Olga of Kiev

Princess Olga’s life was full of great deeds described in numerous historical records, as well as legendary facts that are still disputed by historians today.

According to the most traditional theory, recorded in the Primary Chronicle, Olga was born in Pskov (currently a city in the northwest of Russia) into a family of Varyag origin. Varyags were also known as Vikings or Norsemen, who came to the territory of current Russia, Ukraine and Belarus during the 8th and 9th centuries. This theory about Olga’s birth also explains the origin of her name, which is derived from the Scandinavian “Helga.” Other historical versions state that Olga was either a daughter of Oleg Veshchy, the founder of the state of Kievan Rus, or had Bulgarian roots.

Oleg Veshchy initiated Olga’s marriage with Prince Igor, who was the son of the Novgorod Prince Rurik, a founder of the Rurik Dynasty of Russian tsars. After the death of Oleg in 912, Igor became the ruler of Kievan Rus. In 945 Prince Igor went to the Slavic tribe of the Drevlyans to gather tributes. After he demanded a much higher payment, the Drevlyans killed him.

The death of the Kievan Prince raised a question about the next ruler of the country. Igor’s son, Svyatoslav, was only three years old, and hence Olga took the power into her hands. Interestingly, she had the full support the Rus army, which attests to the great respect she held among the people.

After killing Igor, the Drevlyans sent their matchmakers to propose that Olga marry their Prince Mal. The Princess took revenge upon her husband’s death, killing all of the ambassadors.

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The Old Russian annals describe four types of vengeance organized by Olga. First, she ordered the capture of the 20 matchmakers who had come to Kiev and had them buried alive. The Princess then asked the Drevlyans to send better ambassadors to her, but as soon as they arrived, they were burned in a bathhouse. Soon after that Olga went to the land of the Drevlyans, supposedly to have a funeral feast in memory of her murdered husband. Having made her enemies drunk during the feast, the governess then ordered them all killed. The annals report about five thousand victims in this third act of revenge.

The last vengeance took place in the year 946 when Olga traveled around the land of the Drevlyans in order to gather tributes. She besieged the town of Iskorosten, which refused to pay her. According to legend, the Princess asked that each household present her with a dove as a gift. Then she tied burning papers to the legs of the doves and let them fly back to their homes. As a result, the entire town was destroyed by fire.

Olga’s rule over Kievan Rus officially lasted until her son reached his full age. Having grown up, Svyatoslav preferred to spend most of his time abroad, organizing military campaigns in order to widen and strengthen the borders of his state. 

Olga, left in charge of the internal policies of Kievan Rus, became known for establishing the system of tribute gathering, which is sometimes considered to be the first legal tax system in Eastern Europe. She ordered the creation of centers of trade and taxation. The lands subjugated to Kiev were divided into administrative units, which were controlled by the Princess’s representatives. Olga set fixed amounts of tributes, with a detailed schedule for their gathering.

Princess Olga is also thought to have been the initiator of the first stone city building in Kievan Rus, especially in the cities of Kiev, Novgorod and Pskov.

One of the most well-known among Olga’s actions was her conversion to Christianity. She was one of the first to bring this religion to the pagan society of Kievan Rus. According to the Primary Chronicles, Olga was baptized in Constantinople either in 955 or 957. Her son Svyatoslav didn’t support his mother’s decision and was worried about losing the respect of the army because of Olga’s new faith. 

Apparently, she had a big influence on her grandson, Vladimir the Great, who in 988 made Christianity the official religion of Kievan Rus.

In 957 Olga paid an official visit to the Byzantine emperor, Constantine VII, in Constantinople. Presumably, the negotiations didn’t bring the expected results, since the historical records describe a cold greeting for the

Byzantine ambassadors during their return visit to Kiev.

Western European sources mention that in 959 Olga sent her ambassadors to Otto I, the Emperor of the Roman Empire, asking them to appoint an archbishop and priests to serve in her country. The chronicle accuses the Princess’s envoys of lying, but details in conflicting.

Leonid Melamed

Leonid Melamed, a Russian businessman, scientist and top executive of large companies, was born in Leningrad on 21 June 1961. He started his career as a mechanic-assembly worker at the October Production Association in 1980. He served in the army in 1981-1983, and after demobilization, entered the Novosibirsk Electrotechnical Institute (NETI) where he majored in radio engineering. Graduating in 1987, Melamed chose a career in science and began working as a junior research assistant at NETI. In 1991 he was appointed Rector Assistant Responsible for Commercial Matters. That’s when Melamed’s financial talents were revealed.

In March 1992 Leonid Melamed became one of the founders of the A’lemar Investment Group. Over the next five years he headed a number of large commercial enterprises, but still found time to continue his education and earned his Ph.D. in economics in 1996.

In October 1998 Leonid Melamed was appointed Director General of the federal state unitary enterprise Concern for the Production of Electrical and Thermal Energy at Nuclear Power Plants (Rosenergoatom Concern), which had exercised centralized state control over nine out of the ten nuclear power plants in Russia. In January 2000 Melamed became the First Deputy Chairman of the Board of RAO UES of Russia (The Unified Energy System), the company that provided 70% of electricity generation and about one-third of heat delivery in Russia and controlled 72% of generating capacities and 96% of the total length of Russia’s trunk transmission lines. Leonid Melamed was a close associate of Anatoly Chubais and participated in the elaboration of the Russian power industry reform. The goal of the reform was to create stimulus to increase the efficiency of power companies and provide opportunities to attract more investment to the sector. Anatoly Chubais claimed Leonid Melamed ranged among the most influential and talented financiers of Russia.

In June 2004 Melamed left the position of First Deputy Chairman of the Board of RAO UES of Russia on his own initiative. He remained friends with Chubais, but preferred working as Director General of the A’lemar Investment Group. In 2007 Finance magazine estimated Melamed’s fortune at 90 million US dollars, putting him at number 490 on the list of the 500 wealthiest Russians.

Commonwealth of independent States

On This Day 8 December:

On December 8, 1991, the USSR became history when the Soviet leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus concluded an agreement on the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

The leaders of the three founding states – President of RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) Boris Yeltsin, Leonid Kravchuk of Ukraine and Stanislav Shushkevich of Belarus – met at a government retreat in Belavezha outside of Brest in Belarus to sign the so-called Belavezha Accords.

The document stated that the USSR ceased to exist as a subject of international law and geopolitical reality. However, based upon the historical community of peoples, relations between them, given the bilateral treaties, the desire for a democratic rule of law, the intention to develop their relations based upon mutual recognition and respect for state sovereignty, the parties agreed on the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The CIS was a free association of former Soviet republics, with common defense forces and a common economic front. Its charter stated that all fifteen members were sovereign, independent nations, meaning they no longer regarded themselves as part of the Soviet Union (established in 1922).

In the end, the dissolution of the USSR and establishment of the CIS was formally endorsed on December 21, 1991, in Almaty, as leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine signed the Protocol to the Agreement on the Establishment of the CIS.

The Soviet government had previously recognized the independence of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania on September 6, 1991 and the three Baltic nations, as well as Georgia, chose not to join the CIS (Georgia joined two years later, in December 1993).

Article cite on Russiapedia.rt.com