People in Russia 'need the truth,' says journalist who sacrificed home and security to keep reporting

The list of sacrifices that Alesya Marokhovskaya has made to keep reporting on Russia from exile runs long: her home, her country, family, friends, culture, safety.

This month alone, Russian authorities searched the home of the journalist’s parents in the eastern port town of Magadan and opened a criminal case against Marokhovskaya for violating Russia’s foreign agent law.

Coming Soon to the USA!

There's no punchline, this isn't a joke. Get ready.

The truth the people in Russia need to know is that theyir ruble is crashing and things are harder to get a hold of because of the actions of the Kremlin.

They also need to know that they far out number the government, and propaganda doesn't work forever.

A counter argument to the article.

I have minimal knowledge of IStories. I have heard about them, but never really read their articles.

I respect Marokhovskaya, but I disagree with her overall approach. Marokhovskaya claims that:

“They’re poisoning Russians,” she said, explaining how she views Kremlin propaganda. “Information in our world is one of the most important things, and I am completely against manipulating people’s minds.”

On what basis is the poisoning theory true? Where is manipulation? Sure, government run media spreads lies, but it's not like the vast majority of the population doesn't know this. And they have had access to fully uncensored youtube channels with russian language content (from both organizations in russia and reputable foreign media organizations) since ~2010.

Later in the article the head of IStories the video (YT?) department states:

“We don’t say to them that you’re idiots, that you’re war criminals,” Artem said. “We just present real life in Russia as it is. We’re talking to real people. We’re talking about their problems. We’re always trying to find something that’s interesting to just ordinary people.”

1.1 million russian men have been directly involved in the invasion of Ukraine. Around 1.5 million "civilians" have partaken in russia's occupation of Ukrainian territories. The vast majority of the russian population are genuine supporters of genocidal imperialism.

And I recognize that an organization like IStories has an incentive to downplay the genuine universal support for genocidal imperialism among russian population. But look at it from a practical point of view. What has the russian opposition (and organizations like IStories) achieved in the last ~15? Nothing! They are a complete failure. Coddling the russians' genocidal imperialist mindset clearly bring no results. So perhaps it is worth considering other approaches?