HISTORICAL DICTIONARY A–Z - Russia: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present - page 76

condemning anti-Semitism in general, whether
Fascist or Communist in origin. Loudly criticized
by conservatives for insulting Soviet wartime
heroism, Yevtushenko was praised by liberals for
his courage in broaching a tangled and difficult
topic. As KHRUSHCHEV 's support for de-Staliniza-
tion wavered in later 1962, the topic of Babi Yar
remained a flashpoint for larger political battles
and now settled on a controversy over Dmitrii
SHOSTAKOVICH 's new 13th Symphony, scheduled
to be premiered at a gathering of party officials
and intellectuals. The party's ideological guard-
ians condemned the symphony's first movement,
a clear tribute to Yevtushenko's Babi Yar, and
many musicians were hesitant to perform it, fear-
ing reprisals. After another controversial perfor-
mance, future performances of the symphony
were canceled, to many a symbol of a growing
conservatism in Soviet political life. Preceding the
other two was the novel Babi Yar, by Anatolii
KUZNETSOV , a young Soviet writer of great promise
and a recent graduate of the elite Gorky Literary
Institute. Although the Soviet authorities cen-
sored the novel heavily and it remained unpub-
lished in the Soviet Union, the events Kuznetsov
described served as the basis for Yevtushenko's
poem. Kuznetsov continued to write for several
years and remained quite popular with Soviet
youth, but disillusioned over growing censorship,
he sought political asylum while traveling in Lon-
don in 1969. His novel was later published in the
West.

upper reaches of imperial society: Russian for-
eign policy in East Asia and traditional Tibetan
medicine. The future Alexander III served as
Badmaev's godfather when he converted to Rus-
sian Orthodoxy, and Badmaev used Alexander's
name for his patronymic. From 1875 to 1893,
Badmaev worked in the Asiatic Department of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1893, in a
memorandum sent to the finance minister,
Sergei WITTE , he outlined what became known
as the Badmaev Plan, a project that called for
railroad construction and commercial trading
companies to extend Russian influence in Mon-
golia and as far as Tibet. Badmaev argued that
the extension of the TRANS - SIBERIAN RAILROAD
through Kiakhta and Peking to the Russian port
of Vladivostok would provide Russia with the
opportunity to promote rebellion among dissat-
isfied Chinese subjects, such as the Mongolians
and Tibetans, who would appeal to the Russians
for help. Badmaev's fellow Buriat Mongols of
the Transbaikal region, who as Buddhists had
long-standing religious and commercial interests
in Mongolia and Tibet, would play a pivotal role
as agents of Russian imperialism. With Russia's
support of China after the Treaty of Alliance of
1896, the Badmaev plan lost its rationale, and
the Trans-Siberian Railroad was completed
through Manchuria. Badmaev achieved greater
influence at the court of Nicholas II through his
knowledge of Tibetan traditional medicine, at a
time when there was great interest in things Ori-
ental and exotic. The czar was known to have an
interest in Badmaev's herbal cures, as well as the
Siberian monk Grigorii RASPUTIN , who appeared
in St. Petersburg in 1903. Badmaev's friendship
with Rasputin developed slowly, but by World
War I, they were very close. Badmaev's medical
practice served as a conduit for individuals seek-
ing government appointments in the final years
of the empire. Badmaev was in frequent contact
with Anna Vyrubova, a confidante of Empress
ALEXANDRA . Badmaev remained in Petrograd
after the FEBRUARY REVOLUTION but later was
arrested by sailors from the Baltic Fleet as he was
trying to flee to Finland with Vyrubova and the

Badmaev, Petr Aleksandrovich
(1851-1919)
medical practitioner
A Buriat by birth, Badmaev was a practitioner of
Tibetan medicine with excellent political con-
nections in the courts of ALEXANDER III and
NICHOLAS II . Badmaev's father was a prosperous
cattle farmer of Buriat stock. After early school-
ing in Irkutsk, near Lake Baikal, Badmaev
entered the Faculty of Oriental Languages at St.
Petersburg University. Here he developed the
interests that would provide his entrée into the