February 24, 2023

Russia's Year of Horror


Russia's Year of Horror
Taras Shevchenko memorial in Borodianko, Ukraine, damaged with a bullet.
Alex Fedorenko (cc)

There is little we can say that we have not already said since the war began one year ago today. Our stance has been clear: Russia’s War on Ukraine was and is an appalling, illegal act. And Russia lost this war on day one.

We can, however, add these summary observations:

  • over the course of the past year, Russian civilian and military leaders, as well as troops on the ground, have clearly been implicated in war crimes;
  • authoritarianism and fascism in Russia have ratcheted up to Soviet-era levels;
  • free speech is now impossible in Russia, both in the media and in private life;
  • hundreds of thousands of the country’s best and brightest young minds have fled the country;
  • the Russian economy is gradually being hobbled by sanctions and a lack of foreign trade and travel;
  • Russia has become a pariah state.

In short, the Russia we knew and loved has been murdered by this horrendous war, and a hideous Soviet vampire replicant has arisen in its place.

Given that, why does a magazine like Russian Life continue? Why not simply wash our hands of it and walk away?

One simple reason: life.

For decades, we published this magazine as a place for Russophiles to share their love of Russian culture, history, and society. With the onset of the war, this was no longer appropriate, because every aspect of Russian life has de facto been implicated in the country’s criminal war.

So we shifted gears. Our job now is to see our magazine’s title as no longer descriptive, but aspirational – to focus on how Russia gets back to life after plunging Europe into a cataclysm of death.

We firmly believe that there are many Russians who abhor the war, who want to make a stand against death and for life, but the costs of resistance are too high. What is more, there are few western media outlets reporting in English about what is really going on inside the country. So we must use our connections, experience, and technology to bring out the stories that need to be told. Thus, our focus both online and in print will be on stories about human rights, democracy, resistance to oppression, and those struggling to preserve what is left of a civil society.

We will be fueled by hope until life returns.

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This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

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The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 

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Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.

Little Golden Calf
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Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.

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Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

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The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.

 
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About Us

Russian Life is the 31-year-old publication of an award-winning publishing house that also creates books, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

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