His being demonized in the west no doubt helps his popularity in russia. the generation that lived through the Gorbachev era, the fall of the soviet union, and then the yelsin era regard popularity of a russian politician as prima facia evidence of treason and selling out russia.
There is a rather interesting painting that has acquired a rather symbolic status in russia, rather like the famous paint of Washington crossing the Delaware. It is a painting of Evgeny Primakov, russian premier in 1997, seated in front of the window of his airplane talking on the phone. The background of that painting is primakov was on his way to washington DC on a state visit to meet with Clinton. on the agenda was discussion about the situation in Serbia, a country of fellow orthodox slavs with whom the russians feel such a sense of kinship that it went to war with germany on serbia’s behalf at the start of world war one, and with whom the russians still feel a sense of solidarity that the west utterly ignored, while in the air, he received news that Clinton had ordered US airforce to bomb Belgrade. ,
primakov immediately ordered his plane to turn around and return to Russia.
This painting has been taken to reflect the end of russia’s down ward spiral after the fall of USSR, and the beginning of a new russia that realizes America was still out to diminish Russia and peel away its traditional allie’s, even one’s that dates to long before communism, and determined to fight for its purgatives by confrontation and violence as necessary,
as it turns out, the notion that that scene reflected the turning point is a bit of a myth. Yelsin eta still had 3 more years to run, and during the first 5 years of the Putin era Russia continues to see accommodation and appeasement of the west as the best course.
However, myth though the painting reflects, what a country chooses to mythologize offers a more clear insight into its moods than any sound bite taken from street interviews by western news organizations.
There is a rather interesting painting that has acquired a rather symbolic status in russia, rather like the famous paint of Washington crossing the Delaware. It is a painting of Evgeny Primakov, russian premier in 1997, seated in front of the window of his airplane talking on the phone. The background of that painting is primakov was on his way to washington DC on a state visit to meet with Clinton. on the agenda was discussion about the situation in Serbia, a country of fellow orthodox slavs with whom the russians feel such a sense of kinship that it went to war with germany on serbia’s behalf at the start of world war one, and with whom the russians still feel a sense of solidarity that the west utterly ignored, while in the air, he received news that Clinton had ordered US airforce to bomb Belgrade. ,
primakov immediately ordered his plane to turn around and return to Russia.
This painting has been taken to reflect the end of russia’s down ward spiral after the fall of USSR, and the beginning of a new russia that realizes America was still out to diminish Russia and peel away its traditional allie’s, even one’s that dates to long before communism, and determined to fight for its purgatives by confrontation and violence as necessary,
as it turns out, the notion that that scene reflected the turning point is a bit of a myth. Yelsin eta still had 3 more years to run, and during the first 5 years of the Putin era Russia continues to see accommodation and appeasement of the west as the best course.
However, myth though the painting reflects, what a country chooses to mythologize offers a more clear insight into its moods than any sound bite taken from street interviews by western news organizations.
