A curious thing occurred after Stalin died in 1953–the emergence of Imperial Russia in Soviet culture. Sure, there was some of this before–the rehabilitation of Imperial figures, events and symbols during the patriotic fervor of WWII. But now, the imperial past returned as a lament, a Russia that was lost, among Soviet Union’s liberal intellectuals and conservatives to discredit the socialist project. Interestingly, this Imperial revival survived the collapse of the Soviet system. And the idea of the “Lost Russia” still resonates among Putin loyalists and liberal oppositionists, forming an odd consensus that has contributed to the reemergence of authoritarianism. Just what is this “Russia that we lost”? How does it attract otherwise political adversaries? And what does this mean for the politics of memory today? To answer these questions, the Eurasian Knot spoke to Pavel Khazanov about his new book, The Russia That We Have Lost: Pre-Soviet Past as Anti-Soviet Discourse published by the University of Wisconsin Press. Guest: Pavel Khazanov is Associate Professor of Russian at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, and the author of The Russia That We Have Lost: Pre-Soviet Past as Anti-Soviet Discourse published by the University of Wisconsin Press. For the next month, you can buy The Russia That We Have Lost for $30 with the promo code: AA251. Send us your sounds! https://euraknot.org/contact/  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/euraknot  Knotty News: https://eurasianknot.substack.com/ Website: https://euraknot.org/