Abroad, particularly in western Europe, he often provoked the sort of enthusiasm that was motivated less by recognition of his genius than by the feeling that the best thing about him was that he was not really very Russian; and that, because he was approved by Gustave Flaubert, Émile Zola and Henry James, he was not as threatening as those unruly giants Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky.
These rationalizations (or excuses) all lay out plausible reasons for Russian troops to intervene, and yet the Russian forces in Crimea have done all they can to not look very Russian at all.
"We're seeing a lot of lower budget buyers nowadays, it is not very wealthy Russians with tons of money," he says.
Tetris!" That's not very good for Russian culture.
Bortnyansky's "Cherubic Hymn" may not have sounded very Russian, but in sophistication it stands comfortably alongside Pergolesi or Mozart.
Butina, now a graduate student at American University in Washington, told The Post via email that her group's cause is "not very popular" with Russian officials and has never received funding from the government or from the NRA.
Catherine MacDougall doesn't even sound very Russian, does she?
"She walked in," Mr. Bart related, "and the Russian translator, not very hip, was asking her, in Russian, 'Where are you from, who did your shoes?' Anne said, 'Can I have that?' meaning the microphone and she took the mike and took over".
In his autobiography, Mr. Zhirinovsky dwells at great length on his mother's Russian family, but of his father writes only that his name, Volf, is "not very familiar to a Russian ear". Mr. Zhirinovsky, an arch-nationalist who has indulged in ethnic name-calling and urged the restoration of the old empire, could not be reached for further comment today, as he was said to be resting outside Moscow.
His president, Aslan Maskhadov, is hiding in a cave in the Caucasian mountains, hunted, not very effectively, by the Russian army.
"We can't say with confidence what the purpose is, and the Russians are not very interested in having us go in there," a senior American official said in Washington.
