Russia: the first royal wedding after the Bolshevik revolution in 1917

The first royal wedding since the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, which overthrew the Romanov monarchy, took place in Russia on October 1, with aristocrats traveling from all over Europe for the lavish ceremony.

Grand Duke Georgi Mikhailovich Romanov, 40, and his Italian fiancée Victoria Romanovna Betarini, 39, were married at St. Isaac’s Cathedral in the former imperial capital, St. Petersburg.

They met many years ago in Brussels, where they worked in various organizations within the European Union. At first they were friends, but at some point, as they remember themselves, they realized that this was fate. The Grand Duke made an original proposal – at the Brussels airport, presenting Rebecca with a gold ring with a ruby and diamonds inherited from his great-grandmother. He himself received it from his mother – the head of the Russian Imperial House, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna – on the day of his majority. With instructions to hand it over to the future bride.

Hundreds of foreign guests traveled to Russia’s second-largest city for the Orthodox Christian ceremony, including royalty from 20 countries such as Bulgaria‘s last king, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Egypt and Sudan’s last king, Fuad II and Princess Lea of ​​Belgium, AFP reported.

The guest list of about 1,500 people included other famous names such as Konstantin Malofeev, a monarchist and billionaire close to the Kremlin, and Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

Betarini converted to the Orthodox faith last year.

The young bridesmaids, dressed in orange, wore the bride’s veil with the coat of arms of the Russian Empire embroidered in gold. Betarini also wore a tiara inlaid with diamonds, made by high-class jewelers “Chaumet”.

Surrounded by priests in golden robes, Romanov and Betarini shone as Metropolitan Bartholomew of St. Petersburg and Ladoga blessed.

“We are happy that you love Russia and participate in charity projects,” he said.

The ceremony included an exchange of wedding rings made by Faberge. For the first time, the jewelry house created wedding rings for members of the Romanov family “before the Russian Revolution”.

Some women wore designer hats and furs, and some men wore Cossack uniforms decorated with medals.

Natalia Grigorovich, a descendant of Ivan Grigorovich, the last naval minister of tsarist Russia, described the ceremony as “touching”.

“My heart rejoices,” she added.

After the ceremony, the honor guard, carrying swords, greeted the newlyweds as they kissed in front of the cathedral.

More than 500 guests were invited to attend the wedding dinner at the city’s Museum of Ethnography later today.

The last wedding in Russia of the Romanovs’ heir was that of Nicholas II and Alexandra 127 years ago.

Before the ceremony, Romanov said the couple chose to get married in St. Petersburg because it was the first place in the country where the family returned in the early 1990s.

St. Petersburg is “the history of Russia,” he added, “the history of the Romanov House.”

Born in Madrid, Romanov was the son of Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna Romanova, who proclaimed herself heir to the imperial throne of Russia. She is the granddaughter of Grand Duke Cyril, cousin of Nicholas II, the last Russian tsar, executed along with his wife Alexandra and five children by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

Buried after their execution in a place long kept secret by the Soviet authorities, their bodies and those of their children were transferred in 1998 to Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The family was canonized by the Orthodox Church in 2000 as martyrs.

After the wedding, the newlyweds laid flowers at Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Romanov, who spent most of his life in France, graduated from Oxford and worked in the European Parliament. He also held a position in the Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel. The couple moved to Russia three years ago, first settling in the suburbs of Moscow before moving downtown to the Kremlin.

Now Romanov is working on several charity projects. He said he believed European and Russian royalty could help Moscow and the West mend broken ties.

“I think we can be ambassadors of goodwill,” he said.

“This marriage is by no means on our agenda,” Dmitry Peskov said.

Here is a wedding, put up for review by the general public: a sable, a new-made tiara, some teenagers with sabers, golden vests, golden coats of arms … it’s even strange that a choir of bears with balalaikas does not sing in the background.

The first impression of the “royal” wedding is crowded. And very, very solemn. Never before, perhaps since the October Revolution itself, has such a high concentration of titled persons been achieved in St. Petersburg. What is the SPIEF – only presidents and ministers are visiting the SPIEF, and kings, principles, princesses, dukes and duchesses have gathered in Isaac. In total, the wedding was attended by about 500 guests of honor.

Initially, the calculation was for 1,000, but the covid intervened, and the number of guests had to be reduced.

The bride’s wedding dress, as expected, was the main surprise and was kept secret from the groom. Russian designer Elina Samarina worked on a creamy white silk dress. The accent was made on the many-meter train, on which the golden Russian coat of arms was woven. And in Rebecca’s hair was a Chaumet diadem set with 438 diamonds in white gold. The couple’s outfits are then planned to be exhibited in the Russian Museum.

There was no shortage of pompous outfits. The official protocol (out of the corner of our eye we spied one of the invitations sent to the honored guests by the Chancellery of Her Imperial Majesty) ordered men to appear in uniforms or strict “day suits with a light tie”, and women – in “mid-length day dresses with a hat or mantle.”

In Isaac himself, the guests were distributed according to their status. The presidium directly opposite the entrance accommodated the relatives of the newlyweds – the Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna herself and her cousin Helena Kerby on the part of her husband and diplomat Roberto Bettarini and Carl Virginia Cacchatore on the part of the bride.

The others lined up along the altar on the right hand.

The young people were crowned by the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Barsanuphius himself. The translator helped him in this – he immediately translated the text of the solemn oath and wishes for long years and family well-being into English for foreign guests of honor and Mrs. Bettarini herself. The latter, by the way, created a real sensation with its appearance – she was dressed in a snow-white satin dress with a six-meter train, on which the imperial coat of arms flaunted. The train was carried by young ladies-in-waiting in emerald dresses.

The festive events, which were attended by representatives of monarchical dynasties from all over the world, lasted three days. On the eve of the wedding, in the evening, a welcome cocktail for foreign guests was held in the Vladimir Palace (House of Scientists). There, the chef of the celebrations, Vladimir Garkavy (he, for example, was responsible for gala lunches and dinners at the opening and closing of the Olympics in Sochi), arranged a performance: using liquid nitrogen, in the clubs coming from him, he prepared ice cream right in front of the guests – the waiters carried him gathered in eggs, stylized as Faberge.

Most of the visiting high-ranking guests, like newlyweds, stayed at the Astoria Hotel. By the way, on this occasion, the hotel provided the couple with a royal suite – a luxurious 310-meter suite overlooking St. Isaac’s Cathedral – with a ceremonial dining room, a library, two dressing rooms, fitness and massage rooms.

At the gala dinner at the Ethnographic Museum, Victoria Romanovna was in a fluffy dress without a train, with a cropped jacket thrown over her shoulders: this outfit was developed for her by designers Rim Acra and Elina Samarina. This dress had a neckline and embroidery in a delicate pearl color.

For the last reception, at the Constantine Palace, Mrs. Romanova chose a trouser suit. “The groom did not particularly prepare his wardrobe for the wedding, he put on his classic black tie suit,” the press secretary of Prince Georgy Mikhailovich told AIF. And on Saturday, the “royal wedding” took place in the Constantine Palace. The dress code for the second day was “smart casual” and Rebecca came out to the guests in a black trouser suit. There were pancakes, pies, fire cutlets and other dishes of Russian cuisine. “Look, don’t mix up the forks!” – I remember, the editor told me a few years ago, when I first came to dinner with the head of the House of Romanov. It worked out then, it has done well now – everything is democratic, without embarrassing frills. And where without dancing – “Kalinka” and “Barynya” to the accordion went with a bang from foreigners.

By the way, an interesting detail – according to our interlocutors from among the guests, the protocol forbade bringing flowers and gifts to the wedding; otherwise the newly minted spouses would simply drown in them. However, Georgy Romanov and Rebecca Bettarini were not left completely without gifts. So, for example, from the Ryazan region to St. Petersburg, specifically in order to pay tribute to the heirs of the imperial family, they brought a scarf of the finest hand-made embroidery, made in the technique “Kadomsky veniz”, which is almost lost in our days. Petersburg artists Sergei Morozov and Elizaveta Skorikova presented the youngsters with a full-length portrait of Princess Maria Vladimirovna – it took a whole year to create it. In addition, icons were presented – including an icon of Xenia of Petersburg from the chapel at the Smolensk cemetery – and commemorative coins, including those made of pure gold.

