The incongruity between reality and state-sponsored mythology may trouble foreigners, but it goes almost unnoticed by the Russians, who accept the implicit contradictions as a part of daily life. Like the double-headed eagle next to the Lenin statues, such incongruities characterize Russian culture, which thrives on ambiguity and approximation.
And not only cities and streets get renamed. Russian leaders have at times chosen their own names. The German-born Empress Catherine II or Catherine the Great was once a more modest Princess Sophie Auguste of Anhalt-Zerbst. The current leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, was Vladimir Gundyaev before donning his robes. Although they claimed to be leading a state founded on scientific Marxism, Soviet leaders followed these same imperial and religious traditions. Hailing from the town of Simbirsk on the Volga, Vladimir Lenin was, first, Vladimir Ulyanov, but after a stint in Siberian exile he adopted the name of Lenin, so impressed was he by the mighty river Lena near which he served his sentence. After Lenin’s death Simbirsk was renamed Ulyanovsk, and it is Ulyanovsk to this day. Stalin’s original surname was Dzhugashvili. From the small town of Gori in Georgia, then part of the Russian and later the Soviet empire, the young Dzhugashvili decided to harden his image by concocting a name from the word stal, Russian for “steel.”
Outsiders generally associate Russia with totalitarianism, the epitome of political centralization, and this is not an incorrect assumption. However, much in Russian life also depends on the whim of local authorities, and sometimes even on the people’s will. Residents of Ulyanovsk, for example, chose to continue their association with Lenin, rather than renaming their town Simbirsk.
All this naming and renaming can seem baffling to non-Russians. Russians themselves view it as representative of their land’s long and complex history, a land of people accustomed to thinking one thing and saying another, a land where roads often lead to dead ends, a land where (for now at least) the Putin-era farrago of symbols from almost all Russia’s epochs—Red Victory flags from the Great Patriotic War, red-white-and-blue banners from the imperial period, Soviet-era statues, and emblems from Russian Orthodox Christianity—are tasked with reconciling the irreconcilable extremes of a country where the past is anything but past.
NOTE ON TRANSLATION AND TRANSLITERATION
Bibliographical references and Russian words cited in this book follow a modified version of the Library of Congress system of transliteration (“ya” instead of “ia,” for example). Soft signs are omitted, and names are mostly given in their standard English form (when such exists). Unless otherwise indicated, translations from the Russian are our own.
NOTES
Introduction
1. Igor Zotov, then editor at Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Independent Newspaper), in conversation with the authors, August 2016.
2. “Russia Election: Vladimir Putin Wins by Big Margin,” BBC, March 19, 2018.
3. “Novogodnee Obrashchenie Prezidenta Rossii” [New Year’s Address of the President of Russia], Channel 1, December 31, 2016.
4. “Russia GDP 1989–2018,” Trading Economics, https://tradingeconomics.com/russia/gdp.
5. Lauren Carroll, “Obama: US Spends More on Military Than Next 8 Nations Combined,” Politifact, January 13, 2016.
6. Yevgeny Kalyukov, “Uroven Bezrabotitsy V Rossii Vpervye Za Tri Goda Upal Nizhe 5%” [For the First Time in Three Years Unemployment Fell to Under Five Percent], RBC, September 19, 2017.
7. Lynn Berry, “Putin’s Choice of Words Shed Light on Ukraine,” Associated Press, April 17, 2014.
8. Andrew Roth, “Vladimir Putin Secures Landslide Victory in Russian Election,” Guardian, March 18, 2018.
1. Kaliningrad
1. This and the following quote are from “Transcript: Putin Says Russia Will Protect the Rights of Russians Abroad,” Washington Post, March 18, 2014.
2. Viktoria Veselova, “Dorogoi Krym: Skolko Stoit Zhit Na Poluostrove?” [Expensive Crimea: How Much Does the Peninsula Life Cost?], Krym.Realii, November 14, 2017.
3. “‘I Ne Zatyagivaite’: Putin Prikazal Platit Krymchanam Rossiiskie Pensii” [And Make It Quick: Putin Ordered Russian Pensions to Crimeans], NewsRu.com, March 19, 2014.
4. Vasily Marinin et al., “Glavnoe o Krymskom Moste” [The Most Relevant Information About the Crimea Bridge], RBC, May 15, 2018.
5. Alexei Levinson, “86% Za ‘KrymNash’” [86% Is for “Crimea Is Ours”], Vedomosti, April 3, 2018.
6. I. A. Kurlyandsky, Stalin, Vlast, Religiya [Stalin, Power, Religion] (Moscow: Kuchkovo Pole, 2011), 42–43.
7. Damien Sharkov, “Stalin More Popular Than Putin, Russians Say,” Newsweek, June 26, 2017.
2. Kiev
1. Mikhail Kalnitsky, “Na Pamyatnike Svyatomu Knyazyu Vladimiru Nekotorye Usmatrivayut Prisutstvie Masonskoi Simvoliki” [Some See Masonic Symbolism in St. Vladimir’s Statue in Kiev], Kievskie Vedomosti, January 22, 2013.
2. Mikhail Bulgakov, The White Guard, trans. Michael Glenny (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971).
3. “Transcript: Putin Says,” Washington Post, March 8, 2014.
4. Kim Kelly, “Decapitating Lenin Statues Is the Hottest New Trend in Ukraine,” Vice, May 25, 2017.
5. Ilya Ponomarev, “Segodnya V Dume Rassmatrivaetsya Zakon Ob Internete. Pravda O Zakone” [Today Duma Considers the Law Concerning the Internet. The Truth About the Law] (blog), LiveJournal, July 11, 2012, https://ilya-ponomarev.livejournal.com/512193.html.
6. Miriam Elder, “Russia Passes Law Banning Gay ‘Propaganda,’” Guardian, June 11, 2013.
7. William Henry Chamberlin, The Ukraine: A Submerged Nation (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1944).
3. Arkhangelsk, Solovetsky Islands, Saint Petersburg, and Moscow
1. Yury Brodsky, Solovki: Labirint Preobrazhenii [Solovki: The Labyrinth of Transformations] (Moscow: Novaya Gazeta Publishing, 2017).
2. Luke Harding, “Vladimir Putin: Return of the King,” Guardian, September 26, 2011.
3. “2017 Victory Day Parade in Moscow,” Sputnik International, May 9, 2017.
4. Ulyanovsk (Simbirsk) and Samara (Kuibyshev)
1. Ivan Goncharov, Oblomov, trans. Stephen Pearl (Charlottetown, CA: Bunim & Bannigan, 2006), p. 128.
2. Ibid., p. 265.
5. Perm, Yekaterinburg, and Tyumen
1. Noah Sneider, “Paradise in Perm,” Economist 1843, December–January, 2018.
2. “Breakfast with Frost Interview: Vladimir Putin,” BBC, March 5, 2000, http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/audio_video/programmes/breakfast_with_frost/transcripts/putin5.mar.txt.
3. Cited in Felix Chuev, Molotov: Poluderzhavny Vlastelin [Molotov: A Semisovereign Ruler] (Moscow: Olma Press, 2000), p. 422.
4. Gleb Bryanski, “Russian Patriarch Calls Putin Era ‘Miracle of God,’” Reuters, February 8, 2012.
5. E. T. A. Hoffmann, Kroshka Tsakhes Po Prozvaniyu Tsinnober [Little Zaches, Great Zinnober], trans. from the German by A. Morozova (Moscow: Sovetskaya Rossiya, 1991).
6. Leonid Bershidsky, “Vladimir Putin, the Richest Man on Earth,” Bloomberg, September 17, 2013.
7. Eugenia Albats, “Chisto-Konkretnyi Kandidat” [The Concrete Candidate], New Times, February 27, 2012; Tatyana Melikyan, “Glavsredstva: Pochemu Yezhemesyachnyi Oklad Tak Malo Volnoval Prezidentov I Gensekov” [Chief Funding: Why Monthly Salary Was Never of Interest to the Presidents and General Secretaries], Lenta.ru, November 15, 2016.
