The author writes:

• “In 2022, the anniversary of the victorious ‘August Revolution of 1991’ in Russia brings only bitter disappointment that descends into depression. In 31 years, the country has taken the unimaginable trajectory from young democracy to full-blown fascism.”
• “All the mechanisms of representative government have been destroyed. The results of elections are written by a computer according to a preset algorithm. The independent judiciary has been destroyed. The independent press has been destroyed. Opposition members are being arrested and poisoned with chemical weapons. A reign of terror is functioning all over the country.”
• “The cycles of Russian history run from a ruler's accession to the throne until his death. Putin is sick, he looks terrible and he is not going to live forever.”
• “As the famous Russian literary scholar Dmitry Likhachev used to say, ‘In Russia one must live long.’ Likhachev knew what he was talking about. He was a prisoner of Stalin's camps in the 1920s, but he saw democracy in Russia in the 1990s.”

Read the full article at The Moscow Times.

This item is part of Russia Matters’ “Clues from Russian Views” series, in which we share what newsmakers in/from Russia are saying on Russia-related issues that impact key U.S. national interests so that RM readers can glean clues about their thinking.

The opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author. Photo by Ivan Simochkin shared under a Creative Commons license.