russia-insider--2020-09-25--'Life Is Such a Simple, Yet Cruel Thing' By Vladimir Putin - Family Memories of WW2

This article from our archives was first published on RI in May 2015 This article originally appeared at Russian Pioneer Translated by Kristina Aleshnikova Frankly , my father did not even like to touch on the subject of the war .
It was more like I was simply nearby when the adults were discussing or recalling things among themselves .
All my knowledge about the war – about what happened to my family – arose out of those overheard conversations between adults .
Still , there were times when they spoke to me directly .
My father was a sailor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and served in a submarine squadron in Sevastopol .
On his return , he worked in a factory in Peterhof where he lived with my mother .
I think they even built some kind of little house there .
When war broke out he was working in a military company , which entitled him to an exemption from conscription .
However , he applied first to join the party and then again to be sent to the front .
He was dispatched to a NKVD sabotage squad .
It was a small contingent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the nearby rear to carry out acts of sabotage – blowing up bridges , railway tracks , etc .
Almost immediately they ran into an ambush – someone betrayed them .
They entered a certain village , then left it , and when they returned some time later the Nazis were already waiting for them .
They were chased through the woods .
My father survived by hiding in a swamp where he spent hours under water breathing through a reed .
I remember this from his story .
He said that while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the reed , he could hear the German soldiers passing by , just a few steps away from him , and how the dogs were yapping ... On top of that , it was already presumably early autumn , which is to say it was already cold .
I also remember well how he told me that the head of their group was a German .
A Soviet citizen , but German nonetheless .
Interestingly , a couple of years ago I was handed a dossier on this group from the archives of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it at my home in Novo-Ogaryovo .
There is a list of the group – surnames , first names , patronymics and brief descriptions .
It was indeed 28 people and their leader was a German , exactly as my father had said .
Of the 28 people , only 4 crossed the front line back to our side .
The other 24 were killed .
They were then reassigned into the active army and sent to the Nevsky Pyatachok .
It was probably the most violent spot during the whole of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ small bridgehead four kilometres in width and some two kilometres in depth .
It was supposed to be a springboard for the future breaking of the blockade , but it never got used for this purpose .
They broke through the blockade elsewhere .
Still , the spot ( Nevsky Pyatachok ) was held for a long time and there was exceptionally heavy fighting there .
There are commanding heights above and all around and it was shot at throughout .
Of course the Germans were also aware that it was the most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ simply to erase the Nevsky Pyatachok from the face of the earth .
There is data about how much metal there is in each square meter of this land .
To this day it ’ s solid metal .
My father told me how he was wounded there .
The wound was severe and he lived the rest of his life with shrapnel in his leg as not all the fragments could be removed .
His leg always ached and he could never straighten his foot properly afterwards .
They chose not to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the bone .
And thank God , they kept his leg when they could have amputated - he had a good doctor .
He was assigned group II disability .
As a disabled veteran , he was eventually given an apartment .
It was our first separate apartment - a small two-room place .
( Note : Before that the Putins lived in a communal apartment , where several families share the facilities , corridor and kitchen , and sleep in separate rooms . )
Before we were given the apartment , we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we had to move , not quite to the outskirts , but to a newly-built area .
That did not happen immediately after the war , but when I was already working at the KGB .
I was not given an apartment then , but my father finally got his , and it was cause for great happiness .
His account of how he was wounded was as follows : He , together with a comrade , carried out a little sortie into the rear of the Germans , crawling , crawling , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sad at the same time .
They reached a German bunker , from which a huge guy emerged and looked straight at them .
They could not get up because they were under the machine gun sight .
“ The man looked at us very carefully , ” said my father , “ took out one grenade , then another and threw those grenades at us .
Well and ….
” Life is such a simple thing , yet cruel .
What was his biggest problem when he regained consciousness ?
The fact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Neva was icebound , and he had somehow to get to the other side to get help and skilled medical care .
However , he was in no condition to walk .
True , he did manage to regain his people on this side of the river .
But there weren ’ t many who were willing to drag him to the other side because that stretch of the Neva was exposed to artillery and machine-gun fire .
There was little chance of reaching the opposite bank .
However , purely by chance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Peterhof appeared .
And this neighbor didn ’ t hesitate to drag him across and indeed dragged him all the way to the hospital .
They both made it there alive .
The neighbor waited at the hospital , made sure that he was operated on and said , “ Well , now you are going to live , but I ’ m off to die.
” And off he went .
I later asked my father if that man really did die .
He said that he had never heard from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fact killed .
He was never able to forget that episode and it tormented him tremendously .
I remember that sometime in 1960s ( I don ’ t remember the exact year as I was still very young then ) , but sometime in the early 60 ’ s , he suddenly came home , sat down and began to weep .
He had run into his saviour in a shop in Leningrad .
Like their earlier encounter , it was purely by chance , a one-in-a-million coincidence that both men were in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
They would meet again later at our home .
My mother told me how she visited my father at the hospital where he lay after he was wounded .
They had a small child who was only three years old at the time - that time of blockade and hunger .
My father smuggled his hospital rations to her and she in turn took them home and fed their child .
When he began fainting from hunger in the hospital , the doctors and nurses figured out what was going on and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Then her child was taken from her .
It was done with no prior notice , as she later recalled , in an attempt to save small children from starvation .
The children were brought to orphanages for subsequent evacuation .
The parents weren ’ t even asked .
He fell ill there – my mother said it was diphtheria – and didn ’ t survive .
My parents were not even told where he was buried , and they never did find out .
Just last year , some people I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their own initiative , searched through the archives and found documents about my brother .
And it really was my brother , because I knew that after fleeing Peterhof from the advancing German troops , they lived with one of their friends – and I even knew the address .
They lived on the so-called “ Water Channel ” ( Vodnyj Kanal ) .
It would be more accurate to call it a “ Bypass Channel ” ( Obvodnyj Kanal ) , but in Leningrad it ’ s called the “ Water Channel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they lived there .
Not only did the address where he was taken from match , but the name , surname , patronymic , and date of birth matched as well .
It was , of course , my brother .
The place of burial was Piskaryovskoye Cemetery .
Even the exact site was specified .
My parents were told nothing of this .
Obviously , other things were of higher priority back then .
So everything that my parents told me about the war was true .
Not a single word was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moved .
Everything told to me about my brother , the neighbor , and the German group commander - everything matched , all confirmed in an incredible way .
After my brother was taken away and my mother left all alone , my father was finally able to walk with crutches and returned home .
When he made his way to his building , he saw that there were orderlies carrying bodies out of the entrance .
He identified one of them as my mother .
He approached them and it seemed to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told the orderlies : “ She ’ s still alive !
” “ She ’ ll pass away along the way ” , they said .
“ She ’ ll not survive now.
” He then attacked them with his crutches and forced them to carry her back into the apartment .
They told him : “ Well , we ’ ll do as you say , but know that we will not come here for another two , three , or four weeks .
You ’ ll have to deal with things @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back to life .
She survived .
She lived on until 1999 .
My father died in late 1998 .
After the blockade was lifted , they moved to the Tver province , their parents ’ homeland , and lived there until the end of the war .
My father ’ s family was quite large .
He had six brothers , five of whom were killed in the war .
This was a disaster for the family .
My mother ’ s relatives also died .
I was a late child as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she was 41 years old .
Our situation was not unique .
There was , after all , no family from which someone didn ’ t die or which didn ’ t suffer grief , misfortune , and tragedy .
However , my parents still harbored no hatred for the enemy , which is simply amazing .
To be honest , I still can not fully understand it .
Mama was generally a very kind and gentle person .
I can remember her saying : “ Well , what kind of hatred can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are simple people and they also die in the war.
” It ’ s amazing .
We were brought up on Soviet books and movies… and we hated .
But she somehow did not have it in her .
I can still clearly remember her words : “ Well , what can you have against them ?
They are also hard workers , just like us .
They were simply forced to go to the front.
” These are the words that I remember from my childhood .