8. Andrei Pertsev, “Borba Za Millionniki: Pochemu Kreml Nachal Nastuplenie Na Ekaterinburg I Novosibirsk” [A Fight for the Million-Population Cities: Why the Kremlin Began Its Offensive on Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk], Moscow Carnegie Center, June 4, 2018.
9. Ivan Golunov, “270 Millionov Za Gektar: Kak Izmenitsya Moskva V 2017?” [270 Million for a Hectare: How Moscow Will Change in Summer 2017 and Who Will Get Rich?], Meduza, May 24, 201
7.
6. Omsk: A Mixed Metaphor of Putin’s Empire
1. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from a Dead House, trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2015).
7. Novosibirsk
1. Russia has the largest epidemic in Europe and one of the fastest-growing in the world. At least 14,631 Russians died from AIDS-related symptoms in the first half of 2017—an increase of more than 13 percent from the previous year. See Chris Beyrer, Andrea L. Wirtz, George O’Hara, Nolwenn Léon, and Michel Kazatchkine, “The Expanding Epidemic of HIV-1 in the Russian Federation,” PLOS Medicine 14, no. 11 (2017): e1002462.
2. Vera Fateyeva, “Andrei Travnikov Prokommentiroval Rezultaty Vizita Prezidenta V Novosibirsk” [Andrei Travnikov Commented on the Results of the President’s Visit to Novosibirsk], Siberia Online, February 9, 2018.
9. Blagoveshchensk, Heihe, and Yakutsk
1. Simon Karlinsky, ed., Anton Chekhov’s Life and Thought: Selected Letters and Commentary, trans. Michael Henry Heim (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1997), pp. 167–168.
2. “The Far East Has Restored Its Electricity,” TASS, August 1, 2017.
3. “Military Power of Russia and China,” ArmedForces.eu, http://armedforces.eu/compare/country_Russia_vs_China.
4. Karlinsky, Anton Chekhov’s Life, pp. 167–168.
5. Micol Flammini, “Quel ponte sullo stretto tra la Crimea e la Russia che fa tremare Kiev: Oggi viene inaugurato il Krymski most, il ponte sullo stretto di Kerch che collegherà la Crimea alla regione di Krasnodar” [The bridge over the Strait between Crimea and Russia that makes Kiev shudder: Today is inaugurated the Crimean Bridge over the Kerch Strait, which connects Crimea to the Krasnodar region, is inaugurated today], Il Folio, May 15, 2018.
6. See Kesserwan Arteau, “Interview with Daryana Maximova: Native Yakutian and Researcher,” World Policy Journal (blog), January 25, 2017; “Yakutskaya Tragediya” [The Yakut Tragedy], Yakutsk History, https://www.yakutskhistory.net.
7. “Alkogolizm V Yakutii V Tri Raza Vyshe Chem Po Strane” [Alcoholism in Yakutia Is Three Times Higher Than in the Rest of the Country], Sakha News, August 19, 2013.
8. “Yakutskyi Gubernator Ne Udivilsya Publikatsiyam O Svoei Otstavke” [The Yakutia Governor Was Not Surprised by Reports of His Ousting], RBC, May 24, 2018.
11. Magadan and Butugychag
1. Vladimir Vysotsky, Vse Stikhotvoreniya [All Poems], trans. from the Russian by Nina Khrushcheva. (Moscow: Literatura, 2000).
2. Sergei Bondarenko, “Stydnye Voprosy O 1937 Gode” [Embarrassing Questions About 1937], Meduza, July 30, 2017.
3. “Spisok I Karta Lagerei Gulag” [A List and a Map of the Gulag Camps], Magadan Jewish Community Site, http://magadanjew.berlev.info/history/gulag/map-legend.htm.
4. “Samyi Nizkii Reiting Vladimira Putina Na Dalnem Vostoke—V Magadane” [Putin’s Lowest Rating in the Far East Is in Magadan], Vesma, January 10, 2018.
