Russia’s Twin Nostalgias
SOCHI, Russia—Gazing up at the bust of Joseph Stalin, the young boy listened silently as his mother squatted next to him, whispering the Soviet dictator’s story into his ear. The pair studied the black-colored sculpture, among many of Stalin in this city’s history museum (just one, apparently, is not enough). “He built this city,” the mother told the child, who stared admiringly at Stalin’s signature moustache. “He was like a czar.”
To some extent, that is true. Though Russian intellectuals and poets had long found refuge in this Black Sea port, it was Stalin who ordered its development, turning it into a resort city. His vision was to create a Soviet Riviera, replete with grand botanical gardens and enormous, well-equipped hotels.
Yet if Stalin, in the words of that young boy’s mother, built Sochi, Vladimir Putin is now refashioning it, transforming what was once an affordable holiday locale into not just his summer residence, but a paean to secrecy, espionage, and militarization. A recent museum exhibit extolled the exploits of KGB spies, once-public areas have been
