During my time at Sovaminco, I made many trips to the Komi Republic, the wealthiest republic in Russia in terms of natural resources. On one of those occasions, I was invited to visit with the President and Prime Minister of Komi and we flew there on their Yakovlev Yak-40 aircraft, on which we drank copious amounts of vodka. On arrival, we were whisked off to a lunch where we were plied with a lot more vodka. After lunch, we were told that we had to go and meet the press. I only wish they had told us about the press conference before we had consumed enormous amounts of vodka! I was taken to some television studios for an interview where I had to tell them who I was and what I was doing, etc… Remarkably it went very well.
That night we were taken to a traditional Russian banya to have a sauna with the President and his aides. Part of the experience was rolling in the snow before getting back into the sauna and jumping into ice baths. A tradition of these banyas is to take birch tree branches and lash each other with a wad of them. An ex-general called Vasilyevich took the branches and while I was lying naked, he started whipping me while shouting, “Imperialistic pig”, and “CIA Operative!”
He found it hilarious.
We then ate raw bear meat and washed it down with yet more vodka. Another special experience in Mother Russia had concluded.
