In several writings, the oldest of which dates back half a century, the Russian writer who was the most famous dissident of the Soviet regime in the 1970s and 1980s, evokes the complex relationship between Russia and Ukraine. Prophetic texts that prove Vladimir Putin both right and wrong. Reason, because Solzhenitsyn recalls how closely the history and destiny of the two peoples are linked. Wrong, because the intellectual asserts that it is up to the Ukrainians alone to choose their future in the event of the break-up of the Soviet Union. Moscow should not force the course of things, he insists.
“The author of The Gulag Archipelago is in a paradoxical position”, deciphers the essayist and philosopher Michel Eltchaninoff, a connoisseur of Russia and Vladimir Putin, who has just published Lenin walked on the moon. The crazy story of Russian cosmists and transhumanists (Solin/Actes Sud). On the one hand, Solzhenitsyn believes that the Russian and Ukrainian peoples are fundamentally united by history and blood. On the other hand, the dissident is fundamentally anti-imperialist: he considers that things must be done from the base.
The three texts below were recently reposted by Russia Beyond, a news agency owned by the Russian government. The passages in square brackets indicate excerpts or additions from the editorial staff of L’Express.
1968: “With Ukraine, things will become extremely painful”
The Gulag Archipelago5th part, chapter 2 (éwritten in 1968; published in 1974):
[…] It is painful for me to write this, because Ukraine and Russia merge in my blood, in my heart and in my thoughts. But a long experience of friendly contacts with Ukrainians in the camps [le goulag, NDLR] showed me what a painful grudge they have. Our generation will not escape the payment of the errors of our fathers.
[…] Surprising as it may seem, the Marxist doctrine that nationalism is fading has not materialized. On the contrary, in the age of nuclear research and cybernetics, it has, for some reason, flourished. And the time has come for us [les Russes]whether we like it or not, to repay all promises of self-determination and independence, to do it ourselves rather than waiting to be burned at the stake, drowned in a river or beheaded [par les Ukrainiens].
We must prove that we are a great nation, not by the vastness of our territory or the number of peoples for whom we are responsible, but by the greatness of our deeds. And with the extent to which we plow what we will have left after the secession of the countries that will not want to stay with us. With Ukraine, things will become extremely painful. But you have to understand the degree of tension they feel. Since it has been impossible to resolve the question for centuries, it is up to us to use common sense.
In September 2000, during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Since his return, he has been critical of the West and of developments in post-Soviet Russia, calling for a return to traditional moral values.
AFP
We must leave the power of decision to them: federalists [au sein d’une association avec la Russie] or separatists [autrement dit : indépendant de la Russie]whoever wins [autrement dit : l’opinion majoritaire]. don’t give in [à l’Ukraine] would be mad and cruel. The more forgiving, patient, consistent we are, the more hope there will be for restoring unity in the future. [entre nos deux Etats]. Let them experience it, let them test it. They will quickly understand that not all problems can be solved by separation. Since in different regions of Ukraine there is a different proportion of those who consider themselves Ukrainians, those who consider themselves Russians and those who consider themselves neither, it there will be many difficulties.
It may be necessary to hold a referendum in each region and then ensure preferential and delicate treatment for those who wish to leave. All of Ukraine, within its current official Soviet borders, is not really Ukraine. Some regions of the left bank [du fleuve Dniepr] clearly lean more towards Russia. As for Crimea, Khrushchev’s decision to cede it to Ukraine was totally arbitrary. […]
1981: “In my heart there is no place for a Russian-Ukrainian conflict”
Excerpt from a letter fromApril 1981 addressed to the Toronto Conference on Russian-Ukrainian Relations, Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.Posted in Russkaya MyslJune 18, 1981, then in Russia, in the magazine ZvezdaNo. 12, in 1993.
“I completely agree that the Russian-Ukrainian problem is one of the great current issues and, certainly, of crucial importance for our peoples. Yet it seems to me that the burning passion and the Resulting temper tantrums are morally detrimental to that cause.
[…] I have repeatedly stated and I repeat here and now that no one can be restrained by force, neither antagonist shall resort to coercion on the other party or on his own party, the people as a whole or any small minority that it embraces, because each minority contains, in its turn, its own minority… In any case, the local opinion must be identified and applied. This is why all issues can only be truly resolved by the local population and not by distant discussions in the circles of emigrants, whose perceptions are distorted.
[…] I find this fierce intolerance in discussing the Russian-Ukrainian problem (fatal for both nations and beneficial only for their enemies) particularly distressing because I myself am of mixed Russian and Ukrainian descent. I grew up under the joint influence of these two cultures and I never saw and do not see any antagonism between them.
Many times I have written and spoken in public about Ukraine and its people, about the tragedy of the Ukrainian famine [qui fit entre 2,5 et 5 millions de morts en 1932 et 1933 en raison de la politique agricole menée par Staline] ; I have many old friends in Ukraine; I always knew that the sufferings of Russians and Ukrainians were of the same order as those caused by communism.
In my heart there is no room for a Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and if, God forbid, things come to an extreme, I can say: Never, under any circumstances, neither I nor my sons will not participate in a Russian-Ukrainian conflict, even if certain hotheads push us to do so.
1990: “Separating Ukraine today means cutting millions of families”
Address to Ukrainians and Belarusians,written and published in 1990 (Reconstructing Russia):
[…] Separating Ukraine today means cutting off millions of families and people: Just look at how mixed the population is; there are entire regions [en Ukraine] where the population is predominantly Russian; how many people find it difficult to choose which of the two nationalities they belong to; how many people are of mixed origin; how many mixed marriages there are (by the way, no one has considered them mixed so far). In the population as a whole, there is not the slightest trace of intolerance between Ukrainians and Russians.
Of course, if the Ukrainian people really decided to secede, no one would dare try to hold them back by force. But, this immensity is diverse and only the local population can decide the fate of its locality, of its region, while each newly formed ethnic minority in this locality should be treated with the same non-violence.