Time to Think

Time to think

    Oh! How I love having time to think!  And how glad I am that I can still catch and entertain those ethereal, disembodied spirits that float into the mind, linger and vanish!   

    My time has largely run its course, and I am slowing down. Not only do I get less done in a day than once I did; but time grows more treasured as it becomes more scarce. There is no part of my day more treasured than my "thinking time".

    If I must make cuts I shall perhaps start with my "tidying time", or "dusting time". "Practice time" vanished a while ago, unnoticed, and perhaps wrapping presents will follow it. But I hope I shall always have time to think. 

    I like to pause at the top of the stairs, to admire my daughter's framed butterflies, so carefully cut from old maps; memories trapped on paper; Helmeth Hill in the shape of a Swallowtail, Haddon Hill on another; Ratlinghope, Bodinnick Ferry, Glynn House, Trebarwith Strand. 

    I love to stand on my terrace, straighten, by throwing back my shoulders, and look up beyond the roof tops, to see if I can spot any of swifts that have loyally returned to their  ancestral eaves. I fondly remember the screams of the returning swifts as they swooped in to their chattering young, nesting in the eaves some 3 feet from my boyhood bedroom in our generous old Shropshire house. 

    I wonder if it is a dearth of flies that has reduced the number of these astonishing aerobats that complete their absurd journey from from Sub-Saharan Africa to Middle England. Or if it is head winds en route? Or have my neighbours pulled down their old stone houses, or poked out the nests from their eaves? What are insects doing up there, 100 metres above any possible source of food? Does the swift fly with its mouth open, accepting what comes, or does it actively swerve left and right to catch a tempting morsel? Would I see anything if I trained my grandchildren's telescope on that patch of sky?

    The frequent glimpses of a tiny blue butterfly down at the bottom of my modest garden is less mysterious when I find that bird's foot trefoil is the food plant of the Common Blue, for I have a clump of it in flower down there. (Funny that nearly all of the dozen different Blues eat legumes; except for the Holly Blue (holly & ivy), and the Large Blue (thyme)). Ah! But I have masses of ivy in that corner, besides the trefoil, and I might have been over-hasty in assuming my butterflies were Common Blues. (It is easier to tell holly and ivy from bird's foot trefoil than to tell Holly Blue from Common Blue). I find [1] that I also have the food plant of the recently re-introduced Large Blue, for one of my herb boxes is over-flowing with Thymus serpyllum. The caterpillar of this intriguing butterfly has a trick of exuding 'honey' which tempts ants to carry it off to their nest, where it overwinters, feeding off ant grubs till it is ready to pupate and eventually emerge. That lifestyle is stunning in its improbability; but several related species do the same (Adonis Blue, Idas Blue, Alcon Blue).

    Why do we not gradually fill up with trivalent Aluminium; as it binds tightly to protein? Does a spider get appreciably lighter when it abseils to the floor? Easy enough, I suppose, to measure the speed of swifts in flight 'in terms of its own body length'. Pigs, they say, are more intelligent than 3 year old human children. I wonder how that was measured. 

Reference: [1] David Carter (1982) Butterflies and Moths in Britain and Europe 

Please address comments to cawstein@gmail.com

Auto-regulation and its breakdown

Auto-regulation and its breakdown(s)

Regarding auto-regulation of cerebral blood-flow, there are several aspects to consider. The ones that occur to me off the top of my had are: the nature of the signal (perhaps cerebral [CO2] or [O2]), detection of the signal, release of the messenger, detection of the messenger by a target tissue, effect of messenger on target tissue (perhaps vascular dilation).

 

Putin's Point of view

Putin's Point of View

I recently discovered, more-or-less by accident, Putin's recent (July 2021) essay, on Ukraine-Russian relations; lengthy but honest and personal; his view of the relations that he thinks should subsist between Russia and Ukraine. I realised (by extrapolation) that there must be a very large number of people in the English-speaking world who do not yet know of this important document and I consequently felt a duty to point to it, and attempt to evaluate it as fairly as I am able. The Kremlin's official ENGLISH TEXT CAN BE FOUND HERE [1].

It is Putin's amplification of an off-the-cuff response to a question raised at his annual question-and-answer session.  Dated 12th July 2021, it clearly represents the thoughts building in his mind, that led eventually to the invasion of Ukraine on 24th February 2022.