This article from our archives was first published on RI in May 2015
This article originally appeared at Russian Pioneer Translated by Kristina Aleshnikova
Frankly, my father did not even like to touch on the subject of the war. It was more like I was simply nearby when the adults were discussing or recalling things among themselves. All my knowledge about the war – about what happened to my family – arose out of those overheard conversations between adults. Still, there were times when they spoke to me directly.
My father was a sailor. He was called up in 1939 and served in a submarine squadron in Sevastopol. On his return, he worked in a factory in Peterhof where he lived with my mother. I think they even built some kind of little house there.
When war broke out he was working in a military company, which entitled him to an exemption from conscription. However, he applied first to join the party and then again to be sent to the front. He was dispatched to a NKVD sabotage squad. It was a small contingent of 28 people who were sent into the nearby rear to carry out acts of sabotage – blowing up bridges, railway tracks, etc. Almost immediately they ran into an ambush – someone betrayed them. They entered a certain village, then left it, and when they returned some time later the Nazis were already waiting for them. They were chased through the woods. My father survived by hiding in a swamp where he spent hours under water breathing through a reed. I remember this from his story. He said that while he was in the swamp breathing through the reed, he could hear the German soldiers passing by, just a few steps away from him, and how the dogs were yapping...
On top of that, it was already presumably early autumn, which is to say it was already cold. I also remember well how he told me that the head of their group was a German. A Soviet citizen, but German nonetheless.
Interestingly, a couple of years ago I was handed a dossier on this group from the archives of the Defense Ministry. I still have it at my home in Novo-Ogaryovo. There is a list of the group – surnames, first names, patronymics and brief descriptions. It was indeed 28 people and their leader was a German, exactly as my father had said.
Of the 28 people, only 4 crossed the front line back to our side. The other 24 were killed.
They were then reassigned into the active army and sent to the Nevsky Pyatachok. It was probably the most violent spot during the whole of the Leningrad Blockade. Our troops held a small bridgehead four kilometres in width and some two kilometres in depth. It was supposed to be a springboard for the future breaking of the blockade, but it never got used for this purpose. They broke through the blockade elsewhere. Still, the spot (Nevsky Pyatachok) was held for a long time and there was exceptionally heavy fighting there. There are commanding heights above and all around and it was shot at throughout. Of course the Germans were also aware that it was the most likely place for a breakthrough and tried simply to erase the Nevsky Pyatachok from the face of the earth. There is data about how much metal there is in each square meter of this land. To this day it’s solid metal.
My father told me how he was wounded there. The wound was severe and he lived the rest of his life with shrapnel in his leg as not all the fragments could be removed. His leg always ached and he could never straighten his foot properly afterwards. They chose not to touch the small fragments to avoid shattering the bone. And thank God, they kept his leg when they could have amputated - he had a good doctor. He was assigned group II disability. As a disabled veteran, he was eventually given an apartment. It was our first separate apartment - a small two-room place. (Note: Before that the Putins lived in a communal apartment, where several families share the facilities, corridor and kitchen, and sleep in separate rooms.) Before we were given the apartment, we lived in the city centre and now we had to move, not quite to the outskirts, but to a newly-built area. That did not happen immediately after the war, but when I was already working at the KGB. I was not given an apartment then, but my father finally got his, and it was cause for great happiness. His account of how he was wounded was as follows:
He, together with a comrade, carried out a little sortie into the rear of the Germans, crawling, crawling, and then it becomes both funny and sad at the same time. They reached a German bunker, from which a huge guy emerged and looked straight at them. They could not get up because they were under the machine gun sight. “The man looked at us very carefully,” said my father, “took out one grenade, then another and threw those grenades at us. Well and ….” Life is such a simple thing, yet cruel.
What was his biggest problem when he regained consciousness? The fact that it was already winter. The Neva was icebound, and he had somehow to get to the other side to get help and skilled medical care. However, he was in no condition to walk.
True, he did manage to regain his people on this side of the river. But there weren’t many who were willing to drag him to the other side because that stretch of the Neva was exposed to artillery and machine-gun fire. There was little chance of reaching the opposite bank. However, purely by chance a neighbor of his from the house in Peterhof appeared. And this neighbor didn’t hesitate to drag him across and indeed dragged him all the way to the hospital. They both made it there alive. The neighbor waited at the hospital, made sure that he was operated on and said, “Well, now you are going to live, but I’m off to die.” And off he went.
I later asked my father if that man really did die. He said that he had never heard from him again and believed he was in fact killed. He was never able to forget that episode and it tormented him tremendously. I remember that sometime in 1960s (I don’t remember the exact year as I was still very young then), but sometime in the early 60’s, he suddenly came home, sat down and began to weep. He had run into his saviour in a shop in Leningrad. Like their earlier encounter, it was purely by chance, a one-in-a-million coincidence that both men were in the same store at the same time. They would meet again later at our home. My mother told me how she visited my father at the hospital where he lay after he was wounded. They had a small child who was only three years old at the time - that time of blockade and hunger. My father smuggled his hospital rations to her and she in turn took them home and fed their child. When he began fainting from hunger in the hospital, the doctors and nurses figured out what was going on and prevented my mother from visiting him again.
Then her child was taken from her. It was done with no prior notice, as she later recalled, in an attempt to save small children from starvation. The children were brought to orphanages for subsequent evacuation. The parents weren’t even asked.
He fell ill there – my mother said it was diphtheria – and didn’t survive. My parents were not even told where he was buried, and they never did find out. Just last year, some people I don’t know, working on their own initiative, searched through the archives and found documents about my brother. And it really was my brother, because I knew that after fleeing Peterhof from the advancing German troops, they lived with one of their friends – and I even knew the address. They lived on the so-called “Water Channel” (Vodnyj Kanal). It would be more accurate to call it a “Bypass Channel” (Obvodnyj Kanal), but in Leningrad it’s called the “Water Channel”. I know for sure that they lived there. Not only did the address where he was taken from match, but the name, surname, patronymic, and date of birth matched as well. It was, of course, my brother. The place of burial was Piskaryovskoye Cemetery. Even the exact site was specified.
My parents were told nothing of this. Obviously, other things were of higher priority back then.
So everything that my parents told me about the war was true. Not a single word was invented. Not a single day was moved. Everything told to me about my brother, the neighbor, and the German group commander - everything matched, all confirmed in an incredible way. After my brother was taken away and my mother left all alone, my father was finally able to walk with crutches and returned home. When he made his way to his building, he saw that there were orderlies carrying bodies out of the entrance. He identified one of them as my mother. He approached them and it seemed to him that she was breathing. He told the orderlies: “She’s still alive!” “She’ll pass away along the way”, they said. “She’ll not survive now.” He then attacked them with his crutches and forced them to carry her back into the apartment. They told him: “Well, we’ll do as you say, but know that we will not come here for another two, three, or four weeks. You’ll have to deal with things yourself then.” My father nursed her back to life. She survived. She lived on until 1999. My father died in late 1998.
After the blockade was lifted, they moved to the Tver province, their parents’ homeland, and lived there until the end of the war. My father’s family was quite large. He had six brothers, five of whom were killed in the war. This was a disaster for the family. My mother’s relatives also died. I was a late child as my mother gave birth to me when she was 41 years old.
Our situation was not unique. There was, after all, no family from which someone didn’t die or which didn’t suffer grief, misfortune, and tragedy. However, my parents still harbored no hatred for the enemy, which is simply amazing. To be honest, I still cannot fully understand it. Mama was generally a very kind and gentle person. I can remember her saying: “Well, what kind of hatred can one have toward these soldiers? They are simple people and they also die in the war.” It’s amazing. We were brought up on Soviet books and movies… and we hated. But she somehow did not have it in her. I can still clearly remember her words: “Well, what can you have against them? They are also hard workers, just like us. They were simply forced to go to the front.”
These are the words that I remember from my childhood.


russia-insider--2020-09-26--Rasputin Was A Great And Good Man, Cruelly Murdered and Slandered by Evil British Spies

