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Sergei, translating as quickly as he can, now pauses, looking for the right word in Eng-
lish. “Morgue,” he says.
Liubov continues.
“And so we were at the morgue, for almost a day until . . . we recognized him.”
We sit for a few moments in silence. And then I ask the couple if there is anything, per-
haps a lesson, I can learn from this tragedy.
“We live in a very dangerous country.” And it's not just one thing, Liubov says. Infra-
structure is simply not safe. There are plane crashes, ferryboat accidents, fatal collisions on
the roads, all far more often than in other countries as developed as Russia. Life is even
dangerous just walking from one place to another. Each year in Moscow there are as many
as a dozen deaths caused when an oversize icicle falls like a dagger from a building and
impales a pedestrian. Because of this threat Rose and I spent much of our time in the winter
looking up, while walking on sidewalks.
But what strikes Liubov most is the uncanny attitude of public officials, and other people
in power, when tragedy strikes.
“When it comes to ordinary people, we felt support from everywhere. The entire com-
munity. We felt everyone was with us, and shared this with us. But as for the other cat-
egory? The government? Team management? The attitude from their side to those who
suffered—it is a situation impossible to find in any other country. No one from the team
ever called us to ask how we were doing.”
I wonder if some part of that is a sense that tragedy is just part of life—a way to make
people stronger. Liubov nods.
“There is this belief in our country that tragedy is a test for people who are supposed to
be strong. And Sergei and I are strong. That is why we will get through this. I still have
both my parents alive. Sergei has his parents. Nikita loved his grandparents very much. So
we can't be weak. We have our old people to take care of. They need our support.”
“We've always needed revolutions and wars,” says Nikita's dad, “because after each of
those tragedies, we rise and are reborn again.”
“But why do people in Russia believe that?”
Liubov thinks for a moment. “We probably don't know how to live any other way.”
This couple has suspicions. They've never accepted the determination that the plane
crash was simply pilot error. Maybe it's a conspiracy theory born in anger and loss,
but Sergei Klyukin says Putin was gearing up for an election run, and certainly needed
something, anything, to turn citizens' attention away from their living conditions.
“Tragedies distract people from their other struggles,” Sergei says.
“Are you saying this plane crash was planned?”
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