The newly-minted spouses were accompanied by an honor guard from among the soldiers of the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment – in a word, everything is like the good old imperial times. At some point, shouts of “Bitter!” Were heard from the crowd. The young people succumbed to the general mood and right there, on the steps of the cathedral, gave each other the first kiss after the wedding. And then another one – especially for those photographers and cameramen who did not have time to catch this romantic moment. A few minutes later, a luxurious black Rolls-Royce, rumbling with a motor, took Georgy Romanov and his chosen one away – first to the Peter and Paul Fortress, where the couple laid flowers at the tomb of Alexander III, and then to the Ethnographic Museum for a dinner party.

But, in contrast to this theatricality, there is a civil ceremony of the same couple for a narrow circle: restrained colors and manners, everything is serious, everything is comme il faut. The etiquette in such things has been polished for centuries, everything has been thought out – from the degree of heirloom value of jewelry to the last napkin.

At the civil ceremony with Georgy Mikhailovich and Victoria, everything is as it should be, as at the weddings of other Romanovs, and even Maria Vladimirovna herself – the photos have been preserved, you can compare. Aristocracy and thoughtfulness in every smallest detail. So it was possible without kitsch? But for some reason, it was not without it. As if by the wedding they specifically wanted to emphasize: guys, we are not serious about the succession to the throne.

A spokesman for Vladimir Putin told reporters that the Kremlin has always wished happiness to all the newlyweds, but the president has no plans to congratulate the couple.

Reference to this article appears in Wikipedia

Europe's largest cocaine distribution network broken up

Operation “Musala” has been carried out by the Spanish National Police together with the police authorities of Germany, Colombia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Serbia.

A total of 61 people have been arrested after a year of police investigations, and 4,010 kilograms of cocaine and more than 600,000 euros have been seized.

The operation has been a major challenge for EUROPOL due to the high mobility of the members of the Balkan cartel, requiring exhaustive and permanent coordination of all the police forces involved in the investigation.

In Spain, simultaneous operations have been carried out in the provinces of Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Tarragona, Gerona, and Valencia.

Agents of the National Police, in a joint operation with the police forces of Germany, Colombia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Serbia, have dismantled the largest cocaine distribution network in Europe, seizing 4,010 kilograms of this narcotic substance and arresting 61 people.

The operation was carried out under the coordination of EUROPOL and is the result of international cooperation between the different European police forces involved, as well as the Colombian and US authorities, with whom the investigation was launched jointly.

The dismantled organization intended to carry out a drug trafficking operation from South America to Europe. In this context, EUROPOL activated an exclusive operation to dismantle this criminal group, which led to the detection of the presence of several members of the Balkan cartel in different countries.

FREE REGISTRY TO OUR ONLINE COURSE ON DRUG PREVENTION IN 17 LANGUAGES.
LET’S STOP THE DEMAND

This criminal organization was mainly composed of nationals of Eastern European countries, mainly from Serbia, Croatia, and Montenegro. The main characteristic of the group under investigation was its significant economic muscle and lack of roots, which allowed all its members to settle in different countries of the world, to travel for meetings and gatherings, and to enjoy a standard of living available to few people.

These meetings were held in short periods of time, and it can be seen how they stayed in and frequented luxury hotels and restaurants. In Spain, the organization had houses and vehicles that the members of the group made available to the top leaders in order to make police work more difficult.

The aim of the police investigation was to try to attack the top of the criminal organization by covering all the meetings held in each country. Thanks to the work carried out in Colombia by DIPOL, it was even possible to see how they were linked to the world of football. Through the purchase and sale of certain players, the laundering of profits from drug trafficking was tracked.

GEO’s boarding of a sailing boat starts investigation

Police investigations began in 2018 when a sailing boat carrying two Croatian nationals and one American national was arrested. That vessel was boarded by the GEO, the Special Operations Group of the National Police, whose agents seized 1.4 tonnes of cocaine that was being transported inside it at the time.

Since then, investigations have indicated that the dismantled group was responsible for the shipment of the drugs and that they had the resources and means to continue attempting the operation, as was finally demonstrated. However, despite the numerous data collected, it was not possible at that time to prove the involvement of this group in the operation.

Nevertheless, the investigation continued and, at the end of 2019, one of the most important members of the organization was detected again in Spain to carry out the preparation of a new criminal enterprise.

In this way, the efforts were focused on a Montenegrin who represented a powerful criminal organization associated or the main organizations operating from the Eastern countries, specifically the Balkan cartel. This cartel constituted a real threat to the security of Eastern European countries and was considered by the European authorities to be one of the most important criminal organizations operating in Europe, characterized by paramilitary members and engaged in a multitude of illegal activities, mainly drug trafficking, house and car theft, money laundering, extortion, and kidnapping.

From that moment on, the work of all the countries focused on trying to confirm the people involved in the operation and, at the same time, to be able to track them. The Montenegrin group established its base of operations temporarily in Malaga, although it frequently traveled to the provinces of Madrid and Barcelona, without forgetting that it also traveled to Serbia, Hungary, and Slovenia, among other countries.

Through the movements of this group, it was possible to determine how they intended to introduce a large consignment of drugs into Europe via Spain from South America. This required infrastructure and logistics only suitable for large criminal organizations with high economic power.

The leaders were not involved in compromising activities.

The top of this organization was led by criminals who only participated in the negotiations without engaging in any compromising activities, often remaining outside the police investigations. As a result of the course of the investigation and the contacts and movements of the organization, it was deduced that they were preparing a major cocaine import.

The trips of the main targets took place in the previous months, visiting Madrid, Barcelona, and Malaga before traveling to South America in order to finalize the details of the operation.

Thus, in the middle of last year, they intended to transfer drugs from the Colombian coast to a boat, having everything ready and prepared to carry out the drug transaction. The action of the American authorities led to the seizure of 1,350 kilograms of cocaine. This police action was a serious blow to the organization, which was unaware of where the operation had gone wrong. During these months, it became known that the organization had links or connections in Italy, one of the countries where part of the drugs were presumably destined for.

After some time analyzing where they had failed, the organization decided at the end of 2020 to undertake a new maritime operation. This time they would transport an approximate quantity of 1,250 kilograms of cocaine, which would travel from the coasts of Brazil to Spain, specifically Catalonia, where they intended to introduce this significant quantity of drugs.

This is the reason why the organized group was once again reactivated and held new meetings in Europe – in Madrid in the case of Spain – all with the aim of being able to finalize the details of the operation. Following these meetings, in January of this year, the two main suspects traveled to the Dominican Republic.

The agents’ attention was drawn to the fact that, after this meeting in the Dominican Republic, the two people in charge of the operation began their tour around Europe again, once they had reached an agreement on the percentages and commissions. At that time, it was confirmed that one of them would travel to Dubai, where he met with the maximum investor and head of the organization.

After the worst of the pandemic, the organization takes up the operation again
As the months progressed, the pandemic temporarily delayed the organization’s plans, to the point that it was not until the end of December that the operation was established. At that point, they decided to try the maritime operation again, but this time the drugs would be taken to the Brazilian coast, from where they intended to travel to the rendezvous point and transfer the drugs. This meeting at sea took place at the end of January 2021, and the 1,250 kilograms that the group had ready and prepared were delivered.

Once the drugs were received in international waters, they were transported by sea to Europe, where the criminal group had all the necessary means to receive and, if necessary, distribute them. It was also detected how one of the main responsible parties traveled to Tarragona accompanied by third members of the organization to await the arrival of the shipment.

There, he met with an investor, who not only provided him with his local contacts to be able to provide the financing for the operation but also helped him to obtain the documentation to appear as a resident in Spain and make it easier for him to move around the interior of the peninsula.

