Moscow-born, New York-based Nina Khrushcheva is an expert in contemporary Russian history and politics, as well as an astute analyst and critic of Vladimir Putin’s regime. The 61-year-old is a professor of international relations in New York. As the great-granddaughter of Nikita Khrushchev, she also has a special biographical connection to Russian politics, the Salzburg Festival informed. Khrushcheva observes the developments and changes in Russian society from a cultural perspective, thinks about the influence of literature on politics and comments on the complex conditions that shape today’s Russia.
“Nina Khrushcheva has been analyzing Putin’s behavior and the West’s contradictory reactions to it for decades – and she doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable assessments and scenarios,” said festival director Markus Hinterhäuser. “As the person directly affected, she holds up a mirror to both the ‘worst barbarian’ and the floundering democracies, while at the same time the Putin critic strives to treat Russian culture with respect.”
Dostoyevsky’s premises
In her festival speech at the ceremony at 11 a.m. in the Felsenreitschule, Khrushcheva will take up one of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s most important premises – that beauty will save the world. She examines the question of what role art plays in the current political and cultural environment, which is characterized by war, crises, hostility and division.
