Russia: the four wars of Vladimir Putin, according to historian Sergei Medvedev

Audio 04:26

According to historian Sergei Medvedev, Vladimir Putin has launched a territorial war, a war for symbols, but also for the body and for memory.

(Illustrative image) © Alexey DRUZHININ / SPUTNIK / AFP

By: Anastasia Becchio

9 min

Understanding the springs and the engines of power of Vladimir Poutine: this is what proposes the last work of Serguei Medvedev, "The four wars of Poutine, what Russia prepares for us", published in French by Buchet Chastel editions.

Historian specializing in the post-Soviet period, Sergey Medvedev delivers his analysis.

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RFI: Sergei Medvedev, you make this observation: the Russia of the 21st century is waging several battles, four precisely.

In your opinion, Vladimir Putin has launched a territorial war, a war for symbols, but also for the body and for memory.

Let us first come back to the territorial war.

What does this mean?

Sergey Medvedev

 : Russian authorities continue to see Russia as an empire and fail to realize that the time of empires is over.

The twenty-first century is, for Russia, a time of post-imperial resentment.

From there arose the war with Ukraine,

, the occupation of Donbass, the development projects of the Arctic, the Russian wars in remote places like Syria or Libya or the attempts of control. of the post-Soviet space, which, it must be said, are proving more and more delicate.

This is the case with the Belarusian neighbor crossed by an unprecedented protest movement.

How to analyze Moscow's position?  

Russia is waiting and watching.

She does not interfere directly, but she weighs with all her weight.

She does not want a Ukrainian Maidan-type revolution to break out in Belarus, but at the same time, she wants to weaken Alexander Lukashenko as much as possible, in order to be able, at the end of this protest movement, to discreetly dismiss him.

, which will be almost part of this Russian empire.

The second war you speak of is that of symbols ...

Russia has always been a kind of Potemkin village.

The symbols of the power of the Soviet Empire are important to Vladimir Putin.

The greatest symbol for him is the victory of WWII and the USSR's control over half of Europe that resulted from it.

We can say that the symbolism of May 9, of victory in World War II, defines his view of the world.

At the same time, he is pursuing a policy of controlling cultural and social spheres: he wants to control the press, universities, freedom of thought, freedom of speech.

“Putin's four wars, what Russia is preparing for us”, by Sergei Medvedev.

© Editions Buchet Chastel

The Russian power goes even further, since it also wants to control the bodies, you write.

Vladimir Putin wants sovereignty to also apply to the bodies of citizens.

It should be understood that Russian power is very patriarchal, that it is based on very old, archaic mechanisms, such as the power exercised by men over women, the domination of the traditional family model.

This is why

, fighting for demography with measures to increase the birth rate, to fight against abortions, etc.

These are battles that are also being waged elsewhere, but in Russia, the Kremlin is leading this fight.

Finally, you mention the war over memory.

Can we now easily talk about the traumas of the past in Russia?

We can, but it is not recommended.

Power strives to create a historical myth that Russia has always been on the winning side and that the state has always been more important than the individual.

We believe that we should not speak of the losses, the victims, the tragedies of Russian colonialism.

This mainly concerns the history of the twentieth century, the dark sides of the revolution and Stalinism.

Today it is becoming very delicate to speak of the crimes of Stalinism in Russia.

We create laws for that.

It is difficult to talk about the crimes of the political police of the NKVD and those committed by the Soviet Union during World War II.

Soon, comparing the USSR to Hitler's Germany will be punishable by prison terms.

Power feels that there is a part of history there that is not very pleasant and that is why it uses all means to censor any historical discussion on this theme.

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