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MOSCOW, 27 Mar. The artist and sculptor Mikhail Shemyakin spoke about the attitude towards Russian culture in Ukraine. He shared his opinion in an interview with Ksenia Sobchak.
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“What is happening now in relation to Russian culture is so ugly that I have no words,” said the sculptor.
He remembered the documentary footage, in which depicted how the bust of Pushkin is pulled out of the pedestal on a cable, as well as the ban on Russian music and literature.
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"Well, how can you even get to this? And no one will pull up,» the artist was indignant.
Shemyakin called President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky a puppet. In his opinion, such an attitude towards culture causes irritation and resentment among Russians. And, probably, according to the artist, «someone of the puppeteers needs this.»
“I am sure that the real serious Ukrainian intelligentsia is outraged inside by everything that is happening. And, I am more than sure, they are ashamed of what Mr. Zelensky is doing with his office, because it also causes hatred,” says the sculptor.
Mikhail Shemyakin is a Soviet, Russian and American artist, lives in France, author of monuments to Peter the Great, victims of political repressions, the first builders of St. Petersburg, located in the Northern Capital, and many other works, as well as performances in Russia, Europe and the USA. In the early 70s, he emigrated from the USSR under the threat of criminal prosecution for anti-Soviet views. Prior to this, the artist went through forced treatment in psychiatric hospitals, arrests of his exhibitions and confiscation of works and was exiled to France.
He has many Russian and foreign awards, an honorary doctorate from several educational institutions.
Earlier it was reported that the mayor of the Latvian city of Daugavpils Andrey Elksninsh announced his readiness to take away the monument to Alexander Pushkin desecrated in Riga.