“I am a socialist. But not a communist,” he says about himself. “I’m definitely not a liberal. And I think that liberalism is a mortal danger for Russia,” he points out to make it clear what can be expected from him.
Maxim Shevchenko is watched and listened to by hundreds of thousands of people in Russia and beyond its borders. It provides a rare opportunity to look into the thinking of a Russian intellectual, who takes a harshly critical stance towards Western society, but also towards the regime of Vladimir Putin.
He condemns the murders of opposition leaders Boris Nemtsov and Alexei Navalny, but also accuses the West of similar crimes. As one of the few commentators living in Russia, he is willing to give an interview to a journalist from a country on Russia’s enemy list.
Among other things, we asked:
- What does Putin’s repressive regime have to do with Jan Žižka?
- Why does Russia not understand that decolonization is taking place in Ukraine?
- Why does Russia need to share its guilt with the West?
How to dance on the thinnest journalistic ice
You are, among other things, a journalist. How can you run a profession that requires a free environment in today’s Russia?
It’s a war, so it’s hard. But we still do not live in the totalitarian era represented by the communist era, when society was forced into ideological solidarity. We now live in a post-ideological era. Because elitist status and money play a far greater role than ideology.
No fascism or communism or liberalism as we knew it in the 20th century. All we have left are huge corporations of multinational proportions.
Putin’s regime does not require any ideological complicity from you? I thought so…
No no. Ideological solidarity is not required, but you must respect certain rules. For example, I do not insult Vladimir Putin. I met him several times.
How did he affect you?
I would say that
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Tags: Putin wanted war wrong late famous Russian commentator
