Here the author, speaking as commentator, allows himself some very subtle allusions that the editor disagrees with. It seems the allusions are tied to the 1991 Gulf War. At the very time Russian citizens believed in freedom and democracy and rushed off to embrace the democrats, a tank was rolling out of there... Rolling out far away in Asia, for no clear reason, but a residue remained. Not everything in this world is so simple...
The tank as a symbol of the era
The image of the tank in the scene being described carries a multi-layered symbolism that only unfolds within the context of the catastrophic transformation Russia was undergoing in 1993. It was a year when illusions finally collided with reality, when romantic hopes for a swift transformation of the country into a prosperous democracy were shattered against a harsh reality.
The author of the novel creates a surreal picture in which ordinary metro passengers find themselves in a desert, facing armed violence. This metaphor precisely reflects the sense of disorientation felt by millions of Russians that year. The familiar world had collapsed, and the new one turned out to be unpredictable and dangerous, like this phantasmagorical desert with its tank.
1993: between hope and catastrophe
By early 1993, the country was in a state of the deepest political and economic crisis. The reforms begun after the collapse of the USSR in December 1991 turned into a catastrophe for most of the population. Hyperinflation reached monstrous proportions: over 1992, prices rose 26-fold. Citizens' savings at Sberbank lost 94 percent of their value. People who not long before had believed in a bright future found themselves destitute.
The political standoff between President Boris Yeltsin and the Supreme Soviet, led by Ruslan Khasbulatov, reached a boiling point. Both sides considered themselves the sole legitimate representatives of authority. Yeltsin demanded the adoption of a new Constitution that would sharply strengthen presidential power. The Supreme Soviet insisted on preserving the powers of the Congress of People's Deputies and opposed what it called reckless and destructive economic reforms.
Spring 1993: the referendum and the illusion of compromise
In March 1993 there was an attempt to impeach the president. It failed, falling short of the required two-thirds of votes. But the tension did not ease. On April 25 a referendum was held with four questions, which went down in history under the advertising slogan "yes-yes-no-yes." A majority of citizens expressed trust in Yeltsin, but also came out in favor of early parliamentary elections. It seemed a way out of the crisis had been found.
But this was an illusion. The Constitutional Conference convened by the president in May-June failed to reconcile the two competing visions for the country's future structure. The "presidential" draft Constitution called for a strong executive branch. The "deputies'" draft, developed by the Constitutional Commission under Oleg Rumyantsev, leaned toward a parliamentary republic. Compromise proved impossible.
September-October: toward armed confrontation
In the summer of 1993, Yeltsin began preparing for a forceful resolution of the conflict. On August 31, together with Defense Minister Pavel Grachev, he inspected the Kantemirovskaya and Tamanskaya divisions. On September 16 the president visited the Dzerzhinsky Internal Troops Division. The meaning of these visits was transparent: checking the loyalty of the troops.
On September 1, Yeltsin removed Vice President Alexander Rutskoy from office; Rutskoy had become one of the leading critics of government policy. This decision had no constitutional basis, but it was another step toward the denouement.
On September 21, the president signed Decree No. 1400, "On Phased Constitutional Reform in the Russian Federation." This decree ordered the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet to cease operating and scheduled elections for a new parliament for December 11-12. Under the Constitution then in force, the president had no right to issue such a decree. Formally, Yeltsin had carried out a coup d'état.
Legal deadlock and an armed solution
The Supreme Soviet immediately declared Yeltsin's powers terminated and transferred authority to Vice President Rutskoy. The Constitutional Court ruled the president's actions unconstitutional. The country found itself in a state of dual power: two branches of government both claimed legitimacy, and each could justify its position.
Supporters of the Supreme Soviet began gathering at the House of Soviets, known as the White House. The standoff took the form of a siege: the building was surrounded by police and troops, and utilities were cut off. Inside were deputies and their supporters; outside, the security forces loyal to the president.
On October 3, supporters of the Supreme Soviet broke through the cordon and moved toward the center of Moscow. Clashes broke out near the mayor's office on Novy Arbat, and there was an attempt to storm the Ostankino television center. At least 46 people died in the fighting at Ostankino. The situation spun out of control.
