In June, I was detained in Volgograd and questioned by the Russian migration authorities and the FSB. I was lucky, all things considered, even though the experience was extraordinarily unpleasant. I know that many others have had it much worse, particularly those Russians who might have differing or minority opinions and may try to effect change based on expressing those views.

I was hopeful that the issue was merely one of local authorities flexing their muscles, and that with time – and an officially sanctioned, proper research visa – I could return to Russia and continue working. This is saying nothing of my desire to visit family and friends scattered across the country, nor of the emotional attachments I have to the various cities I’ve lived in and visited over my twenty years of being in love with Russia.

It seems clear now that I underestimated the situation. This is an article calling me out by name for being a western agent. The headline reads “World Cup 2018: are western secret agents in Volgograd waging war against the championship?” It accuses both me and Richard Arnold, a scholar from Muskingum University who writes on Russia, sport, and politics, and with whom I shared a panel at the 2016 ASEEES conference in Washington DC. Then we discovered a similarly libellous article in Volgogradskaya Pravda from the same day. It looks like a coordinated attack.

Sure, these are trashy publications and the articles are full of exaggerations and outright lies. Richard was attacked more substantially than me, but even in the five short paragraphs targeting me specifically, there are some chilling things that bear unpacking.

I am quoted as saying:

– Я приехал в ваш прекрасный город к друзьям, хочу познакомиться с новыми людьми, – рассказал Вольф Дэниэл. – Мне интересно, что происходит в Волгограде в преддверии ЧМ, ведь к вам приедет столько иностранцев. Мои друзья организовали мне встречу с волонтерами, мы много разговаривали с ними на разные темы.

In translation:

“I came to your wonderful city to visit my friends. I want to get to know new people. I’m interested in what’s happening in Volgograd regarding the preparations for the World Cup. After all, you’re going to have many foreigners visiting. My friends organized a visit with [World Cup] volunteers and we talked a lot about various things.”

The article goes on: “But despite all his friendliness, the guest [me] also asked about negative moments in the preparations for the championship.”

Now, this is only partially accurate. There’s a lot of fiction there. But it’s not a total fabrication.

I did say things that are, in parts, actually what’s printed in that article. Well, no, I didn’t say them. I wrote them.

I wrote them by hand in the “confession” I was forced to write, in the grim offices of the migration authorities after my questioning and before they fingerprinted and fined me.

What this means is that the people who put together these articles (Marina Polyanichko, Svetlana Baldenkova, and Natalya Karpova in the first instance, and Liliana Mamotina in the second) had access to my handwritten confession.

It means that the FSB had reasons to fabricate and release these articles. For domestic consumption, certainly, but also as a clear message to Richard and me and others like us. The message is: “Don’t stick your nose where it doesn’t belong.” And: “Don’t you dare show anything other than a glorious celebration under preparation for the benefit of all.”

And it means that I can’t go back to Russia at the moment. Certainly not before the World Cup is past, and maybe not even then. It doesn’t matter that I’m equally critical of developments in my own country, or wherever I might see them in the world. It doesn’t matter that I’ve been connected to Russia – willingly – for two decades. There is no nuance or subtlety or wiggle room. The authorities have targeted me as anti-Russian, and I’m not sure there’s anything I can do about it.

I find these developments chilling indeed.