There is another Russia beyond Putin | Timothy Garton Ash

Despite the Russian president’s popularity, hopes remain of a post-imperial state at ease with itself and its neighbours

Russia has lost an empire and not yet found a role. Only the Russians themselves can decide what that should be, and it will take some time. The new Russia will certainly not arrive this 9 May, when Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin celebrates the 70th anniversary of the end of what Russians call the great patriotic war. It may not emerge until 9 May 2025, or even 2045, but we should never abandon hope for that other Russia, and we must keep faith with the Russians who are working for it.

The phrase “lost an empire and not yet found a role” was first applied to Britain, by a former US secretary of state. The British know as well as anyone how initially uncomfortable it is to lose an empire, and how difficult to find a new role. Some would say that Britain has still not got there. And, by the way, the fate of the original, heartland empire, the one that forged the four nations of these islands – England, Wales, Scotland and (now only a small part of) Ireland – into a supposedly United Kingdom, is still unresolved. That is a major theme in Britain’s general election.

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