October 4: tanks in the streets of Moscow
On the morning of October 4, tanks of the Tamanskaya Division opened fire on the White House. These were the very tanks whose crews' loyalty Yeltsin had checked at the end of August. The building burned, and gunfire continued. By evening the resistance had been crushed. Rutskoy, Khasbulatov, and other leaders of the parliamentary opposition were arrested.
Officially, about 150 people died, though the real figures may be higher. Among the victims were not only participants in the standoff but also random people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Tanks fired on a residential building in the center of the capital. It was unthinkable.
After the storming: the victor's dictatorship
After the resistance was crushed, Yeltsin effectively concentrated the full extent of power in his own hands. On October 7, the Moscow City Council was dissolved, and heads of regional administrations who had opposed Decree 1400 were removed from office. Chairman of the Constitutional Court Valery Zorkin was forced to resign under threat of criminal prosecution. Prosecutor General Valentin Stepankov was removed from office in violation of the Constitution.
On October 9, the president terminated the powers of Soviets at all levels across the entire country. Representative government was destroyed by a single decree. On December 12, a vote was held on a new Constitution, which enshrined enormous powers for the president. Officially, 58 percent of participants voted for it, though serious doubts about the reliability of these figures emerged later.
The tank metaphor: the layers of the symbol
Let's return to the scene from the novel. The tank appears suddenly, in clouds of pink dust. It fires on a metro car – a symbol of peaceful everyday life. Passengers who a moment before were simply going about their business find themselves facing violence. Those who try to approach the tank watch it destroy their shelter. An attempt to flee ends with people on the ground, under the threat of machine-gun fire.
This is a precise description of what happened to Russian society in 1993. People lived ordinary lives, tried to adapt to the new reality, and suddenly found themselves at the center of an armed conflict. The state used military force against its own citizens. Tanks that were supposed to defend the country against an external enemy fired on an administrative building in Moscow.
The commander in a fire helmet: an image of chaos
The description of the tank commander is especially telling. A fire helmet on his head, a muscular torso wrapped in a scrap of gray fabric, a hybrid of bast shoes and sandals in the largest size available. This is an image of barbarism, chaos, the disintegration of civilization. A man with modern weaponry, but in strange, absurd gear. Force without legitimacy, violence without rules.
This commander's behavior – attacking a defenseless woman, killing the man who tried to protect her, shooting fleeing people – is an image of absolute arbitrariness. No laws, no norms. Only brute force and cruelty. This is exactly how many perceived the events of October 1993: as the triumph of brute force over law, as the destruction of every rule of the game.
The Gulf War: a parallel symbol
The editor mentions the 1991 Gulf War, and this allusion deserves elaboration. In January-February 1991, the world watched Operation Desert Storm – a military campaign by an international coalition against Iraq. It was the first war broadcast on television in real time. Viewers saw the night sky over Baghdad lit up by anti-aircraft fire, heard military analysts' commentary, watched troop movements.
For Soviet, and then Russian, citizens, this war held special significance. The USSR had supported Iraq, supplied it with weapons, trained its military. And now the Western countries, led by the US, were demonstrating their overwhelming military-technical superiority. The Iraqi army, armed with Soviet equipment, was crushed within a matter of weeks.
The desert as a space of illusions
The Gulf War took place in the desert – the very same symbolic space where the scene from the novel unfolds. The desert is a place where illusions collapse. In the desert you cannot hide, there are no familiar bearings, a person is defenseless against the elements and against armed force.
At the start of 1991, Soviet people still believed in their country's special path, in socialism with a human face, in Gorbachev's ability to reform the system without destroying it. The Gulf War showed that Soviet military might was a myth. Western technology was a generation ahead of Soviet developments. A country that considered itself a superpower turned out to be helpless.
«Rushed off to embrace the democrats»
The editor's commentary contains bitter irony: "At the very time Russian citizens believed in freedom and democracy and rushed off to embrace the democrats, a tank was rolling out of there." Indeed, in 1991-1993, Russian society was living through a euphoria over its newly won freedoms. Censorship had collapsed, it became possible to speak freely, borders had opened.
Many sincerely believed that Russia would now quickly transform into a prosperous, Western-style democratic country. It seemed enough simply to renounce communism and introduce a market economy – and everything would fall into place. Western politicians and economists were happy to offer advice, promising help and investment.
The betrayal of expectations
But reality turned out to be quite different. Market reforms led to the impoverishment of most of the population. Privatization turned into a plundering of state property. Crime spun out of control. The state was falling apart. And the very same Western democrats Russians "rushed off to embrace" displayed a rather selective approach to democratic values.
