Alexander Shilov - for the USSR

On April 8, 2004, in an interview with the Rossiya newspaper, artist Alexander Shilov not only talked about his creative path, but also talked about the fate of his Motherland.

In particular, on the question of how he sees the future of Russia, and whether it is worth joining a united Europe, A. Shilov said the following: " I believe that it is necessary to restore the Soviet Union! We must create the greatest, powerful state, similar to the one that was. Stop fawning over the White House. No country in the world, including America, will ever respect us if we curry favor with them and agree with them which president we should elect. We must develop independently, be a strong state and in militarily, and spiritually, to give paramount importance to art, because what kind of art, such is the human soul.Then: it is necessary to educate the younger generation not on vile anti-films that promote debauchery, murder, drug addiction, meanness, but on the examples of the heroes of the Patriotic War, to raise the role of the army. Napoleon correctly said: “If you don’t feed your army, you will have to feed someone else’s.” If there is no ideology of goodness, honor, conscience, patriotism, we will perish! We are already dying, we are being torn apart in all directions, our Fatherland is shrinking like shagreen leather. Do you understand? We have every opportunity to be the world's greatest power: talented people, large territory, natural resources, and so on. And we must not: sound proud; as Gorky said, we must live proudly. We must understand what love for the Fatherland is (not for the coffins of the father). And also to understand that everything in the world is done from a position of strength - only the strong are respected everywhere! We have everything for greatness, except for one thing - respect for ourselves. We lack this - a sense of healthy patriotism and pride in our country and our people. And these concepts should be supported at the state level. It is necessary to glorify and reward those people who put their strength and talents on the altar of the Fatherland, to educate the younger generation by their examples. And I, like many others, am glad that Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is leading Russia along this path." .

Sources

• Polyakova Marina. Planet Alexander Shilov // Russia. 2004. April 8.