Yes, I wanted to see the Caucasus (trip incl a couple of days in Georgia) bcos was v keen on Lermontov. I also saw & fell for the history paintings I wanted to do PhD on. I was last in Russia in 1996. Cd sense the climate was changing. I was actually in L'grad/P'burg during the 1991 coup.

russia fascinated me but now repulses me, utterly.

I like the art & culture. The ppl I met in Gorbachev/Yeltsin era were fine. Politically, it's been a basket-case for centuries, & the window of opportunity offered after the fall of the Wall was bungled horribly.

Ever since putin weasled his way in, it's been slowly ruined & now he wants to do the same to the rest of the planet it seems.

Part of the background to it was the model of capitalism introduced in 1990s, creating the oligarchs.

We have a group of vicious old people determined to burn everything to the ground before they drop dead.