During the thousand years of her history Russia had seen many great things. During the Soviet period the country had seen global military victories, vast construction sites, whole new cities, dams across the Dnieper and the Volga, canals joining different seas. The country had seen mighty tractors and skyscrapers…There was only one thing Russia had not seen during this thousand years: freedom.
—Vasily Grossman, Everything Flows, 49