This article from our archives was first published on RI in September 2016 This article gives an excellent account of the revisionist view of the story of Rasputin , which is now widely accepted in Russia .
It is 180 degrees different from what is generally known about him in the west .
Instead of being a `` mad monk '' , evil , and debauched , he is thought to have been a good , holy man , a Russian hero who was practically single-handedly saving the country and the monarchy , and causing the evil British government to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Russia .
An excellent Russian 7 hour TV series with this interpretation was released in 2014 and was wildly popular in Russia .
It features Russian superstar actors Vladimir Mashkov and Andrei Smolyakov , who both give fantastic performances .
You can watch it here on Youtube , unfortunately only in Russian .
If someone were to subtitle this TV series , it would find a very large international audience , because it is simply superbly made .
Here is the trailer to series ( worth glancing at even if you do n't @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many historical dramas now being made in Russia , both for TV and films , is clear . )
: The original title of this article was : `` The Real Gregory Rasputin '' My interest in Gregory Rasputin was first sparked by a television programme fifty years ago on the fiftieth anniversary of his assassination .
Although , as a child , I could not investigate the claims made , I knew instinctively that there was something wrong with what was being said .
I sensed a manipulation .
Forty-two years ago @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the oldest college in Oxford , where Prince Felix Yusupov , the supposed murderer of Gregory Rasputin had studied and visited the ‘ Yusupov room ’ where the prince had lived .
I still could not understand the story since , with the Soviet Union and the Cold War still in full swing , I could not access the necessary archives on either side .
Others have since done that and their results , given below , provide long-awaited justice .
‘ Rasputin ?
A horse thief , a mad monk , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who manipulated stupid , hysterical women , a flagellant sectarian and pervert , a criminal who ruled the Russian Empire , dictating all policies and making all political appointments through bribery , a debauchee who organized orgies , a drunkard ( like all Russians ) , a primitive barbarian , a Satanist , a German spy , the reason for the downfall of Russia , even his name means ‘ depraved ’ .
I know , I have read the book and seen the film ’ .
So goes the view of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as also largely that of the average Soviet citizen .
However , they are all the brainwashed victims of the same slanderer and we recall that the Greek for ‘ slanderer ’ is ‘ o diavolos ’ , ‘ the devil ’ .
In reality , not one bit of the above has been proved true , including that he was a debauchee and a drunkard , and most of it is patently untrue .
It is all classic self-justifying Russophobia which says ‘ Russians are primitive , we are superior , therefore @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He was certainly not mad , never a priest , monk , thief or spy , never a flagellant sectarian or a Satanist , and had very little if any political influence .
He was a pious Christian peasant , married with three children , who gave generous alms , understood the Holy Scriptures better than professors of the Bible , and was so pious that God gave him miraculous powers of healing .
As for his surname , a nickname , it was common in Siberia and denotes someone who lives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ On the other hand , what we do know , and this ever since the publication of the memoirs of Prince Nikolay Zhevakhov in the 1920s , is that he was murdered by British spies , with the co-operation of rich , decadent , jealous and apostate Russian aristocrats , one a transvestite prince who dabbled in the occult and savagely and ritually battered Gregory Rasputin ’ s corpse , as the sadistic freemason and decadent Prince Yusupov himself boasted of doing , one a more or less Fascist politician , another a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ betrayed his relative the Tsar .
All of them through their murderous betrayal , indirectly , handed Russia over to the genocidal Bolsheviks and their imported alien ideology for three generations , 75 years of hellish torment .
What we also know is that he was much respected as a holy elder ( ‘ starets ’ ) and wonderworking healer by innumerable clergy and laity and that the incredible slanders against him were invented by corrupt sources , both just before the Revolution and immediately afterwards , when his body was dug up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ veneration for him would grow .
All these slanders and the mindless gossip that spread them have to this day been repeated by the sensationalist mammons of Hollywood , by Western and Soviet hack writers and by embittered émigrés who could not accept their responsibility for their self-punishment of exile .
They only furthered their self-justifying lies and scandals , which they knew they could make money out of .
The Sources of the Slander Recent research since the downfall of the Bolshevik regime a generation ago in 1991 has led to several @ @ @ @ @ @ @ historians and even veneration of ‘ the Martyr Gregory ’ by some , including by the Elder Nikolai Guryanov , with an akathist composed and icons painted .
So far unchallenged and also untranslated , because Western publishers only translate scurrilous works like those of the Soviet novelist Edvard Radzinsky , and not professionally-written works or the unsensational lives of the pious , these new Russian studies of professional historians like the seven volumes by Sergey Fomin and the books by Alexander Bokhanov , Yury Rassulin , Igor Evsin , Tatiana Mironova and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ very different view .
All the myths about Gregory Rasputin were invented from 1910 on by those jealous of the Tsar – without much need for imagination , because they attributed to him what they themselves did , that is , they were talking about themselves and their own deeply-held and practised vices .
They were jealous because they wanted the power of the Tsar and therefore wanted to discredit the legitimate holders of that power , the Tsar and his family , including his ill heir and his healer , and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which they so hated .
And so these rich hedonists and decadents spread their lies and gossip in the worldly salons of Saint Petersburg , among the futile wealthy and aristocratic debauchees , and in the gutter press of the time .
These sources included the cunning Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich who , rather like the French and British generals on the Western Front , had led his troops to massacre and defeat , trusting in infantry and cavalry against machine guns , and had had to be replaced , the freemasons @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Amfiteatrov , the defrocked apostate Sergey ( Iliodor ) Trufanov , the conscienceless politician Guchkov , the atheists Milyukov and Gorky , the liar Rodzianko , the pervert and occultist Yusupov and the stupid Purishkevich .
They were all traitors who wanted to impose their pagan Russia on Christian Russia .
These were the very ones who accused Gregory Rasputin of their own sins , which is why their descriptions were so eloquent .
They accused him of lying , of debauchery and of interfering in the affairs of State – everything that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do .
Belonging to the elite , they were in such a state of demonic delusion that they even convinced themselves that they were doing Russia a service by pandering to their own vanity and plotting against the Tsar and those faithful to him , including the healer of the Heir , and so seizing power .
They believed their own slander and forgeries , when in fact they were talking about their own sins .
Gregory Rasputin was the useful scapegoat invented by ‘ princes and sons of men ’ to justify @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not chosen him , they would have chosen another – peasant Russia was there only to be exploited by them .
Views of Those Who Knew Gregory Rasputin If we look at those who actually knew him , we obtain a different view .
Thus , Bishops Barnabas ( Nakropin ) and Isidore ( Kolokolov ) were close friends of Gregory Rasputin till the end of his life , trusted him completely and Bishop Isidore celebrated his funeral service , for which he in turn was much slandered .
In his memoirs another @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had been ‘ struck by Rasputin ’ s profound knowledge of Holy Scripture and theological questions ’ and characterized him as a good man who ‘ constantly expressed the sense of Christian forgiveness for our enemies ’ .
Such affirmations are confirmed by other devout and well-educated clergy and laity , impressed by Gregory Rasputin ’ s piety , and they naturally revered him as an elder .
In his memoirs the head of the Police Department , A. T. Vasiliev , wrote that the results of his many investigations confirmed his initial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Rasputin , no letters from the Tsarina .
Indeed , why should there have been ?
Rasputin was only semi-literate , he would have had difficulty reading anything .
Vasiliev wrote : ‘ I also investigated to find out if Rasputin kept any documents , money or valuables in a bank .
My investigations were fruitless , another proof of my conviction of the absurdity of the scandalous rumours about Rasputin ’ .
But these witnesses are only the beginning .
There are many others of integrity and indeed holiness who say @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the slanders .
Among these are of course the future saints Tsar Nicholas , Tsarina Alexandra , their five pious children , Archpriest Alexander Vasiliev , the spiritual father of the Imperial Family , the pious virgin Anna Vyrubova ( later Mother Maria of Helsinki , who is venerated as a saint today ) , Prince N. D. Zhevakhov , Julia Dehn , other bishop admirers of Gregory Rasputin like the future St Macarius of the Altai , Metropolitan of Moscow , the pious Metr Pitirim of Saint Petersburg , and a great @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and honest men and women who loved Holy Rus .
None of these believed in the Rasputin myth and this for a very simple reason – they knew him personally , had seen him working miracles of healing and prophecy and knew the motivations of the jealous slanderers .
Of course , there were others .
There is the case of the young and naïve Bishop Theophan ( Bystrov ) , who first enthusiastically introduced Gregory Rasputin to the Imperial Family .
He only changed his mind because he believed slanders told him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when he discovered that he had been lied to .
Then there was the case of the Grand Duchess , Abbess Elizabeth in Moscow .
She too believed the slanders , although at the end her sister the Tsarina seems to have persuaded here that , since she lived in Moscow and had been fed slanders , she had been greatly misled .
None of those who believed the slanders had met Gregory in person , they had no first-hand experience , they had simply taken part in a slanderous game of Chinese @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Repeated To This Day Why are these slanders still repeated and believed today ?
First of all , because scandalous sex stories make many people rich and they are what the mob wants .
Secondly , because those who believe and repeat them want to believe and repeat them because they are motivated by self-justification .
The alternative would be to repent and most do not want to repent .
The murder of the Russian Orthodox peasant Gregory Rasputin in fact began the Revolution , not a Bolsehevik Revolution but a Revolution long @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , by a jealous aristocracy and a growing middle-class , all apostates from the Russian Orthodox Church .
The descendants of all those who thought they would benefit from the Revolution do not want to repent .
These include not just brainwashed former Soviet citizens , not only the descendants of émigré aristocrats in Paris and elsewhere , but also all the other Western victims of Russophobic propaganda who want to believe that the so-called ‘ Tsarist regime ’ ( that is to say , the legitimate Christian Empire , founded by St @ @ @ @ @ @ @ barbarian , depraved , drunken and plainly evil .
Therefore , it was demonized and so could be overthrown by the ‘ pure ’ West and all was justified .
Such Russophobia is in the direct line of the self-justifying propaganda of the secularism of Gibbon ’ s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire .
But what if Gregory Rasputin was the victim , the more or less innocent scapegoat of the machinations of traitors ?
If Gregory was innocent , then they , the ideologues of the anti-Christian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Russian aristocracy and the State Duma , most of the generals and even some clergy , most of the journalists and most of the people , as well as the Western-founded Soviet State , are guilty of slandering him , murdering him and are also guilty of the murder of the canonized Imperial Family .
Guilty too are all who believed in the lies without question and all who continue to believe in these money-making ( money is always a motive for evil ) lies and myths and even spread them .
After @ @ @ @ @ @ @ three months after the murder , on Kerensky ’ s Masonic orders , dug up Gregory Rasputin ’ s corpse and on 11 March 1917 incinerated it .
Was this the act the act of Orthodox Christians or any other Christians ?
Was this the act of Christian patriots who loved the Tsar , the Little Father ?
Who could have carried out such a blasphemous act , but apostates , occultists and anti-Christian secularists ?
Even if all or just part of what they claimed had been true , would that have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
Nobody has done this or even proposed to do this with the corpse of the Bolshevik mass murderer and blasphemer Lenin , which , amazingly , still lies in its chemical soup in Moscow .
Surely the only people who could have carried out this act were atheists and Satanists ?
However , in some sense , all who continue to spread these slanders are indirectly taking part in this same blasphemy .
Gregory Rasputin was a symbol of peasant Orthodox Russia , a useful scapegoat for those who wanted to seize @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your enemies and then anything you do is justified ’ .
His murderers symbolized all that was wrong with Russia – ‘ treason , cowardice and deceit ’ , in the words of the martyred Emperor Nicholas II .
Treason came from the elite class and intelligentsia which betrayed the Imperial Family and the Church to the Germans and the Western-financed Bolsheviks , cowardice came from those who were too weak to resist the elite and instead swam with the tide , and deceit came from the supposed Allies who also plotted against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Imperial Family and therefore also Gregory Rasputin .
Through Gregory Rasputin we see exactly who were the enemies of Russia and of the ideals of Holy Rus : all those who believed in and spread the slanders about him and the Imperial Family .
The fact that many of these were treacherous and jealous members of the Romanov Family and other millionaire aristocrats makes no difference .
Nor does the fact that among these were most of the generals and also senior members of the clergy like Protopresbyter George Shavelsky .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Zhevakhov , the deputy lay head of the Holy Synod , revealed over 90 years ago , Gregory Rasputin was murdered by British spies makes no difference .
They could not have operated without the widespread and even popular support for such Russian traitors .
It is no secret that Gregory Rasputin had a gift of healing that medical science could only jealously acknowledge without understanding – it is a fact of history .
That he had the ability to heal the Tsarevich Alexei , who could have become the greatest , most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , is a fact of history .
That he was a devout man of prayer and pilgrim to Jerusalem and the holy places of Russia who very well knew the Holy Scriptures , the Lives of the Saints and Orthodox services is a fact of history .
That he made several prophecies about the future of Russia , the Tsardom , his own murder and the future of the world , all of which came true in detail , is a fact of history .
For Gregory Rasputin knew the price of suffering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he was innocent , then the untold suffering after December 1916 makes sense .
The foreign Bolshevik yoke and its millions of victims , the murder of the Anointed of God , the second German invasion that began on the forgotten feast of All the Saints of the Russian Lands in June 1941 , the taking of Vienna and Berlin on St George ’ s Day in 1945 , which could have happened , without any such comparable sacrifices , in 1917 under the leadership of Tsar Nicholas II , the plagues of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after 1945 , the collapse of what was effectively the Russian Empire in 1991 and today ’ s torment in the Ukraine are all part of the long and slow path of repentance still ongoing 100 years after 1916 .
The end to our suffering has not yet come .