My precis 

Mr. Putin used 2000 words traversing the history of Ukraine/Russia from AD 800 to the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, covering much the same ground as I covered in my recent posts [2-6], and I think Putin and I agree rather well. 

He uses another 2000 words to cover the Bolshevik period (1917-1990), and in this he is much better informed than I; but seems balanced and fair. In the Soviet Union  "borders between republics were never seen as state borders; they were nominal [borders] within a single country". He is not pro-Bolshevik; he admits the famines, and the social experimentation.

In the last 2000 words Mr. Putin covers developments since the break-up of the Soviet Union, and the formation of the present Ukrainian state. In 1990 Russia and Ukraine were "natural and complementary partners"; their trade was considerable and mutually beneficial. Even in 2013 the two countries were close allies, with: 

"hundreds of agreements and joint projects .... aimed at developing our economies, business and cultural ties, strengthening security, and solving common social and environmental problems. They brought tangible benefits to people – both in Russia and Ukraine. This is what we believed to be most important. And that is why we had a fruitful interaction with all, I emphasize, with all the leaders of Ukraine."[1] 

It all went wrong in February 2014, when it turned out that the people of northern Ukraine were far more enamoured of the European Union than was their more-pro-Russian government [7]. It seems (to  Putin) that 'the people' of Northern Ukraine have been seduced/fooled by the free-running, capitalist, West. 

"This is also a disguise for the takeover [by the West] of the rest of the Ukrainian economy and the exploitation of its natural resources. The sale of agricultural land is not far off, and it is obvious who will buy it up. From time to time, Ukraine is indeed given financial resources and loans, but under their [the capitalists] own conditions and pursuing their [the capitalists] own interests, with preferences and benefits for Western companies. By the way, who will pay these debts back? Apparently, it is assumed that this will have to be done not only by today's generation of Ukrainians but also by their children, grandchildren and probably great-grandchildren." 

In southern Ukraine, and along the border with Russia, there are (no doubt) more Russian-speakers, and more commercial links with Russia.  

"and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are coming to us to work, and they find a welcome reception and support" [1].

Mr. Putin objects to the  government-imposed  hostility to Russia and to the Russian language; 

"And the most despicable thing is that the Russians in Ukraine are being forced not only to deny their roots, generations of their ancestors, but also to believe that Russia is their enemy." 

Comment

It seems to me that any arguments that support the right of Ukraine to free itself from Moscow, must also support the right of the Donets Coal Basin (Donbas) to be independent from Ukraine. Whoever governs the Donbas should do so with that in mind.

The southern and eastern sections of present-day Ukraine contains a Black Sea coastline, Zaporizhzhia's nuclear power plant, and the Donbas coal fields (though at fearsome depth). There is a lot at stake. For Ukraine to loose ¾ of its coast and all of its coal might render the state non-viable. It may seem to Kyiv to be worth fighting for, even if that south eastern region is Russian-speaking and hostile to Kyiv. 

There were right-wing paramilitary elements in the February 2014 rising, and there were pro-Russian paramilitary elements in the Donetsk and Luhansk [7]. There has been a lot of assistance/interference from Russia in the form of heavy weapons and advice, and maybe also personnel; and now also a lot of assistance/interference from The West to the government in Kyiv.

The Minsk Agreements of 2014 and 2015 [8] were serious attempts by third parties to de-escalate the violence in the Donbas Region between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukraine state. Such a de-escalation would require both of the warring parties to see benefits. In the event,  neither party seem sufficiently to want peace. On that point Putin seems correct.  

        It is not at all clear how strong the indigenous pro-Russian sentiment is, in the disputed areas. Pre-emptive, illegal, and un-monitored referendums are unconvincing and unhelpful. 

I believe the world would like to see a Minsk-type cease-fire and some well-monitored referendums.

