Volga Blues – A Journey into the Heart of Russia

Since the invasion of Ukraine and ban on foreign reporters, Russia seems to have sunk into an even deeper shadow than in the darkest times of the Soviet Union. Only by presenting himself as an historian was Italian journalist Marzio G. Mian able to penetrate the Russian heartland, leading to his groundbreaking cover story for Harpers' Magazine, "Behind the New Iron Curtain." In Volga Blues, Russian history and literature inform every step of Mian’s revealing and perilous journey along Russia’s most culturally significant river, the fulcrum of its history, “the mother.” Along with Alessandro Cosmelli, his photographer; Vlad, their translator and fixer; and Katya, Vlad‘s girlfriend, Mian manages to gather firsthand accounts from ordinary Russians. They discuss not only the impact of the war, Western sanctions, and their country’s isolation, but how Russian culture has changed as a result. Stalin is back in favor, Lenin has been downgraded as a “Europeanized