I was invited to share a park bench by this colorful elderly gentleman, who spoke nonstoped for over an hour, on a multiple of topics ranging from football to politics.
He was of the opinion that President Putin gave too much thought to what the West would think, which to him made no sense, since the West was certain to think poorly of Russia in any case.
He was quite positive that if Stalin were president this war would have been won a long time ago. Just look how quickly he put Czechoslovakia in order.
I am seventy six years old and this man is younger than me by possibly ten years. I don’t have any personal memory of Stalin although he was the party chairman when I was born. The first chairman I remember was Nikita Khrushchev.
I didn’t get a word in edgewise so he never knew that I wasn’t a Russian. He was a jolly fellow and I didn’t mind one bit listening to his diverse opinions. Which he offered up in copious quantities.
After about an hour of continuous lecture, he had somewhere else to be. He said goodbye, we shook hands and he walked a way with a pronounced limp. Quite an experience for me.
A big shout out to the people who follow me. Unfortunately I’ve had to leave Russia. It became impossible to receive any funds from the US. I am currently living in Batumi, Georgia.
This is my family in the living room of my apartment in Kimovsk, Russia. I am a disabled Vietnam veteran. Seventy six years of age. My son Aleksandr (left), and my granddaughter Dasha (center) look in on me. Here, I had hoped to live out my retirement years.
In Kimovsk is where my apartment is located. Last summer I visited my granddaughter who lives in Tula. I stayed there for two months. I became very familiar with the city of Tula.
Tula Region is one of the industrial centers of Russia, famous for its long-standing traditions of weapons and samovar production. Here are three more important symbols of this region.
1⃣ ЛЕВ ТОЛСТОЙ (Leo Tolstoy)
The famous Russian writer was born on September 9, 1828, on the Yasnaya Polyana’ Family Estate near Tula. He spent a significant part of his life there, creating his main novels, including ‘War and Peace’ and ‘Anna Karenina’. His body was also buried there.
2⃣ ФИЛИМОНОВСКАЯ ИГРУШКА (Filimonovo toy)
Whistle toys in the form of people and animals with conical heads began to be made in the village of Filimonovo near Tula in the 16th century. After the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, the craft died out for a while, but was revived in the 1980s.
3⃣ ТУЛЬСКИЙ ...
A PRIEST COVERED HIS OWN COAT OVER HIS WORST ENEMY AND THEREBY SAVED NOT ONLY HIS BODY BUT HIS SOUL...
A man was thrown into the icy concrete "glass" of a punishment cell. The one already sitting inside, huddled in a corner, merely raised his head. For him, it was just another soul on death's doorstep, but for the camp system, it was a cruel irony: a former high-ranking NKVD officer who had approved execution lists was thrown to die in the very hell he had helped build. His cellmate turned out to be a priest, prisoner Arseniy.
The cell floor was covered in freezing water. The night promised a frost that kills the living. Avsenev, a former Chekist, an intelligent and once powerful man, knew the system from the inside. He knew that in the morning, two frozen bodies would be carried out. He was shaking. Not from fear—fear was too petty an emotion for the all-consuming cold gnawing at his bones—but from the animal tremors of death.
The priest in the corner didn't move. He simply looked at his new neighbor with a long, calm gaze, devoid of ...