In Spain, he began to sell the drugs on the European market even before he had access to them. It was for this reason that he contacted an organization that wanted to collect part of the drugs, at which point the members of the organization were arrested.

The ramifications of the organization not only extended to Catalonia, Malaga and Madrid, but they also had several organizations with which they collaborated on a regular basis. To do so, they made use of one of the members of this group, located in Valencia and mainly in charge of providing secure communications.

At the time of his arrest, and following a search of his home, more than 20 telephone terminals were seized with the aim of guaranteeing secure communications. This person had a second function within the dismantled group, as he was dedicated to receiving and sending money, and probably acted as treasurer. This was accredited by the surveillance and by what was found in the search of his home, where up to 15 banknotes of around five euros were found with annotations of dates associated with certain amounts, and whose function was to accredit that the holder had delivered or received the fixed or agreed amount.

Caught when the drugs were being delivered and received

When the group was caught, they were found to be in possession of various firearms and even a badge emblematic of a Montenegrin police force. The investigation was carried out when the heads of the organization were in Spain to manage the preparations for the final reception of the narcotic substance. By taking extreme security measures and avoiding attending meetings in person, the main organizers supervised all operations. However, they used other members of the organization to carry out the most compromising activities.

In this way, they were caught when the 1,250 kilograms of cocaine were being delivered and received on the outskirts of Tarragona, and several house searches were successively carried out in Tarragona, Barcelona, Girona, and Valencia, and all those involved and investigated were arrested. Likewise, the organization’s financing system was dismantled, which was the cultivation and international distribution of marijuana and the purchase and sale of high-end vehicles.

Through them, 12 members were arrested. Two of those arrested were considered priority targets by EUROPOL due to their criminal record, being investigated by many countries.

Connections with other criminal organisations active in Europe

The organization under investigation had strong connections with other criminal groups in Europe, among them the KAVAC Clan, which, among other tasks, was mainly responsible for financing the operations of this group through marijuana trafficking.

The Slovenian authorities (OPERATION CUBE) and in cooperation with Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Croatia, and Serbia have simultaneously attacked this clan that operated in Eastern Europe and that was dedicated to any criminal act considered serious (drug trafficking of any kind, money laundering, arms trafficking, murders, etc…).

As a result of this close collaboration, 836 kilos of cocaine, 2,503 kilos of hashish, 12.5 kilos of heroin and 30 liters of amphetamine have also been seized in recent months, not to mention the arrest of 46 people as part of this organization.

The operation has culminated in the dismantling of one of the most active branches of the Balkan Cartel, attacking its logistical and financial apparatus, dismantling its leaders, and undermining its future operational capabilities.

Seized assets

In addition to the 61 arrests and the 4,010 kilograms of cocaine seized, the police operation has resulted in the seizure of 2,569 kilograms of marijuana, 173 kilograms of hashish, 12. 5 kilograms of heroin, 30 liters of amphetamine, and more than 6 million euros in cash, nine high-end vehicles, five motorbikes, a firearm, and 300 cartridges, a simulated weapon, a Montenegro police service identification badge, various bladed weapons, computer, and telecommunications equipment, camera detectors, frequency inhibitors and a multitude of documentation related to the organization’s companies.

Learn more from these e-courses for drug prevention. Let’s stop the demand.

Original article in Spanish HERE

Trials and Escape of Princes Lobanov-Rostovsky (2)

There were people who helped the disguised princes get on the train

Roundup. Stop of the train. Many have been arrested. Heirlooms were found in the family. Shooting, how did it happen in those years? No! We managed to escape again.

But the terrible is just ahead.

“At that time, families did not let men go anywhere, fearing for them, and only women acted …”

Prince Ivan will be arrested three times. Later, Prince Ivan recalled:

“… at night a Chekist will suddenly come in, light up the electricity, rudely wake up his victim, hit him with a rifle butt and ask:“ How do you feel, Your Excellency? ” The gray head will go low and low; the victim is silent and only a tear will quietly roll down his cheek … During the night from 15 to 25 people were shot …

Yes, I am glad, of course, that I escaped from this hell, but I must say that I saw the edge of the sky there: so wonderful and sublime was the mood of many; among them I sometimes felt like a really Christian … “

And the following was told about the prince in prison. At night, seven hostages were “dressed up” to dig a hole.

“Should I dig a hole for our execution? ” – they asked … Only the prince did not ask anything, but he also stopped and persuaded others: “Do not be faint-hearted, gentlemen, let’s go to work as soon as possible; The Lord will not leave us – whether we go to death or not – He is always with us! ””.

The princess was far from prejudice of opinions: the red ones sometimes showed a “human face”, while the whites showed obvious envy.

“The memory of many terrible, unfair and terrible things left an irresistible feeling of revenge in the soul of the people. The best of them always unconsciously move in their souls: “If only the gentlemen lived in our skin for a little bit” …

How many victims this massacre of whites and reds gave! Some died soon … others languished longer, and many languish to this day, exhausted by tuberculosis, neurasthenia, complete disability and other ailments. We cannot count the number of these martyrs … ”, Vera Dmitrievna said.

The “new” life, as if appreciating the powerful nature of the Russian woman, the wife-mother-mistress, tested the princess Vera with all kinds of trials: both large and small (but therefore no less terrible), all kinds of human malice.

“Life began both ridiculous, and strange, and inconvenient – it was impossible to get used to it,” writes Vera Dmitrievna.

A kitten clumsily drowned in front of her eyes, whom she rescued, cured, and the neighbors later threw him out of the window; the wickedly plucked flowers that the youngest son planted, deprived of all the joys necessary in childhood, it hurts forever. But this is not the horror that she experienced during the Red Terror during 1919-1920. and which can make a person mad. The family ended up in Odessa. Vera Dmitrievna lived with her children and her old mother in the mansion of her relative, a former member of the State Council, Alexei Nikolaevich Lobanov-Rostovsky. By a fatal coincidence, it was in this mansion that the Chekists daily shot their victims:

“I walked on human blood for two weeks, my soles and heels were stained red.”

I walked on human blood for two weeks, my soles were stained red

Miraculously, the Lobanovs again remained unrecognized.

The nightmare of the Red Terror, which only miraculously bypassed the princely family for the time being, forced them to come to the only solution that would allow the family to survive – to a new escape from Odessa along the Dniester waters across the border with Romania. During the long journey to a foreign land, the family again faced danger, prison and hardship. In the figurative expression of the princess – “Fire to the right, water to the left, a wall in front, and an abyss behind.”

At the end of the journey, members of the Lobanov-Rostovsky family ended up in Bulgaria. For some time, under the Bulgarian Tsar Boris, the family lived happily. But not everyone managed to escape. The Lobanovs’ daughter, Anna Ivanovna, has disappeared forever in Sovdepia. In 1932, trying to return home, their son Ivan Ivanovich was shot. And in 1921 another son died – a white officer Nikita, who, thanks to courage, miracle and the prayers of his relatives, repeatedly escaped where it seemed impossible to survive. But salvation turned out to be only a “delay”. The aftermath of the Civil War caught up with him three years later, ending his young life. The princess recalled:

“He spent three years in a bloody bath, was wounded many times, was held captive by the Bolsheviks several times, stood at the“ wall ”the same number of times, and although every time he was miraculously rescued, he still did not avoid shocks. He also suffered from typhus; not yet cured, he went into battle, suffered from the consequence of frostbitten feet after the Reds drove him without boots to be shot in the snow, when, already falling from exhaustion, he was repulsed by a detachment of whites that arrived in time. And again: blood, blood and blood! This is what kind of continuous torment my son’s life was from the age of nineteen to twenty-two. The result was the death of Nikita in August 1921 … “[4]

Vera Dmitrievna left this world in 1943, not learning about the arrest of the family of another son – Dmitry Ivanovich, godson of the Grand Duchess, who, together with his daughter-in-law Irina Vasilievna (nee Vyrubova) and 11-year-old grandson Nikita, ended up in prison and passed their own, prepared for him the way of ordeals. I did not find out about their failed escape, the execution of Dmitry Ivanovich, about the terrible fate in the camp of the eldest son of Nikolai Ivanovich. Her grandson told about this in his memoirs [5].

