Source: HRO.org (info), 08/06/12

· Freedom of expression

Writer Boris Akunin and poet Lev Rubinshtein have resigned from the magazine Bolshoi Gorod as a sign of solidarity with the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Filipp Dziadko, who has left the publication, according to a post on Rubinshtein’s Facebook page.

“We’re not going to pretend that nothing happened,” the poet’s statement said.

This signals the end of a joint project by the writers, in which they used the magazine’s pages to discuss “everything that popped into their heads,” according to Polit.ru. Their articles touched on topics of culture, society and politics, the latter becoming especially relevant in the wake of the recent protests in Russia.

Earlier, Akunin and Rubinshtein had organized the so-called writers’ “Test Walk” that brought at least 10,000 people into Moscow city centre on 13 May.

Dziadko released a statement about his resignation on the magazine’s website on the night of 7 June, in which he wrote that “it is time for a change.” He did not give specific reasons for his departure. In an interview with the newspaper Vedomosti, Dziadko said he had a difference in opinion with the magazine’s investors, who wanted to steer the editorial politics of the magazine towards lifestyle coverage and decrease the number of articles addressing social and political issues.