This article from our archives was first published on RI in September 2016
This article gives an excellent account of the revisionist view of the story of Rasputin, which is now widely accepted in Russia. It is 180 degrees different from what is generally known about him in the west.
Instead of being a "mad monk", evil, and debauched, he is thought to have been a good, holy man, a Russian hero who was practically single-handedly saving the country and the monarchy, and causing the evil British government to assassinate him, with disastrous results for Russia.
A Russian hero murdered by venal British spies
An excellent Russian 7 hour TV series with this interpretation was released in 2014 and was wildly popular in Russia. It features Russian superstar actors Vladimir Mashkov and Andrei Smolyakov, who both give fantastic performances.
You can watch it here on Youtube, unfortunately only in Russian. If someone were to subtitle this TV series, it would find a very large international audience, because it is simply superbly made.
Here is the trailer to series (worth glancing at even if you don't speak Russian because the excellent quality of many historical dramas now being made in Russia, both for TV and films, is clear.) :
The original title of this article was: "The Real Gregory Rasputin"
Put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of men, in whom there is no hope. Psalm 145, 3 As the Truth of God begins to be revealed, so everything in Russia will change. Elder Nikolai (Guryanov)
Foreword
My interest in Gregory Rasputin was first sparked by a television programme fifty years ago on the fiftieth anniversary of his assassination. Although, as a child, I could not investigate the claims made, I knew instinctively that there was something wrong with what was being said. I sensed a manipulation.
Forty-two years ago I went to study at Oxford at the oldest college in Oxford, where Prince Felix Yusupov, the supposed murderer of Gregory Rasputin had studied and visited the ‘Yusupov room’ where the prince had lived. I still could not understand the story since, with the Soviet Union and the Cold War still in full swing, I could not access the necessary archives on either side.
Others have since done that and their results, given below, provide long-awaited justice.
Introduction
‘Rasputin? A horse thief, a mad monk, a fraud with hypnotic powers, a priest-charlatan who manipulated stupid, hysterical women, a flagellant sectarian and pervert, a criminal who ruled the Russian Empire, dictating all policies and making all political appointments through bribery, a debauchee who organized orgies, a drunkard (like all Russians), a primitive barbarian, a Satanist, a German spy, the reason for the downfall of Russia, even his name means ‘depraved’.
I know, I have read the book and seen the film’. So goes the view of the average ‘educated’ Western person, as also largely that of the average Soviet citizen. However, they are all the brainwashed victims of the same slanderer and we recall that the Greek for ‘slanderer’ is ‘o diavolos’, ‘the devil’.
In reality, not one bit of the above has been proved true, including that he was a debauchee and a drunkard, and most of it is patently untrue. It is all classic self-justifying Russophobia which says ‘Russians are primitive, we are superior, therefore we can do anything we like’. He was certainly not mad, never a priest, monk, thief or spy, never a flagellant sectarian or a Satanist, and had very little if any political influence. He was a pious Christian peasant, married with three children, who gave generous alms, understood the Holy Scriptures better than professors of the Bible, and was so pious that God gave him miraculous powers of healing. As for his surname, a nickname, it was common in Siberia and denotes someone who lives where roads meet, a crossroads.
On the other hand, what we do know, and this ever since the publication of the memoirs of Prince Nikolay Zhevakhov in the 1920s, is that he was murdered by British spies, with the co-operation of rich, decadent, jealous and apostate Russian aristocrats, one a transvestite prince who dabbled in the occult and savagely and ritually battered Gregory Rasputin’s corpse, as the sadistic freemason and decadent Prince Yusupov himself boasted of doing, one a more or less Fascist politician, another a Romanov prince of notoriously loose morals who betrayed his relative the Tsar. All of them through their murderous betrayal, indirectly, handed Russia over to the genocidal Bolsheviks and their imported alien ideology for three generations, 75 years of hellish torment.
What we also know is that he was much respected as a holy elder (‘starets’) and wonderworking healer by innumerable clergy and laity and that the incredible slanders against him were invented by corrupt sources, both just before the Revolution and immediately afterwards, when his body was dug up and incinerated by fanatics, frightened that veneration for him would grow. All these slanders and the mindless gossip that spread them have to this day been repeated by the sensationalist mammons of Hollywood, by Western and Soviet hack writers and by embittered émigrés who could not accept their responsibility for their self-punishment of exile. They only furthered their self-justifying lies and scandals, which they knew they could make money out of.
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The Sources of the Slander
Recent research since the downfall of the Bolshevik regime a generation ago in 1991 has led to several new studies of Gregory Rasputin by professional historians and even veneration of ‘the Martyr Gregory’ by some, including by the Elder Nikolai Guryanov, with an akathist composed and icons painted. So far unchallenged and also untranslated, because Western publishers only translate scurrilous works like those of the Soviet novelist Edvard Radzinsky, and not professionally-written works or the unsensational lives of the pious, these new Russian studies of professional historians like the seven volumes by Sergey Fomin and the books by Alexander Bokhanov, Yury Rassulin, Igor Evsin, Tatiana Mironova and Oleg Platonov lead us to take a very different view.
All the myths about Gregory Rasputin were invented from 1910 on by those jealous of the Tsar – without much need for imagination, because they attributed to him what they themselves did, that is, they were talking about themselves and their own deeply-held and practised vices. They were jealous because they wanted the power of the Tsar and therefore wanted to discredit the legitimate holders of that power, the Tsar and his family, including his ill heir and his healer, and the Orthodox Christian society that he ruled over, which they so hated. And so these rich hedonists and decadents spread their lies and gossip in the worldly salons of Saint Petersburg, among the futile wealthy and aristocratic debauchees, and in the gutter press of the time.
These sources included the cunning Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich who, rather like the French and British generals on the Western Front, had led his troops to massacre and defeat, trusting in infantry and cavalry against machine guns, and had had to be replaced, the freemasons Maklakov, Dzhunkovsky and the hack journalist Amfiteatrov, the defrocked apostate Sergey (Iliodor) Trufanov, the conscienceless politician Guchkov, the atheists Milyukov and Gorky, the liar Rodzianko, the pervert and occultist Yusupov and the stupid Purishkevich. They were all traitors who wanted to impose their pagan Russia on Christian Russia. These were the very ones who accused Gregory Rasputin of their own sins, which is why their descriptions were so eloquent.
They accused him of lying, of debauchery and of interfering in the affairs of State – everything that they themselves either did or yearned to do. Belonging to the elite, they were in such a state of demonic delusion that they even convinced themselves that they were doing Russia a service by pandering to their own vanity and plotting against the Tsar and those faithful to him, including the healer of the Heir, and so seizing power. They believed their own slander and forgeries, when in fact they were talking about their own sins. Gregory Rasputin was the useful scapegoat invented by ‘princes and sons of men’ to justify their ruthless ambition. If they had not chosen him, they would have chosen another – peasant Russia was there only to be exploited by them.
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Views of Those Who Knew Gregory Rasputin
If we look at those who actually knew him, we obtain a different view. Thus, Bishops Barnabas (Nakropin) and Isidore (Kolokolov) were close friends of Gregory Rasputin till the end of his life, trusted him completely and Bishop Isidore celebrated his funeral service, for which he in turn was much slandered. In his memoirs another, General Kurlov, wrote that he had been ‘struck by Rasputin’s profound knowledge of Holy Scripture and theological questions’ and characterized him as a good man who ‘constantly expressed the sense of Christian forgiveness for our enemies’. Such affirmations are confirmed by other devout and well-educated clergy and laity, impressed by Gregory Rasputin’s piety, and they naturally revered him as an elder.
In his memoirs the head of the Police Department, A. T. Vasiliev, wrote that the results of his many investigations confirmed his initial supposition that there was no compromising correspondence with Rasputin, no letters from the Tsarina. Indeed, why should there have been? Rasputin was only semi-literate, he would have had difficulty reading anything. Vasiliev wrote: ‘I also investigated to find out if Rasputin kept any documents, money or valuables in a bank. My investigations were fruitless, another proof of my conviction of the absurdity of the scandalous rumours about Rasputin’. But these witnesses are only the beginning. There are many others of integrity and indeed holiness who say the same, confirming the absurdity of the slanders.
Among these are of course the future saints Tsar Nicholas, Tsarina Alexandra, their five pious children, Archpriest Alexander Vasiliev, the spiritual father of the Imperial Family, the pious virgin Anna Vyrubova (later Mother Maria of Helsinki, who is venerated as a saint today), Prince N. D. Zhevakhov, Julia Dehn, other bishop admirers of Gregory Rasputin like the future St Macarius of the Altai, Metropolitan of Moscow, the pious Metr Pitirim of Saint Petersburg, and a great many other righteous, chaste, sober and honest men and women who loved Holy Rus. None of these believed in the Rasputin myth and this for a very simple reason – they knew him personally, had seen him working miracles of healing and prophecy and knew the motivations of the jealous slanderers.
Of course, there were others. There is the case of the young and naïve Bishop Theophan (Bystrov), who first enthusiastically introduced Gregory Rasputin to the Imperial Family. He only changed his mind because he believed slanders told him in confession. Later he was horrified when he discovered that he had been lied to. Then there was the case of the Grand Duchess, Abbess Elizabeth in Moscow. She too believed the slanders, although at the end her sister the Tsarina seems to have persuaded here that, since she lived in Moscow and had been fed slanders, she had been greatly misled. None of those who believed the slanders had met Gregory in person, they had no first-hand experience, they had simply taken part in a slanderous game of Chinese whispers.
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Why the Slanders Have Been Repeated To This Day
Why are these slanders still repeated and believed today? First of all, because scandalous sex stories make many people rich and they are what the mob wants. Secondly, because those who believe and repeat them want to believe and repeat them because they are motivated by self-justification. The alternative would be to repent and most do not want to repent. The murder of the Russian Orthodox peasant Gregory Rasputin in fact began the Revolution, not a Bolsehevik Revolution but a Revolution long desired, since at least December 1825, by a jealous aristocracy and a growing middle-class, all apostates from the Russian Orthodox Church. The descendants of all those who thought they would benefit from the Revolution do not want to repent.
These include not just brainwashed former Soviet citizens, not only the descendants of émigré aristocrats in Paris and elsewhere, but also all the other Western victims of Russophobic propaganda who want to believe that the so-called ‘Tsarist regime’ (that is to say, the legitimate Christian Empire, founded by St Constantine) was corrupt, primitive, barbarian, depraved, drunken and plainly evil. Therefore, it was demonized and so could be overthrown by the ‘pure’ West and all was justified. Such Russophobia is in the direct line of the self-justifying propaganda of the secularism of Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. But what if Gregory Rasputin was the victim, the more or less innocent scapegoat of the machinations of traitors?
If Gregory was innocent, then they, the ideologues of the anti-Christian Western world, therefore most of the Russian aristocracy and the State Duma, most of the generals and even some clergy, most of the journalists and most of the people, as well as the Western-founded Soviet State, are guilty of slandering him, murdering him and are also guilty of the murder of the canonized Imperial Family. Guilty too are all who believed in the lies without question and all who continue to believe in these money-making (money is always a motive for evil) lies and myths and even spread them. After all, these are the people who three months after the murder, on Kerensky’s Masonic orders, dug up Gregory Rasputin’s corpse and on 11 March 1917 incinerated it.
Was this the act the act of Orthodox Christians or any other Christians? Was this the act of Christian patriots who loved the Tsar, the Little Father? Who could have carried out such a blasphemous act, but apostates, occultists and anti-Christian secularists? Even if all or just part of what they claimed had been true, would that have justified such profound hatred for a corpse? Nobody has done this or even proposed to do this with the corpse of the Bolshevik mass murderer and blasphemer Lenin, which, amazingly, still lies in its chemical soup in Moscow. Surely the only people who could have carried out this act were atheists and Satanists? However, in some sense, all who continue to spread these slanders are indirectly taking part in this same blasphemy.
Conclusion
Gregory Rasputin was a symbol of peasant Orthodox Russia, a useful scapegoat for those who wanted to seize power and whose slogan was ‘Demonize your enemies and then anything you do is justified’. His murderers symbolized all that was wrong with Russia – ‘treason, cowardice and deceit’, in the words of the martyred Emperor Nicholas II. Treason came from the elite class and intelligentsia which betrayed the Imperial Family and the Church to the Germans and the Western-financed Bolsheviks, cowardice came from those who were too weak to resist the elite and instead swam with the tide, and deceit came from the supposed Allies who also plotted against the Tsar. All of them slandered the Imperial Family and therefore also Gregory Rasputin.
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Through Gregory Rasputin we see exactly who were the enemies of Russia and of the ideals of Holy Rus: all those who believed in and spread the slanders about him and the Imperial Family. The fact that many of these were treacherous and jealous members of the Romanov Family and other millionaire aristocrats makes no difference. Nor does the fact that among these were most of the generals and also senior members of the clergy like Protopresbyter George Shavelsky. The fact that, as Prince N. D. Zhevakhov, the deputy lay head of the Holy Synod, revealed over 90 years ago, Gregory Rasputin was murdered by British spies makes no difference. They could not have operated without the widespread and even popular support for such Russian traitors.
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It is no secret that Gregory Rasputin had a gift of healing that medical science could only jealously acknowledge without understanding – it is a fact of history. That he had the ability to heal the Tsarevich Alexei, who could have become the greatest, most merciful and wisest of all Russian Tsars, is a fact of history. That he was a devout man of prayer and pilgrim to Jerusalem and the holy places of Russia who very well knew the Holy Scriptures, the Lives of the Saints and Orthodox services is a fact of history. That he made several prophecies about the future of Russia, the Tsardom, his own murder and the future of the world, all of which came true in detail, is a fact of history. For Gregory Rasputin knew the price of suffering, both moral and physical.
If he was innocent, then the untold suffering after December 1916 makes sense. The foreign Bolshevik yoke and its millions of victims, the murder of the Anointed of God, the second German invasion that began on the forgotten feast of All the Saints of the Russian Lands in June 1941, the taking of Vienna and Berlin on St George’s Day in 1945, which could have happened, without any such comparable sacrifices, in 1917 under the leadership of Tsar Nicholas II, the plagues of alcoholism, abortion, corruption and divorce after 1945, the collapse of what was effectively the Russian Empire in 1991 and today’s torment in the Ukraine are all part of the long and slow path of repentance still ongoing 100 years after 1916. The end to our suffering has not yet come.


