when you visit russia, you feel as much about the country as you feel about its geographical affi liation. you see it in its passions and policies. sometimes it tends to the west and at other times to the east and we see that in the old slogan of the tsars (the doubleheaded eagle), the one going to the east and the other going to the west, then came the soviets and the slogan of the czars was abolished and they adopted the emblem of the hammer and sickle.
with the new republican system, the communist slogan was abandoned and president vladimir putin re-considered the slogan of the ‘double-headed eagle’ in a symbolic gesture of nostalgia for the past, belonging to the orthodox church, and pride in russia’s golden age, the days of the tsars.
putin, on the other hand, chose the tune of the national anthem of the former soviet union to the russian federation, in a clear sign that what happened in the tsarist and soviet era is part of russia’s history and does not want to abandon it, despite all the painful and black aspects of the two eras.
the visitor to russia today clearly sees the effects, memories, pain, dreams and pride of the russians in their three years of government, despite all the differences and contradictions. all of them represent something to them and they do not hide their feelings towards them. they are indeed their source of pride and belonging to ‘mother russia’!
unlike the rest of the world, russia is a large, vast country that is diffi cult to govern without a strict administrative system that allows each group a bit of breathing space, but it also makes it a very rich country in its culture, literature and arts.
russian cuisine has a variety of tastes, and its people are multi-ethnic, with different customs and traditions. there are large muslim minorities and a good number of jews, the majority are orthodox christians, atheists and other ethnic and religious minorities.
a visit to the palaces of the tsars and the kremlin’s offi cial halls clearly show the extravagance of the romanov tsars, whose last tsar and his family were rehabilitated by transferring their remains from siberia, where they had been killed, to be buried in the largest churches of st petersburg, their longcherished capital.
interestingly, the majority of the palaces of the tsars were restored by the soviet artists. the great churches, neglected for almost seventy years, have not been destroyed or removed, and have returned to their former luster.
the streets and roads of major cities, especially the capital moscow, are fi lled with the statues of soviet leaders, especially lenin. even the statue of the communist offi cer responsible for the murder of nicholas ii, the last of the tsars, his wife and his heir and his daughters still fi nds his place among the graves of the other soviet leaders in the red square.
the red square is a misnomer, because it does not mean the red color in the russian language, because of the multiplicity of red buildings around the square, or because of the preferred color ‘red’ by the communists, as it is said that the current name spread after the massacre in the square by ivan the fourth, which witnessed bloodshed after the death of his wife.
if we compare the situation of the russian federation with our revolutionary countries, we fi nd that the latter cut off all ties to its past and burned all its bridges with the previous regimes and retained only a few buildings or palaces relatively luxurious for the use of its free offi cers. this indicates that the revolutions of our coup were closer to revolts more than the revolutions.
in my view russia is a rich country. in my view, it is one of the only three countries in the world that possesses almost everything. it also has other wonderful and striking things that are not found in other great historical countries, with their multiplicity to cultures, ethnic and linguistic diversity and music. the cost of tourism is still very reasonable, so i strongly support visiting russia again this summer, both during and after the world cup.
the fi rst part of our article coincided with the 315th anniversary of the founding of saint petersburg. what a strange coincidence. from the ends of the earth a kuwaiti visited russia and remembers and writes about the day it appeared to the world!