you to protect ‘Moose Island’. A road is planned to be built through it that will disrupt animal migration. We demand you explore alternative route options and stop abusing people. We relax and breathe here, this is our oxygen,” defenders of the Moscow region’s only national park wrote to Vladimir Putin in January 2025. The idea of laying a highway through “Moose Island” was explained by the authorities’ desire to ease the traffic flow from Korolev towards the capital. However, the project encountered local residents’ resistance and environmentalists’ concerns. People were worried about deforestation, the danger to animals, and the destruction of their favorite relaxation spot. Subsequently, they have written several appeals to the head of state. According to Christina, a Korolyov activist, the petitioners never really expected the president to intervene. – “We understood that he would not see it, and even if he did, he would not be interested,” explains the activist. – “But there was another reason. If you are trying to achieve justice in our country, it is important to act on all fronts: writing to officials – the more appeals, the better; holding street activities – there were solitary pickets in defense of ‘Moose Island’, turning to the expert community for their assessment; taking legal steps; talking as much as possible about the issue that concerns you. One of the activities of the ‘Moose Island’ defenders was the mass filing of appeals to the president’s office on Ilyinka. – “The letters we had in our hands themselves may not have been of particular importance. But when hundreds of people gathered at the president’s reception in the center of Moscow, it attracts the attention of passers-by and the media – correspondents come, start shooting, asking questions – and suddenly you are in all the news, and someone in the authorities is concerned,” the activist says. – “Video appeals to the president are the same: on their own, they are worth little, but as they spread through the network – many people learn about the problem. And some even join your demands.”

The defenders of “Moose Island” continued to pressure the authorities – now they are pushing for the closure of the highway. In August, officials unexpectedly agreed to their demands and abandoned plans to expand the road. The activists are not planning to stop there. “With similar appeals to the president, defenders of other natural areas also spoke up: numerous urban green spaces, Lake Baikal, the Lagorona Plateau reserve, which is currently being deforested and excavated for the construction of an elite skiing resort.”

“All these appeals are not just pleas; they are needed for raising awareness of the issue, including within the environmental community,” explained one eco-activist. – “Because after that, horizontal connections are established: people who are fighting one problem come to those who are fighting another and say: ‘Let’s support you, and you come to support us.’ And I know that in Moscow, defenders of different parks visit each other for actions, organize joint activities, sign each other’s petitions, stand together in line on Ilyinka. It is important to understand that appeals to Putin cannot be the only method of struggle, because otherwise, it is not a struggle. But these appeals, due to the fact that many people usually gather for them, are actively disseminated in the media, and this is often the first step in involving a new group in the collective work. And, strangely enough, for some, it becomes the first step towards a civil society.”

“The end is to be prayed for” In March 2024, presidential elections were held in the country, in which Vladimir Putin was securing his new six-year term. By that time, hundreds of thousands of Russian men had been mobilized to the front. During the partial mobilization, relatives of those called up to the front, by their own accounts, were assured that all this was temporary: six months to a…

“The most valuable for a leader is to create a system that can function without him.” However, what is happening… well, imagine how fair, peaceful, honest competition can be conducted within the current system? If even with a live and healthy Putin an attempt of a coup by Prigozhin is possible, what will happen when there is no Putin? Therefore, the very idea of writing appeals to the president for any reason and hoping for him, in my opinion, is harmful. Like “Direct Lines”: you watch the official messages later that the president has explained how and what needs to be done. And nobody knew how to milk cows or plant potatoes. Now he has explained it. We know now.

Breaking free from this vicious circle is necessary. Taking responsibility, self-organizing. This would be truly beneficial for civil society and, as a result, for the state’s sustainability. * Listed by the Russian authorities as “foreign agents”.