#2
Government Paper Cites Critic of 'Anti-Western Spirit' in Russia
Rossiyskaya Gazeta
9 January 2002
[translation for personal use only]
Interview with Russian emigre writer Vasiliy Aksenov by Vitaliy Dymarskiy under "The Russian West" rubric; date, place not given: "Vasiliy Aksenov: 'If It Had Not Been for the Act of Terrorism, I Would Have Retired'"

The writer has already appeared in Rossiyskaya Gazeta, hot on the heels of the tragic events of 11 September. Almost four months have passed since then -- a sufficient period for at least an initial reflection on what happened. That is where our conversation with Aksenov began.

[Dymarskiy] People say that those terrorist actions changed the world. What changes have you noticed?

[Aksenov] As far as Russia is concerned, in my view it is Putin who has changed. And if those events did affect him, that characterizes him very well. It means that he is not simply a calculating individual but is susceptible to human feelings like sympathy with another country and with other people.

At the same time we have also seen some quite cynical approaches to the situation, moreover from a completely unexpected quarter. From the Russian Orthodox Church, for example. Judging from press reports, certain speakers at the recent synod tried to point the finger back at the West by saying that it was to blame for the tragedy because it had engendered terrorism. That is utterly absurd.

I was struck by the way that the Russian people, who are subjected to powerful conditioning in an anti-Western spirit, moreover by some of the nation's smartest people, showed sincere solidarity and proved to be much closer to the natural flow of things than might have been expected. Even now all those wise men of a Eurasian bent in Russia are trying to extinguish the renewed sympathy that has emerged for the West by trying to instill in them the ludicrous theory of Eurasian dominance.

My view is that Russia could very easily become a part of Eurasia, but by no means could it become the leading part. The fact is that Russia is in Eurasia's backwoods, servicing it with its manpower and mineral resources, but that's all. Russia is hardly going to be capable of holding its own and surviving among those perfidious Asian giants, so it has only one way to go, and that is to the West. Strangely enough, when the 11 September tragedy came along it really did open up new prospects. The fact is that, not only have we never fought against the States, but at critical moments in history we have actually always been together.

[Dymarskiy] The events of 11 September have so far given mainly politicians and military people food for thought and for conclusions of some kind. But where are the writers, the artists, the film-makers, the theater?

[Aksenov] You know, a lot of writers like to flaunt their independence and make paradoxical pronouncements. For example, one well-known American colleague came to Europe and, evidently eager to impress some gathering, came out with all kinds of nonsense, saying that we Americans were the guilty ones, that we had bombed and killed so many people and were now getting what was coming to us. New Republic magazine even publishes his utterances under the rubric "Looking After Cretins".

As far as serious literature is concerned, the tragic events and their consequences will of course find reflection in it, but I am not about to predict when that will happen.

In the cinema these nightmares have already been portrayed a thousand times, but the reality has proved much more intense and terrible than the fantasies. Although I am confident that Hollywood and mass culture generally will play around with it some more.

To be honest, I had pretty much had enough of America altogether. I was fed up with it. Even before 11 September I was thinking of resigning from the university. Not that I was going to make a demonstrative break from teaching work; I was just going to kind-of drift out of it. But the events that took place showed me an aspect of this nation that made me suddenly realize that Americans are very dear to me. That does not mean that I have suddenly fallen in love with their dreadful mass culture or their weird way of selling books. It is simply that we have been shown the profound meaning of this country, which is surprisingly important to mankind if it still wants to achieve something.

[Dymarskiy] What is your forecast for 2002 for relations between Russia and the West?

[Aksenov] I am not about to make forecasts, because I have serious fears concerning the situation around Putin. It seems to me that he himnself sincerely wants rapprochement with the West and realizes that Russia has no alternative to taking that path. And that could do him a lot of harm. Moreover our intellectual circles have, unfortunately, failed to understand the need to support the president in that area. It needs to be said plainly that we have no alternative. Otherwise we will be trampled by all those behemoths from the south.