Public Activities in Russia
Figes has been critical of the Vladimir Putin government, in particular allegations that Putin has attempted to rehabilitate Joseph Stalin and impose his own agenda on history-teaching in Russian schools and universities. He is involved in an international summer school for history teachers in Russian universities organised by the European University of St Petersburg.
On 4 December 2008, the St Petersburg offices of the Memorial Society were raided by the police. The entire electronic archive of Memorial in St Petersburg, including the materials collected with Figes for The Whisperers, was confiscated by the authorities. Figes condemned the police raid, accusing the Russian authorities of trying to rehabilitate the Stalinist regime. Figes organised an open protest letter to President Dmitry Medvedev and other Russian leaders, which was signed by several hundred leading academics from across the world. After several court hearings, the materials were finally returned to Memorial in May 2009.
On 2 March 2009, the contract to publish The Whisperers in Russia was cancelled by the publishing house Atticus, claiming financial reasons. Figes suspects that the decision was partly influenced by the politics surrounding the police raid against Memorial. The book will be published by the charitable organisation Dinastia, which financed the translation from the start.
Figes has also condemned the arrest by the FSB of historian Mikhail Suprun as part of a "Putinite campaign against freedom of historical research and expression".
At the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August 2011 Figes revealed that he had made some charitable donations in Russia from the proceeds of his book The Whisperers.
Read more about this topic: Orlando Figes
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