Publication time: 7 November 2011, 15:26
Moscow writer Limonov, a dual citizen of Russia and France, told an influential French weekly, Le Nouvel Observateur, about Russia’s power usurper Putin:
“Putin came to power as a heir: he was a favorite of Boris Yeltsin. Prior to 2000, he had no experience neither in political activities nor in internal struggle within a political party. He was never chosen in elections.
In short, he is not a politician. He studied. He learned at our expense. His popularity is obvious, but it can be easily explained by the fact that he is the head of a state. In Russia, the president is almost God. However, the state which he heads was destroyed by Yeltsin. Putin is presiding during the decomposition of the backbone of the Russian state.
Putin reminds me of a petty Roman emperor at final stages of the Roman Empire.
We can not say that “the Russians have been brainwashed”. The so-called “Russians” are a lot of different groups, it is not a monotonous group which thinks the same way. Today, the rich are afraid of Putin (because of the Khodorkovsky’s case), the poor turned away from him, and intellectuals hate him because he destroyed politics and minimized freedom.
He is only supported by pensioners (former builders of unfinished Communism – KC): they form the basis of his electorate.
FSB officers consider Putin as a Savior, as he pulled their corporation out humiliation and powerlessness. He appointed members of the organization to key positions. Most of the FSB officers adore him. They serve to their Savior who does not forget to reward them with his graces.
Stalin kept his power by violence of the secret police. Putin keeps his power by lies. Russia is an empire of lies, a police state, which mimics a so-called Democracy, a special type of Democracy, with the Russian face”.
The magazine Le Nouvel Observateur interviewed Limonov in connection with the award on November 2 of a prestigious French literary prize Renaudot to French writer Emmanuel Carrere for a biographical novel about Limonov called “Limonov”.
Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center
http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2011/11/07/15355.shtml
