Talks with Putin Mean a Pause, Not Peace: Russian Imperialism Through Dostoevsky

The Russian-Ukrainian war has forced a rethinking not only of political assumptions about Russia, but also the way we read its culture. After 2022, this debate moved beyond university lecture halls and became part of a much broader question: how do we understand the culture of a country that is waging war against us?

Two Failed Extremes

The debate tends to polarize between two extreme positions. The first defends "great Russian culture" as an autonomous sphere separate from politics. The second calls for total cancellation. Both are inadequate. Dostoevsky, for instance, did not merely fail to condemn Russia's expansionist impulses — he justified them through the idea of a special messianic mission for Russia in the world.

What Negotiations Actually Mean

Understanding this cultural-ideological backdrop is essential when evaluating current peace proposals. Negotiations with Putin are negotiations about a pause in the war, not about peace. Imperial Russia, as reflected in its most celebrated literary tradition, cannot simply renounce its identity through a ceasefire agreement. Without deep internal transformation — a collapse of the imperial self-conception — any truce is preparation for the next phase of hostilities.

A Mirror, Not an Excuse

Reading Dostoevsky after 2022 does not mean endorsing Russian imperialism, nor does it mean discarding his literary work. It means using it as a mirror to understand the ideology driving Russian aggression. The messianic nationalism woven through his novels and essays is precisely the worldview that modern Russian leadership has weaponized. Understanding it is a condition of defeating it.