When tanks fired on parliament on October 4, 1993, Western leaders expressed support for Yeltsin. US President Bill Clinton called the Russian president's actions forced and justified. No one condemned the use of military force against a legislative body. Democratic values turned out to matter only when convenient.
The tank as a metaphor for Western democracy
Perhaps the author of the novel sees a deeper connection between the tank in the desert and the Western model of democracy. A tank, which looks like a protector, in fact brings death to those who approach it. Democracy, which promised freedom and prosperity, turned into chaos and violence.
The tank commander in his fire helmet is an image of a false savior. He is supposed to put out fires, but instead he starts them. He is supposed to protect people, but he kills them. In exactly the same way, the reforms that were supposed to bring prosperity destroyed the economy. Democratization, which was supposed to bring freedom, led to dictatorship.
Pink dust and blood on the sand
Let's note the color symbolism of the scene. The tank appears in clouds of pink dust – a color associated with something light, pleasant, perhaps even romantic. But this pink haze conceals a deadly machine. And after the shot, the sand is covered in brown bloodstains.
This is a precise metaphor for what was happening to public consciousness in Russia in the early 1990s. Rosy illusions about a swift transformation into a prosperous Western country concealed the brutal reality of a redistribution of property and a struggle for power. And when the haze cleared, victims and destruction were revealed.
The metro passengers: an image of society
The metro passengers in the novel are an image of ordinary people who are simply trying to get from point A to point B. They are not politicians, not participants in the conflict. They are simply living their lives. And suddenly they find themselves at the epicenter of violence.
This is exactly how most Russians perceived the events of 1993. People tried to survive amid the economic crisis, to feed their families, to keep their jobs. The political standoff in Moscow seemed distant and incomprehensible. And then, suddenly, tanks in the streets of the capital, gunfire, casualties.
The division into men and women
The tank commander divides the prisoners into two groups – men and women. This is a gesture that evokes the most archaic forms of violence, the taking of captives, the right of the strong. Civilization retreats, laying bare primal cruelty.
The attack on the woman, the killing of the man who tried to protect her – this is the culmination of the collapse of every norm. There are no more laws, no morality, no humanity. There is only violence and fear. This is exactly how many saw Russia after October 1993: a country where there were no longer any rules, where brute force wins.
The residue that remained
The editor writes: "Rolling out far away in Asia, for no clear reason, but a residue remained. Not everything in this world is so simple." Indeed, the Gulf War took place far from Russia and formally had no direct bearing on it. But a residue remained.
This residue is the sense that the world isn't arranged the way it seemed. That the strong are always right, that democratic values are applied selectively, that violence can be justified with the right words. That tanks can fire on peaceful people, and it will be called restoring constitutional order.
An unknown world, unlike the real one
The novel's hero, Peskov, finds himself in an unknown world, unlike the real one. But how real was the world Russians actually lived in during 1993? A country that just two years earlier had been a superpower had fallen apart. The economy had collapsed. Parliament had been shelled by tanks. The Constitution was being trampled by every side of the conflict. A president elected by the people carried out a coup and remained in power.
Perhaps that unknown world – the desert with its tank, where a commander in a fire helmet kills defenseless people – was exactly it. A world where no one understands what is happening or why. Where those who promised protection yesterday are shooting today. Where words have lost their meaning, and actions their logic.
Conclusion: a metaphor the editor disagrees with
The editor writes that he disagrees with the author's subtle allusions. Perhaps because these allusions are too painful. They lay bare a truth that many would prefer to forget: that Russia's democratization turned into tragedy, that hopes were betrayed, that the tank that rolled out somewhere far away in an Asian desert eventually arrived on the streets of Moscow.
The Gulf War marked the end of the Soviet era. The events of October 1993 showed what the beginning of the new Russian era would look like. Between these two points lies only two and a half years, but a whole chasm. A chasm at the bottom of which lie shattered hopes, devalued savings, and people who died in the October fighting.
The author of the novel creates a surreal picture that turns out to be more precise than any realistic description. Because the reality of 1993 was itself surreal. A metro that turns into a desert. A tank with a commander in a fire helmet. People who don't understand what's happening or how to save themselves. That was Russia at the time – a country lost in a desert, where tanks emerge from a pink haze of illusion.