Mention “the Kremlin” and most of us will picture the brooding fortress-palace in Moscow, and perhaps use it as a shorthand title for authoritarian Russian regimes, from medieval tsars to Vladimir Putin. But although it’s customary to refer to it as “The” Kremlin it is, in fact, just one of about twenty such fortified complexes still standing in Russia – ornate monuments to its vibrant culture and stormy history.
The Astrakhan Kremlin
One lovely example crowns the city of Astrakhan, on the left bank of the Volga River as it spreads into the great delta flowing into the Caspian Sea, 100 kilometres beyond. Built during the reign of Tsar Ivan IV (“The Terrible”) in the 16th Century, its Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary constructed during the 17th was much admired by Tsar Peter I (“The Great”) in the 18th. He claimed that “in the whole of my empire there is not a single cathedral as beautiful as this one”. In 2005, work was underway to refurbish the Astrakhan Kremlin in preparation for its 450th anniversary in 2008. Today it tentatively listed as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Humanitarian Cooperation in the Caspian Sea
Visiting the Astrakhan Kremlin was one of the social highlights arranged by the hosts of an international workshop being held at Astrakhan State Technical University. Just fourteen years earlier, the breakup of the Soviet Union had transformed the political face of the Caspian Sea from a straightforward bilateral arrangement between the Soviet Union and Iran to a complex five-way relationship embracing the three newly-independent republics of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. The legal regime for the Caspian Sea was still far from decided. Indeed there was considerable debate over whether it was legally a small “sea” or a huge inland lake. Some issues, however, were too important to wait until debate and negotiations were resolved, particularly those humanitarian considerations that should be above politics.
At a workshop hosted by Dalhousie University’s Centre for Foreign Policy Studies in Halifax in 2004, participants from all five Caspian states agreed that it would be helpful to bring experts in marine Search and Rescue from Canada and the United States together with those from the Caspian region to discuss the issue. I also raised the prospect at a round-table in Iran later that year. The result was a workshop on “Maritime Emergency Management in the Caspian Sea: Cooperation in Search and Rescue” held in Astrakhan in 2005. It was an informal exploratory discussion in which technical experts were invited to participate as professional individuals rather than official representatives of their organizations or states. The aim was a candid, creative and innovative exchange of ideas about improving cooperative emergency management arrangements in the Caspian region, especially in Search and Rescue. The proceedings were published by Cape Breton University’s International Centre for Emergency Management Studies in both English and Russian (links to both are on the Publications page under “Edited Volumes”)
Brotherhood on the Volga
Another social and professional highlight was a visit to Russia’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre for the Caspian Sea, located at what was then the headquarters of the navy’s Caspian Flotilla. As we strolled the waterfront afterward, I observed to our senior naval host that I had served in the Canadian Navy for more than thirty years, and for twenty of those he would have been “the enemy”. I reflected that in those days I could scarcely have dreamed that I would one day not only stand on the banks of the Volga River, but stand there among friends! He got quite teary-eyed and gave me a big Russian bear-hug.
Reflections on a New Year
At the start of another year in which a coterie of kleptocrats continues to march their nation backward into the 19th Century, it’s a good time to remind ourselves that “the Russians” – or any other nationality for that matter – are no more a homogeneous mass than “the Canadians”. I once asked my Dad, who had spent five years as a prisoner of war, how a civilized nation like Germany could allow Naziism to happen. His reply comes back to me whenever I find myself being judgmental about citizens allowing their societies to drift into totalitarianism. It’s easy to be brave, he said, until you hear jackboots marching down the hall and realize that they’re coming for you.
There must be something about New Year – the occasion prompted similar reflections a year ago. Still, it seems an appropriate way to start a year. To remember that despite depressing headlines, we are all family on this small, beautiful planet.
A dysfunctional family perhaps, but family nonetheless.