SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Glukhovsky, you have become acquainted with science fiction novels. Why are you dedicating yourself to real Russia in the novel "text"?

Dmitry Glukhovsky: The idea behind "Text" was that today's reality is far more absurd and fantastic than I could imagine. Writing "Metro 2035", I still thought that a social dystopia is the right way to deal with Russia's problems. But since the Crimean crisis, the war in Donbass and Putin's re-election, the situation has become so strange and tragicomic that I need in my books no more fantastic elements. In "Text" I wanted to capture today, as you shot a Polaroid photo in the past. Now it's done with the iPhone - "Text" is therefore an iPhone snapshot of Russia.

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Dmitry Glukhovsky:
text

From the Russian by Franziska dwarf

Europa Verlag, 368 pages, 19.90 euros.

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SPIEGEL ONLINE: Your protagonist Ilja is locked by police arbitrariness for seven years in a prison camp. His mother gives him the following sentence: "The system can not be tricked, but you can make yourself invisible, then you forget it". Who should stay better under the radar?

Glukhovsky: In Russian society there are two castes. In the past, they were created by the ideological division between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Today, the gap is between ordinary people and those who belong to the system: officials, police, intelligence, but also many journalists or the church.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: What does it mean to belong to the system?

Glukhovsky: The employees of this apparatus have all the privileges and enjoy total impunity. They can do and leave what they want. That's why they are free of morality. They do not believe in good and evil, right and wrong, but only in power. Russian police and intelligence can openly lie, steal and kill. In hindsight, they already find a justification. The distinction between those who are allowed to do everything and those who are not allowed to do more and more becomes an ideology.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: What about those who do not belong to the system?

Glukhovsky: Although they are in the majority, there is no guarantee that they will respect their fundamental rights. Not even their right to life is protected. They are punished for every little thing. This location is new to us.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: On the other hand, the protagonist in "text" as a young man from simple circumstances is also not morally honest, he becomes the perpetrator himself.

Glukhovsky: Yes, exactly. First, Ilja creates it without bribery to a good university. But then he gets into a fight with a police officer of the same age at a party. He puts a bag of cocaine under him - and that was it for Ilja. This young person has no chance to protect himself against arbitrariness because the policeman and the court belong to the corrupt system. Therefore, Ilja sees only one way after the penal servant: to take revenge on the one who brought him there. But there is no justice in this system.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Back to reality: What role does Putin play in the whole?

Glukhovsky : A contradictory one : Putin explains to the people on TV values ​​such as trust and loyalty. At the same time, he regularly lies to their faces: he has said that Russia does not want to take the Crimea, and two weeks later she was Russian. Then it was said that there were no Russian soldiers in Donbass, but later it was our men. In the Panama Papers, Putin was accused of corruption; his childhood friend is said to have received two billion euros from Gazprom without any justification and it is obvious that Putin's money is. For Gazprom as a state-owned company, this is quite normal and Putin is apparently aware of no guilt. He has no morals and he likes that.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Did Putin build up the corrupt system or did the corrupt system spawn Putin?

Glukhovsky: In my opinion, Putin promoted and exploited the corrupt system. Corruption is not a disease in Russia but the essence of the system. During the Soviet era, the loyalty of the elite was secured by communist ideology. Meanwhile, we live without ideology for over 25 years. So new ways had to be found to ensure the loyalty of the bureaucrats.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: What are they?

Glukhovsky: First of all, corruption. It is a much more powerful instrument of power than ideology. With ideology you can play something that the individual usually does not feel. A corrupt bureaucrat, on the other hand, has high additional revenues through the bribery, directly related to his position in the power apparatus.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Are not there any disadvantages?

Glukhovsky: Yes, you live in constant fear. Every official is aware that the secret service knows everything about him. As long as he is loyal, nobody will attack him. But the intelligence agencies file records of all offenses, from visiting whores to pedophilia. The can be used if necessary against unpleasant government employees. And when the regime stumbles it simply builds up a new ideology - like taking the Crimea.

Jorg Schulz

The Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Since the Crimean Crisis, ice age prevails in relations between the West and Moscow. Especially in Germany, but many wish the approach. Do you have any advice?

Glukhovsky: I do not think the West can do much. The best thing would be to leave us alone. At some point, the Russian economy will break. Then - or after a generation change in politics - perhaps a rapprochement is possible. But that will not happen until Putin is old and replaced.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: The young Russians grow up with the propaganda of the system. Why should something change when they come to power?

Glukhovsky: Some people would not like to change anything - I was surprised when I heard about the many young Stalinists. But for a few years now, there is also a youth who support opposition video bloggers like Alexei Nawalny and keep taking to the streets. This is something new. Putin has almost all components of the political system under control - but not people. Especially the teenagers are not.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Is he aware of that?

Glukhovsky: Putin has the illusion that he can do anything he wants. Being uncontrollably in power for 19 years distorts perception. Putin does not understand what's happening in his country. But because he still has the most power, Russia is unpredictable - we do not know if we wake up tomorrow in a dictatorship, a street revolution or a society full of clans. That makes it so interesting to write about Russia.