Dead | Russian poet Lev Rubinstein, who criticized Putin's politics for years, has died

Russian poet and essayist Lev Rubinstein has died at the age of 76. Reuters according to information about the death, Rubinstein's daughter took care of it on Sunday.

Rubinstein had been hit by a car in Moscow on Monday and eventually died from his injuries. According to the authorities, the driver had already committed 19 traffic violations during the year, and a criminal investigation has been launched into the accident.

Lev Rubinstein was a linguist by training, and he worked as a librarian during the Soviet era. He first became known for his underground poems, which he wrote on library reference cards. These poems have also been published later in Finnish.

Later, Rubinstein published blog posts.

“Social media is like the new library cards for me,” Rubinstein said In an interview with HS in autumn 2015. He visited Finland several times.

Rubinstein criticized Vladimir Putin politics, cultural politics, oppression of sexual minorities and the attack on Ukraine.

As a linguist, he also talked about how in Russia there are double meanings in the language, just like it was during the Soviet Union. In his opinion, the propagandists of the modern Russian regime are more skilled than their Soviet-era counterparts.

He described the crisis in Ukraine as a clash between Europe and the Soviet Union.

“I think Russia should become part of the West,” Lev Rubinstein told HS. “Russia has a European orientation, that's all. All talk about Eurasia or Russia's uniqueness is devoid of substance.”