"Putin sympathizers are like Hitler sympathizers"
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The writer Dmitry Glukhovsky is an important voice of the russian opposition even in exile. In an interview with ZDFheute, he explains why there is no negotiation with Putin.

ZDFheute: You were sentenced in absentia to more than eight years in a prison camp in russia for criticizing the war in Ukraine. How has your life changed since then?
Dmitry Glukhovsky: There are unexpected logistical restrictions (laughs). Of course I can't go to my homeland or to the half of the world that has good relations with russia.
I'm not allowed to go to Kazakhstan, Armenia or Belarus, nor to Indonesia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates or Turkey. Nyet, nyet, nyet. And of course I have to be careful about what I say, what I do and where I go, where I stay overnight, for example. But you get used to it.

ZDFheute: The russian government has put you on the wanted list, but what significance does your artistic work still have in russia?
Glukhovsky: To my great surprise, I am still being published. My play "The White Factory" premiered in London a few months ago - and it will soon even be published in Moscow. In russia, such things can happen at the same time: I may be on the wanted list, but people still buy my books completely legally.
Many works by artists - not just writers, but also musicians - who are classified as foreign agents are still sold and heard in russia. Of course, that can be over overnight. As happened to Boris Akunin, for example: he is suddenly classified as a terrorist and extremist and all book sales are banned.

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