«Chelyabinskii Urbanist»
«It wasn’t the state that scared me, it was my own subscribers»
How Chelyabinskii Urbanist turned into an anti-war media outlet and the reaction it received
Chelyabinkii Urbanist used to be a media outlet publishing about the city, an activist project and an architectural bureau, all combined. Since 2017, the media of Lev Vladov, a blogger well-known in the city, has helped not only highlighting urban infrastructure problems, but also solving them: the team has been transforming city spaces and restoring facilities.
Initially Chelyabinkii Urbanist was in fact favored by the local authorities, but over time the project started featuring investigations, including those into spending the city’s budget. In 2019, Vladov created a platform депутатычелябинска.рф (chelyabinskdeputies.rf), where self-nominated candidates could present themselves. After some time, the blogger became, in the eyes of the authorities, their political opponent, but the loyal audience allowed Vladov to dismiss attacks by officials and media.
Part of this audience turned against Vladov on February 24, when he wrote an anti-war post. He received curses, insults and threats. Under this pressure, Lev left his hometown.
Today Chelyabinkii Urbanist is no longer a media outlet covering the problems of Chelyabinsk. Lev intends to come back to this agenda only after the war, which he covers in his social media. At the end of May, Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media regulator, blocked the project’s website for «Residents of Chelyabinsk Are Against War» banner, and later VKontakte, Russian social networking service, blocked Vladov’s public group page with 60,000 subscribers on the Russian territory.
Initially Chelyabinkii Urbanist was in fact favored by the local authorities, but over time the project started featuring investigations, including those into spending the city’s budget. In 2019, Vladov created a platform депутатычелябинска.рф (chelyabinskdeputies.rf), where self-nominated candidates could present themselves. After some time, the blogger became, in the eyes of the authorities, their political opponent, but the loyal audience allowed Vladov to dismiss attacks by officials and media.
Part of this audience turned against Vladov on February 24, when he wrote an anti-war post. He received curses, insults and threats. Under this pressure, Lev left his hometown.
Today Chelyabinkii Urbanist is no longer a media outlet covering the problems of Chelyabinsk. Lev intends to come back to this agenda only after the war, which he covers in his social media. At the end of May, Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media regulator, blocked the project’s website for «Residents of Chelyabinsk Are Against War» banner, and later VKontakte, Russian social networking service, blocked Vladov’s public group page with 60,000 subscribers on the Russian territory.
«It wasn’t the state that scared me, it was my own subscribers»
How Chelyabinskii Urbanist turned into an anti-war media outlet and the reaction it received
«Chelyabinskii Urbanist»
Chelyabinkii Urbanist used to be a media outlet publishing about the city, an activist project and an architectural bureau, all combined. Since 2017, the media of Lev Vladov, a blogger well-known in the city, has helped not only highlighting urban infrastructure problems, but also solving them: the team has been transforming city spaces and restoring facilities.
Initially Chelyabinkii Urbanist was in fact favored by the local authorities, but over time the project started featuring investigations, including those into spending the city’s budget. In 2019, Vladov created a platform депутатычелябинска.рф (chelyabinskdeputies.rf), where self-nominated candidates could present themselves. After some time, the blogger became, in the eyes of the authorities, their political opponent, but the loyal audience allowed Vladov to dismiss attacks by officials and media.
Part of this audience turned against Vladov on February 24, when he wrote an anti-war post. He received curses, insults and threats. Under this pressure, Lev left his hometown.
Today Chelyabinkii Urbanist is no longer a media outlet covering the problems of Chelyabinsk. Lev intends to come back to this agenda only after the war, which he covers in his social media. At the end of May, Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media regulator, blocked the project’s website for «Residents of Chelyabinsk Are Against War» banner, and later VKontakte, Russian social networking service, blocked Vladov’s public group page with 60,000 subscribers on the Russian territory.
