In an interview with UNIAN, a Russian satirist and legendary journalist Viktor Shenderovich explains how the Russian society and the Russian media has changed over the past 16 years. He has come up with a rather disappointing forecast for Ukraine: Putin will continue to torment our country, in order to embellish the internal problems in Russia against this background.
Russia sees a rapidly decreasing number of opponents of the current government. Many of the dissidents are becoming conformists, many choose to flee the country, while those remaining prefer to keep a low profile, and even more so, to avoid public political debate. The legendary satirist, TV host, journalist and human rights activist Viktor Shenderovich is anything but the latter. Shenderovich complains that Ukrainian journalists have been asking identical questions lately, although he does not accuse his colleagues of notorious Ukraine-centrism. Our conversation dwelled on the topic of Russia itself – Russian journalism, Russian society, and survival in the present circumstances. The discussion happened to gain a philosophical twist. However, the ideas voiced by Shenderovich let us realize that no peace with Ukraine’s northern neighbor should be expected anytime soon.
