Boris Akunin: "Boris Strugatsky"

“I remember how I asked Boris Strugatsky - almost the first - to sign a letter from cultural figures in defense of Svetlana Bakhmina. He said: “Nothing will come of this. This state does not unclench its jaws. But I’ll sign, of course, how can I not sign?” And he asked again: “How many signatures do you expect to collect on the Internet? Twenty thousand? Never and never. Believe me, I've lived here all my life. No one here gives a damn." And then, when a hundred thousand signatures were collected, I was surprised and happy."