russia-insider--2020-09-26--No, US Lend-Lease Did Not Win WWII

No, US Lend-Lease Did Not Win WWII

The Lend-Lease Act , or “ An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States , ” which was signed by President Roosevelt on March 11 , 1941 , gave the US president the right “ to sell , transfer title to , exchange , lease , lend , or otherwise dispose of … any defense article … for the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States.
” The term “ any defense article ” was understood to mean weapons , military equipment , munitions , strategic raw materials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ goods required by the army and homeland-defense forces , as well as any information of military significance .
The structure of the Lend-Lease Act required the recipient nation to meet a number of conditions : 1 ) payment is not required for any items that go missing or that are lost or destroyed during hostilities , but any property that survives and is suitable for civilian use must be paid for in full or in part , as repayment of a long-term loan granted by the US 2 ) military articles being stored @ @ @ @ @ @ @ until the US requests their return 3 ) , in turn , all leasees must assist the United States using all the resources and information in their possession The Lend-Lease Act required countries requesting American assistance to provide the US with an exhaustive financial report .
US Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau , Jr. was correct to recognize this requirement as something unprecedented in world affairs , claiming during a Senate Committee hearing that for the first time in history , one state and one government was willingly providing information to another about its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was in no way designed to aid the USSR .
The British were the first to request military assistance on the basis of this special leasing relationship ( which was similar to an operating lease ) at the end of May 1940 , at a time when France ’ s crushing defeat had left Great Britain with no military allies on the European continent .
London asked Washington for 40-50 “ old ” destroyers , offering three payment options : getting them for free , paying in cash , or leasing .
President @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and that transaction was completed in late summer of 1940 .
At that point , staffers inside the US Treasury Department came up with the idea of taking the concept behind that private deal and extending it to apply to all intergovernmental relations .
The War and Navy Departments were brought in to help develop the lend-lease bill , and on Jan. 10 , 1941 the US presidential administration brought that act for consideration before both houses of Congress , where it was approved on March 11 .
Plus , in September 1941 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ approved what was known as the Victory Program , the essence of which , according to US military historians ( Richard Leighton and Robert Coakley ) , was that “ America ’ s contribution to the war would be in weapons , not armies.
” How important was the US lend-lease ?
During the war , Soviet factories produced more than 29.1 million small arms of all major types , while only 152,000 small arms ( 0.5 % of the total ) were manufactured by American , British , and Canadian plants .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of all calibers we see a similar picture – 647,600 Soviet weapons and mortars vs. 9,400 of foreign origin , representing less than 1.5 % of the total .
The numbers are less grim for other types of weapons : the ratio of domestic vs. allied tanks and self-propelled artillery was , respectively , 132,800 vs. 11,900 ( 8.96 % ) , and for combat aircraft – 140,500 vs. 18,300 ( 13 % ) .
Out of the almost $ 46 billion that was spent on all lend-lease aid , the US allocated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only a little more than 20 % of the funds , to the Red Army , which defeated the vast majority of the divisions from Germany and her military satellites .
During that time the British Empire was given more than $ 30.2 billion , France – $ 1.4 billion , China – $ 630 million , and even Latin America ( ! )
received $ 420 million .
Lend-lease supplies were distributed to 42 different countries .
But perhaps , despite the fact that the quantities of transatlantic assistance were fairly negligible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ play a decisive role in 1941 , when the Germans were at the very gates of Moscow and Leningrad , and within 24-40 km from the Red Square ?
Let ’ s look at the statistics for arms shipments from that year .
From the onset of the war until the end of 1941 , the Red Army received 1.76 million rifles , automatic weapons , and machine guns , 53,700 artillery and mortars , 5,400 tanks , and 8,200 warplanes .
Of these , our allies in the anti-Hitler coalition supplied only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 648 tanks ( 12.14 % ) , and 915 airplanes ( 10.26 % ) .
In addition , much of the military equipment that was sent – in particular , 115 of the 466 tanks manufactured in the UK – did not even make it to the front in the first year of the war .
If we convert these shipments of arms and military equipment into their monetary equivalent , then , according to the well-known historian Mikhail Frolov , DSc ( Velikaya Otechestvennaya Voina 1941-1945 v Nemetskoi Istoriografii .
[ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ] , St. Petersburg : 1994 ) , “ up until the end of 1941 – the most difficult period for the Soviet state – under the Lend-Lease Act , the US sent the USSR materials worth $ 545,000 , out of the $ 741 million worth of supplies shipped to all the countries that were part of the anti-Hitler coalition .
This means that during this extraordinarily difficult period , less than 0.1 % of America ’ s aid went to the Soviet Union .
“ In addition , the first lend-lease @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the USSR very late , although during those critical months Russia was able to put up an impressive fight against the German aggressors all on her own , without any assistance to speak of from the democracies of the West .
By the end of 1942 only 55 % of the scheduled deliveries had made it to the USSR.
” For example , in 1941 the United States promised to send 600 tanks and 750 aircraft , but actually sent only 182 and 204 , respectively .
A new convoy , the PQ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vessels along its route , and another convoy was not sent until mid-December 1942 .
Thus , for three and a half months , when one of the most decisive battles of the entire Second World War was being waged on the Volga , fewer than 40 ships carrying lend-lease cargo arrived intermittently in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk .
For this reason , many were understandably suspicious that London and Washington were spending that time just waiting to see who would be left standing after the battle of Stalingrad .
As a result , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the wartime cargo shipped from the US made it to the Soviet Union .
The bulk of the weapons and other materials arrived in the Soviet Union in 1944-1945 , once the winds of war had decisively shifted .
What was the quality of the lend-lease military equipment ?
Out of the 711 fighter planes that had arrived in the USSR from the UK by the end of 1941 , 700 were hopelessly antiquated models such as the Kittyhawk , Tomahawk , and Hurricane , which were significantly inferior to the German @ @ @ @ @ @ @ both in speed and agility , and were not even equipped with guns .
Even if a Soviet pilot managed to get a German flying ace positioned in the sights of his machine gun , those rifle-caliber guns were often completely useless against the German plane ’ s rugged armor .
As for the newest Airacobra fighter planes , only 11 were delivered in 1941 .
And the first Airacobra arrived in the Soviet Union disassembled , without any sort of documentation , having already long outlived its service life .
A similar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ light Valentine tanks that Soviet tank operators nicknamed “ Valentinas , ” and the medium Matilda tanks , for which those tank operators reserved a more scathing epithet : “ Farewell to Our Homeland.
” Their thin armor , highly-flammable gasoline-powered engines , and positively prehistoric transmissions made them easy prey for German gunners and grenade launchers .
According to Valentin Berezhkov , an interpreter for Joseph Stalin who took part in all the negotiations between Soviet leaders and Anglo-American visitors , Stalin was often deeply offended by British actions such as offering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ handouts , instead of newer fighters like the Spitfire .
Moreover , in September 1942 , in a conversation with Wendell Willkie , a leader in the US Republican Party , Stalin asked him point-blank in front of the American and British ambassadors , William Standley and Archibald Clark Kerr : why were the British and American governments supplying such poor-quality equipment to the Soviet Union ?
He explained that he was primarily speaking of shipments of American P-40s instead of the much more up-to-date Airacobras , and added that the British were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were far inferior to what the Germans had .
Stalin claimed that once when the Americans were preparing to ship 150 Airacobras to the Soviet Union , the British had intervened and kept them for themselves .
“ We know that the Americans and British have planes that are equal to or better than the German models , but for some reason many of those are not making it into the Soviet Union.
” The American ambassador , Admiral Standley , knew nothing about this , but the British ambassador , Archibald Clark @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Airacobra event , but he defended their redirection with the excuse that in British hands those fighters would be much more valuable to their common Allied cause than if they ended up in the Soviet Union…