References

[1] http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181

[2] https://occidentis.blogspot.com/2023/03/kyiv-1.html 

[3] https://occidentis.blogspot.com/2023/03/kiev-2.html 

[4] https://occidentis.blogspot.com/2023/04/alexei-razumovsky.html 

[5] https://occidentis.blogspot.com/2023/03/kyiv3.html 

[6] https://occidentis.blogspot.com/2023/04/kyiv4.html 

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_of_Dignity 

[8] https://occidentis.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-minsk-agreements.html 

Please address comment to cawstein@gmail.com

The Minsk Agreements

 The Minsk Agreements

(We, in the West, and certainly we in Britain, should know more about the Minsk Agreements. The Minsk Protocol (Minsk 1) of 5th September 2014 was barely heeded, and by January 2015 was dead. The revised Minsk Agreement (Minsk 2) of 12 February 2015 was signed by the combatants plus  Swiss and Russian diplomats. The Russian text is available at [1], and in English at [2] whence I have transcribed it below.)

Minsk 2

The full text of the agreement is as follows [2]:

1. Immediate and full ceasefire in particular districts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine and its strict fulfilment as of 00:00 midnight EET on 15 February 2015.

2. Pull-out of all heavy weapons by both sides to equal distance with the aim of creation of a security zone on minimum 50 kilometres (31 mi) apart for artillery of 100mm calibre or more, and a security zone of 70 kilometres (43 mi) for multiple rocket launchers (MRLS) and 140 kilometres (87 mi) for MLRS Tornado-S, Uragan, Smerch, and Tochka U tactical missile systems:

* for Ukrainian troops, from actual line of contact; 
* for armed formations of particular districts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine, from the contact line in accordance with the Minsk Memorandum as of 19 September 2014

The pullout of the above-mentioned heavy weapons must start no later than the second day after the start of the ceasefire and finish within 14 days.

This process will be assisted by OSCE [3] with the support of the Trilateral Contact Group [3].

3. Effective monitoring and verification of ceasefire regime and pullout of heavy weapons by OSCE will be provided from the first day of pullout, using all necessary technical means such as satellites, drones, radio-location systems etc.

4. On the first day after the pullout a dialogue is to start on modalities of conducting local elections in accordance with the Ukrainian legislation and the Law of Ukraine "On temporary Order of Local Self-Governance in Particular Districts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts," and also about the future of these districts based on the above-mentioned law.

Without delays, but no later than 30 days from the date of signing of this document, a resolution has to be approved by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, indicating the territory which falls under the special regime in accordance with the law "On temporary Order of Local Self-Governance in Particular Districts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts," based in the line set up by the Minsk Memorandum as of 19 September 2014.

5. Provide pardon and amnesty by way of enacting a law that forbids persecution and punishment of persons in relation to events that took place in particular districts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine.

6. Provide release and exchange of all hostages and illegally held persons, based on the principle of "all for all". This process has to end – at the latest – on the fifth day after the pullout (of weapons).

7. Provide safe access, delivery, storage and distribution of humanitarian aid to the needy, based on an international mechanism.

8. Define the modalities of a full restoration of social and economic connections, including social transfers, such as payments of pensions and other payments (income and revenue, timely payment of communal bills, restoration of tax payments within the framework of Ukrainian legal field).

With this aim, Ukraine will restore management over the segment of its banking system in the districts affected by the conflict, and possibly, an international mechanism will be established to ease such transactions.

9. Restore control of the state border to the Ukrainian government in the whole conflict zone, which has to start on the first day after the local election and end after the full political regulation (local elections in particular districts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts based on the law of Ukraine and Constitutional reform) by the end of 2015, on the condition of fulfilment of Point 11 – in consultations and in agreement with representatives of particular districts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts within the framework of the Trilateral Contact Group.

10. Pullout of all foreign armed formations, military equipment, and also mercenaries from the territory of Ukraine under OSCE supervision. Disarmament of all illegal groups.

11. Constitutional reform in Ukraine, with a new constitution to come into effect by the end of 2015, the key element of which is decentralisation (taking into account peculiarities of particular districts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, agreed with representatives of these districts), and also approval of permanent legislation on the special status of particular districts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in accordance with the measures spelt out in the attached footnote, by the end of 2015.

12. Based on the Law of Ukraine "On temporary Order of Local Self-Governance in Particular Districts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts", questions related to local elections will be discussed and agreed upon with representatives of particular districts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in the framework of the Trilateral Contact Group. Elections will be held in accordance with relevant OSCE standards and monitored by OSCE/ODIHR.

13. Intensify the work of the Trilateral Contact Group including through the establishment of working groups on the implementation of relevant aspects of the Minsk agreements. They will reflect the composition of the Trilateral Contact Group. The document was signed by:

*Separatist's leaders Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky.

