Dear CCI Friends,

Two CCI travelers from our 2019 trip, Dennis Ortblad and Krishen Mehta, visited Russia recently to experience not only Moscow, but also some cities along the Volga River, including Kazan, Saratov, and Samara. They were deeply moved by the memorials to the Great Patriotic War from 1941 to 1945 that they saw in almost every city that they visited. As we know, there was no city that was left untouched by the tragedy that befell Soviet Russia during that period. Below is a brief article that one of the travelers, Krishen Mehta, wrote after his visit to the memorial in Saratov.

Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives

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American Committee for US-Russia Accord

October 18, 2021
By Krishen Mehta

Late last week I paid a very moving visit to a memorial in Saratov, Russia in honor of Russia’s sacrifices in WWII. I paid my respects at the eternal flame honoring the sacrifices made by the soldiers who fought Russia’s battles from 1941 to 1945, and saw an evocative sculpture depicting the fallen soldiers as cranes going up in the sky.

The Russian poet, Rasul Gamzatov, wrote a poem called “Zhuravli” to honor the soldiers.
The poem starts with the lines:
“I sometimes feel that the soldiers
Who have not returned from the bloody fields
Never lay down to earth
But turned into white cranes…
”The poem is a small but fitting honor to the millions of Soviet soldiers who lost their lives, in order that the West could prevail in World War II. This sacrifice has seldom been acknowledged or fully understood by the West.
I realize also that many in the West believe that the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was the start of World War II. But something that many students of history do not recognize that in the 1930’s, the Soviet Union tried to stop the attacks by Nazi Germany on either the East or the West by negotiating a pact with Britain and France so that Hitler would be prevented from attacking either Poland, France, or Russia.

Stalin’s argument was that if the allies were united against Germany on both East and West, then Hitler would be constrained from attacking on either side. Britain and France both turned down Stalin, and would not sign such an agreement with him. They thought that in refusing to do so, Hitler would be less constrained to attack in the East rather than in the West. That was what Britain and France wanted, or certainly hoped would happen.

There was also a strong anti-communist stance in both Britain and France, and they did not want a pact with the communist government in the Soviet Union. Perhaps they thought that Hitler would attack the Soviet Union and ‘finish the job’ for them, something that they could not do at the onset of the Bolshevik Revolution.

Some argue Stalin chose the only option that was open to him: To sign a pact with Nazi Germany to buy himself time before Hitler inevitably turned his attention to the East. After the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was signed, Hitler turned his attention initially to the West, conquering most of the countries in Western Europe, before turning to the East. During that time, it should be recognized, Stalin’s Soviet Union did take part in the dismemberment of Poland and re-annexed the Baltics states which had achieved independence from the Russian empire after World War I. Eventually, of course, only after Hitler invaded Soviet-occupied territory in Eastern Europe on June 22, 1941, did the Soviets join the allies in the war against Nazi Germany. And the allies did eventually prevail, with the cost to Russia of over 26 million lives.

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The full translation of the poem “Zhuravli” is below:

CRANES

Sometimes I feel that all those fallen soldiers,Who never left the bloody battle zones,Have not been buried to decay and molder,But turned into white cranes that softly groan.

And thus, until these days since those bygone times,They still fly in the skies and gently cry.Isn’t it why we often hear those bell chimesAnd calmly freeze while looking in the sky?

A tired flock of cranes still flies – their wings flap.Birds glide into the twilight, roaming free.In their formation I can see a small gap –It might be so, that space is meant for me.

The day shall come, when in a mist of ashenI’ll soar with cranes, and final rest I’ll find,From the skies calling – in a bird-like fashion –All those of you who I’ll have left behind.

Sometimes I feel that all those fallen soldiers,Who never left the bloody battle zones,Have not been buried to decay and molderBut turned into white cranes that softly groan…

Dear CCI Friends,

One near disaster after another has hit my small world since arriving back from Russia. I’ll explain later after first getting this “overview” emailed to you. I’ve searched all over my computer for this draft created over the ocean, and today found it lodged in “Archives” along with a number of other emails that should have been in “Sent”. Strange? Yes. I wondered if I’d dreamed that I’d written it! Here it is. Kindly read, as is. Other pieces will follow this one.

Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives

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Dear CCI Followers,

My best intentions to send you emails during our travels throughout Russia, came to naught! Paula Day, our stalwart CCI volunteer, Volodya Shestakov, CCI’s 35-year Russian VIP, and I were kept busy day and night from September 20 to October 17.

Our first city was Moscow where we settled on which hotel to use for our large June 2022 trip ahead, and met with numerous CCI friends. There was no time to capture these happenings on computer after meetings in the evenings.

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Dear CCI Friends,

I am prepping for an autumn trip to Russia, leaving on September 26th and returning on October 17. You will receive fewer CCI emails during this time. However we will send trip reports as we travel throughout Russia.

CCI volunteer Paula Day will travel with me for meetings in Moscow, Irkutsk out in Siberia, then south to Krasnodar, Crimea’s three cities, Volgograd and St. Petersburg. At about the same time on another route, CCI volunteers Krishen Mehta and Dennis Orblad will travel to Moscow, Kazan and several other Russian cities. We will explore various aspects of each city. Also, we will meet with our Russian PEP Fellows to see if they wish to host CCI delegates traveling to Russia (June 20 – July 5, 2022). More about this large delegation after we return home in October.

Unfortunately, CCI travelers are about the only Americans getting fresh eyes on Russia these days. During my June trip, tour buses were absent on Russian streets, hotel lobbies appeared near empty. It was strange to observe. But happily, Russians had their cities all to themselves during COVID! Russia’s “White Nights” of June and July have always been packed with tourists from abroad.

The upside was clear — Russians were really enjoying their parks, canals, sidewalks and streets. Even auto drivers seemed patient to share space with bicycles, roller skaters and scooters! It all looked like great fun …and there was no honking of horns. My apartment balcony looks down on an intersection of four streets and two driveways to other streets. I watched this flow of traffic and people for hours at a time. When COVID vanishes, Russians will remember these years when they had their streets and canals to themselves, a time when they didn’t have to dodge tourists.

From the beginning of COVID, travel between our countries all but stopped, except for Russians living here in the United States who take annual trips home to Russia. This past June I traveled on a huge Aeroflot plane along with hundreds of Russian mothers taking their babies and young children back to Russian grandparents for the summer. This is a long, long Russian tradition which apparently those living in the West still consider important. I saw no other Americans on the plane.

More to follow as time permits during the coming weeks!

Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives