The Putin Issue

Nakazal Bog narod – naslal voyevod.
God punished the people – he sent rulers.

— Russian proverb

It is a bit hard for political cynics like us to devote so much space in our “magazine of culture, history, people and places” to a single politician.

Yet, since this October is President Vladimir Putin’s 50th birthday, we thought the decision was in keeping with our tradition to run articles on individuals’ or events’ “round” anniversaries. And certainly President Putin has become an important part of Russian society and culture. Under his leadership, Russia’s political and economic landscape, to say nothing of its general “mood,” has demonstrably stabilized. In the words of an embattled American icon, “that’s a good thing.”

But, of course, being who we are, we had to treat “this Putin thing” in our own, special way. While we offer a general feature story summarizing the achievements of Putin’s nearly three years in office, we also present our different tack on the presidential biography with two other stories: a profile of Putin’s “better half” (page 36), and an interesting look at “Putin’s Places” (page 30).

It is stories like these that are fun to pull together, edit and design, because they are not the sort of stories you will find anywhere else. They are what we feel sets this magazine apart.

In similar fashion, this issue contains an amazing story about a little-known episode in World War II, where sports turned into high-politics, and in the process cost some brave souls their lives (page 40).

On a more conventional front, we also continue our series on Russian-America, with a visit to New York, and to that quintessential Russian émigré enclave, Brighton Beach. Little did we know before Frank Caso brought us this story, that Russians are the fastest growing ethnic group in New York. Now that’s our kind of town…

We also present a regular feature of the magazine this time of year, our Russian Flavors section (page 55). The focus this year is on the mighty mushroom. Our Cuisine and Survival Russian pages follow on this course as well.

Meanwhile, we felt it was worth noting two significant milestones since the time when we took over the magazine in 1995. First, this issue is the 60th under our ownership. Second, about halfway through the print run of our last issue (July/Aug 2002), our one millionth printed copy of the magazine rolled off the presses. Whew.

Enjoy the issue.

Paul Richardson