Wladimir Kaminer has been living in Germany for many years. He has retained a critical view of his home country of Russia.
Berlin – The writer Wladimir Kaminer (“Russian disco”) currently sees an international threat in his former homeland of Russia.
“Russia is currently a major threat to European security and world peace,” said Kaminer of the German Press Agency in Berlin.
“It’s a big issue in my environment and people are very concerned because they can better understand what’s going on in Putin’s head,” said the 54-year-old, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “In a situation where the political personnel cannot be voted out, it can certainly happen that this political personnel, in our case just a man, then develops a life of its own with some political goals that are no longer in the interests of his country, his people or serve the prosperity of his society.”
The writer, who was born in Moscow and lives in Germany, criticized that European politicians were not really interested in the problems in Ukraine. “All of Europe must deal with this man’s problems for the sake of peace. That sounds crazy, but that’s how it is.”
“Putin has described the fall of the Soviet Union as the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century, a greater catastrophe than World War II in his view,” said Kaminer. “We are all witnesses to an attempt to turn back the wheel of history by hand.”
He called for a more consistent approach. “Putin does not get a clear and unequivocal answer from European countries, from the world public opinion.” The announced sanctions cannot be seen as a serious answer. “I would immediately accept Ukraine into NATO, absolutely. You now have to use almost every mechanism that still works, that still has some sort of effect.”
Kaminer spoke of a “strange feeling” in his circle of Russian-born acquaintances. “Our propaganda has always told us what to do when your homeland is in danger. But if your homeland attacks other countries, my compatriots were not prepared for that.” It is very important “that we get a clear picture of what is actually going on, especially in the face of such a tsunami of misinformation. I see my task as an artist as being to describe this as clearly as possible.” dpa
