Sochi, Tsar Vladimir's Black Sea St. Vladimirsburg

It is not unimportant to remember, in connection with the controversial Winter Olympics soon to be held in Sochi in the Russian Federation, that President Vladimir Putin hails from St. Petersburg, the city (in the Soviet era known as Leningrad) created in the early 18th century by Peter the Great on the mosquito-infested marshes where the Neva river flows into Baltic Sea.

In the tsarist imperial (some would say Leninist/Stalinist) spirit that led to the making of this ex-nihilo city, Putin is reinventing Sochi into a Winter-Olympics town -- a port located, of all places (for a Winter Olympics), on a Black Sea eastern coast with a sub-tropical climate.

Granted, experts in Russian history might argue that Putin was following the example of Catherine the Great, who founded Odessa, an architecturally Mediterranean-style Black Sea port built in 1794, on a portion of territory (including the Caucasus) seized by Russia as a result of its victory in the 1768-1774 Russo-Turkish war.

But the Prussia-born Catherine (1729-1796), thanks to her marriage to (and death of) Peter III (his passing was officially attributed to "colic brought on by hemorrhoids,") became empress of Russia in 1762. She was not "born Russian" like President Putin (and  Peter the Great).

Putin did work as a KGB spy in East Germany during the Cold War, and some would say there is something "German" about Vladimir Vladimirovich because of his evident lack of shirokaya dusha  -- Russian for "wide generous soul" -- despite his pardoning Pussy Riot, an imprisoned feminist group critical of current Russian ethical/political standards.

Conceivably, Catherine was much more macho than Vladimir, whose absolute control of his country has been questioned, although the empress did have problems controlling her court (no wonder there were vicious rumors about her attempting sexual intercourse with a stallion).

But let's go beyond the historical details/innuendo.

The two towns -- St. Petersburg and Sochi, both on the shore of strategically important seas -- are on the periphery of an essentially landlocked Russian geographical expression whose rulers historically have been obsessed with security against invaders (ranging from Tartars in the east to Germans in the West). These tsars and commissars have tried to protect, for centuries, the vast, ill-defined space putatively under their control by seeking to take over more and more of the territory surrounding it. (The Urals are not the Alps and the western frontier of Russia provides no natural barriers).

Hence, in part, the obsession of Russian rulers with expanding their state and personal property (few made that distinction) contiguously, both on land and at sea, which can be seen as a form of preemptive protection; in the Cold War this sought-after "safe" space extended for the Soviets beyond planet earth (think Sputnik).

So, just as the Venice of the North, as St. Petersburg is called, was meant in part to be a bulwark against the Swedes in the 18th century, Sochi can be seen as a possibly misguided realpolitik "defense" against separatism in the Caucasus/Islamic Tartar "extremism," which could spark the flame to the dissolution of the Russian Federation, a scenario that keeps -- I speculate -- Russian authorities awake at night, given what happened to the USSR.

And today, when nuclear war is less of an option than ever to exert national power, Russian authorities are hoping to influence "near abroad" by soft coercion/public diplomacy [PD] so as to enhance their country's own security -- rather than to spread the American-style PD of universal "values."

St. Petersburg was constructed at great human and economic cost. So is the implementation of Putin's Sochi's urban/sport/entertainment fantasy, which some predict could turn into a nightmare.

These "peripheral" cities (true, one a capital opening up to Europe, the other a provincial outpost in the corner of, Euro-Atlantic-centrists would say, "nowhere") are/were also meant to increase Russia's international recognition/prestige as well as, and perhaps more importantly to its authorities, the image of its ruler at home.

Critics call Putin's pet project communist crony capitalism (CCC without the P). And, needless to say, corruption was rampant during the tsarist era, including during the reign of Peter the Great.

After all, "History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme," to quote Mark Twain.

So how about renaming Sochi St. Vladimirsburg? With its evocation of a saint, such nomenclature would certainly please members of the Russian Orthodox Church who are enthusiasts of the Russian strongman and his call to national order and condemnation of sexual degeneracy. A small group of the faithful apparently consider Putin a saint, a holy man like the Grand Kievan Prince St. Vladimir who brought Christianity to Rus' in the late 10th century.

Or, maybe, to honor the past 20th century, when communism was a global force, how about calling the "new" Sochi Vladimirgrad? (One scholar recommends relabelling the city Putingrad).

Or, simply, to be 21st century hip, let's call it "VladCity."

Welcome to Vladcity! Sounds cooler than St. Vladimirsburg. But then maybe not.

A Russian history buff, I, for one, prefer Vladimirsburg, which, despite sounding rather awkward, does evoke Russia's past, so essential in understanding an important country in the world, with the tragic historical experiences of its unique, diverse population, a country of genius that has contributed much to world culture and civilization.

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