The word 'war' is banned in her country, but this Russian refuses to be silenced

“War.”

Uttering that one word inside Russia right now can have big consequences. But for those pushing against their country’s occupation of Ukraine, the cost is worth it.

In St. Petersburg, Russia, Natalia Konstantinova has an internet line allowing her to securely communicate with the world outside her country’s borders.

She calls herself a social media influencer, but at this point her posts mostly show acts of defiance. Roaming the streets and armed with her phone, Natalia captures green ribbons left around her city as a symbol of peace, police cameras capturing the faces of anyone out on the streets, crowds chanting “no to war” in Russian and protestors getting arrested. She posts them for all the world to see.

This, despite police on every corner grabbing those who dare speak against the war Russia started with its neighbour. This, despite the fact Natalia could face 20 years in prison for treason or 15 years for spreading so called fake news. And this, despite the fact she has an eight-year-old daughter at home.

“One day, maybe even if I'm going to be imprisoned my conscience will be clear,” Natalia says, “and even if my daughter will get raised without me she will definitely be proud of her mother.”

Natalia also has her parents at home. But she says they, like many of their generation, don’t believe the information she’s getting about this war. They think the Russian bombing of a maternity hospital, for example, was staged.

For Natalia, the denial she sees in much of her city, with music playing on the street as people walk around, feels like the Titanic just before it sank.

“I see people around living their lives because they just don’t know what’s going on,” she tells W5. “And I live here knowing everything that’s going on, seeing all these atrocities, seeing all (those) crying people sitting in shelters.”

For all she wishes her fellow Russians would learn about what their country is doing to those in Ukraine, Natalia would also like the rest of the world to know something about those like her, saying, “Russians are not the enemy of the world. Russians are just average people like anywhere in the world.”