These are the thoughts and aspirations about Russia expressed by Princess Vera, expressing the essence of Bolshevism in a chased style. Maybe her words will soon become a “quote from the classics”:

“Bolshevism is often identified with communism. But the latter represents only an abstract, albeit harmful, delusional ideal, rented by the Bolsheviks, working on the basis of evil and deceit. Soviet power (or Bolshevism) has no moral foundations. And it serves, consciously or unconsciously, secret dark forces. Decorated with what is currently beneficial to her for the destruction of the Christian world. Communism was a props for her. It turned out to be extremely inconvenient on a national scale. Therefore, he was shamelessly discarded. I believe that Bolshevism is living out its last period. “

Vera Dmitrievna addresses the entire Russian diaspora scattered around the world:

“I ask my readers, who are still young, to visit my homeland, when, having thrown off the shackles of slavery, it will rise to a new life after trials unprecedented in the world. When, realizing herself and happy, she will again be covered with the crosses of temples and monasteries. Then the wisdom of old shines in her again, to admonish and comfort her neighbor. Then it will be called again, as before, “Holy Russia”. ”

Everyone is chasing happiness. And it is in our hands – only no one sees it and does not want to see it

Despite the great misfortunes that befell Princess Vera and her family, she managed to keep the light in her soul.

“Years passed, the youth of the soul was gone forever. I not only turned over the pages of the book about life and death, but also read its impressive lines. And I realized by experience that death on earth, this tragic end of our earthly life, could only occur from disobedience to the Creator, disobedience leading to the loss of our peace and joy. I also learned from experience that everyone is chasing happiness. And it is in our hands – only no one sees it and does not want to see it, but, on the contrary, every day they move further and further away from it. “

Photo: Prince Nikita Dmitrievich Lobanov-Rostovsky, grandson of Prince Ivan and Princess Vera. St. Petersburg. “House with Lions”, owned by the Lobanov-Rostovsky.

With a ceremony, the United States will return to Iraq a 3500-year-old cuneiform from Gilgamesh

The clay tablet contains fragments of the Epic of Gilgamesh, considered one of the oldest literary works of mankind and tells of the adventures of a powerful king of Mesopotamia in search of immortality. It is believed to have been stolen from a museum in Iraq in 1991 during the Gulf War.

An American art dealer bought the cuneiform in 2003 from a family in Jordan who settled in London, although it was “illegible because of elements inlaid on the surface,” according to court documents.

The trader then sent the packaged shipment to the United States without specifying its nature to customs and sold it to antique dealers in 2007 for $ 50,000 with a fake certificate of origin.

The clay tile was eventually sold in 2014 for $ 1.67 million to the owners of the Hobby Lobby chain, the Green family, known for their Christian activity, who want to exhibit it at their Bible Museum in Washington.

In 2017, a curator at the museum expressed concern about the origin of the cuneiform, considering the documents provided at the time of purchase to be incomplete. Police seized him in September 2019.

The return of the precious cuneiform is “a great victory over those who are crippling the legacy” and allows “the Iraqi people to renew a page in their history,” according to a press release issued by Audrey Azoule, UNESCO‘s director-general, who will attend the ceremony. Washington on his surrender to Iraqi authorities.

In July, 17,000 archeological finds, most of them about 4,000 years old, were returned to Iraq from the United States. Most of them date from the Sumerian period – one of the oldest civilizations in Mesopotamia.

Iraqi antiquities have been looted for decades.

“Theft and illicit trafficking of ancient artifacts continues to be a major source of funding for terrorist groups and other organized crime organizations,” said a statement from the Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Meanwhile, they unraveled the secret of an ancient Babylonian clay tablet

Plimpton 322 is an amazing mathematical work, a testament to undeniable genius, “said researcher Daniel Mansfield.

Australian scientists claim to have solved the mystery of a 3,700-year-old Babylonian clay tablet, defining it as the world’s oldest and most accurate trigonometric table, DPA reported.

Specialists from the University of New South Wales have deciphered the signs on the plaque, which puzzled experts since its discovery in the early 20th century in southern Iraq.

Scientists have concluded that the tile was used by ancient copyists of mathematical manuscripts to calculate how to construct palaces, temples and canals, according to a statement from the university team.

Known as Plimpton 322, the four-column, 15-row cuneiform tablet was discovered by archaeologist, scientist, diplomat and antiques dealer Edgar Banks, who inspired the Indiana Jones character.

“Plimpton 322 has puzzled mathematicians for more than 70 years after it became clear that the tile contained a special model of numbers known as the Pythagorean triplets. the numbers on the tile.

The present study shows that Plimpton 322 describes the shapes of right triangles based on innovative trigonometry.

The tile is an amazing mathematical work, testifying to an undeniable genius, “said Daniel Mansfield of the research team.

Illustration: The clay tablet contains fragments from the Epic of Gilgamesh, considered one of the oldest literary works of mankind (Photo: United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York)

The Unburied King: Ferdinand of Bulgaria between the laurels of independence and national catastrophes

On September 22, 1908, Ferdinand Saxe-Coburg-Gotha accepted the title of king, and our country embarked on an independent path of development, rejecting the vassal status of the Ottoman Empire. Today in Bulgaria it is celebrated as the Independence Day of the country.

This independent path was not smooth and only within a decade led to a national catastrophe, and the main blame was borne by the king, who abdicated in 1918. The disappointment was great and the ousted monarch was not allowed to return to Bulgaria.

To this day, the prevailing assessments of him inevitably contain the definition of a “controversial person.” But from a distance, historians offer a new perspective on the events of a century ago and on the personality of Ferdinand himself.

Ferdinand, the first king of the Third Bulgarian Kingdom and the longest reigning, was born into a family with deep dynastic traditions. Fate takes him east, in the middle of the rebellious Balkan Peninsula.

Prince Ferdinand is a throne descendant in three lines of the most famous monarch, the most flourishing expression of absolutism – the French monarch in the person of Louis XIV.

“Bulgaria has never had such a brilliant and 100 percent representative of its European identity.”

“In a very special way, he is French in spirit. He was conceived differently. From an early age he was somehow the pearl in the non-existent, rather unrealized crown of his mother Clementine of Orleans, the king’s daughter. Hence the huge and unbreakable bond between this mother and this son, not with the other children, but with the youngest. That child, which in the Bulgarian Revival families is called a jerk and is a favorite of the whole family. “

What do we not know about Ferdinand? Do we know enough about his personality? For example, what kind of parent he was:

“From the point of view of the more liberal idea of ​​the Balkans, in our case, knowing how we look after our children and grandchildren, the last thing we can say is that he was severely, affectionately emotionally connected to them. This does not diminish the extent to which he has prepared these people for their future public activities. Until the end, what the children felt for him was respect, admiration and horror.

The ruler’s relationship with his two wives was also complicated.

But all this was preceded by the great rivalry – between the expectations of the Bulgarians after the Liberation, the diplomatic skills of the native rulers, the geostrategic interests of Russia and the terror of the candidates to lead a country in an undeclared civil war.

Prince Ferdinand was greeted with enthusiasm. Suddenly, against the background of this true oriental pastoral, a man appears who shines in a different way and is demonstratively different from this environment.

“And even his later political opponents exclaim – Ashkolsun, this is a king! These are the words of Dragan Tsankov. “

Life in Sofia is extremely simple, boring, without any opportunities for social events and entertainment, continues Petar Stojanovic. He describes the new monarch as an egocentric, selfish man, filled with great self-confidence, to a large extent justified.

Still, this “marriage at the expense” proved successful, at least until the first of the Balkan wars, because “it became an incarnation, a transformation of Bulgaria from an Ottoman province into a European state.”

