posting the YouTube link which is the full interview. They are both unbelievably courageous and so inspiring! It was heartwarming to see him looking so healthy.

He is incredibly brave and I certainly support his working for freedoms for his people, I just hope that he remains abroad in his efforts. And you're right, he looks so well now and I certainly want him to stay active - and well...

I visited the former USSR with my grandmother and the wonderful peace group that she joined, it's a beautiful country and the people we met were friendly and welcoming, pleased to meet Americans, but I would never return there now under the murderous Putin.

to them for hours. What a treasured experience to have visited USSR with your grandmother! 😊 My cousin visited USSR on a sports medicine exchange and she told me they too had a welcoming experience. One interesting thing she said was the students they met wanted to buy the jeans they were wearing from them.

My grandmother moved South to a retirement community in NC and this was their first visit to their "sister town" 2 1/2 hours up in the Caucasus Mountains. They needed 17 to make the trip and some would sign up and then drop out, so my grandmother asked me. It really was the trip of a lifetime, the others were experienced travelers and dedicated to peace and I loved them all though most were several decades older than me. And we had wonderful guides, too - both an American guide (who spoke several languages) and a lovely guide from Moscow who was with us for the whole trip - and then we had city guides as well.

We met with other peace groups who were truly dedicated to peace since they suffered so terribly during WWII fought on their own land and never wanted it to happen again. There were statues and plaques dedicated to peace everywhere. But then this was under Gorbachev who had instituted more progressive policies. My heart goes out to the people who must be suffering terribly now due to Putin's war.

wonderful trip! It is so sad to think of their desire and dedication to peace efforts and what they are now contending with.

But there were small museums all over, including in schools, to teach the children the history that terrible war, so that it would never happen again. I still remember one older woman who was part of a peace group who had been a nurse during WWII. And she said, "Please, when you go back, tell your president that we want peace."

about the Siege of Leningrad! My dad was a battlefield medic in WW II and his unit helped liberate Buchenwald. He would be aghast that our country elected and then reelected a man who openly and childishly admires and emulates Putin. Thank you again for sharing. We need more stories of peace efforts.

And of course there were numerous efforts calling for peace there. And we were told about their experiences during WWII there which called for bravery among the horrors. Kudos to your brave Dad! Wow! My Dad served in the Navy, was the radio operator on the U.S.S. Ranger aircraft carrier, but he was only 13 when WWII started and my grandmother said she was always grateful for that.

And of those in my grandmother's/my peace group, I believe there's only myself and one lady left since the rest of the group were already senior citizens at the time - late 1980s. And though the current citizens of Russia must hate Putin's war which has killed so many, but apparently if they try to protest, like they did in the beginning, they're subject to being imprisoned.

planes landing on aircraft carriers! Think of what that was like for your dad to be a part of that first hand! I have been part of freely protesting at various stages of my life and can’t fathom what it would be like to participate while risking beating and/or imprisonment. I was in high school in the mid sixties and the news footage of the barbaric treatment of civil rights protesters in the South frightened me and at the same time I was amazed at the sheer bravery and courage in the face of brutality. Thanks again for sharing your experience. I really enjoyed reading your posts!😊