Initially Chelyabinkii Urbanist was in fact favored by the local authorities, but over time the project started featuring investigations, including those into spending the city’s budget. In 2019, Vladov created a platform депутатычелябинска.рф (chelyabinskdeputies.rf), where self-nominated candidates could present themselves. After some time, the blogger became, in the eyes of the authorities, their political opponent, but the loyal audience allowed Vladov to dismiss attacks by officials and media.
Part of this audience turned against Vladov on February 24, when he wrote an anti-war post. He received curses, insults and threats. Under this pressure, Lev left his hometown.
Today Chelyabinkii Urbanist is no longer a media outlet covering the problems of Chelyabinsk. Lev intends to come back to this agenda only after the war, which he covers in his social media. At the end of May, Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media regulator, blocked the project’s website for «Residents of Chelyabinsk Are Against War» banner, and later VKontakte, Russian social networking service, blocked Vladov’s public group page with 60,000 subscribers on the Russian territory.
Lev Vladov
Before the war
— In 2017, I moved to a new housing estate where I discovered dozens of mistakes made by the architects. I started writing about the problems of the neighborhood on my [VKontakte] page, got into it and decided to create a public group, I named it "Chelyabinskii Urbanist".
I am a civil engineer, I was not an expert in urban studies or sociology. I simply wrote about my concerns and suggested solutions. The townspeople picked up on it quite cheerfully. Our city faces major environmental issues, and they are widely discussed. But back then, no one was talking about streets, transport or architecture.
To walk the talk and to attract allies, I did not just write about the city’s problems but also engaged in real projects on the ground. I met the head of one of the districts, he introduced me to other officials, I learned how the city is run. One day, I came up with the idea of gentrifying a wasteland in the city center. The head of the district was not against it. I put out the call and in five evenings, at the cost of 30,000 rubles, together with the city residents we improved the space there: we made benches, flowerbeds, and road markings.
Later this evolved into Chelyabinskii Urbanist team that wanted to continue doing projects like this. We rented an office, launched a call for donations. This wasn’t an opposition project, but a project to help our hometown. Officials [rejoiced]: wow, someone is doing our work, great, let’s support them.
I am a civil engineer, I was not an expert in urban studies or sociology. I simply wrote about my concerns and suggested solutions. The townspeople picked up on it quite cheerfully. Our city faces major environmental issues, and they are widely discussed. But back then, no one was talking about streets, transport or architecture.
To walk the talk and to attract allies, I did not just write about the city’s problems but also engaged in real projects on the ground. I met the head of one of the districts, he introduced me to other officials, I learned how the city is run. One day, I came up with the idea of gentrifying a wasteland in the city center. The head of the district was not against it. I put out the call and in five evenings, at the cost of 30,000 rubles, together with the city residents we improved the space there: we made benches, flowerbeds, and road markings.
Later this evolved into Chelyabinskii Urbanist team that wanted to continue doing projects like this. We rented an office, launched a call for donations. This wasn’t an opposition project, but a project to help our hometown. Officials [rejoiced]: wow, someone is doing our work, great, let’s support them.
Turning point
— On February 24, I right away wrote a post appealing to the authorities. I said that now, in the early hours, it was important to make a bold step. For instance, to quit the party. I realized that there was no point in appealing to the townspeople. "No to war" — well, who would be influenced by that. But if on that day, deputies and officials had said: "I did not sign up for this", this could have been effective.
I was taken aback by how bloodthirsty my subscribers were. This was the first post that was misunderstood and harshly criticized by my subscribers. Curses flowed. I thought maybe I should wait, maybe they were in some kind of shock. I wrote another post, a longer and more emotional one, on February 26. And there [in the comments] I found even more aggression and bloodlust.
I had a very loyal audience, I was a kind of local hero, not anonymous, born and raised in Chelyabinsk, "our guy". And I was threatened with physical violence. For the first time, I was scared, not of the state, but of my own subscribers, who could see me on the street and kick me in the head, thinking that this was their way of saving their homeland from a "traitor".
I decided to go to Yekaterinburg, a neighboring city. Then came the news about Medvedev proposing to bring back death penalty for traitors, about 15 years for "fakes"… I realized that if I wanted to continue writing, I would have to leave.
