Ilya אש AshRussian poet Glickeriy Ulunov has been arrested in Saint Petersburg, accused of organizing activities “aimed at inciting suicide.” The state media RIA Novosti claims he ran a “destructive authorial project Flags” and encouraged “deviant behavior.” #RussianZeitgeist #Russia #Poetry #FreeSpeech #Bookstodon @bookstodon @poetry @poets (1/8)
Authorities say Ulunov was planning to study in the UK under a grant from The Hill Foundation, described by RIA Novosti as a “successor” to the Khodorkovsky Foundation, considered undesirable in Russia. #HumanRights #RussiaNews #Bookstodon @bookstodon @poetry @poets (2/8)
Video released by RIA shows Ulunov acknowledging he wrote the poem Five Thousand Ideas for a Destructive Date. He also lectured on freeganism at the European University in St. Petersburg. #Poetry #Censorship #Russia #Bookstodon @bookstodon @poetry @poets (3/8)
After his arrest, the Flags website went offline and social media accounts were deleted. His poems disappeared from literary platforms Polutona and syg.ma, and his name was removed from the Arkady Dragomoshchenko Prize site. #Literature #Russia @bookstodon @poetry @poets (4/8)
Court hearing is scheduled for today. Poet and cultural organizer Dmitry Kuzmin warns the case may signal a broader crackdown on young Russian poets. #FreeSpeech #YoungPoets #Russia @bookstodon @poetry @poets (5/8)
Ulunov, born 1997 in Kaluga, studied philosophy in Moscow & St. Petersburg. His research includes Soviet psychiatry, drug use, suicidology & biohacking. He also publishes experimental music. #Russia #Poetry #ExperimentalArt @bookstodon @poetry @poets (6/8)
He has been published in Vozdukh, Polutona, Translit, Stenograme, GRЁZA, and TextOnly, and was shortlisted for the Arkady Dragomoshchenko Prize (2020). #RussianPoetry #Literature @bookstodon @poetry @poets (7/8)
Flags (Флаги, https://www.flagi.media), launched in 2020, is an exploratory poetry platform that experiments with form while keeping an individual voice. #Poetry #IndependentArts #Russia (8/8)
Same thread @ Bluesky: https://web-cdn.bsky.app/profile/ashcomco.bsky.social/post/3lxmgxi27js2l
Same thread @ Twitter: https://x.com/ashiologist/status/1961748569498505477
I'll translate a couple of quotes regarding Ulunov's poetics and the concept behind Flagi project a bit later.
Ilya Ash (@ashcomco.bsky.social)
Russian poet Glickeriy Ulunov has been arrested in Moscow, accused of organizing activities “aimed at inciting suicide.” The state media RIA Novosti claims he ran a “destructive poet-led project Flags” and encouraged “deviant behavior.” #Russia #Poetry #FreeSpeech (1/8)