#pressles musing

I live in Ukraine. I don’t know how large the community of F1 people living in Eastern Europe is on Tumblr. I have seen a few EE people/those living in EE countries but not very many. What I am going to speak on is very familiar to those who know of the human rights violations that are consistently committed in Russia. 

To provide some context, within Russia there is a group of extremely power, rich men who are under the wing of their dictator Putin. This group of men are referred to as “oligarchs.” While many drone on about how the top 1% of the USA owns 20% of the total wealth, in Russia is a far worse. These oligarchs, of whom make up LESS than 1% of the population, own roughly 80% of the total wealth of the nation. 

The conditions in Russia are quite horrendous. There’s the lack of ability to protest, lack of rights for women, murders committed against LBTQ+ individuals, wealth disparity, violence committed by the police, people who disappear, and individuals who can use their money in positions of power in order to sway things their way. Obviously there are far more violations I can speak on (this is a brief summary). Every single country has it’s issues, no country is perfect, but Russia... in Russia it’s far worse than I believe a lot of people on this platform ever care to know about. 

For example, the brother of my ex-step mother was riding his motorcycle in Russia and the police chief of St. Petersburg’s wife hit him with her car. He spent many months in the hospital and now their family struggles heavily because he cannot work. The police chief’s wife came off scot-free simply due to her husband’s influence. Were the brother of my ex-step mother to complain, he and his family would be in serious threat of disappearing or being murdered. This is very common place in Russia. People are very often murdered, assassinated etc if they threaten those in positions of power or speak out against the government. 

I am sure you guys do not want a history lesson and are here for the drama (a little sad, but it’s realistic). Back to Nikita. Nikita Mazapin comes from an extremely wealthy, prominent family in Russia. His father, Dmitry Mazapin, is a billionaire oligarch. Society and government is still drenched in the aftermath of the Soviet Union and Putin’s reign from 2001. In Russia, unless you are under the wing of the Putin, any large amount of money you are able to secure will and has been taken by the government. It is impossible to earn any surmountable amount of wealth AND stay in the country. You will have it all taken and you will be threatened with your life. Oftentimes journalists who speak out against Russia are assassinated foreignly. Car bombs in Ukraine... toxic gas in the UK. All this stuff is very common. 

When I was living in Czech Republic for four years my family came to know a family from Russia who had fled with their wealth. In Russia, this is the only option. You must escape the country and live elsewhere if you wish to keep your wealth. This is similar to what Daniil Kvyat and his family did. Daniil came from a small Russian town and was not from a wealthy family. His father ultimately managed to amount enough wealth and his family fled to Italy around Daniil’s mid-late teens from my recollection. 

In summary, I understand that Nikita is a disgusting human being. However, what is more troubling to me is the Nikita’s entrance into F1 marks the Russian oligarchy’s infiltration of F1. It is easy to criticize people such as Lance Stroll for utilizing their wealth in order to benefit their lives. However, Lance and Nikita are on far, far differing levels. Lawrence Stroll is extremely wealthy but his wealth does not tie him to a dictator. If Nikita and his father are billionaires, Russian and have ties to the Russian government this is very, very dangerous. In Russia, these men are completely and utterly unstoppable. They can do whatever they want, whenever they want, and to whomever they want. If they are able to stay in Russia and be this wealthy, Nikita’s family is in ties with a dictator government who murder, cheat, steal and defile the people of their nation. 

Daniil doesn’t speak often on being from Russia. In fact, he does not live there nor hardly mentions it. Nikita and his father are proudly, proudly Russian. Any form of extreme patriotism is dangerous but patriotism enough you are in cahoots with a dictator? Horrible. I will try to close this off. In Russia, as I stated, oligarchs can do anything they please (as long as it is not against Putin). Nikita already believes he can get away with anything that he wants. Therefore, what trend does this set up?

An oligarch kid coming into F1 coming from a corrupt family. His family is one of the men who owns 80% of the total wealth of an extremely powerful, wealthy nation. This is dangerous. Vitaly Petrov’s father was recently assassinated. What comes next? It all makes me sick. This is why it enrages me that absolutely NO one is speaking about this. Yes, I understand Nikita is an awful guy who assaults women, punches his rivals and shoves other drivers off track. However, I hope what I have written has shone some light on another important and disgusting aspect of Nikita being in F1.