At the same time, I have large media resources in my city. This is my information weapon which I want to use. And I realized that in one or two weeks I would not have such an opportunity anymore. So, I flew to Saint Petersburg and crossed the border into Estonia there.
I had 63,000 followers on Instagram, now it’s 57,700. On VKontakte, I had 52,000, now I have 47,000. I got some on Telegram because I invited them on Instagram.
I was taken aback by how bloodthirsty my subscribers were. This was the first post that was misunderstood and harshly criticized by my subscribers. Curses flowed. I thought maybe I should wait, maybe they were in some kind of shock. I wrote another post, a longer and more emotional one, on February 26. And there [in the comments] I found even more aggression and bloodlust.
I had a very loyal audience, I was a kind of local hero, not anonymous, born and raised in Chelyabinsk, "our guy". And I was threatened with physical violence. For the first time, I was scared, not of the state, but of my own subscribers, who could see me on the street and kick me in the head, thinking that this was their way of saving their homeland from a "traitor".
I decided to go to Yekaterinburg, a neighboring city. Then came the news about Medvedev proposing to bring back death penalty for traitors, about 15 years for "fakes"… I realized that if I wanted to continue writing, I would have to leave.
At the same time, I have large media resources in my city. This is my information weapon which I want to use. And I realized that in one or two weeks I would not have such an opportunity anymore. So, I flew to Saint Petersburg and crossed the border into Estonia there.
I had 63,000 followers on Instagram, now it’s 57,700. On VKontakte, I had 52,000, now I have 47,000. I got some on Telegram because I invited them on Instagram.
Pressure
— I wanted for the budget to allow money for solving the city’s problems. Years went by, but this was not happening, I was told that there was no money. I began to wonder where it was. That said, I never maintained that city officials were thieves or crooks. But I started doing researches on tenders.
The key episode of the local government’s journey from love to hatred towards me was the one with Chelyabinsk’s "spiritual bonds": Tractor hockey club. It turned out the club was registered as a public organization and received 1.5 billion rubles a year from the city budget. All the crazy salaries [of the hockey players] came from taxpayers' money.
I made a video where I explained what 1.5 billion rubles means on the scale of our city and that nine times less is spent on landscaping. This video was probably watched by every third resident of the Chelyabinsk region. At the time, the authorities accused me of populism, and the pro-government media blacklisted me. But back then (at the end of 2018), I already had an audience large enough not to worry.
Together with Chelyabinskii Urbanist team, we set up an architectural bureau to make money, going on with our projects. One of the latest ones was renovation of a chess school owned by the municipality. After that, the administration issued a request to renovate all the chess schools, as it was a municipal program. We even secretly engaged in projects for the administration: unknown individual entrepreneurs won the [contracts], but in reality, the work was performed by our team.
The key episode of the local government’s journey from love to hatred towards me was the one with Chelyabinsk’s "spiritual bonds": Tractor hockey club. It turned out the club was registered as a public organization and received 1.5 billion rubles a year from the city budget. All the crazy salaries [of the hockey players] came from taxpayers' money.
I made a video where I explained what 1.5 billion rubles means on the scale of our city and that nine times less is spent on landscaping. This video was probably watched by every third resident of the Chelyabinsk region. At the time, the authorities accused me of populism, and the pro-government media blacklisted me. But back then (at the end of 2018), I already had an audience large enough not to worry.
Together with Chelyabinskii Urbanist team, we set up an architectural bureau to make money, going on with our projects. One of the latest ones was renovation of a chess school owned by the municipality. After that, the administration issued a request to renovate all the chess schools, as it was a municipal program. We even secretly engaged in projects for the administration: unknown individual entrepreneurs won the [contracts], but in reality, the work was performed by our team.
Future
— You have to understand that if you have 50,000 people in a group and you get 500 negative comments, it doesn’t mean that everyone is against you. It means that basically everyone agrees with you and 500 people don’t. I’ve noticed that for most people, if they don’t like the content, they unsubscribe. Since the early days, people have been afraid to say they agree, and those who are pro-war have felt impunity.
