Letters to the Editor

To the Editors:

Your analysis of Russia’s performance at London games was well done. As we all know, Russian “medal count” was third, behind China and USA.  How about some fun with numbers! If you add Russia to just three of the former Soviet republics, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, the medal count is a whopping 127, vs. USA at 104. Population of the four ex-USSR countries: about 217 million, vs 310 mil. for the USA. The USA earned one gold for every 7 million Americans, the ex-Soviets earned one gold for each 5.5 million people. (Kazakhstan earned one gold per 2.4 mil. people.)  Not bad, huh? On to Sochi.

Sincerely,  

Andy Studebaker

Seattle , WA

To the Editors:

A rare cloud over my usual enjoyment of Mikhail Ivanov’s “Survival Russian” page. I have Russian friends, mostly in Memorial, who, with younger colleagues, continue today the battle they have waged for thirty years against inbuilt corrupt authoritarianism. Sometimes they demonstrate. Cheap shots from Ivanov [“Survival Greek,” Sept/Oct 2012] about their being “mostly bored, spoiled and well-fed” are offensive. Mocking Navalny and Ksenia Sobchak is surely simple self-indulgence but recalls the KGB/FSB tradition of “exposés” to discredit dissidents. It takes guts to oppose Putin and open oneself to violent abuses of police power; it takes none to sneer at those, however “well-fed,” who pick up the challenge. 

Malcolm Gilbert

Carmarthen, Wales

Mikhail Ivanov replies:

Thank you, Malcom, for your thoughtful letter. Certainly a “cheap shot” is not what I intended. Offering an adequate reply to your letter requires more space than the editors will allow me here. I will therefore post a longer reply about this (and the nature of Russian opposition politics) via a post on the Russian Life website (russianlife.com/blog) coincident with this issue’s release.

To the Editors:

Your magazine Russian Life  remains the finest examples of Russian history and contemporary life in print. Great Job! I have worked and consulted in the Russian Far East intermittently since 1989 and have become acquainted with its history.

I do have a question concerning the article edited by Alexander Mikaberidze entitled “1812” [Sep/Oct 2012].  On page 32, in the subchapter “Moscow Burns,” it mentions Nikolai Muravyev “who enjoyed a brilliant career in the Caucasus—” 

Is this the same Nikolai Muravyev who served in as a major general in the Black Sea region during the 1840s and later negotiated with the Chinese – to produce the Treaty of Aigun in 1860? Sources I have found indicate Muravyev was born on August 23, 1809. That would have made him just three when Napoleon invaded Moscow. But perhaps it is a different individual.

Just wanted to ask for clarification.

Again, thanks for your great magazine.

Tom Bundtzen

Fairbanks, AK

Alexander Mikaberidze replies:

Yes, Nikolai Nikolayevich Muravyev-Amursky was indeed born in 1809 and died in 1881, and distinguished himself as the viceroy in the Far East.

The excerpt is from memoirs written by Nikolay Nikolayevich Muravyev-Karsky (1794-1866), who began military service in 1811, took part in anti-Napoleonic campaigns in 1812-1815 and later distinguished himself in the Caucasus, where, during the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829, he captured the Turkish fortress of Kars, hence his nickname.