A native language has a clear and unique grip on an individual. While it is possible to learn others, it is perhaps impossible to escape the unique issue of identity when we discuss our first language. After all, we do not choose the language taught to us by our family.

“What remains?” asks German journalist Günter Gaus of Hannah Arendt during a 1964 television interview. The transcript of this conversation is well known in English, and Arendt's famous answer is most often rendered as “What remains? Language remains.” However, what Arendt really says is “Was bleibt? Es bleibt die Muttersprache.” Muttersprache means mother tongue, or in the patriarchal Polish, “father tongue”. Italians say Madrelingua. In Ukrainian, it is рідна мова, or literally, native speech. It is a language we do not choose.

Russia’s resurgence on the global stage has been motivated by desires to influence all the post-Soviet space. This is clear with regards to various political and military moves, such as those concerning Ukraine. Yet, actions of this type have not been replicated along any part of Russia’s Asian border.

The Sputnik V vaccine was an incredible achievement for Russian science. The measure of success however, will depend on the ability to vaccinate a majority of the Russian population in order to reach herd immunity.

While Putin’s Russia is proud of the big achievements of the Soviet era and views the collapse of the USSR as “the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century”, it has failed to form a clear view of its past, including the Bolshevik Revolution. As long as that is the case, the country will hardly build a vision for the future.