Voices from Russia and Ukraine resisting nationalism

Today we Ukrainians are not only at war with Vladimir Putin’s regime, but we also have problems with the Russian opposition. On March 3, Dmitry Bykov, a Russian poet, a critic of Putin, whom I love and respect, gave an interview on Ukraine and its future. And it would be a really great interview, were it not for one small detail.

Speaking of Russia’s future, Bykov argues that what is happening is an absolute novelty, but it does not mark the end of Russian history. In his opinion, this is only the end of the “Muscovite” phase of Slavic history. Quoting Russian philosopher and sociologist Igor Chubajs, Bykov claims that Moscow has failed in its Russian state-building role. And he adds that he has never faced this task even within the entire Slavic world: because Moscow is unable to free itself from its aggression, linked to its historical roots.

Then Bykov predicts that the Ukrainian phase will now begin, or kievana (with reference to Kievan Rus’, the union of the Eastern Slavs of medieval times), of Slavic history. And he adds that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskii has characteristics that go back to that historical period.

I can say one thing about these prophecies: the Ukrainian phase of Slavic history will never begin. Because the Slavs are not only the Ukrainians, the Russians and the Belarusians, but also the Poles, the Czechs, the Slovaks, the Sorbs, the Slovenes, the Serbs, the Croats, the Bulgarians, the Macedonians and the Bosnians and the Montenegrins. Most of them have chosen to stay in the European Union. The Ukrainians are quickly following them, also thanks to Putin’s efforts.

Useless nostalgia
The point is that there is no separate Slavic world. There are two isolated Slavic countries – Russia and Belarus – and then there is the rest of the civilized world, which includes a few European states with a predominantly Slavic population.

Perhaps the “Muscovite” period in Russian history is over. But Kievan Rus’ will not return. And the Slavic world never existed.

We are tired of hearing from Russian liberals that Ukraine is a kind of “better Russia”, a kind of “Russia-two”. And we are fed up with their reproaches: about our mistakes, about the fact that we don’t love Russian culture enough, the Russian language …
It’s as if a poor student who hasn’t done their homework scolds the good one that his good grades aren’t fully deserved, telling him he’ll have to try harder next time.

Even today, with Ukrainians dying under the bombs, Bykov worries that we Ukrainians might indulge in complacency.

The difference between Ukrainians and Russians is not the difference between a poor student and an excellent student. Nor is it the difference between a multi-year fail and a college student. It’s the difference is between two worlds. That this time they will hardly join.

(Translation by Andrea Pipino)

I don’t know when and how what we are now forced to call a special military operation will end. But for me there is another equally important question: How will we Russians live from now on? Who stayed here, like me and my wife.

Because, by the way, if until yesterday staying was still part of the field of personal choices, now, by now, leaving is almost impossible. The borders are not officially closed, but all Aeroflot flights, for example, are canceled.

But that’s not the point.

Our country, the one we have lived in in recent years, is no longer there.

Everything has already been said about the inevitable economic problems, the falling standard of living, militarization, the intensification of repression, and so on. And the worst thing – the loss of life – too. But there are still two things.

Since the early 1990s, hundreds of thousands, millions of people have begun to build a new country. The entry of foreign companies into our market did not happen by magic, but through a long series of negotiations and agreements that resulted in the entry of world brands into Russia. The independent media were not born with a decree from the president: it took years to bring them to life. THE shuttles (those who commuted to resell goods bought abroad in Russia) did not leave the scene alone: ​​normal commercial networks took their place thanks to a lot of work and the determination of many. Like everything else. But overnight everything has dissolved and we find ourselves with a handful of flies, as in fairy tales, when the spell ends. And the situation will get worse.

In late Soviet times, there was no shortage of intrigue, however the mechanisms to ensure survival worked, such as, for example, the subway. Those mechanisms have long since disappeared and the old ones are now being destroyed before our eyes at unimaginable speed. And with them the life we ​​were used to will go too: computers, cars, shopping without having to queue.

But there is also another problem that no one is talking about yet.

In a country there are people of various kinds. There are those who read and think, those who want to help others and those who like to scratch other people’s cars with a nail. In a normal society the latter are kept in check, either through the deterrent of a punishment or by the hand of the current morality that makes them understand that, if they do or say a certain thing, they will find themselves on the margins, they will be excluded, they will lose respect for the others.

As each system attempts to leverage who is in tune with it, various people at various times in history become the basis of the system and emerge. Here, the car scarers have smelled that their time has come. The new system – new, which however has kept the previous administration – will count on them, will make them the right people, the national glue, the bearers of spirituality and patriotism. To tell the truth, their vision of the world has long been reflected on state television, where however, to make propaganda, they were simply paid and interested people, but these are in good faith. They believe in everything: enemies, conspiracies and, of course, victory. They will be encouraged, promoted, and their pranks, such as massacres and beatings of potentially suspicious people, will be looked upon with indulgence. We will live in a country where they will be the ones to dictate the law.

And how are we going to live with all of this and all of them? Without information channels, without social networks, with closed borders? With the threat of going to jail for that word that we cannot but utter? And how will we continue to fight for that Russia that we want to see, the one that, as Catherine the Great said, “is a European state”?

Sorry, all these questions still lack an answer: we will look for it.

(Translation by Alessandra Bertuccelli)