Letters to the Editor

To the Editors:

In response to Brent McKenzie’s letter to the Editor (May/June 2010) who wrote about Russian military living in the former Soviet republics who, according to him, were not able to receive citizenship there. That’s not true. I lived in one of the Soviet republics at that time and know for sure that those members of military who wanted to get citizenship at former Soviet republics (except Baltic states) were able to receive it without any problems.

Best,

Pavel Kozhevnikov

Colorado Springs, Colorado

To the Editors:

One of the joys of reading your fine magazine has always been the column of interesting facts in the front, but I am having a very hard time believing the “fact” that 97% of the weapons used during WWII were Soviet made, citing tanks, planes, trucks, etc. My friend Sue Butler recently published My dear Mr. Stalin (Yale U.) containing the entire correspondence between Stalin and Roosevelt and, if you look there, you will see that the U.S. supplied incredible numbers of planes, tanks, boots, Spam, etc. etc…. Something is fishy here.

Regards,

John T. Connor

Walter Dublanica responds:

The 97% statement comes from a declassified U.S. Army document I read in 1956... I know it is sometimes hard to believe, but the Russians had a bigger defense industry than the U.S. during WWII.

To the Editors:

My wife and I are planning a trip this summer to Moscow and St. Petersburg. We have three extra days in Moscow and want to plan an interesting side trip that takes us “off the beaten path” like the Golden Ring towns, etc., which we visited most of a few years ago. Can you offer any interesting suggestions?

Matthew Grodt

by email

Matthew:

There are so many ideas, it is hard to know where to start. But some of our favorites are Borodino, the famous Napoleonic battlefield; Peredelkino, the writers’ dacha village & museums of Pasternak and Chukovsky; Kolomna is quite pretty; Novo-Jerusalem monastery.

— The Editors