Letters to the Editor

To the Editors:

As a subscriber to Russian Life, I am always pleased with having the opportunity to learn more about Russian culture and history. Having said that, I was quite troubled by Alina Lisina’s article (March/April, 2010) about Russian Riga.

As someone who studies and conducts field research in the Baltic States, including Riga, the use of the phrase “After Latvian independence in 1991,” is at best factually incorrect, and at worst, inflammatory (i.e. 1991 represented a return to Latvian independence). This in conjunction with terms such as “briefly an independent nation,” also negatively connotes Latvian’s status as a distinct nation of the world. Furthermore, without supporting or condemning the language laws, I would suggest Estonia has also followed a similar path to Latvia in regards to their official language policies (and I would suggest the implication that “in other former Soviet republics, longtime residents automatically received citizenship” is misleading – particularly for ethnic Russian military members living in these countries at the time of re-independence).

Best Regards,

Brent McKenzie

To the Editors:

In response to Maria Antonova’s Notebook story, “Slowing Abortions: Zhirinovsky proposes payouts.” Although Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s idea of offering monetary incentives to deter young women from getting abortions may not be a bad one, R100,000 is hardly enough to help with raising a child. The USDA estimates that in the U.S. it costs about $13,000 per year to raise a child – about R380,000. Even if it were half that cost in Russia, Zhirinovsky’s proposal would not pay for one year of the child’s life. In order for this incentive to really work, the government, in my opinion, would have to be willing and able to give out much more money or perhaps some sort of tax incentives for those mothers.

Nicole Riedesel

College Station, TX

To the Editors:

The Notebook section from March/April 2010 issue states that in Russia in 2009 “production of caviar increased by 22%.” I think that this fact alone is misleading without mentioning that in 2009 there was a record-breaking fishing season [путина] that almost doubled the catch of 2008. This is due to the fact that last year was one of the most favorable spawning seasons for salmon.

Alina Gridley

via email

To the Editors:

I am an American citizen who is married to a Russian wife and has traveled to Russia six times in the past seven years.

I’d like to comment on the disparity in entrance fees to the Hermitage. The 400 rubles that a foreigner would pay to get into the Hermitage seems to me to be fair. For a U.S. citizen, 400 rubles is approximately $13-15, depending on the exchange rate. Most of our U.S. museums would probably charge a similar rate to everyone who visited them, or at least ask for a “suggested donation” of at least 10 dollars.

So for a U.S. citizen who has probably paid at least $800 dollars for the plane ticket, and might be spending $150 or more a night on a hotel, spending $13-15 is nothing to access a world class museum such as the Hermitage.

If Russia were to sharply raise that rate beyond what would be comparable for a U.S. museum to charge, then I would agree that is unfair.

Finally, knowing a little about Russian salaries and income, I can say that it is a good thing the “Russian” price for the Hermitage is 100 rubles, otherwise many ordinary Russian families would not be able to afford going there, if the charge were 400 rubles.

Thanks, and keep the good articles coming!

Mark Conway

by email

To the Editors:

I quite appreciated your article on Kaliningrad/Königsberg, but missed one aspect of its history: the puzzle derived from the seven bridges of Königsberg: bit.ly/c3GVZL which also connects to Euler, Catherine’s mathematician – yes, I’m a mathematician too. Not too long ago, this aspect of the city led to Kaliningrad’s appearance as a location for the BBC series “The Story of Maths.”

Jim Stasheff

by email

To the Editors:

Regarding the Nov/Dec 2009 issue of Russian Life: I enjoyed the feature: “Winter Holidays” but I must offer some corrective feedback.

There is a glaring error in reference to the use of the word “Mass.” Russian Orthodoxy does not know the word “Mass,” which is a Latin expression. The writer of the article used the word on at least two occasions. I would have expected her to know that the proper expression is: “Divine Liturgy” instead of “Mass.”

I also noticed that your proofreader missed the error in the middle of page 39: “On Christmas Eve (January 18) the priest cut a hole in the ice....” It should have read: “On Theophany Eve or On the Eve of the Feast of the Baptism of Christ...”

Sincerely,

Father Paul Pyrch

Virginia Beach, VA