The Russian repressive system does not forget those who have put themselves in the way and have decided to escape into exile far from its tentacles. This time it has hit Boris Akunin, one of the best-known and most translated contemporary Russian writers, author of the saga of historical novels of the detective Erast Fandorin, set in the tsarist era. As it became known this Monday, he has been included in the official list of “terrorists and extremists”, a registry prepared by Rosfinmonitoring, the federal financial supervision service.
People included in this list are prevented from using banking services in Russia, which includes opening accounts and using the money in those already opened.
“The terrorists have declared me a terrorist,” Akunin, whose real name is Grigori Chjartishvili, reacted on Facebook.
In addition, several criminal investigations were initiated against Akunin last week as a suspect of justifying terrorism and spreading “falsifications” about the Russian Army, as announced this Monday by the Interfax agency.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Armed Forces to enter Ukraine in February 2022, the authorities approved a series of censorship laws that criminalize any criticism of the troops and the military campaign in the neighboring country.
The most rigorous punishment in Russia for justifying terrorism is seven years in prison. Knowingly spreading false news about the Armed Forces can cost up to 15 years in prison, a maximum penalty that applies if it has had serious consequences.
The Investigative Committee, which in Russia deals with the most serious crimes, intends to declare Akunin wanted and captured, the RBK newspaper reported. The author has not lived in Russia for almost a decade.
On December 15, the AST publishing house reported that it had suspended the distribution of books by two prominent authors, the novelist Boris Akunin and the poet Dimitri Bíkov.
“The writers’ recent statements, which had a great impact in the media, require a legal assessment, said AST CEO Pavel Gribkov when announcing the company’s decision.
For their part, the Chitai-Górod bookstore chain and the Litres e-book store suspended the sale of their books.
Curiously, in 2022 Litres assured that, taking into account the benefits, Akunin was the most popular Russian author of the moment.
“The book ban, the declaration of a writer as a terrorist, seems like a minor event. But it is actually a major milestone. Books in Russia have not been banned since Soviet times. Writers have not been accused of terrorism since the Great Terror. This is not a bad dream, it is actually what is happening with Russia,” Akunin commented on his website.
Born in 1956 in Georgia, which was then part of the Soviet Union, the novelist is best known for historical detective novels, especially the saga known as “The Investigations of Erast Fandorin”, which the author places in the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century.
His first novel, Azazel, was published in 1998. That same year three other books featuring Fandorin’s adventures went on sale.
These have also reached the cinema. In addition to Azazel, The Turkish Gambit and The State Councilor were also turned into big-budget Russian films. Other of his works have been brought to television in the form of series or miniseries.
It is also worth highlighting his work History of the Russian State, nine volumes in which he traces the evolution of Russia until the Revolution of 1917.
In 2014 Akunin spoke out against Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. He then took the path of exile and moved to London, where he has lived since then. When Russian troops entered Ukraine on February 24, 2022, he rejected on Facebook the outbreak of “an absurd war”, which showed that “madness has won.”
In October last year, Akunin denounced that the Youth Academic Theater in Moscow and the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg had removed his name from the posters of shows based on his works. The Ministry of Culture said that it was logical to remove the names of cultural figures who had left Russia.
