The Russians have become grave robbers. Late last month, a squad of President Putin’s special forces embarked on an unusual secret mission in Kherson, close to the southern front, as the Ukrainians advanced. They were not storming a bastion nor slaughtering civilians but raiding a stone tomb in a cathedral. Their target was a body — the body of a man who had been dead for more than two centuries.
This was not just any heap of bones but the body of the most dazzling statesman ever to rule Russia: Serenissimus Prince Potemkin, the partner of, and co-ruler with, Catherine the Great. Importantly, Potemkin was also the conqueror of south Ukraine and Crimea, so not just any old Russian hero, but a titan with special significance for Putin — as I know from personal experience.
