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Passers-by in Davos look at a portrait at the »House of Russian War Crimes«
Photo: GIAN EHRENZELLER / EPA
In the "House of Russian War Crimes" in Davos, political dignitaries, cameramen and human rights activists huddle skin to skin when Oksana Krysanova steps up to the microphone.
The hands of the petite 29-year-old doctor are shaking with excitement.
Now it's her turn, now she's supposed to report what the Russian military did in their hospital in Mariupol: the city that the Russians turned into a rubble field.
At previous Davos meetings, this building was the Russian House.
Here in "Schneider's Restaurant" - where in normal times chocolate croissants, Älpler Magronen and mince täschli with mashed potatoes Seeli are served - every year Russian politicians presented themselves, Russian businessmen made deals, Russian parties were celebrated.
Today there are photos of dead people in plastic bags, dead bodies in the street and a statue of Jesus with one of Christ's arms hanging from the cross.
A video showing scenes from more than 4,600 suspected Russian war crimes is shown on a larger-than-life screen.
And Ukrainians report what the invaders have done.
Oksana Krysanova tells about her hospital in Mariupol: first of all, electricity, gas, water went out, then all connections with the outside world.
When she reports how a seriously injured, heavily pregnant woman and her unborn baby died in front of her eyes on her ward, her voice breaks, and some of the audience have tears in their eyes.
Then, according to Krysanova, the Russians captured the hospital and set up a military post there.
"They shelled a residential area - and every vehicle that approached the hospital." When Krysanova has told everything, she has to get out of the room, come down.
While Russian participants were uninvited from the World Economic Forum this year, Ukrainians are very present.
Other participants travel to the Swiss Alps to network, to thread the next mega deal.
Krysanova and her compatriots have come to organize support for their country, which Vladimir Putin denies the right to exist: networking against death.
There is Fedir Serdiuk, for example, who introduces himself at a reception on the first evening.
He briefly tells about the company he founded, which actually offers first aid training for companies and is now bringing this knowledge to the front in Ukraine.
Then Serdiuk comes to his real concern: he is an adviser to the finance minister and wants to ask for more help.
Which of the business representatives present has so much influence on the federal government that it is worth talking to?
Anastasia Radina, Chairwoman of the Anti-Corruption Committee in the Ukrainian Parliament, also has a clear mission.
For years she has been campaigning for the bribery of politicians and the judiciary, which has been rampant in the past, to be pushed back in her country.
She knows that German politicians also have "the narrative of Ukraine as a corrupt country" in their heads, says Radina.
This is a mistake, and she fears it will hamper willingness to help her country with arms.
"It's a cheap excuse to say Ukraine is corrupt."
From Radina's point of view, the fight against corruption is a success story.
It is no coincidence that Putin mentioned her committee in one of his war speeches.
"He's punishing us." In fact, Putin is afraid that a movement could emerge in Russia that would overthrow the corrupt system.
And then there's Natalie Jaresko.
She was once Ukraine's finance minister, is a co-founder of a private equity firm and, as a native American with Ukrainian roots, has also worked for the US government.
Now Jaresko is sitting in the "Ukrainian House" on Davos Dorf-Promenade and, despite all her experience, seems very restless.
It's hard to concentrate while people are dying in Ukraine, she says.
But when it comes to the question of what to expect from the World Economic Forum, Jaresko doesn't have to think twice.
The meeting is a good opportunity to change the view of the situation in Ukraine, she says.
"This is a war that will affect the world."
Jaresko now lists various effects of the war that reach far beyond her homeland.
There are car parts previously produced in the Ukraine that are now missing from German manufacturers.
Chemicals at the Mariupol steel plant attacked by Russia, which Jaresko says could reach the Mediterranean Sea.
Above all, however, it is the slump in exports of wheat and other foods from Ukraine that are likely to lead to serious crises in developing countries.
"Putin is forcing the poorest people to starve," says Jaresko.
Hero worship doesn't help them
Russia isn't just a threat to us: that's probably the most important argument the Ukrainians made in Davos.
Above all, concerns about food crises are well received, says Jaresko.
Nevertheless, she distrusts the declarations of solidarity.
In the West, people like to praise the heroism of President Selenskyi, who spoke to the Davos community via video on Monday.
But even with sanctions against Russia, many are inconsistent.
As evidence, Jaresko has printed out a list of companies that continue to do business in Russia.
From Germany, among others, Bayer, Bosch and Daimler are on it.
The contrast between the situation at home and the
business as usual
of the others isn't just a problem for Jaresko.
Despite the popular political debates, Davos is a meeting place for business people, where old industrialists have a good time in a cocktail atmosphere and exhilarated crypto dealers discuss the next party.
In addition, everything is discussed here in detail - including the question of whether one should not carefully separate between the war criminal Putin and the Russian population.
When this question was raised during a discussion, another Ukrainian parliamentarian spoke up.
What happened to the soldier who raped a two-year-old child, she asks in a trembling voice.
"It's Russian, isn't it?"
Shortly thereafter, Yuriy Vitrenko, head of the Ukrainian group Naftogaz, stands up in the audience.
He, too, demands that the West must impose tougher sanctions on Russia and not lose any more time.
And then he expresses a suspicion that many compatriots are likely to harbor: "When people discuss different options, it's an excuse for them not to do anything."