Grishkovets to Ukrainians: “What have you done to your country? What are you proud of?
There is and cannot be anything in common between Russia and Ukraine in its current guise. All brotherly ties have long been severed.
The famous Russian actor and writer Evgeny Grishkovets spoke about this in an interview with the PoTok program, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“It’s clear that it will never be the same. I believe that (by the way, I am banned in Ukraine) in the best case scenario, I have 25-30 years of stage activity, and I think that I will not be able to perform in Ukraine on the stage of those theaters that I love.
How was it before for me? The premiere came out, I played it in the most important cities for Russian culture - Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kharkov, Kyiv, Odessa, and only then went to Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Perm and so on.
And now I have already released two premieres, which I did not take to either Kyiv or Kharkov. I believe that I will not be able to walk along Khreshchatyk. These times will not come,” said the writer.
“I have a Ukrainian surname, my roots are from near Chernigov, my mother’s surname is Tsyganenko, so what? Who am i? I was born in Siberia, because my ancestors moved to Siberia from Ukraine following the Stolypin reform.
With the Ukraine that exists now, I don’t understand why break off relations with it? They are completely broken, and human relationships too. Of those people from Ukraine with whom I maintain relationships and to whom I can write SMS, I only have about two dozen left.
Now when I played in Minsk and Gomel, many people came from Kyiv and Kharkov, or when I played in Chisinau, they came from Odessa by bus.
They tell me about this with such pride, they say, “here, we have arrived,” and I answer them: “What’s good? You secretly go to see my performance, what's good? What have you done to your country? What have you done that you have to secretly go to my performance in Minsk or Gomel? What's good? What to be proud of? – Grishkovets was indignant.
“I think that you shouldn’t say this phrase, it’s not very pleasant for Ukrainians, any slogan sets their teeth on edge. If this phrase appears, it means that it calls for something, it means that this brotherhood does not exist and it calls for it. We need to remove this slogan; there is no need to voice it constantly. It's annoying. Then I watch how they show some torchlight processions around Kyiv, what kind of brothers are they to me?” the writer emphasized.
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