To understand Vladimir Putin’s Russia, you must read the Russian philosopher Ivan Ilin (1883-1954). Or rather: to understand the influence of the Russian ultra-Orthodox monarchist nationalist thinker on the politics of the head of the Kremlin for almost a quarter of a century, you must read Propaganda. Vladimir Putin’s weapon of war, by Elena Volochine (Otherwise, 424 pages, 22.50 euros). It is a masterful immersion in “the only valid truth in Russia”that of the president, “the one that does not exist”author Elena Volochine warns at the beginning. A great reporter, cameraman and filmmaker, the journalist was a correspondent in Moscow, in particular for the international channel France 24, between 2012 and 2022, that is, between the increase in tensions that led to the annexation of Crimea and the beginning of the “La” Kremlin’s special military operation in Ukraine “this great war that does not pronounce its name” and that, de facto, forced Elena Voloshin to leave Russia. In retrospect, he analyzed the “parallel reality” gradually implemented over more than two decades in the minds of Russians by authorities serving Vladimir Putin. With a mentor in his efforts to rebuild Russian greatness in the face of the West: Ivan Iline.
The juxtaposition of the philosopher’s past writings and the president’s current speeches is striking. The ideas are the same and, thanks to propaganda that has become ubiquitous, they have become current thinking in Russia. Expelled by the Bolsheviks, Ivan Iline prophesied a “national dictator” to revive the Russian Empire after the fall of communism. Having come to power with the support and hopes of liberals, Vladimir Putin gradually put this project into practice after the post-communist chaos of the 1990s. “United Russia” It’s a concept in itself “a strong and autonomous state, whose dictator must resist the so-called “global behind the scenes””remembers Elena Voloshin. He had written: “They want to impose revolutions and wars on Russia. (…) The world is full of Russophobes and enemies of national Russia, who promise themselves any success from its collapse, humiliation and weakening. (…) One day, the Russian people, having completed their way of the cross and their purification, will respond to them at the right time with dignity, with what they deserve. »
You have 53.85% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