“I would not like to say that Tsar Ferdinand built the European houses of Sofia with two hands, brick by brick, or built the railways, but Bulgaria has had the locomotive in his face for these 25 years.”

According to the data at the time, Bulgaria was far ahead of its Balkan neighbors and competed with established European countries.

Ferdinand also has a scientific contribution to our history. His interest in botany and ornithology began in childhood. “As a Bulgarian ruler, he turned both Bulgaria and Sofia into one of the European centers of science and practice – both in his palaces, primarily Vrana and Euxinograd, but also for the general public, turning, say, the Sofia zoological park in one of the most attractive places in Europe. In his person, Bulgaria gives the world its most famous scientist, a naturalist who has ever existed. “

Ferdinand’s most indisputable merit is the country’s declared independence. his personal ambition to be equal among European and world rulers and to cease to be a vassal of the Turkish sultan should not be underestimated.

The fact is the two great national defeats after 1913 and 1918, for which he took the blame and abdicated.

“It is not possible to blame for the participation in a world conflict, in a financial affair, etc. to be loaded only on one person. This is absurd. There must come a time when we, the historians, will calmly and objectively sift the grain from the chaff and reward the Caesar and the God of God according to the biblical Caesar”, tells the doctor of historical sciences, professor at the University of Shumen “Konstantin Preslavski”, journalist and former Bulgarian Minister of Culture Petar Stojanovic.

Ferdinand’s fate is severe, in no small part and tragic, he admits.

“Imagine surviving the murder of your two sons, surviving the occupation and erasure of your second homeland, and dying in poverty far from it, unburied yet. This, even as people, leave as historians and politicians, should excite us.

Ferdinand’s last will was to be buried in Bulgaria. Therefore, his coffin was temporarily – from 1948 until today, placed in the crypt of the Catholic Church of St. Augustine in Coburg – the German city that sheltered him, after his cousin – the Austrian Emperor Charles I, did not allow him to his estates in Today’s last attempt to return King Ferdinand’s remains was made 10 years ago.

Former NMSS MP Mincho Spasov is one of the members of the Initiative Committee dedicated to this cause. According to him, the royal family has set conditions that have not yet been met. “The condition to transfer the remains is to reach a consensus in Bulgarian society. A formal expression of such consent would be, for example, the signing of a memorandum between the President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the National Assembly, the three greats in the country. “

Illustration: Portrait of Tsar Ferdinand, 1914 and his children Boris, Kiril, Evdokia and Nadezhda (artist Nikola Mihailov, 1878–1960).

Artificial intelligence risks to privacy demand urgent action – Bachelet

GENEVA (15 September 2021) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Wednesday stressed the urgent need  for a moratorium on the sale and use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems that pose a serious risk to human rights until adequate safeguards are put in place. She also called for AI applications that cannot be used in compliance with international human rights law to be banned.

“Artificial intelligence can be a force for good, helping societies overcome some of the great challenges of our times. But AI technologies can have negative, even catastrophic, effects if they are used without sufficient regard to how they affect people’s human rights,” Bachelet said.

As part of its work* on technology and human rights, the UN Human Rights Office has today published a report that analyses how AI – including profiling, automated decision-making and other machine-learning technologies – affects people’s right to privacy and other rights, including the rights to health, education, freedom of movement, freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and freedom of expression.

“Artificial intelligence now reaches into almost every corner of our physical and mental lives and even emotional states. AI systems are used to determine who gets public services, decide who has a chance to be recruited for a job, and of course they affect what information people see and can share online,” the High Commissioner said.

The report looks at how States and businesses alike have often rushed to incorporate AI applications, failing to carry out due diligence. There have already been numerous cases of people being treated unjustly because of AI, such as being denied social security benefits because of faulty AI tools or arrested because of flawed facial recognition.

The report details how AI systems rely on large data sets, with information about individuals collected, shared, merged and analysed in multiple and often opaque ways. The data used to inform and guide AI systems can be faulty, discriminatory, out of date or irrelevant. Long-term storage of data also poses particular risks, as data could in the future be exploited in as yet unknown ways. 

“Given the rapid and continuous growth of AI, filling the immense accountability gap in how data is collected, stored, shared and used is one of the most urgent human rights questions we face” .

Michelle Bachelet, un high commissioner on human rights

The inferences, predictions and monitoring performed by AI tools, including seeking insights into patterns of human behaviour, also raise serious questions. The biased datasets relied on by AI systems can lead to discriminatory decisions, and these risks are most acute for already marginalized groups. 

“The risk of discrimination linked to AI-driven decisions – decisions that can change, define or damage human lives – is all too real. This is why there needs to be systematic assessment and monitoring of the effects of AI systems to identify and mitigate human rights risks,” Bachelet said.

There also needs to be much greater transparency by companies and States in how they are developing and using AI.

“The complexity of the data environment, algorithms and models underlying the development and operation of AI systems, as well as intentional secrecy of government and private actors are factors undermining meaningful ways for the public to understand the effects of AI systems on human rights and society,” the report says.

“We cannot afford to continue playing catch-up regarding AI – allowing its use with limited or no boundaries or oversight, and dealing with the almost inevitable human rights consequences after the fact. The power of AI to serve people is undeniable, but so is AI’s ability to feed human rights violations at an enormous scale with virtually no visibility. Action is needed now to put human rights guardrails on the use of AI, for the good of all of us,” Bachelet stressed.

Source: UN

Photo credit: UN News/Daniel JohnsonUN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet. (file)

What Cossacks wrote to the Turkish Sultan

The admirers of Russian culture remember this painting by Ilya Repin “The Cossacks”. Or, as it is popularly called, “Cossacks are writing a letter to the Turkish Sultan”.

But what did they really write? Judging by the expressions on their faces, they are clearly not writing an analytical and economic treatise. It became interesting to me and I decided to understand this story. To begin with, I will clarify that the letter itself has not been found – there are only copies of it. Therefore, whether the reply letter was itself or not is not conclusively proven. But that doesn’t matter. Even as a legend, this story conveys the atmosphere of those times and the spirit of the free Zaporozhye Cossacks.

So, history itself took place in the 17th century. Turkish Sultan Mehmed IV subdued the right-bank Ukraine and sent a letter to the Zaporozhye Sich. The requirement was simple – to obey the Sultan and become his vassals. Half of the Sultan’s letter was dedicated to his great statuses – the ruler of the world, the invincible warrior, the viceroy of God on Earth, etc.

Interestingly, the writing style hints at the fact that Mehmed wanted to have the Cossacks as his kind vassals. Usually he promised terrible punishment in case of insubordination. He tried not to provoke the Cossacks into aggression. But he provoked them into humor with his boasting.

Perhaps, if the Sultan wrote in a practical language, the Cossacks would have agreed with his demands. There was nothing wrong with becoming a vassal in the feudal era. You received patronage and military assistance from the most powerful empire at that time. Earlier, the hetman of right-bank Ukraine Petro Doroshenko took over the power of the Sultan.

But the Cossacks are freedom-loving by nature, and the excessive pathos of the Sultan simply made them laugh. And they wrote a response letter. This moment is captured in the famous picture.

What did the Cossacks write to the Turkish Sultan? Unfortunately, the original letter has not survived, there are only later versions of the letter text. There are several of them, but they are all written quite in the spirit of the Zaporozhye Cossacks.

Let us be guided by the text from the magazine “Russian Starina” for 1872, which is based on the documents of the historian Nikolai Kostomarov.

In a response letter, the Cossacks addressed the Sultan as “the Turkish Shaitan and the secretary of Lucifer himself.”

The Cossacks expressed doubt that the Sultan was an invincible knight. For, according to the Cossacks, the sultan could not have resisted an ordinary hedgehog with a naked sirloin.

Further, the Cossacks changed all the royal titles in their own way.

