Mikhail Bulgakov

The battle for Bulgakov's nationality

Russia and Ukraine are engaged in a cultural cold war over the nationality of one of the world's most celebrated playwrights

Kelly Nestruck
Thu 11 Dec 2008 15.21 GMT

Few would disagree that Mikhail Bulgakov is a great writer. But is the man who wrote Flight and A Cabal of Hypocrites a great Russian writer, or a great Ukrainian writer? Or, can any country that exists today really lay full claim to him?