The Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov once said: In a Democracy, portraits of a nation's leader should never exceed the size of a postage stamp. That won't happen so quickly in Russia. — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
I ask myself whether Russia is moving in the direction of democracy. I don't believe it is! Bit by bit, Russia is slipping back into an authoritarian empire. — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
Orthodox churches, autocracy and national traditions are supposed to form a new national ideology in Russia. This would mean that Russia would be overtaken… — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
In Russia one can be as pure as can be and still lose everything in a flash and end up in prison. — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
The worst thing that can happen to Russia is indifference in the West - that is, if it were interested in nothing but oil… — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
I'm not a prophet or a teacher, I just ask questions. I don't think a writer should be a teacher, but should know how… — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
As a child I perceived violence as a sort of natural law. In the totalitarian Soviet Union, oppression held everything together. It was the… — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
I am always surprised when I watch the weather report on German television. First they show the map of Europe and then the camera… — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
I have Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin to thank that a Russian writer can not only write anything he wants, but also publish it. — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
In Russia there are special people who are permitted to do anything. They are the sacrificial priests of power. Anyone who is not a… — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
In Russia no one is surprised when an official accepts a bribe while at the same time portraying the state as some sacred entity… — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
Putin likes to quote a sentence from Czar Alexander III, who said that Russian has only two allies - the army and the navy.… — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
The Khodorkovsky case is typical of the "oprichnina" - the system of oppression. — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
As a storyteller I was influenced by the Moscow underground, where it was common to be apolitical. — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
