He Knew How to Make Himself Irreplaceable: Anatolii Sobchak's Last Interview—on Vladimir Putin—with Arkadii Sosnov

Abstract

Now that Sobchak is no longer with us, the remarks he made not long before his premature death take on the force of an invocation, a prophecy. I met with him—just think!—only last Monday in his small office on Nevskii Prospekt. It was Valentine's Day, and I felt that I was not intruding too much in Sobchak's family plans. "Lana," he told his wife on his mobile phone, "you didn't know, but I am talking with Sosnov. No, I won't be late for dinner."