With just five subscribers and a few hundred views, Pavel Kushnir's tiny YouTube channel was enough to make him an enemy of the Russian state. This weekend, he died in custody. 1/14🧵The devastating story of an artist and activist who just couldn't keep silent

Pavel Kushnir, a Russian anti-war activist and pianist, posted just four videos on his YouTube channel "Inoagent Mulder" (translated as "Foreign Agent Mulder") criticizing Putin's government and the war in Ukraine. None went viral - the most popular had only a few hundred views. 2/14

Yet this small act of protest led to his arrest by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) in May 2023 on charges of "public incitement of terrorist activities." 3/14

In blurry, low-quality videos, Kushnir used poetry to criticize the war, newly passed laws, and government policies. His channel had only five subscribers until news of his death became public, and the count has since grown to just over 600. 4/14

Kushnir grew up in Tambov and graduated from Moscow's prestigious Tchaikovsky Conservatory before working as a soloist in several regional philharmonic orchestras across Russia. Last year, he became a soloist with the Birobidzhan Regional Philharmonic. 5/14

He was a talented pianist with a diverse repertoire, playing pieces by Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Prokoviev, Rakhmaninov and many other composers. His playing was even featured on regional television broadcasts. 6/14

Kushnir’s friend and fellow pianist Olga Skrygunova recalled: “He was an idea person. If he played one of Shostakovich’s Preludes and Fugues, he played all 24 in a single evening, even when he was still learning. In everything, he needed to keep going until the end.” 7/14

Fiercely opposed to the war in Ukraine, Kushnir mentioned in one of his videos that he had participated in protests against Putin in 2011-2012. Beyond his YouTube channel, he also published an anti-war book. 8/14

While in detention, he went on a dry hunger strike, abstaining from both food and water. Olga Romanova, director of the prisoners' rights organization Russia Behind Bars, confirmed his death on Friday, saying that "his body couldn't take it." Kushnir died at the age of 39 - an artist silenced forever for speaking his truth. 9/14

In the last video on his channel, Kushnir calls for an end to the invasion of Ukraine, the fall of "Vladimir Putin's fascist regime" and the release of all political prisoners, and condemns the Bucha massacre as a “shameful stain on our motherland”. 10/14

It is easy to hide a corpse in a pile of corpses. When Soviet dissident Anatoly Marchenko died during a hunger strike in 1986, it drew widespread attention because it was out of the ordinary. 11/14

But today, as Ukrainian civilians are being murdered by the thousand, and the list of political prisoners in Russia is growing every day, stories like that of Pavel Kushnir can easily go unnoticed. But people are being killed, and not only at the front. 12/14

We must not forget that more than a thousand political prisoners remain in Russia. And we must all fight to ensure they get back their freedom. 13/14

Rest in peace, maestro.. 14/14

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