SUnder the pen name of Boris Akunin, Grigori Chalvovitch Tchkhartichvili, born in 1956 in Georgia, settled in Moscow at the age of 2, has forged an international reputation as a novelist, historian and essayist. A specialist in Japanese civilization, we owe him in particular a series of ten detective novels featuring Eraste Fandorine, a Moscow policeman at the end of the 19th century.e century, translated in France by the Presses de la Cité. Akunin left Russia following the annexation of Crimea, when he « understood that Russia was becoming a dictatorship and that Putin would never resign”. In exile between France, Spain and England since 2014, Akunin embarked on the pharaonic project of a History of Russia from its creation to the revolution of 1917 in 9 volumes, sold at 2 million copies. He received us in his London salon.
Le Point: Did you have the feeling of the imminence of this war before it broke out?
Boris Akounine: No, it was totally unexpected for me. Two days before, I wrote that I was absolutely sure that there would be no war, that it was just a smokescreen from Putin. I think that’s the biggest misjudgment of my life. I used to think of Putin as a rational being, he no longer is. For the first time, I think that a nuclear war is no longer a Hollywood disaster scenario, but a possibility.
What mistakes has Europe made to arrive at the current situation?
Western Europe’s worst mistake was to underestimate the importance of Ukraine, while Putin has understood it very well since 2014. This importance is that it is a country similar to Russia. If the West had decided to invest in Ukraine, to help it become a prosperous country, if it had brought something like a Marshall Plan to it, then today’s Russians would watch this neighboring state live better better, under a more democratic regime than theirs. Then they could no longer tolerate Putin. The history of West Germany and East Germany would have repeated itself. The GDR fell because the East Germans got tired of seeing that the West Germans lived better. And Putin understood this so well that he did everything he could to turn Ukraine into a failed state. If the annexation of Crimea took place in 2014, it is because an uprising took place in Ukraine in December 2013. The Ukrainians expelled Putin’s puppet, and Putin got scared because he understood that the same thing could happen in Moscow. It’s contagious, and that’s why he started to punish Ukraine, to push it to its limits. That’s how we got to this situation.
What do you think of the comments made by Ukrainian President Zelensky “If we disappear, then it will be Georgia, Moldova, the Baltic countries, Poland… They will go to the Berlin Wall”?
I totally agree. Putin has this idea of recreating the Soviet Union. And obviously he won’t stop on the way, so he has to be stopped.
Putin “is in another world”, as Merkel said?
The man lives in an illusion created by the files submitted to him by those around him. This is what he knows of the world. He does not use the Internet. It works the old-fashioned way, with folders containing supposedly “secret” information. He reads it, therefore he believes it. In fact, he is the puppet of those around him, those who influence his decisions.
Who influences Putin?
These are several branches of the secret services, which compete with each other. It is his administration and other undercurrents in struggle. And there is also the court of his friends, of whom he makes billionaires. Putin leads a very solitary life, the man spends most of his time with his bodyguards, whom he makes governors, sometimes ministers… That’s how he buys this loyalty.
Who are his supporters in Russia?
Apart from the restricted group of its direct beneficiaries, businessmen, civil servants, all corrupt, with a lot of money hidden in offshore accounts or elsewhere, I would say that its main support comes from the political indifference of the majority of people. I say this without blaming them, because it is normal to live day to day without thinking about politics. Especially since if you are not too interested in what is happening in the world, no matter what is served on television, you take it at face value. Now, in Russia, you hear no other opinion. There’s no opposition channel, and all we’ve been talking about for years is that Putin is great, Russia is great, and Ukraine is bad… People agreed these ideas. But now I think that will change.
How would this change be?
This is what is called in Russian “the battle between the TV and the refrigerator”. That is to say, as the TVs are going to be more and more saturated, the refrigerators are going to be more and more empty. This is what happened in the 1980s in the Soviet Union. People had been completely brainwashed, but when the pantries ran empty, they started to get interested in politics. I remember it perfectly. The shops in Moscow emptied, the state was ruined, and at first it was just a few dissidents, then suddenly it exploded with hundreds of thousands of people on the streets.
How to fight an irrational man?
I have always been against sanctions imposed by the West because I have always believed that they should either totally destroy the economy or not exist at all. Anything in between only breeds feelings of resentment.
What do you think of the strategy of seizing the assets of the oligarchs abroad?
I think our stupidity is Putin’s ally. All those oligarchs who hate Putin will run to him once seized with all their remaining money because they will no longer have a choice. However, they should have the choice to leave with Poutine or to remain in the West. I am absolutely sure that 90% of them would very willingly abandon Putin, and that would weaken him. But what we are doing, on the contrary, makes it stronger.
Blocking the Swift system seems sufficient to you?
No, I think we have to look into Putin’s hidden finances. There are hundreds of billions hidden in offshore accounts, accumulated over decades. The problem is that if the West starts scratching, there will certainly be disappointments in the Western camp as well…
What do you think of the rise of Russophobic sentiment in Western countries?
When I look at social media, I see how the West is strengthening the Russian position. The world hates us. We cancel the Russian festivals, like in Paris that of independent cinema in March. We fire our Paralympic team, and even cats are excluded from international feline competitions… It’s not a joke. The West stops granting visas to Russia, starts cutting ties, indiscriminately. Children are bullied at school because they are Russian. And it happens everywhere. But to block Russian culture is to agree with Putin. It’s what he wants, what he needs. It makes him stronger.
Do you think Putin may soon close Russia’s borders?
Yes I think so. I’m sure the Internet will soon be outlawed and the country will become a veritable gulag, with repressions and arrests. They have already arrested more than 7,000 people for anti-war protests in Russia. You know, it takes a lot of courage to go out into the streets and protest. It’s not like the Yellow Vests!
What position should the West take vis-à-vis the Russians?
Politicians and journalists must be very clear that Putin is not Russia. There is “Putin Land” and there is Russia. There are a lot of Russians who are against Putin, and against the war. However, precisely, in order not to abdicate, in order not to give in to blackmail or embark on a potentially nuclear war, the only hope is the Russian people. This is Putin’s weak point. The Russians will overthrow him. It is the only way. You must therefore support these people, and not make them your enemies.