In my birthday post, I always offer my heartfelt thanks to everyone around me, everyone who supports me. And to my family, of course. But this time I want to share something important. I hesitated over whether to write this. You might decide I’ve lost my mind. But I’ll write it anyway. A great many strange things have happened to me over the past year. Poisoning and dying on a plane. A strange bonus life, in which I had to learn to walk and speak again. The uncovering of an assassination attempt and phone calls with the people who wanted to kill me. Returning home, arrest at the border, savage, absurd “trials,” “Kremlin Central” (a sarcastic nickname for a prison tied to the Russian state), and a penal colony resembling a caricature of a Big Brother concentration camp. Illness, denial of medical care, and a hunger strike. And through all of this, I watched myself closely. I really did not want to turn into a beast. You understand, of course—events like these do a great deal to turn a person into something like a hunted wolf. Hating everyone, dreaming of executions and imprisoning enemies. To fall asleep, you count not sheep, but the people you’ll hang in your first week in power. I understand those emotions, and—to be honest—I was afraid they would become a large part of me. Because my plan was exactly the opposite: to love and understand all people a little more. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not some crazy pacifist or a religious fanatic. I haven’t shifted from my positions by a single millimeter. Fighting corruption and ensuring fair trials for villains are a key part of my agenda. But when I meet anyone—especially those about whom my first thought is, “You bastard, I’d like to strangle you”—I try to push that first thought away, and with my second thought I do my utmost to understand the person, forgive them, and even (don’t call me a pervert) love them a little. It isn’t easy, but I’m making every possible effort. As it says: “And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?” So today, I hope I can say that the achievement of the year is this: so far, I seem to be keeping my distance from the state of a “beast in a cage.” And you have helped me enormously in that. I receive letters and telegrams and always think: people are so good—how can you not love them? So thank you, everyone. Hugs to all of you. And the fact that I’m marking the occasion in a cell—that’s nothing. One day my spaceship will make it through, and then I’ll celebrate properly for all the missed occasions at once 😉