Sergei Khrushchev discusses US-Russia relations at UCF

Sergei Khrushchev, son of the late Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, visited UCF this Tuesday to discuss corruption in Russia's democracy.  The event, "Russia in the 21^st Century," took place at 3 p.m. in the Pegasus Ballroom.

The fact that Khrushchev is the son of one of the most notable figures in Soviet history drew in nearly 400 spectators from the school and local community.

The event is one of many organized by UCF's Global Perspectives Office, and is part of the 2010-2011 university-wide theme "Global Peace and Security." The office has been active for approximately 10 years and aims to educate students and people in the community about what is happening around the globe.

Mark Freeman, Public Affairs Coordinator for the office, believes that everything happening around the world affects the local community as well, which is what makes events like these significant.

"We're not here to tell you what to think," said Freeman. "We're here to help form your own opinion and bring in people with real world experience. I mean, who's better to talk about modern Russia than the son of Nikita Khrushchev?"

President Hitt gave the introduction, touching on Khrushchev's father's role during the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the notorious "shoe-banging incident" at the U.N. in 1960, where Nikita Khrushchev took off his shoe and proceeded to pound it on his table in protest of remarks made that the Soviet Union had taken control of most of Eastern Europe.

Laughter ensued throughout Khrushchev's discussion on modern Russia as he cracked jokes during the speech, despite the serious undertones.

The speech hit home with certain members of the audience in particular, as many were Russian or of Russian descent.

"It's surreal. My family lived under his (Khrushchev's) father's regime," said senior Konstantin Ravvin, an economics and finance major.  "My mindset coming into this was that this is the son of one the most oppressive regimes to exist, so I wanted to be skeptical, but it paralleled my sentiments."

The first twenty minutes of the discussion were a crash course in 20^th century Soviet history to help establish why it has been so hard to found a functional democracy in Russia.

 "You have to understand that we can not just create a democratic society overnight," said Khrushchev.

He argued that the history behind the centralization of Russian society and economy makes it hard to simply create a democracy that isn't corrupt by painting a picture of the attitudes of many Russian citizens.

In addition, Khrushchev lead with a slew of examples relating to corruption in the Russian government, referring to the criminal society run by the mafia and next year's upcoming elections. 

According to Khrushchev, Russian leaders have adopted a western mentality in regards to wanting expensive items and material wealth, which is another problem in the country as the leaders continuously accept bribes and have been known to steal from government funds in the past.

Khrushchev concluded with his opinion of the current US-Russian relationship and how it has changed drastically from being a missile building competition between the two countries to an economic competition. 

Despite the current problems in the country and having admitted that his speech was largely negative, he believes that improvement has, and is, being made.

The discussion was followed up with a Q&A, in which several members of the audience participated. Khrushchev was asked his opinion on several subjects ranging from the end of the Russian economic crisis to the happenings in Egypt.

Toward the end of the event, Khrushchev spoke personally with many in the audience and signed several books.

Justin Miller, a senior interdisciplinary studies major, holds a personal interest in the history of the Cold War and claimed he had to make the event in order not to miss an opportunity to hear the son of Nikita Khrushchev speak.

"Everything he said, he nailed," said Miller.

Miller also said that Khrushchev was down to earth and reminiscent of his father, regarding his sense of humor.

A taped interview that took place before the event between Khrushchev and Global Perspectives Director, John Bersia will be available on the Global Perspectives website, http://ucfglobalperspectives.org, and on UCF's YouTube channel.