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In-Depth Information
their martyrdom was that younger princes
needed to subordinate themselves to older ones
in the name of national unity. Other accounts
focus on the pagan roots of the cult of Boris and
Gleb and the legends that grew around them in
an agrarian nation that had only recently been
officially converted to Christianity under the
reign of Vladimir. In this version, Saint Boris was
a smith who forged the first plow with the help
of Saint Gleb, using 12 golden hammers and
tongs that weighed over 400 pounds.
out Moscow, and the prospect of a long winter
deep in Russian territory. On October 19,
Napoleon began the long, painful retreat from
Russia, which, by the time his armies crossed the
border at the Berezina River, had decimated his
army.
Borovik, Genrikh
(1929-
)
and
Artyom
(1960-2000)
journalists
Two well-connected journalists, father and son,
from the postwar Soviet era, the Boroviks gave
an international polish to Soviet journalism.
Genrikh Aviezerovich Borovik was born in
1929. He first made his reputation in the late
1950s with his reports about the Cuban revolu-
tion for the weekly
Ogonek,
featuring interviews
with Fidel Castro and Ernest Hemingway. From
1966 to 1972, he worked in New York City for
the Soviet news agency, Novosti Press. At his
luxurious apartment in Moscow, he hosted
Arthur Miller, Norman Mailer, John Updike, and
Hemingway's widow, Mary. His government
connections, his ability to interview reclusive
personalities like the Soviet spy Kim Philby and
the CIA defector Edward Lee Howard, and his
chairmanship of the Soviet Peace Committee, a
KGB-controlled organization, led many to
assume he also had intelligence connections. In
addition to his foreign correspondence, he wrote
several books of journalistic value about his trav-
els in Cuba, Argentina, and the United States.
An English-language version of the topic,
The
Philby Files: The Secret Life of Master Spy Kim Philby,
which he coauthored with Philip Knightley, was
published in 1994.
His son, Artyom Genrikhovich Borovik, was
born in 1960 and followed in his journalistic
footsteps. Born in Moscow, he was educated at
the elite Moscow English School, and then at the
Dalton School in New York City, during his
father's tenure there for Novosti Press. In 1981,
he graduated from the prestigious Moscow Insti-
tute of International Relations (MGIMO), the
training school for Soviet diplomats. After a tour
Borodino, Battle of
(1812)
Generally regarded as one of the deadliest Euro-
pean battles of the 19th century, the Battle of
Borodino was fought on September 7, 1812, on
the outskirts of Moscow during the Napoleonic
Wars. Following Napoleon's invasion of Russia
of June 1812, the Russian armies had retreated
eastward, but by the late summer, following the
Russian defeat at the Battle of Smolensk, there
was increasing pressure on
ALEXANDER I
to con-
front Napoleon's armies before they reached
Moscow. Alexander relieved
BARCLAY DE TOLLY
of command and replaced him with Mikhail
KUTUZOV
, a 67-year-old general. Kutuzov chose
to build earthworks on the road to Borodino, a
village located about 75 miles to the southwest
of Moscow, and gathered an army of about
125,000 soldiers. Napoleon's army, numbering
about 130,000 soldiers, reached Borodino on
September 6, 1812. The following day a fierce
battle ensued that resulted in about 40,000 casu-
alties for the Russians and close to 58,000 for
Napoleon and his allies. Thousands of officers,
including Prince Petr
BAGRATION
, were among
the casualties on both sides. By nightfall, even
though the Russians had only retreated slightly,
Kutuzov ordered the army to withdraw to the
southwest, leaving Moscow open for Napoleon
to enter. One week later, on September 14,
1812, Napoleon entered the city and took resi-
dence in the Kremlin, expecting that Alexander
I would soon sue for peace. Instead he faced
Alexander's refusal to negotiate, fires through-
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