Washington
The drumbeat of news on how the long arm of the Kremlin reached into the American election process last year has become a bit overwhelming for many in the nation’s capital with ties to Russia. Longtime observers note that the allegations of hacking and collusion, and the accompanying barrage of headlines, are unlike anything seen here since before the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
As questions about Russia’s role grow, some here say they are unfairly bearing the brunt of American suspicion. And the spy jokes are getting old.
“When you turn on the TV it’s always Russia, Russia, Russia on every program,” said Igor Efimov, chairman of the biomedical engineering department at George Washington University. “This constant everyday thinking that somehow 140 million people are evil is just not appropriate in my opinion.”
Efimov, 53, a U.S. citizen who emigrated from Russia in 1992, is a Democrat who voted for Clinton. But he is unhappy that questions about possible collusion in 2016 between Donald Trump’s campaign and Vladimir Putin’s Russia are being used to delegitimize the new president before anything has been proven. And he resents more that all Russians are being painted with the same brush.
“I don’t know what’s behind the allegations, whether or not Russia was involved,” Efimov said. “It could be, but again, I’d like to see the facts first. I am a scientist and I usually base my opinion on facts, not on somebody said so. But if it’s true, which is fully possible, this allegation still doesn’t mean that the whole community is guilty.”
Diplomats and bankers are getting most of the attention in the showdown over Russia. Email hackers too, of course. But in Washington’s Russian and Russian-American community, which is not enormous, there are also teachers and truck drivers, hairdressers and hockey stars. Now, even they are starting to hear questions.
Lily Rozhkova was a journalist in Russia before she moved to the United States in 1999. Most of her friends in Washington are Russian, and the relationship between the two countries has become the first thing they talk about when they all get together.
“We do worry about this,” she said. “We’re just trying to stay optimistic and hope that they just work on the situation and don’t make our worst fears happen.”
Rozhkova, 44, is a green-card holder who works at a real estate office in Virginia. She remembers that when President Barack Obama booted out 35 Russian diplomats and their families in December as a penalty for Russian interference in the election she heard jokes from American friends and colleagues.
“They said, ‘Are you a spy? Do you work with KGB?’ And I told them there’s been no KGB for years,” she said with a laugh. “They were just making a joke, but that was all.”
For now though, the effect of all the coverage is making many Russians wary and others are just clamming up altogether.
“The hysteria about Russia in mass media makes people sensitive to this issue and some are not comfortable to publicly talk about it,” Efimov said. “Some fear for their jobs. This is really sad in a democracy.”