Hans Boland was invited to a ceremony in the Kremlin
Dutch translator Hans Boland, who translated the creations of Pushkin, Akhmatova and Dostoyevsky, declined to receive a prestigious award from the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Boland was awarded the Pushkin Prize on August 26 and invited to the ceremony in the Kremlin. However, he declined the invitation, as he does not want his name tied with the Russian President in any way, writes Nova Gazeta.
The letter of declination, given to the cultural attaché in the Russian Embassy, Fyodor Voronin, was posted online by the translator.
“I would accept the honor given to me with great gratitude, if not for your President, whose behavior and way of thinking I look down upon. God be willing for his ‘ideals’ to be destroyed completely in the nearest future. Any ties between him and myself, his name and Pushkin’s name are disgusting and unacceptable to me,” wrote Boland.
Source: TSN
Translated by Mariya Shcherbinina
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