We are going to be publishing a series of translations from the Russian press which ran following the visit to Moscow of the Polish historian Adam Michnik. This one comes from Svoboda News.

Adam Michnik: “Putinism – not only a Russian specific” The culturo-historical sources of authoritarianism in Russia today are being discussed by many. Regeneration of authoritarianism is intrinsic to any young democratic state, objects historian Adam Michnik Mikhail Sokolov, 27.10.08 “We don’t have a crisis,” – exclaimed this week premier Vladimir Putin. The head of government, apparently, believes his own television broadcast, which reports that problems have arisen in the whole world, except Russia. The guest of the Third Khodorkovsky readings in Moscow – one of the founders of the movement Solidarity, historian Adam Michnik in an interview for RS observer Mikhail Sokolov shared his thoughts on the disease of state “Putinism”: