by James Millar
There are indeed a few passages in which Ko-toshikhin lashes out at Muscovite ignorance, dishonesty, superstition, and xenophobia and lauds the “blessed freedom” of the West. But these passionate outbursts, almost certainly interpolations in the original text, are in striking contrast with the content and tone of the rest of the account, which is severely factual and almost entirely free of broad generalizations and value judgments. The level of accuracy is remarkably high, particularly for someone writing in a foreign country with no sources other than the Law Code of 1649. Koto-shikhin emphasized those topics that were of interest to the Swedish government; these corresponded well with what he knew best. There are lengthy descriptions of the central administrative institutions, diplomatic protocol, and court ceremonial; somewhat shorter discussions of the nobility, the army, provincial administration, merchants and trade, and the marriage customs of the upper class; and virtually nothing on the peasantry or the Orthodox Church. Kotoshikhin portrays a government of legal norms and bureaucratic process, and provides strong though not unimpeachable evidence on the constitutional role of the estates of the realm in electing or confirming each tsar from 1584 to 1645.
On Russia in the Reign of Alexis Mikhailovich has been republished a number of times (1859, 1884, 1906, 1984, and twice in 2000; Pennington, 1980, is the definitive edition of the text, with exhaustive linguistic commentaries). It remains a uniquely valuable source. No other Muscovite ever wrote anything comparable, and no Western traveler ever had Kotoshikhin’s expert knowledge.
Kotoshikhin was born ahead of his time. From the reign of Peter the Great onward, Russians were able to adopt Western ways and values while reKOVALEVSKAYA, SOFIA VASILIEVNA maining loyal to their native land. In Kotoshikhin’s generation this was not yet possible. See also: ALEXEI MIKHAILOVICH; LAW CODE OF 1649; SLAVOPHILES; WESTERNIZERS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Weickhardt, George. (1990). “Kotoshikhin: An Evaluation and Interpretation.” Russian History 17: 127-154.
BENJAMIN UROFF
KOVALEV, SERGEI ADAMOVICH
(b. 1930), dissident, politician, human rights activist.
Sergei Kovalev became famous as a dissident in the 1970s and later as a politician working for human rights in post-communist Russia. Trained as a biologist, he spent much of his early career at Moscow State University. In 1969 he was dismissed for dissident activity. From 1970 to 1974 he worked in a research station.
In 1967 Kovalev became involved in human rights circles, and soon developed a close friendship with fellow dissident Andrei Sakharov. Like Sakharov, he believed in the strategy of insisting on strict application by the authorities of the existing laws, and also of working for law reform. In 1968 he was one of the anonymous founders and editors of the samizdat (typewritten self-published) journal A Chronicle of Current Events, which documented violations of human rights and circulated covertly from hand to hand. In 1969 he was a founding member of the Action Group to Defend Civil Rights in the USSR.
In 1974 he was arrested and eventually tried in closed court. Sentenced to seven years in a strict-regime labor camp, he served his whole term, taking part in numerous protests and hunger strikes by prisoners. On his release he was forced to live from 1984 to 1987 in the remote town of Kalinin.
In the late 1980s Kovalev took part in various initiatives aimed at creating a civil society. In 1990 he was elected on a Democratic Russia ticket to the RSFSR’s Congress of People’s Deputies and its Supreme Soviet. He chaired the latter’s Human Rights Committee, which passed important legislation on refugees, citizenship, procedures for emergency rule, the exculpation of political prisoners, and parliamentary supervision of the security services.
In the fall of 1993 he opposed Yeltsin’s proroguing of the parliament, but did not support the parliamentary opposition. In October Yeltsin appointed him chair of his Commission on Human Rights, and the political movement Russia’s Choice elected him chair of its council. In December he was elected to the new parliament, and as of 2003 has remained a deputy, switching his allegiance in 2001 from the successor of Russia’s Choice to Yabloko.
In 1996 Kovalev resigned from Yeltsin’s Human Rights Commission, in protest against his increasing authoritarianism and the war crimes committed by the military in Chechnya. He continues to be active in a variety of forums, and is widely seen in the early twenty-first century as the leading champion of human rights in Russia. See also: DISSADENT MOVEMENT; MEMORIAL; SAKHAROV, ANDREI DMITRIEVICH; SAMIZDAT
PETER REDDAWAY
KOVALEVSKAYA, SOFIA VASILIEVNA
(1850-1891), mathematician and writer.
Sofia Korvin-Krukovskaya, growing up on an estate in Vitebsk province, displayed unusual mathematical ability from childhood. Desperate to escape the strictures of gentry womanhood, at eighteen she contracted a “fictive” marriage with the paleontologist and social activist Vladimir Ko-valevsky, who took her to western Europe to study. In 1874 Kovalevskaya, mentored by the eminent German mathematician Karl Weierstrass, received a doctorate from G?ttingen University. Afterward, the Kovalevskys, now married in fact, returned to St. Petersburg, where their daughter was born in 1878. In 1883 Kovalevsky, embroiled in financial scandal connected with an oil company scheme, committed suicide. Unable to find suitable teaching work in Russia, Kovalevskaya, at the urging of Weierstrass and the Swedish mathematician Gus-tav Mittag-Leffler, accepted a professorship in the newly established Stockholm University, becoming the first woman in modern Europe to hold such a post. In Sweden the homesick Kovalevskaya wrote her vivid reminiscences of girlhood; a novella based on a true incident, The Nihilist Girl; two plays written in Swedish with writer Anna Charlotte Leffler
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KOZLOV, FROL ROMANOVICH
under the title Struggle for Happiness, concerning the contrast between real and ideal fates in life; and some journalistic articles. In 1888 Kovalevskaya received the prestigious French Prix Bordin for mathematics in blind competition. Death from pneumonia in 1891 cut short Kovalevskaya’s dual careers as mature scientist and budding author. In the early twentieth century her story served as inspiration for science-minded girls throughout Europe. Her mathematics-in particular, equations describing the motions of rotating solids over time (“Kovalevsky’s top”)-has particular relevance in the space age.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Koblitz, Ann Hibner. (1993). A Convergence of Lives: Sofia Kovalevskaia, Scientist, Writer, Revolutionary. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Kovalevskaya, Sonya. (1979). A Russian Childhood, tr., ed., and intro. Beatrice Stillman; with an analysis of Kovalevskaya’s Mathematics by P. Y. Kochina. New York: Springer-Verlag. Kovalevskaya, Sonya. (2001). Nihilist Girl, tr. Natasha Kolchevska with Mary Zirin. New York: Modern Language Association of America.
MARY ZIRIN
knowledgeable about economic matters, and “firm, not someone who can be easily swayed.”
By 1963, when Kozlov was de facto second secretary of the Soviet Communist party, he seemed to Western Kremlinologists to be leading conservative resistance to Khrushchev’s reforms. In all probability, however, there was no organized opposition, and in fact, Kozlov soon began to irritate Khrushchev, for example, when he allowed the Soviet Communist Party’s ritual May Day 1963 greetings to other Communist parties to imply an unauthorized change of line on Yugoslavia. Shortly after Khrushchev berated Kozlov for this mistake (but not necessarily because of Khrushchev’s tirade), Kozlov suffered a stroke, which removed him from participation in the Presidium, although he formally remained a member until Khrushchev’s ouster in October 1964. See also: KHRUSHCHEV, NIKITA SERGEYEVICH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Khrushchev, Sergei. (1990). Khrushchev on Khrushchev, tr. and ed. William Taubman. Boston: Little, Brown. Tatu, Michel. (1969). Power in the Kremlin: From Khrushchev to Kosygin, tr. Helen Katel. New York: Viking Press.
WILLIAM TAUBMAN
KOZLOV, FROL ROMANOVICH
(1908-1965), top Communist party leader during the 1950s and early 1960s.
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Frol Kozlov’s path to power was typical for party leaders of his generation of Soviet. Born in a village in Ryazan Province, Kozlov became a worker and assistant foreman at a textile plant where he also served as Communist Youth League secretary. After studying at the Leningrad Polytechnical Institute and working as an engineer, he rose through the ranks: secretary of the Izhevsk city party committee (1940-1941), second secretary of Kuibyshev Province (1947-1949), a party leader of Leningrad (1949-1957), candidate member of the Central Committee’s Presidium (1957), and a Central Committee secretary in 1960.
