September 21, 2017

Guns, Gents, and Stalin


Guns, Gents, and Stalin
Heroes Great and Small

1. The Russian landscape has statues to literary figures, past rulers, and now, the inventor of one of history’s most murderous weapons. The seven-meter, $538,000 monument to Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the AK-47 assault rifle, went up in Moscow on Tuesday. Here’s what ordinary Russians attending had to say about the unveiling, with opinions ranging from praise of the hero who brought Russia many victories, to lamenting that people weren’t asked their thoughts in advance, to a lone protester who was detained for his anti-militarist views.

2. There are the heroes who win wars, and then there are the ones who prevent wars. The latter usually get less attention, as was the case with Stanislav Petrov. While an officer at a nuclear early-warning center in 1983, Petrov received data suggesting a U.S. missile launch and correctly interpreted it as a false alarm. His decision possibly averted nuclear disaster, but was kept secret for a decade. In a second instance of belated recognition, which his family attributes to his gentlemanly modesty, Petrov died in May but is only now being memorialized for an act that saved millions of lives.

3. More movie mayhem (missed last week’s horrors? Dive back in time): a new comedy-drama about the death of Joseph Stalin might be purged. The Russian Culture Ministry has requested an advance copy of the film for review, saying they’ll ban the satirical film if it seems likely to offend some Russians’ feelings. Russian Orthodox extremists have threatened movie theaters based on the movie Mathilde, which they decry for its portrayal of Nikolai II, and officials fear a similar response by Russian communists to the film about Stalin. Plus, it could be a Western attempt to “blacken Russian history,” one official worries.

In Odder News
  • Russia’s got a new big cheese: Russian cheese. After sanctions ceased Western cheese imports, a Moscow man turned cheesemaker. Bite in and learn more.
  • new wine label, memorializing the Romanovs and spearheaded by the brother of the King of Sweden, is set to launch in Crimea. With that genealogy, it’s bound to have a rich bouquet.
  • What does contemporary Russian art look like? Kinda like this.

Quote of the Week

"I felt like I was sitting on a hot frying pan….Twenty-three minutes later I realised that nothing had happened. If there had been a real strike, then I would already know about it. It was such a relief."
—Stanislov Petrov on his crisis-averting decision not to report what looked like a US missile launch in 1983. It was later concluded that reflecting sunlight had been identified as the engines of the missiles.

Want more where this comes from? Give your inbox the gift of TWERF, our Thursday newsletter on the quirkiest, obscurest, and Russianest of Russian happenings of the week.

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955