ИСТИНА

The Scots in Russia Presented by Billy Kay An Odyssey Production for BBC Radio Scotland. Dec 22, 29, and January 5 at 13.32 Repeated the following Sundays at 07.03. Also available on the BBC iPlayer for 30 days. In Moscow, Billy speaks to Mairi Koroleva a descendant of the poet Mikhail Lermontov, who was intensely aware of his Scottish roots and expresses his desire to see the land of his forefathers in his poetry. There’s also a remarkable fey twist to the Lermontov story which could have come from the other Learmonth poet, Thomas the Rhymer himself! Lermontov died in a duel at a place called Shotlandka or Little Scotland, the site of a former Scottish Presbyterian Mission to Circassia, while his death ceritificate was signed by a Barclay de Tolly. That family from Towie Barlay castle in Aberdeenshire, also produced the Russian hero who resisted Napoleon, Prince Mikhail Barclay de Tolly.