Ivan Chonkin News Today

Venality courses like a toxin through the present-day Russian body politic as well, with both “grand” and “petty” corruption unavoidable.

In 1986, a Russian satirical novelist tried to imagine the future of his homeland. He envisioned a head of state who had risen through the ranks of the KGB, used a war to cement his power, elevated his former security colleagues into positions of influence, claimed to derive authority from the Russian Orthodox Church and ruled Russia for decades. In other words, Vladimir Putin.

Literary traditions take centuries to develop, let alone acquire a following outside their own linguistic realm. Russian literature, however, saw an accelerated rate to global popularity within 200 years.After nearly a millennium of an oeuvre ...