Tatiana at her home in Ennis holding a framed photo of her father Vasily, a decorated WWII veteran. Photo by Evan Ruane
A RUSSIAN woman living in Clare says her WWII veteran father would be rolling in his grave following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
By Evan Ruane
Piano teacher Tatiana Timofeeva, who lives in Ennis, has condemned the invasion and pledged to make a donation to help fund the Ukranian military defence. “I am ashamed to be Russian now,” she told The Clare Echo. “Russia was one of the heroes of the second World War, and now we are in the place of Hitler”.
Tatiana recounts the terrible experience of hearing the first reports of the invasion. “When I saw the news, I was absolutely terrified and devastated. I don’t have words, I got sick. My blood pressure got up…it’s unbelievable,” says Tatiana who is married to Doonbeg native Bill McNamara.
Tatiana was born in 1961, while the Soviet Union was still in power. Her father, Vasily, was a decorated WWII commander, who according to Tatiana “would be rolling in his grave” at the actions of Vladimir Putin. At the time of Putin’s rise to power, she was initially supportive of his presidency. “In 2000, when Putin came to power, I was glad: he was young, he was vibrant, he had charisma. For his first term, he did many good things. The people of Russia were quite happy with him”.
Soon however, Tatiana’s optimism was not to last. “[When] he came back to power, that started the disaster”. She points to the annexation of Crimea as a tipping point for Putin’s aggressive policies. “[It] showed Putin was aggressive. I watched the situation for years, and it was down, down, down.” Tatiana believes Putin’s increasingly reckless and dangerous behaviour are linked to “psychological problems”.
Despite moving to Ireland in 2003, she still maintains close relationships to her friends and relatives in Russia, who are equally shocked and terrified by Putin’s actions. “My friends and relatives – most of them hate him, but everybody is afraid to [speak out]…everybody says ‘Oh, what can we do, if we go out we will be beaten by police and put in jail’.” However, Tatiana also acknowledged that this belief is not shared by all Russians, “For most of [Putin’s supporters], Ukraine is Russia”.
Tatiana expressed confidence in the Irish Government’s ability to level sanctions against Russia, “There is no doubt that Ireland, with its history of colonisation, they are in full support of Ukraine. Ireland will know what to do [about Russia]…They don’t like [Putin’s] aggressive politics”.
Tatiana pledged to support Ukraine herself in any way she can. She has donated money to UNICEF, and has plans to send more money to support the Ukrainian Army. “It’s needed” she said, “it’s the least I can do”. She also intends to join a protest march in support of Ukraine.