*Swiss diplomat and OSCE representative Heidi Tagliavini. 

*Former president of Ukraine and Ukrainian representative Leonid Kuchma.

*Russian Ambassador to Ukraine and Russian representative Mikhail Zurabov.

REFERENCES

[1] https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/5/b/140221.pdf

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minsk_agreements.

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilateral_Contact_Group_on_Ukraine

Kicking

Kicking

A man (in a green pullover) by the bus stop is watching his two children playing on the grass some twenty yards away; and I watch all three. My mind wanders.

"Robbie! No kicking!", and the slight, weary, lift in his voice suggests that this is not the first time he has said those words.

I look more carefully at the children; the boy, a sturdy four-year-old, the girl considerably taller and perhaps six. The check seems to work. "Skilfully done Mr. Man-in-green." 

My mind wanders again. What a lot a child has to learn, about bullying, about getting your way, about consequences and avoiding consequences. What a lot of civilising goes into parenting; the making of a citizen. I am reminded of the books and offprints on Freud, Psychology and World Order that Father left us; his legacy, our inheritance [1,2]. Is selfishness primary? Is aggressiveness? Is conscience inherent, or acquired as vestigial traces of early training from childhood or even infancy? Is 'God' indeed little more than 'our father in heaven' writ large?

Robbie might wonder what is wrong with kicking; his sister usually gives way. Of course, he may get a walloping from his dad, or smouldering resentment from his sister. He may conclude that, all-in-all, kicking is counter productive. Or he may conclude that it is best not done in public.

Britain spent 180 years 'kicking' weaker countries into submission, till 1956, when, with the French and Israelis, Britain thought it could recapture the Suez Canal from the Egyptians. By the end of November 1956 these allies found that they had won the war but had alienated all the world (except for Adenauer [3]). They withdrew, humiliated. In April 1975 the USA had to accept their humiliating retreat from Vietnam, and again in August 2021 their retreat (with their allies) from Afghanistan. 

Perhaps 2023 will see the humiliating retreat of Putin and his Wagner allies from Ukraine. But he need not be too embarrassed; we can see this as an integral part of growing up; we might even say "Join the club". Anyway, his wasn't a war. (It is amusing to note that, in 1956, Prime Minister Eden apparently said "We [are not] at war with Egypt now.[…] There has not been a declaration of war by us. We are in an armed conflict." [3]).

Reference:

[1] West, Ranyard (1942) "Conscience and Society", Methuen & Co., London.

[2] West, Ranyard (1945) "Psychology and World Order", Pelican, Harmondsworth, London.

[3]  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Crisis 

 Please address comment to cawstein@gmail.com

Kyiv4

Kyiv and Ukraine: 1764-1918

As mentioned in my earlier post, the 'heart' of Ukraine existed from 1654 to 1764 as an independent 'Hetmanate' in the Russian State.  (Polish 'Hetman', or 'Warlord', from the German 'Hauptmann'). That status ended in 1764 when Catherine II (the Great) abolished the post and rôle of Hetman.

Catherine, born Sophie in 1729, the German wife of tsar Peter III,  deposed and murdered her husband and assumed the throne as  Catherine II (1762 - 1796). Her first preoccupation was to refill the State treasury.  That  she did by expropriating the vast estates of the church. Her next ambition was to introduce political reform and intellectual enlightenment, following the best examples of Western Europe: education, consulting the nation, freeing the serfs, fostering science and the arts. But she soon realised that Russia was not ready for liberal democracy. Her power rested on the support of the nobles. Free serfs would have no livelihood. 

Catherine's next expedient was territorial expansion. Her predecessors, Empress Anna (1730-1741) and Catherine's virtual 'mother-in-law', the childless Empress Elizabeth (1741-1762), had shown the way, for the power of the Ottoman Empire to the south was diminishing. (See the map below.) 

