At the beginning of the 1990s an event of world historical importance took place: the Russian-dominated Soviet Union, for decades respected, indeed feared, by the West as an equal superpower, fell apart in an unexpected implosion and dissolved into diverse successor states. But since the turn of the 21st century the former centre of power, organised into the Russian Federation, has developed once more into a considerable power, which openly articulates its claims, as demonstrated most recently in the conflict with Ukraine, which even included military intervention. In the context of a long stay in the Russian capital from 1979-80, Siegfried Akkermann tells in his "Moskauer Notizen" the pre-history of the collapse of the Soviet Union from the October Revolution of 1917 onwards. This is told alongside observations of everyday life from the perspective of Russian society, which provide a vivid documentation of the internal process of erosion. At the same time they offer indirectly a model to explain the reawakened self-confidence and the current developments on contemporary Russia as the writing on the wall for the turn of a new political era in Europe.

Siegfried Akkermann (*1935) ist ein deutscher Wissenschaftler, Arzt und Schriftsteller. Studium der Medizin an der Universität Rostock, 1969 Habilitation. Ab 1975 Professor für Sozialhygiene, 1974-1978 Gastprofessuren an den Universitäten von Basra (Irak) und Chapel Hill (North Carolina), 1987-1991 Direktor des Instituts für Sozialmedizin der Universität Rostock. Akkermann war von 1981 bis 1987 Präsident des Deutschen Roten Kreuzes der DDR sowie von 1981 bis 1989 Vizepräsident der Kommission für Gesundheit und Soziale Dienste der Internationalen Föderation der Rotkreuz- und Rothalbmond-Gesellschaften. Von 1990 bis 1998 Vizepräsident des DRK-Landesverbandes Mecklenburg-Vorpommern und seit 2004 Ehrenmitglied des Präsidiums des Deutschen Roten Kreuzes.