Although Russian society is as modern as any in the world, Russians also adhere to their traditions. On summer weekends Russians from the cities stream to their dachas, where they grow potatoes and collect mushrooms. In the winter cold they barbecue shashlik and catch fish on the lakes through layers of ice. Russians visiting our country find our food photogenic but tasteless. “Your strawberries are beautiful,” they say, “but ours have more flavor.” The Russian language, reflecting this closer relationship with nature, features an abundance of allusions to rural living, and these colorful expressions permeate the highest levels of discourse. A decade ago, former Russian national security advisor Alexander Lebed brought cattle raising into the political dialogue during a U.S. visit, when, according to Washington Post editorial writer Fred Hiatt*, he puzzled our audiences by blurting out aphorisms like “feed your cattle during the night, you’ll kill them in the morning.”

Russians are known to make these cryptic barnyard statements. Russians say things like “a cat knows whose meat she ate” when someone has wronged another person and tries to avoid the victim. As a Russian might say, don’t “let a goat ravage your kitchen garden” if you find yourself confused. These expressions reveal the rich naturalism of Russian language and culture, and no one is “putting a pig under you.”

Russians are patient as they witness and participate in today’s complex process of social, political, and economic change. They have learned patience from their 1000-year history, and their sense of time is expansive. As the Russians say, “a Russian saddles up slowly, but rides very fast.” We need to appreciate these differences and not try to make “the lobster sing on the mountain.” Russia remains a country in transition, “neither meat nor fish” but something in-between. It will take more time, and patience, to see what this Russia will become.

* “Lebed to the Rescue.” Washington Post 25 Nov. 1996: A21.