Russian Around Like Crazy

My time in the Russian Federation was a whirlwind. I traveled over 6400 km in 16 days, and that's not counting getting there. In 2016 I was selected to participate in the Fulbright Community College Administrators Seminar in Russia. I visited technical colleges and universities with four colleagues from across the U.S.; we toured businesses and industries and engaged in cultural activities. I have never had a busier or more engaging two weeks.

Russia has intrigued me since my 5th-grade teacher read us a book about the tsars. As a 10-year-old, I was fascinated to learn about hemophilia, a condition suffered by Tsar Nicholas' youngest son, Alexei. The figure of Rasputin, the Mad Monk who could stop Alexei's bleeding was so interesting, I couldn't believe he was a real historical figure. The story of the Romanovs stuck with me.

As a teenager during the Cold War, I learned the Evil Empire was attempting to spread

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communism throughout the world, most notably in our 'backyard' of Central and South America. From antagonists in Rocky and Rambo to female assassins in James Bond films, Soviet villains were everywhere. Even cartoons depicted nefarious Russian spies. Boris Badenov (a self-proclaimed 'nogoodnik') and his comrade and accomplice Natasha Fatale were constantly attempting to steal secret formulas and destroy democracy. Luckily, Rocky and Bullwinkle (a squirrel and a moose) were always able to thwart their evil plans.

In college, I took a class called 'The Politics of Revolution,' where we studied the Bolshevik revolution in detail. I also learned about CIA involvement in Central and South American coups that replaced left-leaning but democratically-elected leaders with right-wing dictators. I wrote a long paper about the coup in Chile and reports from Amnesty International about Pinochet's human rights atrocities haunted my dreams. Our anti-Red policies can be summed up by FDR's famous quote about Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza: "He may be a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch.”

The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 put an end to the Cold War, but when I applied for the Fulbright in Russia, former KGB agent Vladimir Putin had been ruling Russia for over 15 years. Eager for the opportunity to experience Russia in person, I was also dedicated to the Fulbright mission to "increase mutual understanding and support friendly and peaceful relations between the people of the United States and the people of other countries." It turned out Putin had his eye on us wherever we went.

Define 'friendly'

Americans often perceive Russians as 'unfriendly' and, indeed, they don't smile at strangers when passing one in the street. "Why would we?" they told me. "That would be weird." They perceive the gregariousness of Americans to be superficial and possibly fake. "Americans will smile at you and act friendly, but are they going to invite you to their home for dinner?" they pointed out. Probably not, I thought, contemplating all my attempts to convince faculty and staff to engage with our international students and scholars.

We were shown great kindness and hospitality everywhere we went in Russia, even if toothy smiles were not as abundant as the refreshments. At every meeting, we were offered coffee, tea, cakes, cookies, cabbage rolls, and meat pies. We chatted pleasantly with university faculty and students, business leaders and employees, and service workers. With the exception of the first person I encountered in Russia, a grumpy passport control worker who shouted at me when I couldn't understand him, I didn't meet a single unfriendly person.

Planes, trains, and underground ice caves

Despite a jam-packed itinerary of meetings, the amount of culture we experienced was breathtaking. In Moscow, we stayed at two historic hotels adjacent to Red Square. Upon arrival, we checked in to the Hotel National with its breakfast hall overlooking the Kremlin. Lenin spent a week at the hotel in October of 1917 and his preserved body lies a block away in a glass coffin. He still looks fresh as a daisy one hundred years after his death. At the end of our seminar, we returned to the capital and lodged at the Metropol: the hotel that serves as the setting of Amor Towles' popular novel A Gentleman in Moscow.

From Moscow, we flew on Aeroflot to Perm, the easternmost city in Russia at the foot of the Ural mountains. From there, we visited the Kungur Ice Cave, an underground wonderland of grottoes and lakes. Nearby stands the White Mountain Monastery, a towering yet isolated cathedral topped with gold domes. In 1918, the Bolsheviks killed the head of the monastery, tossing him into the river below. Over the following months, they shot and tortured 34 monks, and the monastery was completely shut down a few years later. For 70 years, the USSR attempted to wipe out the Orthodox faith, but in 1993 restoration of the monastery began.

From Perm, we hopped the midnight train to Siberia. Riding on the Trans-Siberian Railway was one of the highlights of my life. Lying in my berth while hurtling deep into the heart of Russia, I was consumed with gratitude for the experience. Disembarking in the morning, we checked into our hotel in Tyumen. After days of back-to-back meetings, we spent the weekend engaged in cultural activities: a visit to Tobolsk, the only city in Siberia with a stone Kremlin. The Romanov family (Tsar Nicholas et al) were exiled to Tobolsk and lived under house arrest here before they were transferred to Yekaterinburg to be executed. (Did daughter Anastasia survive? She did not, as proved by DNA in 2007.)

A Mirror Image

Throughout the experience, I was struck by how similar Russians are to Americans. There are so many commonalities. Both countries are geographically large and linguistically isolated. Both countries expanded their territory by displacing indigenous populations. Several times we learned of the similarities between Texas and Siberia. The Christian faith is embedded in the fiber of both nations. We both fought the Nazis in World War II and feared each other during the Cold War. I had assumed Russians were our 'opposites,' but I discovered they were our mirror image.

Another insight I gained was the appeal of a 'strongman.' At home, primaries for the 2016 election were underway and I watched in shock and disbelief as a loudmouthed celebrity millionaire was on his way to becoming the Republican nominee. In Russia, Putin appeared to have equal support. I almost bought my husband a t-shirt of a shirtless Putin riding on the back of a bear. Fear drives people to crave a strong leader, an advocate who will defend them against any perceived enemy.

An Undesirable Organization

Last month, Karin Fischer reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education that the Russian government has named the Institute of International Education (IIE), the nonprofit that administers the Fulbright program, as an 'undesirable organization.' According to Fischer, "Under Russian law, undesirable organizations are forbidden from all activity and operations in the country, and anyone affiliated with them could be subject to fines or imprisonment of up to six years."

This is dismaying to everyone in the international education field, but terrifying to Russian scholars currently in the United States. The State Department stopped sending American scholars to Russia when Putin invaded Ukraine; however, we continued to welcome scholars from Russia to the U.S. Russian faculty members currently in the U.S. fear what will happen when they return home. All Fulbright Scholars who come to the U.S. are required to return to their home countries and stay there for a minimum of two years following their award.

Bilateral academic exchanges took place even during the height of the Cold War, so this

break in diplomacy is significant. If I've learned anything from my travels, it's that people are not their government. Though horrified by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I have not felt any animosity toward its people. When Margaret Mead said "A small group of committed citizens can change the world," she was referring to positive change. Unfortunately, it's also true for negative change.

It is easy to hate an enemy when they are 'other.' When we recognize that we are largely the same, it becomes difficult to justify violence and war. May we all think of ourselves as citizen diplomats and strive to promote mutual understanding and support peaceful relations. If enough of us adopt this mission in our daily lives, we can indeed make a difference.