5. Dmitry Olshansky, “Navalny Menyaet Svoi Vzglyady V Ugodu Okruzheniyu” [Navalny Changes His Views Depending on His Surroundings], Vzglyad, December 13, 2016.
6. “Zhitel Magadana Obvinen V Rasprostranenii Porochashchikh Svedenii” [Magadan’s Man Is Charged with Defamation], Lenta.ru, July 21, 2016.
Epilogue
1. Margarita Devyatkina, Polina Khimshiashvili, “SMI Soobshchili O Rekordnom Chisle Prosb Rossiyan Ob Ubezhishche V SSHA” [Mass Media Has Reported the Record Asylum Applications to the USA], RBC, May 3, 2018.
2. “Vladimir Putin’s Inauguration,” RT (formerly Russia Today), May 8, 2018.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
INDEX
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your ebook. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
Abramovich, Roman
Agata Kristi
agriculture
airports
AK-47
Akademgorodok
Akhmatova, Anna
Albertina University
alcoholism
Alexander I
Alexandra, empress
amber
Ammosov, Maksim
Amur River
Amur tigers
Andreyevsky Descent, Kiev
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
anti-Semitism
apparatchiks
apple trees
architecture
Constructivist
of Moscow
neo-Russian
socialist classicism
Stalinist
Arctic Ocean
Arkhangelsk
art, avant-garde
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), 2012 summit
atomic bomb
autocrats
Azarov, Dmitry
Baikal-Amur Railroad (BAM)
Baikal Lake
bakeries
Baltic fleet
Baltic Plain
Baltic Sea
Baltiysk (Pillau)
Basil II
bears
Beketov, Pyotr
Beria, Lavrenty
Berlag (Coastal Labor Camp)
Bessonov, Tatyana
blackouts (power)
Black Sea
blacksmiths
Blagoveshchensk
Bolshevik Revolution of 1917
bookstores
Brezhnev, Leonid
bribes
bridges
Briner, Yuly (Jules)
Brodsky, Yury
Bucharest Declaration of 2008
Buddhism
buildings
five-story
gigantic size
Bukovsky, Vladimir
Bulatov, Erik
Bulgakov, Mikhail
Buryatia
Buryats
Bush, George W.
Butugychag labor camp
Byzantine Empire
cab drivers
cafés
capitalism in Russia
Carroll, Lewis
cars
foreign made
Russian made
and traffic
Caspian Sea
cathedrals
destruction of
rebuilding of
Catherine I
Catherine II, the Great
cats
Caucasus
caviar
centralization of state power
regions’ defense against
Chagall, Marc
Chaif
Chapel of Saint Nicholas
Chechen wars
Cheka
Chekhov, Anton
chelnoki (“suitcase traders”)
Chernyshevsky, Nikolai
Chersonesus
China
alliance with Russia
border with Russia
comparisons with Russia
investments in Russia
relations with Russia
single time zone of
threat to Siberia
wars with Russia
Chinese, in Russia
Chinese language
Chirkunov, Oleg
Chita
Christianity
Chubais, Anatoly
Chukchis
Chukotka oblast
churches, destruction of
Churchill, Winston
Civil War
climate
summer
winter
Clinton, Hillary
clothing
coffee
collectivization
communism
disappearance of
effect on Russian psyche
promise of
Confucius Institute
constitution, Russian
construction sites
corruption
Cossacks
countersanctions, Russian
Crimea
annexation of (2014)
history
importance of, to Ukraine
Khrushchev’s transfer to Ukraine
Crimea bridge
Crimean Khanate
Crimean Peninsula
cruise ships
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
cult of personality
Currentzis, Teodor
customer service
Cyril and Methodius, Saints
Cyrillic alphabet
czar, rehabilitation of
Dalstroi (Far-Eastern Construction Directorate)
Damansky Island
Decembrists
demonstrations
Demurova, Nina
In Putin's Footsteps Page 28