[https://cdn.britannica.com/48/3848-050-2473BB98/russia-expansion-1300-1796.jpg ]

The land of the lower Dnipro can be called the 'right bank' (to the west) and the 'left bank' (to the east). By the Treaty of Eternal Peace (1686), right bank had been left to Poland, while the left bank + Kyiv + the land of the Zaporidsia Cossacks + people of Orthodox faith came under the suzerainty and protection of Moscow. Anna's German commander, Münnich, had reformed the army and established, in the field, that one Russian was equal to two Ottomans. He forced Moldavia to accept Russian suzerainty. Elizabeth devoted (perhaps wasted) resources combatting the Swedes and Prussian in the north west to scant effect, but in the south she gained more control over the Hetmanate on the left bank. 

On becoming Empress in 1762, Catherine II dissolved the Hetmanate. The last Hetman, (Krill Razumovsky, younger brother of Empress Elizabeth's 'partner') was retired as a Field Marshal of the Russian army. 

Catherine's own lover (Orlov, who had master-minded the coup whereby Peter III was captured and killed) was made a General, and in 1769 was put in charge of the fleet that destroyed the Turkish fleet off the coast of Anatolia.

Catherine's Russia continued to push south against the weakening Islamic powers. The Crimea was annexed in 1783, which provoked the Turks into another war, the Russo-Turkish war of 1787–1792. The Turks were again thoroughly beaten, losing control of the north coast of the Black Sea from Azov westward to the mouth of the Dniester, where Catherine II founded the city of Odessa to mark the occasion.

Three times Catherine and her allies forced the partition of Poland-Lithuania, in1772, 1793, 1795. On each occasion Poland-Lithuania lost territory to Russia and Prussia, and on two occasions to Austria as well; till in 1795 there was nothing left. 

        Catherine the Great died in 1796, and was succeeded by Tsar Paul, summarised succinctly by W.L. Langer as "a tyranical and mentally unbalanced ruler." He was assasinated (1801) in a palace coup, and replaced by his son Alexander I whose relatively liberal reign lasted till 1825.

Of course, there were plenty Poles left, and Polish- speaking Lithuanians, Belarussians and Ukranians. In the 19th century, though the population of right-bank Ukraine was mostly Ukrainian, the land was mostly owned by Poles or the Polish-speaking Ukrainian upper class. In fact, until 1825 Russian influence in the territory of modern Ukraine was largely military and bureaucratic; the culture and language was predominantly Polish or indigenous, what was called "Little Russian", or "Ruthenian" (the Latinized form of the name 'Rus'); that which we would now call Ukrainian. Education, such as it was, was given in Polish. The Ukranians were uneducated, and poor.

After the widespread uprisings in November 1830 which spread from Poland into other vassal states including West-Bank Ukraine, the Russians began a process of deliberate Russification [2].

Nevertheless, a Russian survey of the languages spoken in Kyiv in 1874 found:

Ukranian 39%

Yiddish 11%

Russian 10%

Polish 6%

German 2%

Remainder 32%

(According to the website https://translatorswithoutborders.org/languages-of-ukraine-interactive-en, the first languages in Ukraine in 2001 were:

Ukrainian 68%

Russian 30%

Romanian 0.7%

Crimean 0.5%

Hungarian 0.3%

Remainder 0.3%

The major 'second' languages spoken were Russian 36%, Ukrainian 20%, English 1.5%.)

The Pale of Settlement 

The surprisingly high number of  Yiddish speakers is worth a comment. Jews were not welcome in Moscow or the major cities like Kyiv, but were allowed to inhabit certain clearly designated areas which came to be called the "Pale of Settlement" [1] (originally west of a line or 'pale' down the western border of the Duchy of Moscow.) At the end of her reign, Catherine found the Ukrainian territory underpopulated and made several efforts to plant communities there. Specifically, Catherine sought to encourage Jews into Kyiv to trade, and Jewish farmers to farm in the underpopulated steppe lands of the conquered areas of Ukraine. 

Ukranian Nationalism

The year 1848 saw popular uprisings in 50 European countries, with varied results: in Italy, failure; in France, initial republican success followed by reactionary restoration; in Germany, exile of hot-heads; in Swden 18 casualties; in Denmark, gracious accommodation by the king; in Switzerland a new federalist constitution; in Poland, accommodation; in Romania, successful regime change.

The causes were as varied as the outcomes: discontent with absolutist monarchs, famine (potato and rye crop-failures), urbanisation and mechanisation, increasing populations, intellectual middle-class frustration and demand for more democracy. The chief link that brought all this to a head in 1848 seems to have been ideas; the idea of change, of self-determination, of nationalism. Clear examples of the rise of nationalist ideas are:- Finland, and Czechia, where the 'common' language was vastly different from the 'official' language.

