The Telegraph ran a interview with Alexander Mamut of SUP yesterday, the new Kremlin-loyalist owner of LiveJournal (which we have blogged about here and here). Mamut comes off pretty eloquently, remarking that for some Russians in the blogosphere, “worrying is modus vivendi”, that blogging is for people who can’t stop talking or for those who have something important to say, and that “censorship is not profitable.” The problem is that “profitability” would seem to be of least concern to the state security apparatus, and if they were to ask Mamut to do something specific with LiveJournal, what rights would he have to protect privacy? Asked if he would ever criticize the government he answered:

“I have not the slightest desire to do so,” he says, “because he who criticises should not only pronounces words but be prepared to act. I am not a human rights activist. It is enough for me to run my business and in that way, I make a difference. If we look at our society now, on the whole it is happy, the mood is improving and people are confident of the future. Nobody interferes with what I do. I am responsible for my family, my business. I am not responsible for the country. It is easy to criticise when you are not in a position of responsibility.”

See more good excerpts from this ambiguous and compelling Russian businessman after the cut.