Those interested in history and journalism certainly know Viktor Suvorov as a famous writer. While a successful agent of Soviet intelligence services in the late 1970s, he fled his Switzerland posting for the UK. Thus, Vladimir Rezun, for such is the real name of our hero, broke with the Soviet system for good. After a while, he began to publish books in the West which debunked the myth of Josef Stalin’s alleged greatness and offered an alternative view of the entire Soviet system. The most popular among them are Aquarium and Icebreaker.
Rezun has many ties to Ukraine. After all, even if he was born in the Russian Far East, his parents moved to Cherkasy afterwards... The Day’s interview with Rezun started with him recalling his memories of that city.
“My father was an army officer and WWII veteran. After the war, they posted him to the Far East, and my parents spent many years there, moving between garrisons. So, the fate had it that I was born in those parts. After father spent seven years there, an order came suddenly stating that all the officers who had served in those highly demanding conditions for five years, would be replaced, and the countdown started on the order’s issue date. No one, of course, believed this good news, but after another five years, my father was suddenly transferred to the town of Konotop in the Kyiv Military District. It was in September 1957, I was in the fourth grade at the time. We arrived in Konotop when the new school year had already begun. Even before that school year ended, father got another transfer, this time to Cherkasy. As there were just a few days left before the end of the school year, the school handed all the records to my parents, stating that Rezun had successfully completed the fourth grade. Having arrived in Cherkasy, we had to look for a new school and a new apartment, for the Motherland was not too generous on the officer housing issue. While the parents were busy with their many problems, I took my school records to the military commissariat, where they were accepted without question, with apparent reasoning that I could not get my school records without the parental consent. They were preparing a group of boys for admission to the Voronezh Suvorov Military School. Boys started such schools at age of 11 then, having completed the fourth grade, and I was enrolled in the group. An Odesa-Moscow train took us to Bakhmach, where we transferred to a Kyiv-Voronezh train. It was in Bakhmach that I deposited a letter into the mailbox, informing my parents that I would miss my dinner as I was going to exams... Of the entire group, they admitted just me. I arrived home for the New Year vacation, and visited parents three times a year afterwards, during winter, spring, and summer vacations. Having spent five years at the Voronezh Suvorov Military School and two years at the Kalinin Suvorov Military School, I entered the second year of the Kyiv Higher Military Command School, became an officer, visited Czechoslovakia, served in Chernivtsi, and then in the intelligence department of the Volga Military District’s staff. It was in this latter place that I met my only love. We studied at the Military Diplomatic Academy of the Soviet Army together, as they prepared us in pairs, where I was to be the leader, and she was to follow me. My Tatiana’s father was an officer as well, he served in Germany. When the time was up for continuing our bloodlines, she flew to Cherkasy to my parents’ home. My daughter was born in Cherkasy. I have many ties to Cherkasy, as my older brother lives there, while my grandfather, my father and my mother are buried there. I call that city my home, even though I was not born there.”
“I DEFECTED AND BETRAYED MY FATHERLAND, THE USSR. I DO NOT REGRET IT AT ALL”
When you went to the UK in 1978, did you fear that this decision would affect your family in Ukraine?
“The next of kin of Soviet diplomats were treated as hostages under Stalin. After Stalin’s death, they abolished this system. I knew about it. After I left, they harmed neither any of my parents nor my older brother. He continued serving with the missile troops for 13 years after that, and retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel.”
How did your family react to your decision to go to the West?
“The ancient Chinese believed that the most important thing in life was to name things correctly. If we call things by their proper names, it means we have perceived their inner meanings, and understand them correctly. So, let us call things by their proper names: I never went anywhere. I defected and betrayed my fatherland, the USSR. I do not regret it at all. The Soviet Union was a criminal state. The Kremlin leaders were unable to achieve a normal living standard for their own people, but still tried to impose by force their own rules on all the surrounding countries for seven decades. I could not change the system, but I was able to escape, and took advantage of this opportunity. I defected the Soviet Union, and Ukraine followed my example in 13 years. Ukraine now wants to join the family of European nations and the military alliance of democratic states. This is the way that I voluntarily chose many years ago. My parents would be better positioned to answer your question on how they endured all that. I cannot even imagine their situation.”
“PUTIN HAS BECOME AN INCONVENIENT FIGURE FOR THE OLIGARCHS”
In one of your interviews, you mentioned July 23, 2015, as the latest possible date for Putin’s overthrow. Why did you choose this date as the upper limit? What are the prerequisites for this?
“It was on July 23, 2014 that I was asked about how long Putin would last. I said he had no more than a year left, and asked them to call me on July 23, 2015, to discuss whether I was right or wrong. One year is the upper limit. I presume that Putin’s stupid policies have harmed the entire population of Russia, especially those with multi-billion fortunes. The masses still do not understand how deep Russia has fallen, but the oligarchs have already realized that. They have already lost a lot, and can lose everything at any time, including freedom and even life. Putin has become an inconvenient figure for the oligarchs. They are now interested in jumping off Putin’s tram, removing him and disowning his crimes. The Soviet nomenklatura removed Stalin in this way once, and then accused the dead man not only of Stalin’s crimes, but of their own as well.”
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said that he was “the president of peace” rather than “the president of war.” What is your take on Ukraine’s peace initiatives, offered as we are facing the Russian aggression? What peace could there be with the current regime of Putin’s Russia?
“This question was answered by Roman historian Cornelius Nepos long ago: ‘Si vis pacem, para bellum.’ There is nothing to argue: if you want peace, you should prepare for war. And 2,000 years later, Stalin added to this: the weak get beaten! He was absolutely right to say so. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia, the US and Britain gave assurances to Ukraine: disarm, and no one will touch you. All of them immediately forgot their assurances. And now, Ukraine, having voluntarily surrendered nuclear weapons, has a war on its soil. Had Ukrainian politicians not believed these sly assurances, had Ukraine remained a nuclear power, had Ukraine been seriously preparing for war ever since independence, no one would dare to disturb the peace. In my understanding, to be legitimately called ‘the president of peace,’ one must be able to stop the war, to kick the occupiers from one’s soil, and to secure peace and prosperity for Ukraine in perpetuity. To achieve this, it is necessary to extend the hand of friendship to far and near neighbors, while holding a heavy cudgel in the other hand, and this cudgel is more effective when it includes nuclear-tipped missiles.”
The Ukrainians have learned over the past year that Russia’s words are at odds with the real situation. For instance, Putin says there are no Russian soldiers in Ukraine, even though there are. Why is Putin so afraid to take responsibility?
“I learned that the Kremlin leaders’ words were at odds with their deeds back in 1968, when ‘liberating’ Czechoslovakia. One should ask Putin, not me, why he does not want to take responsibility. I firmly believe that he will have to answer this question, and quite soon as well.”