“You are a Babylonian cook, a Macedonian charioteer, a Jerusalem brewer, a swineherd of Great and Lesser Egypt, an Armenian thief.” Well, you get the structure. The authors simply took each region where the sultan ruled, and instead of the word “lord” they added one of the curses. “You are not fit to feed Christian pigs,” summarize the Zaporozhian people.

The letter was signed by Ataman Ivan Sirko. By the way, this is the legendary chieftain – he participated in the uprising of Bohdan Khmelnitsky, was an ardent defender of Orthodoxy. The Turks were very afraid of him and called him “Russian shaitan”.

What happened next? In 1672-1681 there was a Russian-Turkish war. On the side of the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean Khanate, vassal to him, also came out. Russia lost the war, but did not suffer a crushing defeat and managed to save the left-bank Ukraine.

Well, Ilya Repin approached the question like a real professional. He painted the picture for 10 years. For this he went to Zaporozhye, talked with people. Studied in detail the history and costumes of that era and found several typical types, which he wrote from nature.

How Stalin’s USSR conquered Afghanistan three times (1)

Twenty years ago, on September 11, 2001, there was a terrorist attack on the United States, which in response declared war on al-Qaeda

“and the Taliban and began an invasion of Afghanistan. 20 years later, this story ended with the withdrawal of the Western coalition and the actual victory of the Islamists. The fact that Afghanistan, despite poverty, is a tough nut to crack, including because it lies in the sphere of interests of different powers and regimes, the experience of Stalin shows. He prepared three times to conquer this country, but he could not carry out his plans.

In Soviet schools, students were told that agrarian and pastoralist Afghanistan was the first country in the world to recognize Soviet Russia, but they preferred not to go into the details of this story. The fact is that diplomatic relations with the Lenin government on March 27, 1919 were established by Amanullah Khan because the Bolsheviks themselves became the first to recognize him as the master of Kabul – a month earlier, at the end of February. The previous emir, Habibullah Khan, ruled the country for 18 years, but was killed on February 20, 1919, then his brother Nasrullah ascended the throne for only one week and was sent to prison on charges of fratricide by his nephew, Amanullah Khan, the third son of Habibullah. … A year later, Nasrullah was killed in custody.

The Bolsheviks saw Afghanistan as a possible road along which the world revolution would go to India.

The Bolsheviks supported the new emir, Amanullah, not so much for the sake of getting out of international isolation as against the British Empire. Until 1919, Afghanistan was actually a protectorate of Britain, which, under the treaty, paid a kind of subsidies to the Afghan budget for Kabul’s abandonment of its own foreign policy. But Amanullah declared the complete independence of his country and even started a symbolic war with yesterday’s patrons, having achieved de facto recognition from the British in August 1919. On February 21, 1921, a friendship treaty was concluded between the RSFSR and Afghanistan, under which Moscow paid Kabul a millionth subsidy annually.

The Bolsheviks viewed the distant mountainous country as a possible road along which the world revolution would go to India, and immediately after the diplomats shook hands, the special services began work. One of the Soviet agents was the Turk Dzhemal Pasha – an accomplice in the extermination of Armenians and atrocities against the Arabs during the First World War. On November 1, 1921, he met with Stalin, then the head of the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities, and said that he was ready to organize financing and supply of weapons to potential rebels in the northwest of then British India. Dzhugashvili approved the initiative, about which he wrote to Trotsky: “… In the face of the Muslim tribes, which constitute the majority in the Indus Valley and in the Punjab region, among which Dzhemal enjoys great influence, we have a certain base from which to seriously damage England if the latter strikes in the spring or in the summer of 1922. In addition, if we give Jemal the opportunity to have in Afghanistan at least a brigade (well-cobbled together) with our and Turkish instructors (formally subordinate to Amanullah Khan), thus, we will create a real base for anti-British influence in Afghanistan, which is also very important for us and without which the second task (direct impact on the insurgency in India) is impossible. ” instructors, and soon Dzhemal Pasha in Tbilisi was killed by an Armenian avenger.

In 1923, Amunullah Khan granted his subjects a constitution. Those, however, did not appreciate this step. The introduction of duties on imported goods from British India hit the pockets of the peasants, especially in the border zone – consumer prices rose. In addition, Amanullah raised taxes and began to centralize their collection, which displeased the local nobility. Farmers were also irritated by the introduction of military service.

In the early spring of 1924, an uprising began in southern Afghanistan. For help in the fight against his own people, the constitutional monarch turned to a large northern neighbor, and in the fall, planes and 11 red aviators arrived in Kabul, and then began not only aerial reconnaissance, but also bombing the positions of the Pashtun rebels. Soviet specialists also began to create their own Afghan Air Force. In addition, the USSR generously supplied small arms at a lower cost, ammunition and radio stations.

The chief of the Kabul police, for a monthly fee of 600 rupees, pledged to arrest all British secret agents

The military intelligence and the Comintern sharply stepped up their activities. According to the testimony of Georgy Agabekov, who since April 1924 served in Kabul in the USSR plenipotentiary mission, the conditions for the operations of the special services have become hothouse: “I worked hard on my own recruiting people to work under the GPU. After the arrest of Abdul-Majid Khan (a gendarme colonel who was sent to jail for not wanting to fight the rebels. – A. G.) I contacted his cousin, who served in the Kabul police , and received through him all the information obtained by the Afghan police agents.Raja Protap (an Indian emigrant close to the emir. – AG) introduced me to Mustofi (head of the tax department) of the Kabul province, through whom I received government information. From him, I received information about Muslim India, with whose leaders he, on behalf of Amanullah Khan, maintained close contact.

… I got to know the chief of the Kabul police … For a monthly fee of 600 rupees, he pledged, according to my instructions, to arrest all British secret agents. Naturally, I used this condition in full. Anyone we suspected of British espionage was arrested by us through this chief of police. “

In 1925, the USSR increased the supply of weapons and ammunition. On top of the contracts, 4.5 thousand rifles, 50 machine guns, cartridges for them, as well as a radio station were transferred free of charge. The uprising was defeated. Then twenty Afghans were sent to study in Soviet flight schools, and Soviet specialists – 36 people – became the backbone of the Afghan Air Force.

After the suppression of the rebellion, Amanullah Khan changed the title of emir to a more majestic one – padish (in the West, and in Russia, they began to call him more simply – the king of Afghanistan). The fighters for the happiness of workers and peasants were little embarrassed by this, and, supplying the monarch with weapons and ammunition, they received him with pomp in May 1928 in Moscow, Leningrad and Minsk.

Fifty fighters and two hundred camels scattered to the sides of the fetid cloud

The Soviet side was accumulating experience in the fight against Muslim resistance, because in the territory of Central Asia all the 1920s there was a struggle against the Mujahideen, whom the Bolsheviks called Basmachi (raiders). Irkutsk researcher Sergei Panin revealed a document of the OGPU, which says that in the operation against the detachment of the field commander Dzhunaid on the night of June 1, 1928, the red aviation struck mustard bombs (RGASPI. F. 62. Op. 2. D. 1367. L. 104 ).

Fifty fighters and two hundred camels scattered away from the fetid cloud, and then gathered again and left for Persia. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, as noted by researcher Yuri Tikhonov, the embezzlement of courtiers, officers and officials reached unprecedented proportions even by local standards, and in the fall of 1928, desperate subjects took up arms again. It erupted simultaneously both in the east, among the Pashtuns, and in the north, in the places of residence of the Tajiks. At the borders of the USSR, the uprising against Amanullah was led by a non-commissioned officer, a commoner Khabibulla Kalakani (aka Khabibulla Bachai-i Sakao – “Khabibullah Son of Vodonos”), a supporter of conservative Islam.

