Philosopher at war, Constantin Sigov fights with his weapons: words and writing. Last November, he published, with Laure Mandeville, “When Ukraine rises: the birth of a new Europe” (Talent editions). A long-time teacher at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, French-speaking, Constantin Sigov runs a publishing house in kyiv, L’esprit et la lettres. He notably translated Montaigne, Descartes and Levinas. On January 5, he will publish a new book, “Le courage de l’Ukraine”, published by Cerf. Maintenance.
The Express: Every day, dozens of missiles rain down on Ukrainian cities, destroying vital infrastructure and leaving millions of Ukrainians without water, electricity and heat? What does this strategy of destruction inspire in you?
CS: Putin is willing to spend billions and ruin his country’s economy to plunge Ukraine into darkness and wipe us out. But our country remains standing, despite the most difficult ordeals for the population. You have to imagine the resilience and strength of these people who, despite their own situation, ask about their neighbors and are ready to help them. On a larger scale, Putin is obsessed with competition with Western Europe. He deeply despises your way of life, your complexity, your openness and your diversity, as many qualities as he takes for weaknesses.
Remember the impressions of the Marquis de Custine, after his trip to Russia in 1839: “Russia sees in Europe a prey which will be delivered to her sooner or later by our dissensions. She foments anarchy in the hope of profiting from a corruption, favored by her, because it is favorable to her views.” For Putin, this contempt and this hatred towards the West are the engines of his blindness. They prevent light from entering his brain, they obscure his consciousness.
While Ukraine finds itself in the dark, Russia is tending towards obscurantism, with a spectacular reversal of freedoms…
Yes, that’s very fair. During the Soviet era, there was in the USSR a kind of “Enlightenment model”, which included several prestigious institutions, such as the Academy of Sciences, the Great Lenin Library or the School of Chess, which produced the greatest champion of history, Garry Kasparov – today fierce opponent of the Putinian system. Ukraine also contributed to this influence with its school of mathematics (in kyiv) and its engineers (Dnipro). Kharkiv University has even trained three Nobel Prizes (in medicine, physics and economics). But that was the visible part of the system. In the basements, the KGB imprisoned the most brilliant minds, like the academician Andreï Sakharov, who refused to submit to the ideology of the Kremlin.
Konstantin Sigov
In the end, the KGB left the basement to conquer all the floors of power, even driving out the Communist Party, which had ruled the country for 70 years and killing its rational culture project. Today, the debates of ideas no longer exist. There are no more think tanks in Russia, just tanks. Those who challenge power have left the country. In this sense, one can effectively say that the policy of obscurantism has become a state strategy. It weakens Russian society, the army, the economy and culture. Artistic life is vitrified by fear.
When Ukraine Rises (Constantin Sigov / Laure Mandeville)
© / talent editions
A fear that is the keystone of the Putinian system…
For 23 years, Putin has built a system for himself. He is the source of this fear, which paralyzes those around him. When he speaks, everyone must be standing, because you can’t sit in front of him. This fear goes beyond borders. It instills in Westerners the idea that if Putin disappears, the situation will be worse. But it’s wrong ! If he disappears, the source of this fear will disappear with him. Whoever succeeds him may be dangerous, but he won’t have the evil aura of a tyrant. It will be just a gangster like the others.
Let us not forget either that this fear hides the dissensions and the fractures which occurred, during all these years, within its entourage. Putin disappeared, the conflicts will reappear, which risks weakening the Kremlin. For all these reasons, I think that his successor will not be able to play this register of fear, because people will have become accustomed to the worst, namely the killings and the horrors of war. After Putin, this machine of fear, which works in an almost magical way inside the Kremlin, but also in the West, will break. And you, the Europeans, will be delivered from it. You will be free to act in a more rational way and you will stop adhering to this Russian propaganda, this “Russia Potemkin” that the Kremlin disseminates, in particular, through culture.
That is to say ?
On December 7, La Scala in Milan kicked off its season with “Boris Godounov”, the work of Russian composer Modeste Moussorgski. To go to this show is, in my opinion, to participate in something despicable and toxic. I am also thinking of the conductor Valery Gergiev [un proche de Poutine écarté de la Scala en mars 2022], who signed a text in favor of war and participates in the militarization of culture, just like the director of the Hermitage. It is very important to objectively and systematically document the actions of these Russian ambassadors of culture, but also of the journalists who disseminate Putin’s propaganda. They must be judged by a court similar to that of Nuremberg, in the same way as the generals who order in the Donbass the same butcheries as in Syria.
Are negotiations possible? Or do you advocate, before any discussion, a defeat of Russia?
I believe that the Russian defeat is necessary for everyone. For the free world, first, so as not to live in fear of the worst. For Ukraine, then, because it is the only way not to suffer new attacks in a year or two. The challenge is there. Either the Russian neighbor pauses to reorganize and attack again; or we act in such a way as to be certain that this war will be the last in Europe. The only way to achieve this is to demilitarize the Russian state, the sponsor of terrorism. A defeat can also be beneficial for Russian society, which is not like us. No one will see millions of Russians protesting in Red Square tomorrow, as we did in Maidan.
In reality, it will be very difficult to liberate this Russian society from the mafia that has monopolized power – a much more powerful mafia than in Italy, since it has been installed for a century at the highest level, under different names – KGB, NKVD or FSB. For decades, it was able to take advantage of the means of the state – political, diplomatic and military – to prosper. Eradicating it will take a lot, a lot of work.
What, ultimately, differentiate Russians and Ukrainians the most? A strong need for authority on the one hand, and, on the other, an ability to rebel and take control of one’s destiny?
For us Ukrainians, the order is fundamentally associated with a “European peace” that goes back to Roman law and the Napoleonic code, that is, with a great tradition of justice, but also with the idea that the order is defined by responsible freedom, at all levels: local, regional… For neo-Soviet society, on the other hand, the separation of powers is non-existent. Order in Russia is dictatorship; the police state in its most brutal and barbaric sense; the arbitrary. Thus, Putin has just decreed, in a violent and authoritarian way, a new mobilization. A few months ago, he promised the opposite. What does Parliament say? Who validates this decision to send hundreds of thousands of people to the front as cannon fodder? Can we mention a single legitimate instance? There is no longer a Constitution and a Constitutional Court in Russia. We are worlds away from a law-based system. Neither faith nor law, and no respect for human beings. Society accepts servitude, while young people mutilate themselves so as not to be drafted into Putin’s army. In Russia, the protest is amputated. This is the model that the tyrant imposes on his fellow citizens and that he intends to impose on all of us.
Is France sufficiently committed alongside Ukraine?
France must be more allied with Ukraine. After ten months of war, it must be said loud and clear. France provides much less armament than England, but the country of justice and human rights could also help us in other ways. Already, French jurists have begun to work on Russian war crimes in Boucha, Irpin, Kherson and Kramatorsk. There are also renowned schools in psychology in France to treat the traumas of war. We need this expertise. Last but not least, France must help Ukrainian society to stay alive: 337 schools and 1,150 hospitals have been destroyed since the start of the war. Can you imagine the cost, not only economic, but also in terms of human resources? Rebuilding is a huge task. We can do it together, we need you. France can support Ukraine in its democratic renaissance.