This article originally appeared at Oriental Review
The Lend-Lease Act, or “ An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States ,” which was signed by President Roosevelt on March 11, 1941, gave the US president the right “to sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of … any defense article … for the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States.” The term “any defense article” was understood to mean weapons, military equipment, munitions, strategic raw materials, ammunition, food, and civilian goods required by the army and homeland-defense forces, as well as any information of military significance.
The structure of the Lend-Lease Act required the recipient nation to meet a number of conditions:
1) payment is not required for any items that go missing or that are lost or destroyed during hostilities, but any property that survives and is suitable for civilian use must be paid for in full or in part, as repayment of a long-term loan granted by the US
2) military articles being stored in the recipient countries may remain there until the US requests their return
3), in turn, all leasees must assist the United States using all the resources and information in their possession
The Lend-Lease Act required countries requesting American assistance to provide the US with an exhaustive financial report. US Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr. was correct to recognize this requirement as something unprecedented in world affairs, claiming during a Senate Committee hearing that for the first time in history, one state and one government was willingly providing information to another about its own financial position.
Signing the bill
With the help of the Lend-Lease Act, President Roosevelt’s administration prepared to address a number of urgent issues, both foreign and domestic. First, its framework would make it possible to create new jobs in the US, which had not yet fully emerged from the extreme economic crisis of 1929-1933. Second, the Lend-Lease Act made it possible for the American government to exert a certain degree of influence over the countries on the receiving end of the lend-lease assistance. And third, by sending his allies weapons, goods, and raw materials, but not boots on the ground, President Roosevelt was able to stay true to his campaign promise, in which he pledged, “Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.”
The lend-lease system was in no way designed to aid the USSR. The British were the first to request military assistance on the basis of this special leasing relationship (which was similar to an operating lease) at the end of May 1940, at a time when France’s crushing defeat had left Great Britain with no military allies on the European continent. London asked Washington for 40-50 “old” destroyers, offering three payment options: getting them for free, paying in cash, or leasing. President Roosevelt quickly accepted the third option, and that transaction was completed in late summer of 1940.
At that point, staffers inside the US Treasury Department came up with the idea of taking the concept behind that private deal and extending it to apply to all intergovernmental relations. The War and Navy Departments were brought in to help develop the lend-lease bill, and on Jan. 10, 1941 the US presidential administration brought that act for consideration before both houses of Congress, where it was approved on March 11. Plus, in September 1941, after much debate the US Congress approved what was known as the Victory Program, the essence of which, according to US military historians (Richard Leighton and Robert Coakley), was that “America’s contribution to the war would be in weapons, not armies.”
On Oct. 1, 1941, People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov, British Minister of Supply Lord Beaverbrook, and US Special Envoy Averell Harriman signed the First (Moscow) Protocol, which marked the beginning of the expansion of the lend-lease program to the Soviet Union. Several additional protocols were subsequently signed.
Molotov in the US
How important was the US lend-lease?
During the war, Soviet factories produced more than 29.1 million small arms of all major types, while only 152,000 small arms (0.5% of the total) were manufactured by American, British, and Canadian plants. Looking at all types of artillery systems of all calibers we see a similar picture – 647,600 Soviet weapons and mortars vs. 9,400 of foreign origin, representing less than 1.5% of the total.
The numbers are less grim for other types of weapons: the ratio of domestic vs. allied tanks and self-propelled artillery was, respectively, 132,800 vs. 11,900 (8.96%), and for combat aircraft – 140,500 vs. 18,300 (13%).
Out of the almost $46 billion that was spent on all lend-lease aid, the US allocated only $9.1 billion, i.e., only a little more than 20% of the funds, to the Red Army, which defeated the vast majority of the divisions from Germany and her military satellites.
During that time the British Empire was given more than $30.2 billion, France – $1.4 billion, China – $630 million, and even Latin America (!) received $420 million. Lend-lease supplies were distributed to 42 different countries.
American bomber A-20 "Boston"
But perhaps, despite the fact that the quantities of transatlantic assistance were fairly negligible, is it possible that it did play a decisive role in 1941, when the Germans were at the very gates of Moscow and Leningrad, and within 24-40 km from the Red Square?
Let’s look at the statistics for arms shipments from that year. From the onset of the war until the end of 1941, the Red Army received 1.76 million rifles, automatic weapons, and machine guns, 53,700 artillery and mortars, 5,400 tanks, and 8,200 warplanes. Of these, our allies in the anti-Hitler coalition supplied only 82 artillery weapons (0.15%), 648 tanks (12.14%), and 915 airplanes (10.26%). In addition, much of the military equipment that was sent – in particular, 115 of the 466 tanks manufactured in the UK – did not even make it to the front in the first year of the war.
If we convert these shipments of arms and military equipment into their monetary equivalent, then, according to the well-known historian Mikhail Frolov, DSc (Velikaya Otechestvennaya Voina 1941-1945 v Nemetskoi Istoriografii.[Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 in German historiography], St. Petersburg: 1994), “up until the end of 1941 – the most difficult period for the Soviet state – under the Lend-Lease Act, the US sent the USSR materials worth $545,000, out of the $741 million worth of supplies shipped to all the countries that were part of the anti-Hitler coalition. This means that during this extraordinarily difficult period, less than 0.1% of America’s aid went to the Soviet Union.
“In addition, the first lend-lease shipments during the winter of 1941-1942 reached the USSR very late, although during those critical months Russia was able to put up an impressive fight against the German aggressors all on her own, without any assistance to speak of from the democracies of the West. By the end of 1942 only 55% of the scheduled deliveries had made it to the USSR.”
For example, in 1941 the United States promised to send 600 tanks and 750 aircraft, but actually sent only 182 and 204, respectively.
Lend-lease convoy PQ-17 destroyed In November 1942, i.e., at the height of the battle for the Caucasus and Stalingrad, the arms deliveries practically came to a complete halt. Disruptions in shipments had already begun in the summer of 1942, when German aircraft and submarines almost entirely wiped out the infamous Convoy PQ 17 that was abandoned (at the order of the Admiralty) by the British destroyers assigned to escort it. Tragically only 11 of the original 35 ships arrived safely into Soviet ports – a catastrophe that was used as a pretext to suspend subsequent convoys from Britain until September 1942.
A new convoy, the PQ 18, lost 10 of its 37 vessels along its route, and another convoy was not sent until mid-December 1942. Thus, for three and a half months, when one of the most decisive battles of the entire Second World War was being waged on the Volga, fewer than 40 ships carrying lend-lease cargo arrived intermittently in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. For this reason, many were understandably suspicious that London and Washington were spending that time just waiting to see who would be left standing after the battle of Stalingrad.
As a result, between 1941 and 1942 only 7% of the wartime cargo shipped from the US made it to the Soviet Union. The bulk of the weapons and other materials arrived in the Soviet Union in 1944-1945, once the winds of war had decisively shifted.
What was the quality of the lend-lease military equipment?
Out of the 711 fighter planes that had arrived in the USSR from the UK by the end of 1941, 700 were hopelessly antiquated models such as the Kittyhawk, Tomahawk, and Hurricane, which were significantly inferior to the German Messerschmitts and the Soviet Yakolev Yaks, both in speed and agility, and were not even equipped with guns. Even if a Soviet pilot managed to get a German flying ace positioned in the sights of his machine gun, those rifle-caliber guns were often completely useless against the German plane’s rugged armor. As for the newest Airacobra fighter planes, only 11 were delivered in 1941. And the first Airacobra arrived in the Soviet Union disassembled, without any sort of documentation, having already long outlived its service life.
Incidentally, this was also the case with the two squadrons of Hurricane fighters that were armed with 40-mm tank guns designed to engage German armored vehicles. But these fighter planes turned out to be so completely useless that they sat out the war mothballed in the USSR because no Red Army pilots could be found willing to fly them.
A similar situation was observed with the much-vaunted British light Valentine tanks that Soviet tank operators nicknamed “Valentinas,” and the medium Matilda tanks, for which those tank operators reserved a more scathing epithet: “Farewell to Our Homeland.” Their thin armor, highly-flammable gasoline-powered engines, and positively prehistoric transmissions made them easy prey for German gunners and grenade launchers.
According to Valentin Berezhkov, an interpreter for Joseph Stalin who took part in all the negotiations between Soviet leaders and Anglo-American visitors, Stalin was often deeply offended by British actions such as offering obsolete aircraft like the Hurricane as lend-lease handouts, instead of newer fighters like the Spitfire. Moreover, in September 1942, in a conversation with Wendell Willkie, a leader in the US Republican Party, Stalin asked him point-blank in front of the American and British ambassadors, William Standley and Archibald Clark Kerr: why were the British and American governments supplying such poor-quality equipment to the Soviet Union?
He explained that he was primarily speaking of shipments of American P-40s instead of the much more up-to-date Airacobras, and added that the British were providing completely unsuitable Hurricane fighters, which were far inferior to what the Germans had. Stalin claimed that once when the Americans were preparing to ship 150 Airacobras to the Soviet Union, the British had intervened and kept them for themselves. “We know that the Americans and British have planes that are equal to or better than the German models, but for some reason many of those are not making it into the Soviet Union.”
The American ambassador, Admiral Standley, knew nothing about this, but the British ambassador, Archibald Clark Kerr, admitted that he was aware of the Airacobra event, but he defended their redirection with the excuse that in British hands those fighters would be much more valuable to their common Allied cause than if they ended up in the Soviet Union…
To be continued…


russia-insider--2020-09-27--Sevastopol in Crimea - Russia’s City of Heroes (Video)

