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
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 moves to the right. Then comes Kiev, then Moscow and then everything stops. This seems to be the West's view of us - of a wild Russia that begins past Moscow, a place one prefers not… — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share
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
