Marat Gelman: “The majority of cultural figures are now on our side. This is very important because this fact speaks of the separation of Russian art from Russian power. In this case, we may speak of some kind of split in the elite, because in the elite itself, art is on a par with politics and business. This split, which had been predicted many times, has already happened. Russian culture has come out against the authorities and now claims to belong to European culture. All of these Putinist narratives about the “special world” are sheer ignorance and are rejected by people of the arts. The problem is that the fear used by the authorities now acts stronger than the cultural influence we are trying to exert on Russian society. I think that once the war is over, the situation will change in our favor”.
