From Exile in London, a Crime Novelist Works to Transform Russia

Hundreds of Russians packed an auditorium in central London on a recent warm evening to listen as Boris Akunin, the author of a wildly popular detective series, told them that when it came to the Ukraine war, “I believe that the actions of the Russian Army are criminal.”

Mr. Akunin’s series, set in late czarist times, made him rich and famous, but outspoken statements like that one have made him more infamous of late back home in Russia. The Kremlin recently labeled the author — who went into self-imposed exile in London a decade ago — a “terrorist” and effectively banned his works.

When President Vladimir V. Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Mr. Akunin wrote on Facebook, “Russia is ruled by a psychologically deranged dictator and worst of all, it obediently follows his paranoia.” At that time, he began contemplating how cultural figures fleeing abroad might still reach their domestic audience and perhaps help to spur change at home. Being cut off from his own readers lent the project special urgency.

“I have to say, the amount of work and writing I’ve been doing over these two terrible years, never in my life have I written so much,” he told the audience members, who laughed when he said that a writing binge trumped a drinking binge. “It is a form of escapism.”

Mr. Akunin, 68, was not exactly a slacker before the war. One of his Russian publishers estimated that he had sold at least 30 million books in Russia. His roughly 90 works include novels, plays and an extended history of the Russian state. Various writings have been translated into more than 40 languages.

His position in Russia’s literary world crumbled last December, however, after two pro-Kremlin pranksters phoned him, pretending to be senior Ukrainian officials. He told them that attacking Russia militarily was justified in wartime, and mentioned raising money for Ukrainian refugees.