The idea of Ukrainian Nationalism started in Galicia, the part of old Kyivan-Rus (or old Ukrainian Right Bank) that was granted to Austria after the Congress of Vienna (1815); perhaps because the 'common' language ('little-Russian', written in Cyrillic) was so different from Austrian German. 

A nation needs more than a distinct language; it needs a 'founding myth', its own distinctive set of  heroes, and cultural 'icons'. The Rus hero Rurik is a founder for both Ukrania and Russia, and Kyiv is an 'icon' venerated by both nations. 

It is a pity that Moscow tends so often to behaves in such a way as to alienate its neighbours . 

(The story continues; see Putin's Point of View)

REFERENCES:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_of_Settlement 

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russification_of_Ukraine

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1848

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_nationalism

Please address comment to cawstein@gmail.com

Alexei Razumovsky

 Alexei Razumovsky

(I think this story will interest lovers of chamber music)

    In November 1741, Elizaveta Petrovna Romanova was 32 years old, active, vivacious, beautiful and intelligent, but she was poorly educated and still unmarried. She (Elizaveta, commonly known as Elizabeth in Britain) strongly resembled her father Peter I (Peter the Great) of Russia, and felt herself to be her father's natural successor. Somehow, in the 16 years since her father's death, the succession had wandered off to another branch of the family. When Peter died in 1725 title went to his widow, Elizabeth's mother, the Tsar's second wife Catherine I, till she died (in 1727); then to the 12-year-old Peter II who died 3 years later; then to Anna a daughter of Ivan V, the  older (but mentally challenged) brother of Peter I. Anna ruled for 10 years, keeping Elizabeth as far from court as possible, not least on account of her superior beauty. But in October 1740 she died, and the throne was deemed to fall to the 2 month old infant Ivan VI, with his mother and von Biron as regents. 

This nonsense clearly exasperated the 32 year old Elizabeth who decided, or was persuaded, to stage a coup. She was well known to various elite guards regiments. She is said to have presented herself, after dark, at regimental headquarters wearing an iron breast-plate over her dress. She asked if the regiment wanted to follow her, their 'natural sovereign' and Peter's daughter, or to follow her dead cousin's 2 month old son Ivan VI,  a grandson of Peter the Great's defective older brother. They chose to follow her, and marched forthwith to the Winter Palace where they imprisoned the infant Tsar, and his guardians. (The infant Ivan was not killed in Elizabeth's lifetime; but was kept in prison, as was his mother, till 1764.)

Back in May 1727, the orphaned Elizabeth, 18 year old daughter of a popular Tsar and a Lithuanian maid servant, had no prospect of inheriting the throne. Her father had betrothed her to a German princeling, but the fiancée had died in that same month of May. No one else came forward to marry her, neither Russian nor foreign. She could not marry a commoner without loosing her status and any prospect of inheriting the crown.  So she chose herself a handsome sergeant of Life Guards as a lover. Her cousin Anna promptly banished him to Siberia. Whereupon Elizabeth consoled herself with a succession of handsome footmen and coachmen. 

However, Elizabeth eventually fell in love with a Ukranian peasant serf called Aleksey Razumovsky (1709-1771) who had a lovely singing voice, and who had been brought to St. Petersburg to sing in a choir. It is said that Grand Duchess Elizabeth purchased him. Later, when she had become Empress, she also helped his much younger brother Kirill (1728-1803), first to attend Göttingen University when he was 15 yrs old and. Then, in 1746, the 18 year old Kirill was married to a second cousin of the Empress called Ekaterina Naryshkina who bore him 11 children. In 1750 Kirill was made Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host till Catherine II abolished that office in 1764, whereupon Kirill was made a Field Marshal. 

When Grand Duchess Elizabeth was crowned Empress in 1742, her handsome musical friend was made a Count of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1756 Elizabeth made him a Russian Prince. The friendship between Aleksey Razumovsky and Elizaveta Petrovna Romanova lasted till the empress died (1762). 

        One of Aleksey's nephews, Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky became Russian ambassador to Austria, was a gifted amateur musician, and commissioned 3 string quartets from Beethoven.