Vladimir Voinovich: If Putin won’t stop, this will end in heaps of corpses

A well-known Russian writer and public figure has condemned the Kremlin’s aggression in Ukraine.

In an interview to Radio Svaboda Vladimir Voinovich expressed his opinion about people who approve former crimes against their own nation, and encourage new ones.

“Long ago I felt an urge to [say that], but now after I saw all these talk shows, by Solovyov, Mamontov, Kiselyov’s “Izvestiya”, after I listened to it, and watched it… Previously they invited the opposite side at least, though it always lost, - Vladimir Voinovich says. – Every time the odds were in favour of those who like Stalin and this way of ruling the country. And recently it has become an acute problem, and there was the only one type of people there. I watch this and I am simply astonished: they lie, and they all know they lie. They lie in throat to each other, and they support each other, they play along with each other. Besides, they do not understand what they are saying. For instance, they speak about Ukraine and say: it’s a fraternal nation, we are going to come to their assistance. And at the same time another person says: there is no fraternal nation there, Ukraine is not a country at all, Ukrainians are not a [separate] nation.”

The writer has attracted attention to conflicting statements of Russian politicians, who name Ukrainians “a fraternal nation” and at the same time urge to divide their country between their neighbours.

“Immediately they say, let’s us take the entire Ukraine, not speaking about Donetsk and Luhansk – it goes without saying – let’s take it up to Lviv,” – he reminded. “Besides, Zhirinovsky promised Poles to give them a part of Ukraine. So it’s a strange love. I watched this and understood that while at the beginning I thought that things will come right, more or less. But now I see things will not come right, Russia has done much harm to itself. I am simply making an appeal, I understand there is no use appealing to reason or to conscience, but the common sense tells: well, you are indifferent to the fate of Ukraine, just think about your own country, if you are drawing your country into a great war, and there is such a risk that we are involving into a great war, and moreover, we are drawing the whole world in fact, as it smells of the third world war. People have started to talk about it. I thought: how these people could do that… And the wide masses are captured by an arrogant certainty of an easy victory, acting as if the victory were already in the bag. They say 86% of population support Putin, though I do not know whether it is true. I think this figure should have fallen inevitably, I think it will shrink.”

Vladimir Voinovich believes that supporters of the merger of a part of Ukraine with Russia are doomed for disappointment.

“It will happen so as I think Russia would not seize Luhansk and Donetsk, and local “freedom fighters” are going to be greatly resentful about Russia and disillusioned about president Putin,” he said. “Besides, there would be disenchantment on this side as well, as very many people in Russia want it like that: Donetsk, Luhansk, go it!

If our authorities will not venture on that, there will be a great disappointment here in Russia, great disappointment there [in Donetsk], and all this senseless commotion, which we have already seen. This commotion is senseless, but in either case it is to end by heaps of corpses.”