Soviet aviators in the Afghan service in November again dropped bombs on the villages of the Pashtun partisans, but this time it backfired, and the uprising grew, although at the request of Padishah Amanullah, the Soviet side in December increased the supply of high-explosive and fragmentation bombs. Through the buildup of military aid, things went towards the establishment of a Soviet protectorate in Afghanistan. On November 27, Amanullah asked the Soviet representative to urgently deliver chemical bombs …

Sell ​​1,000 rifles, 20 machine guns, 1,000 chemical artillery shells to the Afghan government

The minutes of the Politburo meeting of December 13, 1928 (Special No. 53) contains the only known decree in the history of this body on the export of weapons of mass destruction (WMD): “7. About Afghanistan (Comrade Voroshilov): Allow the People’s Commissariat for Military Affairs to sell to the Afghan government in accordance with the established procedure 1,000 rifles with an appropriate number of cartridges, 20 machine guns, 1,000 chemical artillery shells and one radio station so that, in view of the constrained position of the Afghan government, it is possible to make it easier to accept wool, cotton as payment for these weapons, karakul, etc. “.

On reflection, weapons of mass destruction were still not sent, Amanullah’s position became more and more critical, and he, soberly assessing the mood of his country, abdicated the throne in favor of his brother on the night of January 13-14, 1929 and left for Kandahar. But this did not save the throne of the royal family. A day later, Kabul was occupied by the detachments of the Tajik Bachai-i Sakao, who declared himself Emir Khabibullah, although the rebels of Pashtunistan, not recognizing him, began a fight with him, and Amanullah did not lay down his arms.

For the first time, Stalin firmly decided to conquer Afghanistan, by military force returning the padishah to the throne, because, as the Barnaul researcher Vladimir Boyko notes, in this case he had to become more than dependent on the bayonets of the Red Army soldiers and advisers from the OGPU. On March 20, the Politburo issued a decree on organizing the invasion. The general management of the operation was carried out by Stalin’s friend, Klim Voroshilov, and on the spot the command was entrusted to the former military attaché in Kabul Vitaly Primakov, who received the pseudonym Ragib-bey and completed his training by April 14.

According to Agabekov’s recollections, the attack began in the early morning without a declaration of war: “As eyewitnesses reported, Soviet airplanes rose from the border town of Termez early in the morning and, having flown over Amu Darya, began circling over the Afghan border point of Patta-Gissar. to gaze at the airplanes, but machine-gun fire from airplanes all the soldiers of the post were shot. ” The bombardment turned the border checkpoint into smoking ruins and made it possible for the invaders on boats and barges to cross the Amu Darya without hindrance.

The interventionist forces consisted of a cavalry detachment – over a thousand Red Army soldiers and Afghan emigrants dressed in Afghan uniforms or local clothes. The latter were nominally headed by the Ambassador of Afghanistan, about whose activities in the border regions of the USSR one of the Soviet intelligence officers Nikolai Frigut in his report spoke unflatteringly: who did not observe any rules of conspiracy. ” The unit, equipped with radio communications, was also armed with machine guns and guns.

With skirmishes, Primakov’s detachment reached the main city of the northern part of the country – Mazar-i-Sharif in a week. Agabekov testified that at that time he was there: “It was beginning to dawn. Suddenly the silence of the night was announced by an artillery salvo and then a machine-gun rattle began … they heard a loud “hurray.” … Our guns pushed their guns point-blank to the city gates and smashed them to smithereens in one volley … The city was occupied by a detachment. “

However, as researcher Pavel Aptekar notes, success almost became a trap. Primakov reported: “The operation was conceived as the actions of a small cavalry detachment, which in the process of combat work will acquire formations, but from the first days it had to face the hostility of the population.” A day later, the city was besieged by the troops of Khabibulla, the squadron sent to help from Tajikistan with losses was driven back to the USSR, and airplanes began to transfer weapons and ammunition to Mazar-i-Sharif. The new government was strengthened by demonstrative executions: on May 1, International Workers Day, six of Amanullah’s most active opponents were publicly shot in the city. Primakov asked to send chemical weapons and – to quote his report – “a squadron of cutthroats.” Gas grenades were not sent to him, but the red aircraft began to bomb the besiegers, and another four hundred Red Army soldiers armed with guns and machine guns came out to help from the USSR. This part managed to unite with the besieged and lift the blockade. The combined detachment headed south towards the capital.

People fell as if they were mowed down. Out of 3000, no more than a thousand were saved … Nobody removed the corpses.

Agabekov recalled that a reconnaissance specialist in Mazar-i-Sharif, who appeared under the name “Matveyev,” in a conversation with him described the further advance of the red cavalry: “Especially terrible pictures were observed after the capture of Mazar-i-Sharif, when the detachment moved to Tash-Kurgan and beyond … From Mazar we set out on the morning after his capture and two days later occupied Tash-Kurgan without any fight. Thanks to this tactic, our offensive in Kabul became known only on the seventh day after the capture of Mazar-i-Sharif. From there, a 3,000 detachment headed by the Minister of War Seyid-Huseyn was urgently sent against us. We met them already behind Tash-Kurgan, not far from Geybak. Letting the Afghans go to the distance of machine-gun fire, we immediately opened a hurricane of fire … People fell as if they were mowed down. Half an hour later, the detachment of Seid-Husein rushed back and ran into a mountain gorge. Then we began to crush them with artillery fire. Out of 3000, no more than a thousand were saved … Nobody removed the corpses of those killed. When we returned by the same road ten days later, the corpses were still lying half-decayed. … Our guys know how to shoot, and we would have reached Kabul a week if Amanullah held out in Kandahar … “But the padishah, after his troops were defeated, fled abroad on May 23, so the” restorers of constitutional order “at the end May – early June returned to the USSR, where three hundred of them received the Order of the Red Banner, and the rest – valuable gifts. The losses amounted to 120 people killed and wounded, operational reports from the Soviet side report the deaths of thousands of Afghans. A year later, the Soviet cavalry brigade again invaded Afghanistan – albeit in the border area – with the aim of destroying the mujahideen emigrants who had fought in the USSR before, and refugees from collectivization. The operational report testifies to the success: “The villages of Ak-Tepe were burnt and destroyed, Ali-Abad was completely destroyed with the exception of the part of the village inhabited by Afghans, all the villages and wagons in the valley of the Kunduz-Darya river were destroyed for 35 km … Up to 17 thousand cartridges were blown up, up to 40 rifles were taken, all emigre bread was burned, cattle were partially stolen and destroyed … Our losses – one Red Army soldier drowned while crossing and one platoon commander and one Red Army soldier were wounded. ” commander of the Central Asian Military District, and in 1937 he was sent to the Gulag in the Kolyma for 15 years.

Excavations in France - archaeologists have found fragments of ancient Roman frescoes from the 1st century BC

Archaeologists have been looking for frescoes for four years in order to put them together later.

In the Provençal city of Arles, France, a team of archaeologists in one of the houses discovered historically valuable wall paintings from the 1st century BC, The Guardian reports.

Since the beginning of excavations, 800 boxes with fragments of wall paintings have been collected there.

This city has the House of the Harper, which was built between 70 and 50 BC by Italian craftsmen. It was built around a central atrium with a large pool to collect rainwater for the household. The building is considered an outstanding monument of ancient architecture and interior decoration.

There, ancient experts opened their workshop to showcase their skills and craftsmanship. They tried to piece together a huge mosaic of magnificent frescoes.

In total, since the beginning of excavations in April 2021, archaeologists have already collected 800 boxes with fragments of wall paintings, some of which were recovered from the excavated walls of the building, and the other part was found in ruins.

According to experts, to collect all the frescoes, which occupy more than 220 square meters, will have to work until at least 2023.

The most interesting thing is that fragments of a mosaic were found there, the size of which was no more than the length of the nail.

However, scientists also collected them, washed them and placed them in boxes, so that later they could see how they fit into the overall picture of the mosaic. In total, the specialists spent 1800 hours to sort out the parts, and this is not the end.

In addition, according to archaeologists, the House of Harpers was deliberately destroyed 20 years after its construction. A new building was built in its place, which has preserved a work of art. After that, three more houses were erected on the same site.

To begin excavating the site of this house, the team used a special camera to explore the basements. This is how they discovered the Harper’s House under the existing building.

