From “It Seemed” to “It Turned Out”: Our Illusions About Russia and Is It Possible to Dispel Them Completely?

Public Conversation with Paweł Reszka on his book A Table with a View of the Kremlin

A report and autobiographical novel at once. Paweł, who worked in Moscow, covered wars in Chechnya and Georgia, and repeatedly visited Ukraine since the Euromaidan, witnessed the annexation of Crimea, the emergence of the “DPR,” and documented crimes during the full-scale aggression (Bucha, Irpin, Borodianka, the East).

The discussion will focus on the evolution of his understanding: from belief in the existence of “healthy forces” in Russian culture to deep disappointment and the conclusion about Russia’s civilizational self-destruction — and the various ways of this collective self-destruction.

Participants: Paweł Reszka (Poland) and Oleksandr Boychenko (Ukraine)