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It started innocently enough. I expressed to my colleague Anders Aslund, an authority on the Russian economy, sympathy for President Medvedev having to travel to some obscure outpost to meet with Kim Jong-il.
"I have actually passed through Ulan-Ude on train from Irkutsk to Ulan-Bator. It is the only place where I saw a big Soviet prison camp from the train. Indeed, a truly frightful place," came the response.
You haven't been to Russia, the place of your birth, more than a decade and you visit a prison camp?
""Let's see, its my first time in Russia in ten years. The Hermitage? Nah. White Nights? Not for me. I think I'll visit a prison camp. Will feel right at home..."
So I got to poking around. Some of the tourist websites (yes, there are tourist websites for Ulan Ude), mention the prison camp, though in fairness, it is generally mentioned as an afterthought, unlike the giant bust of Lenin which takes pride of place. In Stalin's time, it was a giant mica mine and apparently the barbed wire fences and abandoned buildings are still visible (hence Anders' reaction).
As for Kim Jong-il, according to Allan Cullison's story in the Wall Street Journal, the Dear Leader did hit the Lenin bust (if similar gargantuan statues start turning up in North Korea, we'll know where he got the idea), and visited a local market where is dissed the sunflower oil, inquired about the carp, was impressed by the sausages, and stocked up on chocolate. No word on the prison camp.
Stay tuned: we'll try to write up an analysis of the pipeline proposal next week. And in the meantime, stay dry. Goodnight, Irina.