Presidium colleague Alexander Shelepin later described Kozlov as a “very limited man.” Anastas Mikoyan labeled him an “unintelligent, pro-Stalinist reactionary and careerist.” Yet Kozlov backed Khrushchev in his battle with the Antiparty Group in 1957, and according to Khrushchev, he seemed
KOZYREV, ANDREI VLADIMIROVICH
(b. 1951), Russian foreign minister.
Andrei Kozyrev served as post-Communist Russia’s first foreign minister, from 1990 to 1996. He was well known as an advocate of pro-Western policies, but by the mid-1990s, as these views fell out of favor, he was forced from office.
Kozyrev was born in Belgium in 1951, where his father, a Soviet diplomat, was then serving. He was educated at Moscow State Institute of International Relations, and he joined the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs, becoming head of the Department of International Organizations in 1986. He is fluent in English, Spanish, and French.
In 1990, when Russia declared its sovereignty, Kozyrev was named foreign minister, and he was one of the leading advocates for reform in Boris Yeltsin’s circle. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he helped spearhead Russia’s pro-Western
KRAVCHUK, LEONID MAKAROVICH
turn in foreign policy, pursuing cooperation with the United States on issues such as disarmament, the Middle East, Yugoslavia, and trade and economic relations. He was also viewed by many as one of the most important voices for liberalism and democracy in post-Communist Russia.
However, the incipient partnership between Moscow and Washington began to flounder in 1993 over such issues as the war in Yugoslavia and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) expansion. Critics began to push for a more forceful and aggressive Russian foreign policy, and Kozyrev’s language also became more bellicose on occasion, including threats against Russia’s neighbors and an assertion of special rights for Russia in the former Soviet space-the Near Abroad. Nonetheless, this was not enough, and by 1995 Yeltsin let it be known that he was no longer satisfied with the course of Russia’s foreign policy. In January 1996 Yevgeny Primakov, a career Soviet diplomat known for more conservative views, replaced Kozyrev, who then served as a member of the Russian Duma (parliament) until the end of 1999. He has written numerous articles and books on international politics. See also: NEAR ABROAD; PERESTROIKA; YELTSIN, BORIS NIKOLAYEVICH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kozyrev, Andrei. (1995). “Partnership or Cold Peace?” Foreign Policy 99: 3-14. Talbott, Strobe. (2002). The Russia Hand: A Memoir of Presidential Diplomacy. New York: Random House.
PAUL J. KUBICEK
suaded his Cossacks from becoming involved in “Russian affairs,” and Krasnov himself was taken prisoner near Pulkovo. Remarkably, he was released after swearing not to oppose the Soviet government further. He immediately moved to the Don territory, was elected ataman of the Don Cossack Host in May 1918, and, assisted by Germany, cleared the Don of Red forces over the summer of that year. After the armistice, his former collaboration with Germany made his position difficult. Following defeats at the hands of the Reds and quarrels with the pro-Allied General Denikin, in early 1919 Krasnov resigned his post and emigrated to Germany. He subsequently became a prolific writer of forgettable historical novels but also worked with various anti-Bolshevik groups in inter-war Europe, eventually allying himself with the Nazis and helping them, from 1941 to 1945, to form anti-Soviet Cossack units from Soviet POWs. In 1945 he joined the Cossack puppet state that the Nazis established in the Italian Alps. Surrendering to the British in May 1945, he was among those forcibly repatriated to the Soviet Union, in accordance with provisions of the Yalta agreement. In January 1947, accused of treason, he was hanged, by order of the Military Collegium of the USSR Supreme Court. See also: CIVIL WAR OF 1917-1922; COSSACKS; KERENSKY, ALEXANDER FYODOROVICH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Tolstoy, Nikolai. (1977). Victims of Yalta. London: Hod-der amp; Stoughton.
JONATHAN D. SMELE
KRASNOV, PYOTR NIKOLAYEVICH
(1869-1947), Cossack ataman, anti-Bolshevik leader, and author.
