"The Cold War was waged in a particularly brutal and cynical way in Africa, and Africa seemed powerle..." — Ryszard Kapuscinski

My writing is a combination of three elements. The first is travel: not travel like a tourist, but travel as exploration. The second is reading literature on the subject. The third is reflection.

The tradition of Russian literature is also an eastern tradition of learning poetry and prose by heart.

I remember that during the period leading up to independence in Angola in 1975, I was the only correspondent there at all for three months.

The official independence celebration was going to be held over four or five days, and a group of journalists from all over the world was allowed to fly in, because Angola was closed otherwise.