Freezing out my Russian friend is the only way I can fight Putin’s propaganda | Anne Penketh

Her Facebook posts since the Ukraine invasion have stunned me. Unfriending her made me sad - but I had to do it

On the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while doomscrolling on social media, I noticed a Facebook post by a Russian friend of mine in Moscow, expressing the hope that all the fascists will be exterminated in my homeland". She was referring to Vladimir Putin's claim that Russia's special military operation" aimed to denazify" Ukraine.

I was stunned that this was her take on the Ukraine war. We had been friends for more than 30 years, and during my time as a foreign correspondent in Moscow in the Soviet era, she had been my sounding board and guide. I remember the evenings spent with her and her husband, quaffing Soviet champagne and mocking the nightly TV news, Vremya, with its state-controlled version of events. How could she now be so uncritical of Putin's state-run media?

Anne Penketh is a journalist and author