"The Russian Tsar told us: Russians do not need the concerns of a citizen, I think for you! My mind guards you from alien attacks, from inner evil... Fatherland to you - a flag over proud palaces, Russia is me," - these lines are quoted in his diary by Taras Grigorievich Shevchenko (1814-1861), a classic of Russian and Ukrainian literature, "kobzar" (folk singer-storyteller), as he was called after the release of the famous collection of poems. Taras Shevchenko became a symbol of Ukrainian independence. How fair is that? What was he really like? These questions will be answered by the writer's diary - his innermost thoughts. By the way, he wrote it in Russian. In Russian, and thought. Shevchenko in recent years has become a figure who largely separates Russian and Ukrainian culture. And it could be the other way around...