The subject has become radioactive since February 24, 2022, so Henri Dorion felt the need to dispel a “misunderstanding”: the conflict does not oppose the Russian and Ukrainian peoples, it is a war primarily wanted by the Russian president. “One Russia, the one Putin designs, hides another, steeped in history and culture. » And this is what the 88-year-old geographer, whose mother was born in Saint-
Petersburg, intends to remind with The other Russiaan essay in which he used his in-depth knowledge of the country to bring us, beyond current events, to look at and “understand the russitude “. Multiplying the back and forth, in a somewhat catch-all form reminiscent of the inventory, the author lists cultural similarities between Quebec, Ukraine and Russia – religion, folklore, toponymy, food, arts -, inviting readers to distinguish between the government and the population of “Eternal Russia”. But are the Russian people only the “victims of their leaders”, completely innocent of the crimes committed in their name? Nothing is less certain.
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