Sevastopol is the scene of so much heroic triumph and untold sacrifice throughout Russia ’ s history This article from @ @ @ @ @ on RI in March 2016 This Russian television segment gives an insight into the significance @ @ @ @ @ Russians .
The city , strategically significant to today , has been the scene of @ @ @ @ @ and shaped Russian history , much of it a cemetery for the men who valiantly @ @ @ @ @ last .
To Russians , Sevastopol is simply the city of heroes .

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russia-insider--2020-09-27--Why Putin’s Christian Faith Is Most Likely Authentic

`` Normally he goes to obscure , rural churches to spend the holidays , wishing to avoid the cameras and distractions of the major cities . ''
This article from our archives was first published on RI in October 2018 The author is a well-known academic historian of Russia and Ukraine , which he approaches from a Christian ( Russian Orthodox ) and nationalist perspective , arguing that nationalism and Christian Orthodoxy are inseparable .
He also writes widely on current affairs .
Rare for contemporary Western historians of Russia , he sources original materials in Russian , pulling back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from modern history back to Russia ’ s very beginnings in the Middle Ages .
His latest book , Ukrainian Nationalism ( 2019 ) , ( Amazon ) , is the definitive treatment of this topic and is essential reading to understand the current political turmoil in Ukraine .
It argues that Ukrainian nationalism is real and legitimate , but need n't be Anti-Russian , and that Russia and Ukraine are in fact natural allies .
Here is his article on Russia Insider explaining some of the ideas in the book .
There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Russia and the Ukraine with this extraordinary command of historical detail and meaning .
Johnson is a national treasure , and his works are highly recommended .
For a fascinating audio podcast discussion of the book by Johnson and Andrew Carrington Hitchcock , see here .
If you are so inclined , please rate the book on Amazon , as this increases sales greatly .
It is a great way to support the author and help spread the ideas in the book .
If Amazon blocks you from leaving a review , please @ @ @ @ @ @ @ below , and/or send an email to [ email protected ] Vladimir Putin is fairly mute about his own religious views .
Being a member of the Communist Party is no evidence of atheism .
Its evidence only of conformity .
Party membership was essential for having any a career of any substantial kind , especially in the security services .
Military and police careers were , as in all societies , attractive to patriots and nationalists , though it had to be a “ Soviet ” rather than a specifically Russian nationalism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he was secretly baptized by his mother at 18 months in Petersburg at the Cathedral of the Martyrs Alexandria and Antonia of Rome .
From this , it is safe to say that Putin was secretly taught the faith from a young age .
According to his mother , it was the day of St. Michael and all the Angels , so it had to be November 21st .
Putin ’ s views are , in hos own words , to be internal , and never the subject of a show .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Sepulcher Church in Jerusalem he wears always .
In his house many years ago , a fire broke out from the heating unit of the sauna malfunctioning .
Worried that the cross , which he had left near his bed , was gone forever , once of the workmen found it perfectly intact in the midst of all the rubble .
Putin stated on Larry King that he sees this event as a miracle and a “ revelation.
” His personal commitment to Orthodoxy never wavered afterwards .
Normally he goes to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ holidays , wishing to avoid the cameras and distractions of the major cities .
His natural constituency is the Orthodox population , who , as polls have stated since the mid 1990s , trust the patriarch more than anyone else in Russia , even more than Putin himself .
Unlike Slobodan Milosevic , Putin is clearly comfortable and at home in an Orthodox setting , and his ritual movements are smooth and comfortable , not jerky and artificial as might be expected for a hypocritical display .
Milosevic was noted for his awkwardness @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suggesting he had no experience in them .
The only time he seemed slightly stiff is when , upon kissing an icon , the background noise was of hundreds of cameras taking pictures .
This is one of the videos in which Putin reveals the origin of his faith .
It shows us the following : Putin first speaks about his Baptism : 02:00 He believes in the traditional Russian family : 04:03 The Orthodox bikers in the new Russia : 10:52 Putin ’ s acknowledges the saints and martyrs murdered by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the church than Peter the Great and many others .
Non-Orthodox monarchs in Russia history include Peter I , who was a materialist Freemason .
His successor , the mockery “ Catherine I , ” who was a former prostitute from Germany taken as war booty by Peter .
She was placed on the throne in mockery , similar to the French Revolutionaries placing a prostitute on the throne of the Bishop of Paris during the terror .
Lord Biron , a Freemason who ruled while the two “ Empress Annas ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who was a Lutheran , soon murdered by , Catherine II , a Deist and vehemently anti-Orthodox and anti-Russian .
Alexander I dabbled in the occult , while Alexander II was generally secular .
At the same time , these and other monarchs placed atheists and masons as head of the synod on a regular basis .
Putin is far more Orthodox than those monarchs .
Putin ’ s concern with ecumenism with Rome is puzzling .
His constituency is Orthodox and nationalist .
He has only to lose with this policy .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ right now has done more to strengthen and spread Orthodox than Putin and the Moscow Patriarchate .
On February 13 , 2012 , Putin condemned the Red Army in the Russian Civil War .
In 2012 , 65,000 gathered at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow to defend the church against Pussy Riot and other attacks on it .
This is the new Russia .
Back in 2001 , Izvestia interviewed Putin ’ s spiritual father , the Archimandrite Tikhon ( Shevkunov ) of the Sretensky Monastery .
This was December @ @ @ @ @ @ @ really knowing too much about his policy agenda .
The Archimandrite stated : The Archimandrite was himself sent to prison by the old KGB and had members of his family perish because of them .
Thus , Putin ’ s background in this organization did not initially endear him to the President .
However , he soon was convinced of Putin ’ s Orthodox mind .
In his book , the Archimandrite writes : In his visit to Valaam , Putin stated that “ without Orthodoxy , there would be no Russia.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , they speak of the sincerity of the President ’ s faith .
They state that visiting the northern shrines was a “ turning point ” for Putin and began a sincere conversion .
He ensured that there was a minimum of meetings and no talk of politics .
On August 16th of 2001 Putin first began his pilgrimage and acted like an “ ordinary believer.
” He walked the three kilometers to the main monastery to St. Nicholas ’ skete .
He then decreed that the island of Anzer be granted officially @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the monastery of Solovki .
On the 1025th anniversary of the baptism of Rus under St. Vladimir , Putin stated : On the 90th anniversary of the restoration of the Patriarchate , Putin stated : It is common to condemn Putin for being a “ KGB agent.
” the truth is that the security services of any nation attract nationalists .
Few doctrinaire Marxists existed in the USSR .
This is the exclusive domain of capitalist universities .
Putin has condemned Marxism and communism .
He has stated that the fall of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Indeed it was : Solzhenitsyn said the same .
The destruction of the Soviet economy in a few years and its liquidation into the bank accounts of a few Jewish oligarchs is well known .
The USSR was preferable to the 1990s in Russia .
The life expectancy of the Russian male went down to under 60 years .
To be a career man of any kind in the USSR , one had to join the party .
Spouting a few slogans that no one believed is a minor price to pay for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ family .
Putin clearly ( albeit secretly ) rejected the party ’ s atheism .
He was and is a Russian nationalist .
My book , Russian Populist : The Political Thought of Vladimir Putin ( TBR Press , 2012 ) shows this at great length .
I ’ ve translated some speeches and writings that have not seen the light of day in the west .
The revelations of Putin ’ s secret baptism make sense out of his post-soviet career and ideological development .
( NB : Readers should buy directly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of this book ) due to the fact that Amazon and other retailers are deliberately charging outrageously high prices for it ) .
Проханов А. , Нарочницкая Н. , Ивашов Л. , Аверьянов В .
( 2014 ) Putin : The Keystone of Russian Statehood .
A Publication of the The Izborsk Club Putin – Defender of the Faith , President Vladimir Putin , December 12 , 2012 at St George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace on Constitution Day in Russia

