Ukraine will win the war started by Russia on its territory, and the republics will leave the Russian Federation, Russian writer Mykhailo Shishkin predicts in an interview for Guardian that Russians are ashamed to speak their language abroad because of the Russian regime, which is the main enemy of Russian culture. At the same time, he believes that even if Putin is gone someday, Russia will still be ruled by dictators who will be supported by the West.

• “I am very optimistic about Ukraine. I am sure they will win this war. And I am very pessimistic about the future of Russia. I don’t think it will be a democratic, wonderful, beautiful country. One day Putin will be gone, and then we will see a huge power struggle. The collapse of the Russian Empire will continue; all these national republics will leave the Russian Federation. Siberia will go. I think we will have new dictators, and the West will support them, because they promise to take control of nuclear weapons, and Russian history will bite its tail again,” said writer Mykhailo Shushkin, who has lived in exile in Switzerland since 1995.

The writer believes that after the war there will be great hatred between Ukrainians and Russians, and bridges between them will be built only through “culture, civilization, literature and music.”

The annexation of Crimea turned Russians into Eugene Ionescu’s “rhino”.

Shishkin, who characterizes Putin’s regime as a “criminal regime”, says that twenty years ago, Russian writers gathered for a literary festival in Ukraine, but everything changed after the annexation of Crimea.

• “We were all together in Kyiv at the literary festival – writers and poets who write in Russian in Ukraine. And I had the feeling that we are finally building a future Russian culture where mutual understanding is important. And then there was the annexation of Crimea, and I saw how the people with whom I was sitting at the table shouted: “Crimea is ours! Crimea is ours!” It was like his famous play [Eugène] Ionesco “Rhinoceros”, in which people turn into rhinoceroses. It was not possible to talk to them. It was impossible to talk to my brother, who lives in Moscow. So we became strangers. In Russian culture, there is something like a civilization gap between us. I understand why people who don’t read the books support this war. But it is impossible for me to explain why cultured people support this war,” said the writer.

Will Russia push the red button for Putin?

Shishkin says that Putin would have pressed the red button, but he does not believe that the Russians will follow him and will no longer carry out the order, because the head of the Kremlin has become a “false tsar”.

• “Putin has the psychology of all dictators. If I leave this world, the world must go with me.” They have no empathy. They don’t like people. They hate people. And I’m sure they’ll push the red button. But no one will carry out his order to destroy the Earth. No one. And do you know why? Because in Russia the main question is not the same as in the classic Russian literature of the 19th century: who is to blame? What shall I do? No, the main question is: the real Tsar or a fake? And you can prove you’re real by winning the war. Stalin killed millions of people, but he is loved by the population. Gorbachev was loved in the West, but he lost the war in Afghanistan and the Cold War against the West. [Deci] despised Putin’s generals told him that they would take Kyiv in three days, but he miscalculated. He failed. And now he is a false king. No one will fulfill the order of the liar.”

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Mykhailo Shishkin: Neither NATO nor Ukraine can “deputize” Russia. The only ones who can do it are the Russians / Attempts to democratize Russia have failed in the past