The walls of one of the rooms in the villa appear to have been covered with a gallery of large figures, including a harpist and pedestals, and stood out against a bright red background.

Experts say that the decoration and large-scale depictions of figures, called intaglio, were discovered in Italy but are unknown in France.

The variety and exceptional quality of the decor give a unique insight into late Roman decorative styles, especially the wall paintings of the late Pompeii period.

In 2013, the first excavations took place, and more than a meter under the existing building, the Harper’s House was discovered.

For four years, archaeologists have been looking for frescoes and collecting fragments.

Now experts are putting the pieces together to show them in the museum.

Bidding for two bracelets of Marie Antoinette

The Christie’s auction house estimates that they could reach 3.7 million euros

A new challenge for connoisseurs of jewelry with opportunities – two diamond bracelets by Maria-Antoinette are sold at auction, organized by the auction house “Christie’s”, BTA reported.

The bidding is organized for November 9 in Geneva.

The preliminary estimate of the products is from 1.8 million to 3.7 million Euros.

“This price is determined not only by the value of the diamonds, but also by the ability to wear jewelry ordered personally by Queen Marie Antoinette,” said Marie-Cecil Sizamolo of Christie’s.

Each of the bracelets is inlaid with three rows of diamonds. The two can be combined in one necklace. The gems are between one and four carats. According to the auction house, the total diamonds of the two pieces of jewelry are between 140 and 150 carats. The bracelets will be sold in one lot. Of course, Christie’s expects the price of the jewelry to be exceeded many times over.

In 2018, a diamond pendant for a necklace by Marie Antoinette was put up for auction for 1.8 million euros, but reached 31.8 million euros.

The wife of King Louis XVI of France ordered the bracelets from the jeweler Charles Auguste Bomer in 1776 in Paris. Their price is 250 thousand pounds, which at that time was an extremely high amount.

More persons than ever locked up in psychiatry in Denmark

Locked up, why? She had been deprived of her liberty simply because she was somewhat confused and had played loud music late in the evening. A neighbour had called the police, who found her home messy and requested her to be examined. She was not psychotic, and did not believe she needed professional assistance. She knew well what could happen, she had been locked up in a psychiatric ward some years ago. She was nevertheless taken to the local psychiatric hospital where she was locked up an hour later.

She had not committed any crime, wasn’t suicidal nor dangerous to anyone. The 45-year-old woman was known to her friends as a peaceful Christian and active in her community. But sometimes her life got a little too rattled and this was the case here. She knew she needed a chill out and so was going on holiday, and was playing music while packing for her trip the following day. Her mind was a bit somewhere else when the police rang the bell for the second time that evening. She couldn’t explain it away and ended up in the closed psychiatric ward.

The above story may not be unusual in Denmark, as more and more people are being locked up in psychiatric wards. And it is not only happening to dangerous insane criminals, it happens to a wide number of persons. Despite a restrictive law, explicit safeguarding protocols, and a clear policy of reducing the use of coercive measures in psychiatry, last year saw the highest number of persons being deprived of their liberty in psychiatry. And it has been steadily increasing for years.

The Psychiatry Act

There are several ways a person can be deprived of his or her liberty in psychiatry in Denmark. The circumstances, criteria and safeguards against abuses are laid out in the special law, the Psychiatry Act. Deprivation of liberty and the use of coercion or force may be applied when it is not possible to obtain the person’s voluntary cooperation and the intervention is considered to be in accordance with the minimum means principle [less intrusive intervention].

The law require that a person can and must be detained if he or she is in need of treatment, will not voluntarily accept an offer of admission and the following conditions are met:

1. the person is insane or in a state corresponding to insanity and
2. It is unreasonable not to detain the person in order to provide treatment because: (a) The prospect of recovery or of a significant and decisive improvement in the illness would otherwise be substantially impaired; or (b) The person poses an imminent and substantial danger to himself or others.

No court hearing is to be held for the deprivation of liberty to be legal. It can be executed the moment a psychiatrist has confirmed that according to his opinion the treatment that he believes he can provide is necessary. The subjected person can complain, but this does not prevent the execution of the deprivation of liberty.

This has led to an ever-increasing use of this means effectively detaining thousands of persons every year.

3 stats on involuntary commitments

Eugenics

The possibility to target such a wide range of persons with the serious intervention – deprivation of liberty – has its roots in the 1920s and 1930s, when eugenics became a prerequisite and an integral part of the social development model in Denmark. At that time more and more authors expressed the wish that even non-dangerous “deviants” could be forcibly admitted to a mental facility.

The driving force behind this idea was not a concern for the individual, but a concern for society or the family. An idea of a society where the “deviant” and “troublesome” elements had no place.

According to then renown Danish Public Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Otto Schlegel, in an article of the Danish Weekly Journal of the Judiciary, all the authors, except one, thought that “the possibility of compulsory hospitalisation should also be open to some extent to persons who are probably not dangerous but who cannot act in the outside world, the troublesome insane whose behaviour threatens to destroy or scandalize their relatives. Curative considerations have also been thought to justify compulsory hospitalisation in certain cases.”

Thus, the Danish Insanity Act of 1938 introduced the possibility of detaining non-dangerous insane persons. The driving idea behind the idea of depriving the concerned of his or her liberty, and thereby removing those who could not function adequately in society – the so-called troublesome and deviant insane who was not dangerous – was not a concern for the individual, but a concern for society. It was not a compassionate concern or an idea of helping people in need that led to the introduction of this possibility in the legislation, but an idea of a society in which the deviant and “troublesome” elements had no place. After all, their behaviour could threaten to destroy or scandalize their relatives.

The deprivation of liberty of the insane was historically based on a principle of emergency law. Up to 1938, the legal basis for depriving the insane of their liberty was still to be found in Danish Law 1-19-7 of 1683 and in later legislation. The rules on the deprivation of liberty of the insane covered only insane persons who might be considered dangerous to the general safety or to themselves or their surroundings.

With the eugenics influenced Insanity Act of 1938 this changed, and the possibility to detain non-dangerous persons who are being pointed out as a societal trouble case has been maintained since in the newer Psychiatry Act.

Retainments

Deprivations of liberty in to psychiatry in addition to picking people up in their homes or from the street can also be done to persons who voluntarily hospitalize themselves.

If a person who admitted himself to a psychiatric hospital request to be discharged, the senior physician must decide whether the patient can be discharged or must be forcibly retained. The person’s wish to be discharged may be explicit (he or she demands to be discharged), but it may also be a behaviour of the person which must be equated with a wish to be discharged.

According to the law a voluntarily admitted patient can and must be detained if the person requests discharge at a time when the he or she meets the conditions for compulsory admission under the Psychiatric Act.

Prior to this, the patient’s consent to continued voluntary admission shall be sought in accordance with the principle of minimum means.

For more than 25 years there has been a very pronounced political and governmental will to decrease the use of coercion in psychiatry in Denmark. Yet, this intention is not reflected in the daily life and practice in the psychiatric wards. Thus, one also notes a significant increase of involuntary retainments.

In addition to the regular involuntary commitments and retainments, there is yet another less obvious procedure that is used to enforce commitments in to psychiatric wards without it appearing as an involuntary commitment, despite it is against the consent of the person concerned. This is court ordered convictions to psychiatric treatment according to the Criminal law. Thousands of persons today thus live in society but can be picked up at any time they would not follow treatment instructions and locked up in a psychiatric ward. When this is done, it is not considered an involuntary commitment.

Law causing coercion

The deprivation of liberty in to psychiatry is increasing year by year over the last decades and is far in excess of the psychiatric inpatient increase or population growth.

With the efforts of shifting Danish governments and the unanimous political intention to decrease the use of coercive measures in psychiatry, the allocation of resources and central administrative efforts to effectuate this one can only see the mere fact of the existence of the legal possibility to use or require the use of coercion as the reason for the sliding practice, with increasing deprivations of liberty in psychiatry.