I'll tell you how it was last time.
For the first time I had a chance to go abroad in 2005 - I came to Paris for the presentation of the French translation of my novel about the Chechen events.
When I was going there, my Russian publisher named Ivanov said: “Do you know what is the most favorite dish in France?
Bad news from Russia!”
On the spot, I realized that he was not joking too much.
In bookstores, photo albums about the atrocities of the Russian army were displayed in the most prominent places, next to them were the same terrible volumes about the Gulag, there was some anomalous number of books about Politkovskaya - this human rights activist then had a truly cult status in France;
Do I need to explain that all the French were sure that she was killed on the orders of the Kremlin.
Several times I spoke either alone or in the company of other Russian writers.
Our writers were divided into two categories: some brought the same "bad news from Russia", telling gullible Parisians about the unexpired imperial complexes and the abomination of Russian life, others - a much smaller number - reluctantly fought off attacks.
The kiosks of French newspapers were full of Putin's photographs, mostly of a militaristic nature: there was a feeling that the anti-terrorist operation was being carried out not in Dagestan and Chechnya, but somewhere in the south of France.
Each interview was like a court session.
Every journalist was a bit of a prosecutor.
Be sure to ask: "Did you kill people?"
I still don’t understand why they needed this strange information.
The French were desperately fond of the Chechens.
The cities of France welcomed entire trains of refugees with open arms.
There were endless stories on TV with heartbreaking stories about them.
I have been to France many times.
All my books were translated in France, and I went there several times a year.
And in 2007, probably on my tenth visit, while giving my hundredth, perhaps, an interview, I suddenly caught myself thinking: they didn’t ask anything about Chechnya and the Chechens.
The topic has subsided.
In 2008 there was a sharp surge in connection with the Georgian events, I arrived at the book fair just on 08.08 - and was puzzled by the fact that all the French newspapers wrote that it was Russia that attacked first.
"Why did you attack?"
journalists asked me in trembling voices.
I wanted to give them a sedative.
Putin was again on all the covers - with a mustache, on a tank, riding a rocket and whatever.
Very handsome Saakashvili competed with him.
The French, of course, liked Saakashvili.
But this wave came down even faster.
In 2013, when I arrived in Paris, I did not see a single book about Politkovskaya, not a single photo album about Chechnya, not a single cover with Saakashvili at the next fair.
The French were distracted by something else.
The same thing, with separate adjustments for the local mentality, was observed in England, Germany, Spain, Italy, and even more so in the USA.
Americans don't care at all.
Yes, foreigners did not stop talking about Putin, they love to talk about Putin so much, this topic turns them on, but all these Georgians, Ossetians, Abkhazians, Chechens, Dagestanis got confused in their heads and crumbled like leaves.
As soon as the picture leaves the news, the consciousness of a European, and even more so of an American or Australian, refuses to store this information.
Moreover, other pictures appear: for example, the issue of covid completely demolished the Crimean issue.
If Kyiv had not shouted about it to the whole world, no one would have talked about Crimea.
The next swine flu, or some other medical global rigmarole, or a new military adventure by the Americans, or another crack in the middle of the European Union will one day switch the attention of the world from the Ukrainian issue, as they have already switched many times.
Over the ridiculous 20 years, I have heard the phrase “Russia will not be forgiven for this” a dozen times and the same number about the “war criminal Putin”, who will no longer be allowed into a decent society of democratic leaders.
These assurances live as long as newspapers live.
These filings lie in libraries, and in order to figure out why Russia was not forgiven last time, it is necessary to blow off the dust.
We look now and marvel at the cynicism and duplicity of the collective West.
Don't be surprised.
They are not only cynical towards us.
They are generally cynical by nature.
They carry the proud blood of the colonizers.
Just as cynically and dispassionately they will close the Ukrainian question for themselves.
A little bit later.
The West is a total egoist.
Let's rejoice at this fact.
It will be of great benefit to us.
... the last time I was in London was in 2015, I think.
He spoke to an English audience.
A professional refugee from Chechnya came to the meeting.
Interrupting me, she uttered a long-used monologue about Russia, which is despised by all enlightened mankind.
The English remained impassive all these three minutes and, as soon as she stopped talking, they returned to their previous conversation, as if it were noise interference, but now everything is in order and communication has been restored.
This is what happens when a bird flies into the room.
Hello bird.
Goodbye, bird.
"Do you know what kind of bird it was?"
- "No, I do not know".
— "Interesting plumage."
- "Yes?
Didn't consider it."
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.