A Golden Glow

The illustration on the cover of this issue is entirely allegorical – it is meant to represent the five decades of Russian Life’s heritage.

While you can see a gothic spire out the window of our office in Montpelier, Vermont, it is a Methodist church steeple, not one of Stalin’s Seven Sisters. We did have an office in Moscow for a few years that afforded us a view of one of the Seven Sisters – the Ukraine Hotel, but it was small consolation when the air conditioning was shut down for repair all summer. 

Our privately-owned U.S. company has shepherded this magazine for 11 years out of the half-century of its history. In that time, there has been no shortage of adventure and excitement, achievement and mishap. Through it all, we have been honored to have some great people helping shape the magazine – most notably Robert Krattli and Andrei Zelenov, past editors Mikhail Ivanov and Lina Rozovskaya (the first female editor in the magazine’s history), as well as Oksana and Sasha Gusarov, Scott McDonald, Bob Greenall, our Editorial Advisory Board, Darra Goldstein, many Moscow interns, dozens of excellent freelance contributors, and of course our fine present roster of editors and contributors, listed in the editorial box at right.