In the aftermath of regime critic Alexei Navalny\u2019s death on February 16 in a remote penal colony in the Russian Arctic, Bykov is convinced that Navalny\u2019s tragic plight will be \u201cturned into a weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n
A poet, journalist, satirist, and literary critic, Bykov is no stranger to the power of words and their inherent danger. His satirical poems and sharp political commentaries\u2014often aimed squarely at Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2014did not amuse their subject.<\/p>\n
During a domestic flight en route to the western Russian city of Ufa in April 2019, Bykov fell violently ill. Vomiting uncontrollably, he eventually lost consciousness and emerged only five days later from a coma.<\/p>\n
A subsequent investigation by the news organization Bellingcat<\/a> found a striking resemblance between his and Navalny\u2019s poisoning<\/a> in 2020, likely perpetrated by the same people\u2014an elite Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) chemical-weapons unit.<\/p>\n While Bykov initially remained in Russia after the poison attack, he was banned from teaching at Russian universities and appearing on state-controlled radio and television.<\/p>\n In early 2022, right before Russia invaded Ukraine, the Kremlin declared him a \u201cforeign agent\u201d and many Russian booksellers pulled his works\u2014some 90 total, including novels, biographies, essays, and poetry\u2014from shelves.<\/p>\n Today, as part of the Scholar-in-Exile program through Rochester\u2019s Humanities Center, Bykov teaches courses in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures<\/a>, including Hard Labor, Exile, Prison: The Culture of Incarceration in Russia and Nikolai Gogol and the Creation of Ukrainian Literature. Most recently, he penned a novel about Ukraine\u2019s president Vladimir Zelensky<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bykov:<\/strong> While also a critic of the Kremlin, I wouldn\u2019t dare compare myself to Alexei Navalny. As a member of the Opposition Coordination Council, I, too, was on the list of candidates for poisoning. The poisoners followed the list systematically. In general, however, my achievements as a regime critic are quite modest. I have always treated my poisoning incident with irony\u2014as another proof of the weakness and idiocy of the Russian authorities. In a way, it\u2019s the only \u201cbonus\u201d from the Russian state that one can accept these days without feeling ashamed.*<\/a><\/p>\n Bykov: <\/strong>Alexei died in the Arctic, in the remote village of Kharp, where it was extremely difficult for members of his team, his lawyers, and his relatives to reach him. Without a doubt, he continued to be a danger to Putin\u2014and not just with his letters and investigative disclosures, or through the opposition activities of his supporters, which he continued to coordinate even from prison.<\/p>\n The very example of Alexei\u2019s exceptional steadfastness, courage, nobility of spirit, integrity, and selflessness were crucial for the Russian opposition but dangerous for Putin. After all, any comparison between Navalny and Putin was obviously not flattering to the president. Navalny was never afraid to speak out about the main issues of our time; Putin always avoided answering. Navalny was never afraid of democracy and insisted on fair elections; Putin destroyed the very idea of elections in Russia. Navalny was not afraid of anything, or at least he ignored all threats; Putin is terrified of the future.<\/p>\n When Putin meets with ordinary citizens, he uses members of the secret police to pose as \u201cthe people.\u201d Navalny\u2019s very existence, even if he was not allowed to contact his lawyers or write letters to his family, represented a threat to Putin.<\/p>\n But let\u2019s be clear: Calling Alexei\u2019s death \u201csuspicious\u201d is an intolerable euphemism. He was murdered. Whether it was an injection of poison or a shooting in a prison cell, he suffered, at the very minimum, three torturous years of imprisonment. Merely \u201csuspecting\u201d Putin of Navalny\u2019s murder is as absurd as expressing doubts about Putin\u2019s responsibility for starting the war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n Bykov:<\/strong> [The Russian poet] Osip Mandelstam (1891\u20131938) was probably right when he told his wife that a dictator\u2019s attitude [then speaking about Stalin] toward literature is always one of fear, that the poet seems to him like a sorcerer, a kind of shaman in alliance with secret occult forces.<\/p>\n The response of any dictatorship to words, especially critical ones, will always be draconian. Putin is afraid of criticism because he\u2019ll never be able to give a reasoned answer. He has never participated in a presidential debate in his life because he has neither convictions, nor fundamental knowledge, nor oratorical abilities. Criticism in general scares only those who are aware of their weaknesses. I think Putin has no illusions about his own abilities\u2014unlike the strength of the Russian army, about which he has too many illusions.<\/p>\n Bykov:<\/strong> The Russian opposition is alive and active, both in Russia and abroad. It abstains from public actions, marches, and rallies for the same reasons that there were no public protests in Auschwitz. The Russian opposition has already responded quite actively to Navalny\u2019s death, going to specially designated points in Russian cities with flowers and slogans, which immediately led to mass arrests. I think the number of these arrests will grow and cause more and more protests.