There Ought To Be a Law ...

Four years ago, we published a story on the tragic earthquake on Sakhalin island. So it was with some amazement that we read in early June that deputies from the island had made a special appeal to President Yeltsin and Prime Minister Stepashin, asking for help with the desparate housing problem still faced by 800 families there. The deputies don’t want any money; they just want Russian Customs to release the building materials sent to the island as part of a Russian-Canadian contract to build earthquake-proof cottages (Customs wants $5.3 million in VAT taxes).

Meanwhile, a month later, Kommersant Daily reported that First Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Aksonenko endorsed a Stalin-era plan to build a $10 billion tunnel between mainland Russia and the Sakhalin island. Stalin originally envisioned the plan as a way to allow a covert Soviet invasion of Japan, and construction was actually begun with slave labor after WWII. Aksonenko said the tunnel would help link Japan with European trade routes.

On a equally absurd note, the Russian Duma recently voted 297-77 to give itself a raise from 6000 to 10,000 rubles ($415) per month. The bill still needs Federation Council and Presidential approval, but it would also give Duma deputies 48 days of paid vacation.

Meanwhile, deputies voted down a proposal to increase monthly maternity allowances to mothers of R58 ($2.40) per child. 

It would all be hilariously ironic if it were not so pathetically sad. 

Our lead story is anything but sad. After four years of publishing Russian Life, we have finally gotten around to Karelia—remarkable when you consider that Vermont (where we have our US office) has had a sister state relationship with that republic for ten years. But we feel the result has been well worth the wait, and we hope that it will inspire you to visit that beautiful northern realm.

The other amazing story in this issue is Mikhail Ivanov’s interview with Boris Yefimov, Cartoonist to the Commissars. His first-hand accounts of Stalin, Trotsky and Mekhlis, among others, makes for fascinating reading.

We also present a wonderful story on a heroine of Russian culture, Margarita Tuchkova, founder of the Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery. It is a story of passion and hope triumphing over adversity. Indeed, the story of Tuchkova’s selfless service to those in need is a model that we all can benefit from hearing. And, as the news reports above indicate, perhaps some of us more than others.

Enjoy the issue.

p.s. As this issue is being mailed to you, we in Vermont will be celebrating our 2nd Annual Taste of Russia and Vodka Taste Off. You can read the results in our next issue, the last of 1999, along with our announcement of the winners of the Trivia Contest and New Subscriber Sweepstakes!