My country has fallen out of time’: Russian author Mikhail Shishkin’s letter to an unknown Ukrainian
A year after Putin’s invasion, the award-winning novelist reflects on the silence of his compatriots, the betrayal of his mother tongue, and his hopes for the future

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/02/russian-writer-mikhail-shishkin-letter-ukrainian-invasion-anniversary-my-russia-war-peace

Shishkin:

The only way out is to inflict a military defeat on the Putin regime. Therefore, democratic countries must help the Ukrainians with everything they can and, above all, with weapons. After the war, the whole world will come to your aid to reconstruct what has been destroyed, and the country will be able to rebuild itself. And Russia will lie in the ruins of the economy and in the ruins of consciousness. A new birth of my country is possible only through the complete destruction of the Putin regime. The empire must be amputated from the Russian person, like malignant cancer. This “hour zero” is vital for Russia. My country will have a future only if it passes through total defeat, as happened with Germany.

Dmitry Titkov, a former associate of Navalny

There is fascism in Russia today. Most people have no sense of empathy. Absolutely do not trust Russians who come to your countries with money because they leave Russia not because they are persecuted or there is no democracy there, but because they realise that the Russian ship has sunk. I and people like me are seen as traitors and extremists in Russia, even among Russian liberals. My mother wants no contact with me and has cursed me out.

The conclusion is that only if a person is against the regime, only if they have real compassion and respect for other people, do they have the right to accept compassion from you. It is a question of an individual approach. Russia and the Russian people must go through the same process that Germany went through - that is, complete denazification.

I still believe that Russia must die.

Something new and good can rise from the ruins of the empire - perhaps if Navalny is not assassinated, he will be at the forefront of this process.

During this transitional period, Russia will pay back reparations, give back territory, and give those nations that want to secede a chance. Then it will take a very long time to restore normal relations with all its neighbours.

The Russians must go it alone.

Now I work as a dishwasher in a hotel in northern Sweden. I rode the train with two girls who escaped from Kharkiv before the Russian bombings. They are closer to me than any of the Russians, and when I listened to them, I was ready to go and kill Russian soldiers myself. Although I might have turned out to be an idiot like them in 1994 when there was a war in Chechnya and I miraculously missed it. Russia is a curse that has afflicted many nations, and we still can't get rid of it, even after the collapse of the USSR.

I will not go fight in this war on the Ukrainian side simply because I will not be of much use there. So if you want to help someone - help the Ukrainians, they deserve it. And the Russians have to go on their own until the end of the road they created themselves. And if they experience an epiphany, they will understand why they are not loved.

Too bad that too few people, including those outside Muscovia, share their sentiment that Muscovia must be utterly defeated and made to eat shit (i.e., no face-saving. Muscovians can't look to the civilized world offering an umpteenth "second" chance without penalties or conditions, and all will be well).

There is no such thing as de- putinisation, that is a phantasy. This system is 300 years old. The problem is not just Putin he is a product of this absolutist socio-economic system, not an anomaly. The problem is the Russian empire. The problem is systemic and much larger than Putin. Russia is our enemy and must be dealt with accordingly. There is no realistic way to pause the war. Putin and his regime must go, now. The war goes far beyond kinetic actions. Russia attacks against the free world have been ongoing since decades day after day, with cyberwarfare, energy warfare, and by shooting down civilian jets and then lying about it. A pause is useless, because this pattern of escalation won't stop. A pause will collapse the Russian Federation at this stage as its economy is faltering, the only thing that is still produced is weaponry. The system can't be fixed, it must be broken. The Russian regime must go, the Russian empire must go, the Russian regime must answer for its crimes. Justice for Ukraine and the world is what we need. A trial against the perpetrators. The children must be brought back. Ukraine's sovereignty restored. Hundreds of billions in reparations must be paid by Russia. We have attempted to box these clowns in the Kremlin in for decades, what have we gotten? Incinerated cities from Grosny, to Alleppo, Holms and Mariupol. Lies, piled on lies. Insults, threats, war, genocide in Ukraine, threats of invasion, actual invasion. Putin refuses to even accept that Ukraine is real, peace with this delusional maniac on his terms is a mistake.

Between the West and the Russian regime no co existence feasible. Iron isolation that is what will await Russia. Your ideas would result in Putin eroding democracies further, it would also prove how spineless and cowardly we really are. In a couple of years, in several European capitals fascists will rule and then we created a calamity of epic proportions. All our words, threats and warnings would turn into a clown circus in that room where Putin gets Ukraine on a silver platter.

We need peace through superior firepower and strength, dictated to Russia not dictated by Russia. Compromises with this mass murderer have been tried and have failed. We are negotiating with Russia. The negotiations are ongoing. Talking to Russia is useless. Russian officials are lying all the time. Your suggestion would have maybe worked in 2021. In mid 2024 this totalitarian regime has gone way too far. Any peace in which Ukraine isn't fully restored is a a brittle peace. A massive win for China, Russia etc. and a historical and crushing defeat for the West and for Ukraine. Ukraine cannot be made into fortress unless its territory is restored. The West won’t pump money and resources into a dysfunctional country with no access to secure shipping lanes. Ukraine would then also be depopulated, another 10 million or so would flee, that would leave Ukraine factually emptied of a viable amount of skilled labor.

The war won't end as long as Russia insists on the regions it has annexed and which it doesn't even control. Giving them those regions on the green table is political suicide and stupid beyond measure. Realpolitik will prevent this from happening.

I mean who the hell do the Russians actually think we are? From every angle a peace with Russia on Russian terms is a moral, legal, political, economic and military failure beyond measure.

Negotiations with Russia are very unrealistic. Russia has nothing to offer to the West. We cannot make another deal with the devil. This war ends without a negotiated settlement and with some sort of brittle ceasefire. The war with Russia and its allies will continue for decades. Because our system and the Russian one are completely incompatible.

The most feasible way is to aim for the dissolution of the Russian Empire. The graveyard of empires awaits Russia since 1917. For the sake of future generations in Ukraine, Russia and elsewhere this outdated, politically and economically backward Russian empire must become a thing for the history books.