William Jay Smith on a Russian winter journey of an American Fulbright professor at Moscow State University, lecturing on contemporary American poetry.
Russia's war against Ukraine did not start on Feb. 24, 2022. The illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula and the invasion of Donbas in 2014 were also not isolated incidents and had many historical precedents: Russian Tsar Peter I ordered the Baturyn Massacre in 1708 as “revenge” against Ukrainian Hetman Ivan Mazepa for his perceived disloyalty, resulting in an estimated 11,000 to 14,000 deaths. From 1932 to 1933, an estimated 3.5 to 5 million Ukrainians died during the Holodomor, a man-made famine that stemmed from Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin’s forced collectivization and grain requisition quotas; it is widely recognized today as a genocide against the Ukrainian people.
The symbol for the immense county of Russia, and, one that its President is often seen embracing, is the mighty brown bear. Like its animal counterpart, Russia has spent periods in international hibernation but even when it is seemingly out of view, its ferocity lingers, a reminder to all that if provoked, the bear will fight back.