‘If I stay silent, my heart will burst’ - How a Russian surgeon went from believing Kremlin propaganda to risking her freedom to oppose the war

Olga Avdeyeva is a surgeon and mother of five from Izhevsk, the capital of Russia’s Republic of Udmurtia. In August 2022, she left an anti-war message beneath a large Z symbol on the side of the local theater that she passed every day on her way to work. Almost a year later, Olga was charged with “discrediting” the Russian Armed Forces.