Foreword
Russia Yesterday and Today is a brief manual or encyclopedia purporting to provide the reader with up-to-date information on personalities, political, economic, cultural and social structures, institutions, regions, and various features and phenomena that are believed to be important for understanding the current events in this country and their background.
In the very nature of such publications, RY&T is fast overtaken by events, including sad ones like deaths of various personalities listed here, or political, economic and other developments, the rise and fall of institutions, etc. Needless to say every effort will be made to keep the record as relevant to the situation in the country as possible.
As the reader will see, we have endeavored to be strictly factual, although some of the characteristics, especially of personalities, may be deemed more subjective than is usual in publications of this kind. The fact is that this country is in a period of rapid transition, nay, continuous upheaval, and no one writing on these subjects at such a time can pretend to be entirely above the fray. In this day and age a preeminently cautious, “objective” stance may even be seen as a sign of pusillanimity or hypocrisy. That said, every precaution has been taken here to use only those materials that have appeared in easily verifiable sources, both printed and electronic.
