Introduction

Boris Bonderif was an arms control specialist at Russia's mission to the UN in Geneva. He quit his post and issued a scathing public condemnation of Russian aggression. Now he lives in an undisclosed safe house in Switzerland with round-the-clock protection. This is a man who has turned on the system which offered him a comfortable life for two decades. Why haven't others emulated his very public act of dissent? Is it fear, brainwashing or is there a powerful shared ethno-nationalism powering Putin's war?