Solzhenitsyn: My Murdered Grandfather’s Voice | Newsweek International

Rival Power
Owen Matthews 7/6/2009 12:00:00 AM
In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev, then the newly chosen general-secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, signaled the beginning of the end of the Cold War when he reached out to the U.S. and began a series of arms-limitation talks with his hawkish counterpart, Ronald Reagan. Within six years, the Soviet Union was dead and agreements were in place to reduce Russian and American nukes. This week's deal between U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian—President Dmitry Medvedev to further reduce warheads is the first such deal in a decade and a half. During that time, Russian-American relations have also deteriorated drastically—along with Russian democracy itself, Gorbachev's other legacy to his country. Gorbachev spoke to NEWSWEEK Moscow Bureau Chief Owen Matthews last week about why relations have gotten so bad, and what both sides can do to restore lost trust. Excerpts:
The History Wars
Owen Matthews 7/6/2009 12:00:00 AM
In Russia, history is much too important to be left to historians. At least that's what the Kremlin appears to believe. In May, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made a more decisive step toward attempting to legislate history than any Russian leader since Mikhail Gorbachev. Medvedev proposed that "questioning the Soviet victory in World War II" should be made a criminal offense, punishable by a large fine or a three-month prison sentence. At the same time, he appointed a commission that includes his chief of staff, top bureaucrats, lawmakers and military brass and charged it with "counteracting attempts to falsify history that are to the detriment of the interests of Russia."
Epic Struggles
Andrew Nagorski 6/1/2009 12:00:00 AM
History lives and breathes—it's never static. Debates about history always tell us as much about the present and the struggles for power as about the past, often more so. As George Orwell famously pointed out: "He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future."
WORLD AFFAIRS
Fading To Black
Owen Matthews 4/10/2009 12:00:00 AM
Seen from the Kremlin, the scenes of protesters overrunning Moldova's parliament and ransacking its president's office looked chillingly familiar. More than five years ago, young pro-Western protesters toppled Moscow-friendly regimes in Georgia and Ukraine. Those "color" revolutions marked the nadir of Russia's power in the region and became the cornerstone of Kremlin policy ever after. At home, Moscow stamped out foreign-funded NGOs, abolished local elections and concocted youth groups to counter the possibility of anything similar happening inside Russia. Abroad, the Kremlin's priority has been asserting its right to a sphere of influence and fighting back the tide of Western influence. The outcome of Moldova's latest unrest, then, is about much more than a disputed election: it's a key test of both Russia's soft and hard power in the region.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Missions Critical
Andrew Nagorski 2/9/2009 12:00:00 AM
Stanislaw Ciosek was once a member of the Polish communist regime that tried to suppress Lech Walesa's Solidarity movement in the 1980s. It imposed martial law and arrested many of Solidarity's leaders, but later negotiated the "roundtable" accords that led to the partly free elections in 1989. That ballot produced a landslide victory for Solidarity that signaled the end of one-party rule and the collapse of communism in Poland, triggering ripple effects throughout the region.
Solzhenitsyn Goes Home

At 75, Russia's greatest living dissident was returning with a mission: to save the Russian soul. ""I hope that I can be of some help to my tortured nation,'' he said in a farewell speech in Vermont. But his nation may no longer have a place for cultural figures as spiritual leaders -- or for dissidents. ""Those times have passed,'' says Vitaly Tretyakov, the editor of Nezavisimaya Gazeta, which ran an article dismissing Solzhenitsyn as ""hopelessly outdated.'' Says Tretyakov, ""Nobody believes in anything anymore.'' Cynicism, individualism and downright exhaustion from maneuvering through a new, chaotic economy have fundamentally changed Russia.