Homeowners in Djursholm and Stocksund know why construction workers and cleaners are cheap, according to the Russian journalist and author.
But they don't care, they look the other way.
She herself lives in Djursholm – but in an apartment. To be able to write the book, she rented a room at an illegal hostel in Haninge and said she worked as a cleaner.
Putin critic Liza Alexandrova-Zorina was recently classified as a foreign agent in Russia. If she returns there, she will be arrested.
In the book, she portrays Russians, Ukrainians, and Uzbeks who have paid illegal human smugglers, bought fake identities, and even fake jobs. A Muslim Uzbek has been severely tortured in his home country. Many are undocumented, but not all. Some are being deceived – and for those who find work, a low-paid drudgery without rights awaits in many cases. A few of them have become radicalized.
As an author, I wanted to show this world from the inside, everything else Swedish journalists can do. But to show how these people live, how they are exploited, how their lives look – that I could do.
Clash
When she hears a case of domestic violence through the hostel's thin walls, she threatens to call the police. Liza Alexandrova-Zorina thinks she has ended up in the Russian worker writer Maxim Gorky's depiction of "outcasts" at the bottom of society.
Swedes ask me why these people keep coming here? Some can't return home because of war – like in Ukraine. There is high unemployment in their home countries, plus they have indebted themselves to come here. They can't return without money.
Artur – one of the residents – is renovating Spotify owner Daniel Ek's house in Old Djursholm and takes her there. The electrical outlets are made of marble, according to Artur, who tells her that each toilet costs as much as a car. The construction workers gape – here, "hundreds of millions" are being spent, but Liza Alexandrova-Zorina finds nothing illegal.
There is crime in this world, there are dangerous people, I wanted to show that not even the most expensive villa in Sweden and an owner who is extremely rich is protected from a strange man from an illegal hostel.
Nuances
In the end, she reveals who she is, but she never confronts the hostel owner. The last thing she wants is to throw the residents out on the street.
I want to add nuances. If there is crime in this world, there is also a responsibility on Swedish homeowners and construction companies.
Born: 1984 on the Kola Peninsula, near Murmansk. Grew up 20 miles from the Finnish border.
Lives: In an apartment in Djursholm.
Family: Married to the Swedish playwright and author Dmitri Plax. They have a son together.
Occupation: Writes regularly for Sydsvenskan and Svenska Dagbladet. Her first book about the Russian parallel society in Sweden, "Imperiets barn", was published in 2023.
Background: Has lived in Sweden since 2021. In Moscow, she worked for the human rights organization Team 29, which is now banned.
About Putin and Trump:
- They are two dangerous people. Now Trump is playing on the Kremlin's side, but he and Putin can't sit close to each other, they are too alike. I don't know what will happen, it's quite depressing.
