A small group of Russians demonstrated on Sunday against “Russophobia”, at the same time calls were made in support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russia in Norway with differing views on the two-month war trying to figure out how to deal with the invasion – and one another.

On Sunday, some of them met, as pro-Russian demonstrations were organized in front of the Storting, at the same time as counter-Russian protesters were flagged just across the street.

Symbols (such as the letter Z) and posters expressing direct support for war are not permitted by the organizers.

According to organizers, the aim of the demonstration was not to side with the war, but to draw attention to what they called Russophobia, hatred and discrimination against speakers of the Russian language.

Calls during the demonstrations continued to contain a comprehensive defense that the invasion of Ukraine was true, and protesters argued that the allegations of Russophobia were “a diversion to play down the war”.

Dmitri Rybakov, 37, from Kristiansand, who has lived in Norway since 1998, was one of the organizers behind Sunday’s demonstrations.

He is originally from Murmansk and today works as a civil engineer.

– I can’t say that Norwegians are very russophobia. There is an individual case, and that cursed by the government. But if you look in Europe, cultural monuments, signage and streets are removed, at the same time concerts are canceled and athletes are denied participation, Rybakov said.

The posters carried by the protesters also criticized the media.

– The reason why we talk not only about Russophobia, but also the media, is because we believe the media’s black and white image of conflict is one of the main causes of Russophobia, Rybakov said.

Encouraging Russians to stay at home

Kirill Belov, 33, who has lived in Norway since 2001, urged Russians in Norway not to take part in demonstrations at a calling in Klassekampen, with 97 others.

He is from the outskirts of Moscow and currently works as a ventilator in the Oslo area.

– There are some of our neighbors who are much worse off than us. This marking should be aimed at fighting wars, only then can Russophobia be fought, I mean.

He clearly distanced himself from the invasion of Ukraine, which he called a “crime against the free world.”

Belov said that relations with family in Russia and mother in Norway were made difficult by the war.

– I have lost touch with my cousins, my aunts, my cousins, all of whom support this “special operation”. My mother also supported the regime in Russia, it was difficult to relate to them, he said.

And continued:

– There is a red line through my family, and it has divided the country in two, and I am not the only one. I have friends who have lost touch with their loved ones due to conflict.

Not talking about war

The counter-protesters on Sunday told a similar story. Peter, who did not wish to be named in full, told of how his sister opposed the war, while she married a Russian officer.

– They try not to talk about it, and keep the conversation going for everyday things, he said.

One of the organizers of the counter-demonstration is Evgenia Khoroltseva, 44, who has been living in Norway since 2000.

– We believe the demonstrations are a diversion to play down the war, he said.

Appeal from controversial historian

In celebration on Sunday, Bjørn Nistad, 58, who has a doctorate in Russian history, submitted an application in which he expressed his wholehearted support for the invasion of Ukraine.

“Who in the world would not react,” said Nistad, leaving responsibility for the war in Ukraine, which he believes is “terrorism against his own people” and controlled by “the president of the United States.”

– This war did not start with the invasion of Ukraine, said Nistad, before he directed himself and called the invasion a “military intervention”.

– I thought this was a real war, Nistad told VG afterwards.

For years, Nistad was a prominent debater and supporter of the views of the Putin regime in Norway’s main newspapers.

In the early 2010s, he also taught Russian history at the University of Oslo, but at one point did not renew his temporary position.

In 2014, after Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula, he participated in the NRK Debate, where he interrupted Foreign Minister Børge Brende and tiringly accused him of committing socialize and support fascists.

Since then, Nistad has increasingly disappeared into the fringes of the Norwegian public.

After the invasion on February 24, Nistad called the massacres of civilians outside Kyiv a “false flag” and suggested that they were staged by the Ukrainian authorities, whom he generally called fascist.

Satellite images, technical evidence, and growing testimony from civilians in Butsja and other small towns refute the theory.

Faced with this, Nistad said she still “really finds it hard to believe”.

– I haven’t been and can’t tell. But Russia achieved nothing by massacring Ukrainian civilians.

During the appeal, Nistad also repeated a claim he made earlier: that Ukrainian troops themselves were behind the attack on the train station in Kramatorsk, based on the serial number of the rocket.

While it’s still unclear which direction the rocket came from, the serial number doesn’t give any indication of who the rocket was, as everyone was in his day produced from the same plant in Russia.

When asked about this by VG, Nistad argued that the landing of the rocket showed where it came from, and that Italian newspapers wrote about the serial number “and there must be a reason for that”.

Today, Nistad publishes, among other things, on his own blog and the website of former revolutionary communist leader Pål Steigan, Steigan.no.

In recent weeks, the site has been criticized for publishing Russian propaganda and a number of different conspiracy theories (such as the United States using chip-marked migratory birds as weapons of mass destruction).

Steigan has rejected the criticism, which he compares to the persecution of communists in the West in the ’40s and ’50s, and argues that it acts as an extension of American intelligence methods.

Chechens demonstrate with Ukraine

Nearly 23,000 people in Norway are Russian immigrants or the children of Russian immigrants, according to Statistics Norway.

This figure correctly includes a large group of Chechens (estimated at 10,000), many of whom are refugees from the Putin-backed Kadyrov regime.

Earlier in the day, a group of Chechens demonstrated against the war along with some 200 Ukrainians.

Chechen human rights activist Akhmed Gisaev, 48, called for solidarity between Ukraine and Chechnya, both of which have been attacked by Russia.

“We have been fighting Russian tyranny for 30 years,” Gisaev said.

Avoid arguing on social media

In the three largest groups for Russians and other Russian-speakers in Norway on social media (which have from 9 to 30,000 members), everyday things like job opportunities, Norwegian bureaucracy, in-store deals and travel advice are usually discussed.

But discussions about the Ukraine war are almost non-existent. Some groups have also introduced a ban on speaking on the topic.

The same thing happened at a local group in Kristiansand, said Rybakov, who organized Sunday’s demonstration.

– I posted something there, and then someone else posted something pro-Ukraine, then I posted an alternative view and then got criticized. Then the post was deleted and then the deletion was met with criticism. “In the end, we agreed that the group should choose to remain neutral, so it’s better not to talk about it at all,” he said.