People are not their governments

Video grab showing Russian Channel One editor Marina Ovsyannikova holding an anti-war poster behind news anchor Yekaterina Andreyeva during one of Russia’s most-watched evening news broadcasts on March 14. Ovsyannikova has since been fined for her protest. – AFP

IN the summer of 2013, I climbed Mt Elbrus, the highest mountain in Russia and in all of Europe.

The logistics of getting to the Caucasus region where it is located -- even just obtaining a visa -- was quite complicated, requiring me and my companions (we were an all-Filipino mountaineering team) to travel to Moscow, fly to a city called Mineralnye Vody, then drive over three hours to a village called Terskol before finally commencing the ascent to one of the Seven Summits of the World.