“Ukraine will survive and be European”, Russian writer Viktor Shenderovich is convinced. “I cannot name a date, but we are in the period of the collapse of the Russian empire. Russia will pay with money and blood for its criminal childishness,” he added, quoted by “Mother well“.
DV: The war in Ukraine has been going on for more than eight months. How long are the Russians willing to put up with it?
Viktor Shenderovich: Obviously long because the situation is clogged. At the same time, it is mostly mentally stuck: when it is said that the Russians support the war, it should not be understood that millions of Russians support the killing of children, etc. They live in a parallel reality – under the conditions of continuous, skilful and powerful propaganda.
Vladimir Putin’s supporters have a completely different view of reality. In it, Russia opposes “Ukrainian Nazism” and the invasion of “transgenders”. In short, the bad things in the West. We are at war with the West, we defend our values and the enemy ring around us is tightening: people are stuck in these thought patterns. Political support in a free country is different from what we see in Russia: there is the Stockholm syndrome, and things are closer to hysteria in North Korea or joyful hysteria at the appearance of the “Fuhrer”.
Because of this illumination from the head it does not emerge. And apparently, stomach cleansing is not expected either. I can’t say at what point the amount of dramatic life changes will affect the consciousness of the Russians, but if it doesn’t happen through the head or through the stomach, it will have to happen through the destruction of the landscape.
DV: The enforced mobilization has met with serious resistance. Won’t this change the mood in Russia?
Shenderovich: If there were free media and political competition – yes, but since there isn’t, the irritation deepens and plunges the country into Stockholm syndrome. Millions of people are forced to convince themselves that everything is fine, that the sacrifices are worth it, that it must be endured.
Russia is locked in an enemy ring – I’ve felt it since I was a child and unfortunately it’s back in an extremely persistent and very effective way. I must say that Putin’s propaganda is more effective than the Soviet one: today’s times must not be compared to his late stagnation and crumbling ideology, but rather to the 1940s in Germany, as the war is already underway.
DV: And yet: why did people in Russia turn out to be so susceptible to this propaganda, why did they become hostages of the regime?
Shenderovich: What happened on February 24th is a historical tragedy, but it is a tragedy especially for Russia. Because Ukraine as a country will survive and be European. And nothing good awaits Russia: she will have to rebuild, pay reparations, she will be rejected by the world. She will pay with money, lives and blood for her criminal childishness during the Putin years. The Russians have not yet realized this, but they will surely begin to realize it.
I cannot name a date, but we are in the period of the collapse of the Russian Empire: this dramatic and tragic collapse is already a fact. If it lasts six months or a year, it will result in a number of deaths. If it lasts for decades, the amount will be completely different. The question is how long and how bloody this process will be.
DV: We all know who started the war, but why isn’t there a single person in the upper echelons of power to stand up and say this is a crime?
Shenderovich: If we use historical analogies, why does everyone expect someone like Gorbachev to change things from within? There is no such person in Russia today, we are talking about bandits here. Putin has surrounded himself with people who are loyal to him. It is a tumor that devours the remaining living cells. He will die, sure, but unfortunately with the organism.
The collapse of Russia, the political destruction of Putin’s Russia today, the heavy and visible defeat of Putin is the only possibility for the survival of Russia and Russian civilization. Today, the question is not whether the empire will survive, but whether it will take the entire civilization with it to the grave. The only chance for civilization to survive is Putin’s recent and obvious defeat.