"Normally he goes to obscure, rural churches to spend the holidays, wishing to avoid the cameras and distractions of the major cities."
This article from our archives was first published on RI in October 2018
The author is a well-known academic historian of Russia and Ukraine, which he approaches from a Christian (Russian Orthodox) and nationalist perspective, arguing that nationalism and Christian Orthodoxy are inseparable. He also writes widely on current affairs. Rare for contemporary Western historians of Russia, he sources original materials in Russian, pulling back the veil on much misunderstanding, ranging from modern history back to Russia’s very beginnings in the Middle Ages.
His latest book, Ukrainian Nationalism (2019), (Amazon), is the definitive treatment of this topic and is essential reading to understand the current political turmoil in Ukraine. It argues that Ukrainian nationalism is real and legitimate, but needn't be Anti-Russian, and that Russia and Ukraine are in fact natural allies. Here is his article on Russia Insider explaining some of the ideas in the book. There is no other scholar writing today about Russia and the Ukraine with this extraordinary command of historical detail and meaning. Johnson is a national treasure, and his works are highly recommended. For a fascinating audio podcast discussion of the book by Johnson and Andrew Carrington Hitchcock, see here.
If you are so inclined, please rate the book on Amazon, as this increases sales greatly. It is a great way to support the author and help spread the ideas in the book. If Amazon blocks you from leaving a review, please let us know in the comments section below, and/or send an email to dave@russia-insider.com.
Vladimir Putin is fairly mute about his own religious views. Being a member of the Communist Party is no evidence of atheism. Its evidence only of conformity. Party membership was essential for having any a career of any substantial kind, especially in the security services.
Military and police careers were, as in all societies, attractive to patriots and nationalists, though it had to be a “Soviet” rather than a specifically Russian nationalism. However, he does say that he was secretly baptized by his mother at 18 months in Petersburg at the Cathedral of the Martyrs Alexandria and Antonia of Rome. From this, it is safe to say that Putin was secretly taught the faith from a young age.
According to his mother, it was the day of St. Michael and all the Angels, so it had to be November 21st. Putin’s views are, in hos own words, to be internal, and never the subject of a show. The cross that his mother gave him at the Sepulcher Church in Jerusalem he wears always. In his house many years ago, a fire broke out from the heating unit of the sauna malfunctioning. Worried that the cross, which he had left near his bed, was gone forever, once of the workmen found it perfectly intact in the midst of all the rubble.
Putin stated on Larry King that he sees this event as a miracle and a “revelation.” His personal commitment to Orthodoxy never wavered afterwards. Normally he goes to obscure, rural churches to spend the holidays, wishing to avoid the cameras and distractions of the major cities. His natural constituency is the Orthodox population, who, as polls have stated since the mid 1990s, trust the patriarch more than anyone else in Russia, even more than Putin himself.
Unlike Slobodan Milosevic, Putin is clearly comfortable and at home in an Orthodox setting, and his ritual movements are smooth and comfortable, not jerky and artificial as might be expected for a hypocritical display. Milosevic was noted for his awkwardness in Orthodox churches in the 1990s, suggesting he had no experience in them. The only time he seemed slightly stiff is when, upon kissing an icon, the background noise was of hundreds of cameras taking pictures.
This is one of the videos in which Putin reveals the origin of his faith.
It shows us the following:
Putin first speaks about his Baptism: 02:00
He believes in the traditional Russian family: 04:03
Over 65,000 Russians defend the Church: 08:02
The Orthodox bikers in the new Russia: 10:52
Putin’s acknowledges the saints and martyrs murdered by the communists: 11:45
Putin is far superior for the church than Peter the Great and many others. Non-Orthodox monarchs in Russia history include Peter I, who was a materialist Freemason. His successor, the mockery “Catherine I,” who was a former prostitute from Germany taken as war booty by Peter. She was placed on the throne in mockery, similar to the French Revolutionaries placing a prostitute on the throne of the Bishop of Paris during the terror. Lord Biron, a Freemason who ruled while the two “Empress Annas” tried on outfits), Peter III who was a Lutheran, soon murdered by, Catherine II, a Deist and vehemently anti-Orthodox and anti-Russian. Alexander I dabbled in the occult, while Alexander II was generally secular. At the same time, these and other monarchs placed atheists and masons as head of the synod on a regular basis. Putin is far more Orthodox than those monarchs.
Putin’s concern with ecumenism with Rome is puzzling. His constituency is Orthodox and nationalist. He has only to lose with this policy. Yet, no one else on earth right now has done more to strengthen and spread Orthodox than Putin and the Moscow Patriarchate. On February 13, 2012, Putin condemned the Red Army in the Russian Civil War. In 2012, 65,000 gathered at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow to defend the church against Pussy Riot and other attacks on it. This is the new Russia.
Back in 2001, Izvestia interviewed Putin’s spiritual father, the Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) of the Sretensky Monastery. This was December of 2001, probably prior to anyone really knowing too much about his policy agenda. The Archimandrite stated:
Support Russia Insider - Go Ad-Free! Putin is really an Orthodox Christian really, and not nominally. He confesses, receives communion and is aware of his responsibility before God for the ministry entrusted to him from on high and for his immortal soul. The burden and severity of the problems he is undertaking to solve and his responsibility for these is truly enormous. Anyone who really loves Russia and wishes her well can only pray for Vladimir whom the Providence of God sent to deliver Russia.
The Archimandrite was himself sent to prison by the old KGB and had members of his family perish because of them. Thus, Putin’s background in this organization did not initially endear him to the President. However, he soon was convinced of Putin’s Orthodox mind. In his book, the Archimandrite writes:
Combining the modern Russian state with past forms, Putin has undertaken a huge effort to connect it to the heavens. The construction of churches, the reconstruction of destroyed parishes, monasteries and the revival of Russian shrines has become an urgent matter for Putin. For the dark, soulless landscape that was imposed on Russia after 1991 – one dominated by nihilism, anger, and nonsense mercantile scams – Russia was in a condition completely unsuitable for any future development. Anything built in this context, any laboratory or university, immediately plunged into the abyss of a toxic lifestyle. Support Russia Insider - Go Ad-Free! The restoration of churches and monasteries is truly the creation of huge sewage treatment plants which are to filter and processing the fetid waste of the 1990s. It is the construction of spiritual filters through which passes the poisoned spirit of the Russian people.
In his visit to Valaam, Putin stated that “without Orthodoxy, there would be no Russia.”
On the website of the Valaam monastery, they speak of the sincerity of the President’s faith. They state that visiting the northern shrines was a “turning point” for Putin and began a sincere conversion. He ensured that there was a minimum of meetings and no talk of politics. On August 16th of 2001 Putin first began his pilgrimage and acted like an “ordinary believer.” He walked the three kilometers to the main monastery to St. Nicholas’ skete. He then decreed that the island of Anzer be granted officially to the church and more specifically, the monastery of Solovki.
On the 1025th anniversary of the baptism of Rus under St. Vladimir, Putin stated:
Today, when people are again looking for moral support, millions of our fellow citizens see their Russian Orthodox religion as a beacon. Trust the wise pastoral words of the Russian Orthodox Church. Her selfless, educational and social service demand respect. Her public authority and peacekeeping efforts aimed at strengthening the harmony and stability of Russia, as well as her efforts to restore the historical ties among peoples, and especially with our compatriots abroad, has been her legacy. Support Russia Insider - Go Ad-Free! It is also important that a new level of state-church relations has developed. We act as genuine partners and as co-workers in solving the most pressing domestic and international challenges in the implementation of joint ventures for the benefit of our country and people.
On the 90th anniversary of the restoration of the Patriarchate, Putin stated:
The Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church helped the people survive the agony of the 20th century. It helped defend the faith, to unite the flock and to save not just the church, but the ideas of Christianity. And later, already in a revival of religious life, the Church has helped continue his tireless service. And today, we appreciate the desire of the Russian Orthodox Church to return the ideals and values to Russian society that for centuries were our spiritual landmarks (Putin, 2007).
It is common to condemn Putin for being a “KGB agent.” the truth is that the security services of any nation attract nationalists. Few doctrinaire Marxists existed in the USSR. This is the exclusive domain of capitalist universities. Putin has condemned Marxism and communism. He has stated that the fall of the USSR was a great “catastrophe.” Indeed it was: Solzhenitsyn said the same. The destruction of the Soviet economy in a few years and its liquidation into the bank accounts of a few Jewish oligarchs is well known. The USSR was preferable to the 1990s in Russia. The life expectancy of the Russian male went down to under 60 years.
To be a career man of any kind in the USSR, one had to join the party. Spouting a few slogans that no one believed is a minor price to pay for the ability to feed one’s family. Putin clearly (albeit secretly) rejected the party’s atheism. He was and is a Russian nationalist. My book, Russian Populist: The Political Thought of Vladimir Putin (TBR Press, 2012) shows this at great length. I’ve translated some speeches and writings that have not seen the light of day in the west. The revelations of Putin’s secret baptism make sense out of his post-soviet career and ideological development.
(NB: Readers should buy directly from The Barnes Review (the publisher of this book) due to the fact that Amazon and other retailers are deliberately charging outrageously high prices for it).
Bibliography
Владимир Путин посетил Ипатьевский мужской монастырь. Kremlin.ru, March 23 2005
http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/33026
Putin, BB (2007) Выступление В.В. Путина на встрече с иерархами Русской православной церкви по случаю 90-летия восстановления патриаршества. Doxa.ru
http://www.doxa.ru/obr/sobranie/ierarhi_vstrecha.html
Valaam (2001) Finding Himself. “Вера-Эском” 16(394)
Путин и его семья – христиане. Это главное. Izvestia, December 7 2001
Читайте далее: http://izvestia.ru/news/255666#ixzz3udNeNBJg
Проханов А., Нарочницкая Н., Ивашов Л., Аверьянов В. (2014) Putin: The Keystone of Russian Statehood. A Publication of the The Izborsk Club
Путин, BB (2013) «Нравственные основы православной веры сформировали менталитет народа» Русская народная линия. Summer
http://ruskline.ru/news_rl/2013/07/25/vladimir_putin_nravstvennye_osnovy_pravoslavnoj_very_sformirovali_mentalitet_naroda/
Putin and the Church, February 13 2012
Putin – Defender of the Faith, President Vladimir Putin, December 12, 2012 at St George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace on Constitution Day in Russia


russia-insider--2020-09-28--Great Moscow Street-Dancing: National Dance From the Caucasus (Lezginka)

This article from our archives was first published on RI in September 2015 The Lezginka is the best-known national dance @ @ @ @ @ and varieties of it are danced by almost every national group - Georgian , Ossetian @ @ @ @ @ Azeri , etc .
The head of Chechnya , Ramzan Kadyrov is an avid Lezginka @ @ @ @ @ videos of him performing it on YouTube .