Soviet Myth of Caucasian Longevity Just That and Other Russian Regions are Offended, ‘Svbodnaya Pressa’ Commentator Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 7 – Near the end of Soviet times, the New Yorker featured a cartoon about longevity in the USSR. The aged figure in it in North Caucasian dress was asked to what he attributed his great age. He responded, while eating a bowl of porridge, “I have never criticized the state.”

            That cartoon was a Cold War echo of a myth the Soviets promoted that the oldest people in the Soviet Union and indeed in the world came from the North Caucasus, a myth that the Putin regime has continued and thus offended other regions in the Russian Federation, the Svobodnaya pressa portal reports (svpressa.ru/health/article/534937/).

            In fact, Russian researchers say, there were then and are now relatively large numbers of people in the Middle Volga and Sakha who have lived more than 100 years; and they and their governments are angry that Moscow writers focus only on the centenarians of the North Caucasus.

            Living so long reflects a variety of factors, including but not limited to genetics, diet, activity levels, and family support. In portions of the North Caucasus, Moscow scholars say, these factors combine in ways that boost the chances people will live to great age. But those factors are present elsewhere, these Russian investigators say.

            Focusing on the North Caucasus alone reenforces the view that living to a great age is the result of genetics alone rather than reflecting as well personal choices and social patterns, something that discourages people living elsewhere from taking the necessary steps or demanding them from their government to ensure that some of them will also live longer.