Later I wrote that Russian urbanism stopped in Chelyabinsk and would not be happening. And that all the money to improve Chelyabinsk would go to rebuild Donbass — if Russia captured these territories. And if Russia loses, then for the next decades all the money for Chelyabinsk Oblast improvement will go to restoration of Ukraine as reparations. There is no point in discussing the development of the city now. Do we even have the moral right to do so? You can’t really plan a mortgage if you are diagnosed with cancer, can you?
I decided that I had to show what was going on. Looking at my parents, who were victims of propaganda, I knew that things were bad, and a couple of posts would not do the job. I wrote more and more. I tried to use as a lead up the fact that Chelyabinsk Oblast should be very grateful to Ukraine, because in World War II a bunch of people came here and brought equipment. Our great Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant initially was Kharkiv plant. And Azovstal’s founder is the builder of Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, the largest in the region. I’m trying to find themes that will make people think.
My day used to start with a huge number of stories where I was tagged. If you have a problem, drop it on Chelyabinskii Urbanist. After the war began, they slowly stopped tagging me, realizing that I was no longer covering the city’s problems. But recently, in Chelyabinsk, they started cutting down the forest next to a residential area to build a new sports complex. And people demanded: Lev, post on this! That’s what motivated people to come out of their homes — they even set up tents there — and not war or sanctions.
I didn’t write about it. For one thing, I’m not there, I don’t follow what is going on. I hope that my absence will be enough to spur new horizontal initiatives in the city. People must finally realize that only they can solve their problems and protect their homes. Secondly, I am stunned by the incredible hypocrisy. People are not afraid to come out against the authorities to defend their birch trees, but they are not coming out to defend their jobs, their freedom and their future. My feeling is that Chelyabinsk still lives as if there was no war.
I have decided that I will not write about the city’s problems until the war is over. That’s all that matters now. The war will deliver a deafening blow to Chelyabinsk’s future, and the sooner we end it, the better is the chance for us to get back to our city’s development in our lifetime.
Later I wrote that Russian urbanism stopped in Chelyabinsk and would not be happening. And that all the money to improve Chelyabinsk would go to rebuild Donbass — if Russia captured these territories. And if Russia loses, then for the next decades all the money for Chelyabinsk Oblast improvement will go to restoration of Ukraine as reparations. There is no point in discussing the development of the city now. Do we even have the moral right to do so? You can’t really plan a mortgage if you are diagnosed with cancer, can you?
I decided that I had to show what was going on. Looking at my parents, who were victims of propaganda, I knew that things were bad, and a couple of posts would not do the job. I wrote more and more. I tried to use as a lead up the fact that Chelyabinsk Oblast should be very grateful to Ukraine, because in World War II a bunch of people came here and brought equipment. Our great Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant initially was Kharkiv plant. And Azovstal’s founder is the builder of Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, the largest in the region. I’m trying to find themes that will make people think.
My day used to start with a huge number of stories where I was tagged. If you have a problem, drop it on Chelyabinskii Urbanist. After the war began, they slowly stopped tagging me, realizing that I was no longer covering the city’s problems. But recently, in Chelyabinsk, they started cutting down the forest next to a residential area to build a new sports complex. And people demanded: Lev, post on this! That’s what motivated people to come out of their homes — they even set up tents there — and not war or sanctions.
I didn’t write about it. For one thing, I’m not there, I don’t follow what is going on. I hope that my absence will be enough to spur new horizontal initiatives in the city. People must finally realize that only they can solve their problems and protect their homes. Secondly, I am stunned by the incredible hypocrisy. People are not afraid to come out against the authorities to defend their birch trees, but they are not coming out to defend their jobs, their freedom and their future. My feeling is that Chelyabinsk still lives as if there was no war.
I have decided that I will not write about the city’s problems until the war is over. That’s all that matters now. The war will deliver a deafening blow to Chelyabinsk’s future, and the sooner we end it, the better is the chance for us to get back to our city’s development in our lifetime.
