Is Putin the Disease or Just a Symptom?: Writing against the War

In his new book, "My Russia: War or Peace?", Mikhail Shishkin argues that Russia is not a "riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma"; we just don’t know enough about it. So, what is the real story behind Putin’s autocratic regime and its invasion of Ukraine?

In "My Russia: War or Peace?" Shishkin traces the roots of Russia’s problems, from the "Kievan Rus" via the Grand Duchy of Moscow, empire, revolution and Cold War, to the now thirty-year-old Russian Federation. He explores the uneasy relationship between state and citizens, explains Russian attitudes to people’s rights and democracy, and proposes that there are really two Russian peoples: the disillusioned and disaffected, who suffer from "slave mentality," and those who embrace "European" values and try to stand up to oppression.

Born in 1961 in Moscow, Shishkin is one of the most prominent names in contemporary Russian literature, and is the only author to have won all three major Russian Literary Prizes.

Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies | View More Events
Co-hosted with: Princeton Institute for International & Regional Studies, Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies (OWNER)

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