<\/p>\n Bykov:<\/strong> I didn\u2019t know Alexei very well. He was friendly and I interviewed him on at least ten occasions, including during his house arrest. I remember the ankle bracelet he had to wear, which he showed to our photographer. A month later, he cut this bracelet off and went to a mass rally. I will remember his brilliant formula from 2012: \u201cOur task is to create pressure points for them. They don\u2019t know how to deal with challenges. The greater the number of pressure points, the sooner they will topple their own unstable structure.\u201d I think this is true. A dictatorship armed with nuclear weapons cannot be defeated either from the outside or the inside. But it can bring itself down\u2014through its own incompetence, its fear of intellectuals, and the deliberate and persistent degradation of government and the population.<\/p>\n Bykov: <\/strong>As Carl Jung used to say about his attitude toward religion, \u201cI don’t believe. I know.\u201d\u00a0I know very few things with certainty, but among those is my firm and undoubted conviction that I\u2019ll be back. I will work as a teacher and writer, although not as a journalist because journalism is less effective than\u00a0lecturing or poetry. Alexei Navalny had promised me a place in the Russian Ministry of Education. I plan eventually to split my time between Portland, Oregon, and Moscow or St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n Listen to an\u00a0episode of WXXI\u2019s\u00a0Connections with Evan Dawson<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0as University of Rochester experts, including Matthew Lenoe, Randall Stone, and Scholar-in-Exile Dmitry Bykov, discuss the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Bykov:<\/strong> I would get on the first direct flight from New York to Moscow. The only condition is that the newspaper Novaya Gazeta<\/em><\/a> and the radio station Echo of Moscow<\/a>, my former regular places of work that were banned at the beginning of the Ukraine war, would be allowed to start up again. And, of course, there need to be public, legal trials against the military propagandists.<\/p>\n Bykov<\/strong>: I am neither a prophet nor a fortune teller. I hope Putin will be deposed by his inner circle, crushed by rebellion, or possibly lose his throne as a result of military defeat. Afterward we would, unavoidably, have a short period of turmoil, followed by a period of peaceful and fruitful development, and psychological recovery, in which I hope to participate.<\/p>\n Ultimately, Alexei Navalny\u2019s death will be turned into a weapon. I have no doubt that one day I will walk along a street named after him\u2014not only in America, where there will be such a street, but also in Moscow.<\/p>\n In the aftermath of the attack, Dmitry Bykov was in the intensive care unit of a specialized neurological clinic, the Burdenko Institute in Moscow. The attending physician told him to make the most of his hospital stay, inquiring if he had any other medical issues that needed attention. Bykov mentioned periodic pain in his right knee and promptly received an injection that took care of the problem. \u201cI probably should thank my poisoners for this, but I thank them much more for their professional incompetence,\u201d Bykov says dryly.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dmitry Bykov discusses the late Russian opposition leader\u2019s legacy, his own poisoning, and why Navalny posed a threat to the Russian president.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":942,"featured_media":593442,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[456],"tags":[22172,19242,25132,1086,16072],"class_list":["post-594302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-culture","tag-department-of-modern-languages-and-cultures","tag-global-engagement","tag-humanities-center","tag-languages","tag-school-of-arts-and-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Dmitry](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/fea-2024-02-29_Dmitry_Bykov_class_1150.jpg\")
\nQ&A with Dmitry Bykov<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nAn outspoken Kremlin critic, you survived an assassination attempt by the same people who poisoned Alexei Navalny in 2020. What happened to you?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Alexei Navalny\u2019s death in prison looks suspicious. Was he, even in such a remote location, still a real threat to Putin?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"Supporters](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/fea-alexei-navalny-death-GettyImages-2016374933.jpg\")
Why is Putin so scared of public criticism?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"Black](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/inline-Osip_Mandelstam_1934-442x630.jpg\")
Will Navalny\u2019s death silence or galvanize the Russian opposition?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
As a journalist, you interviewed Navalny on several occasions. What specifically stood out to you?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/inline-2024-02-29_Dmitry_Bykov_class_1147.jpg\")
As a critic, writer, and journalist in exile, do you think you\u2019ll be living, working, and writing again one day in Russia? <\/strong><\/h4>\n
Rochester voices<\/strong><\/h3>\n
What are the prerequisites for you to return safely?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
How much longer do you think Putin will last? And what will come afterward?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nNote<\/h5>\n