Son of a Cossack general, Pyotr Krasnov was born in St. Petersburg and educated at Pavlovsk Military School, graduating in 1888. During World War I, he rose to the rank of lieutenant-general and to the command of the Third Cavalry Corps in August 1917. After the October Revolution, in uneasy collaboration with Alexander Kerensky (whom, as a monarchist, he despised), Krasnov was among the first to take military action against the Bolsheviks, attempting to lead Cossack forces from Gatchina toward Petrograd. However, the Bolsheviks disKRAVCHUK, LEONID MAKAROVICH (b. 1934), Ukrainian politician and first president of post-Soviet Ukraine.
Elected president of Ukraine on December 1, 1991-the same date as the historic referendum on Ukrainian independence-Kravchuk won decisively, garnering 61.6 percent of the popular vote in a six-way contest. His primary political achievement was to establish Ukraine’s sovereignty and maintain peace and social order with a minimum of violence and almost no ethnic conflict. It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of this accomplishment. However, he appears to have misunderstood the relationship between state building
KREMLIN
and economic reforms. This failure would cost him the presidency in early elections in July 1994.
A consummate politician, Kravchuk gained for himself the nickname “sly fox” because of his ability to maneuver in predicaments that he himself had created. His political shrewdness manifested itself in the events of 1991 when, as chairman of the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet, he publicly vacillated during the Moscow coup attempt of August 19-21. While other Ukrainian officials supported Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Kravchuk urged caution. With the failure of the coup and with public opinion turning against him, Kravchuk led the Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU) to join the democratic opposition on August 24 and to adopt Ukraine’s Declaration of Independence by a vote of 346 to 1. Kravchuk also redeemed himself by resigning from the CPU and the CPSU.
Clearly, the CPU strategy was to retain power in an independent Ukraine. The democratic opposition was too weak and disorganized to take power on its own; for this, they needed the Communists. It is ironic that, as the former ideology chief of the CPU, Kravchuk persecuted nationalist groups, such as the Popular Front for Perestroika in Ukraine (Rukh), only to appropriate their goals and program in his 1991 bid for the newly established presidency. As president, however, Kravchuk effectively postponed economic and political reforms in favor of nation building. A notable aspect of his leadership was a continuing reliance on officials of the former Communist apparat in key governmental positions. Consequently, the simultaneous pursuit of political stability and economic reform was all but ruled out.
Confused and contradictory economic policies emanated from Kravchuk’s government. He publicly supported radical reforms even as he worked to strengthen the hold of the former nomenklatura over the state and economy. The saga of Kravchuk’s management of the economy was the massive emission of cheap credits and budget subsidies to industry, coupled with the imposition of administrative controls over prices and currency exchange rates. Major price increases in January and July 1992 drove Ukraine from the ruble zone in November of that year. But Ukrainian authorities proved no better at controlling inflation, plunging the nation into hyperinflation throughout 1993, when prices increased by more than 10,000 percent. Industrial output also plunged precipitously as the economic crisis widened and deepened. Throughout 1992
and into 1993, Kravchuk was locked in a struggle with Prime Minister Leonid D. Kuchma for authority to reform the economy. Consequently, Kravchuk dismissed his errant premier in September 1993. The president made a halfhearted attempt to renew the command economy in late 1993, but by then the economic decline severely damaged Kravchuk’s credibility. In response to pressure from heavily industrialized eastern Ukraine, Kravchuk agreed to early elections, to be held in July 1994. Facing his one-time premier, Leonid Kuchma, Kravchuk was defeated in the second round, garnering but 45.1 percent of the popular vote. The former president did not retire from politics, however; he was elected a member of parliament in a special election in September 1994, replacing a people’s deputy who died before taking office. He was reelected in 1998 and 2002 from the party lists of the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine, and from 1998 onward has been a member of the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Relations. See also: PERESTROIKA; UKRAINE AND UKRAINIANS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kravchuk, Robert S. (2002). Ukrainian Political Economy: The First Ten Years. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Kuzio, Taras, and Andrew Wilson. (1994). Ukraine: Per-estroika to Independence. Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press. Wilson, Andrew. (1997). “Ukraine: Two Presidents and Their Powers.” In Postcommunist Presidents, ed. Ray Taras. New York: Cambridge University Press.