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| Words in the News
Wednesday 01 May 2002
Vocabulary from the news. Listen to and read the report then find explanations of difficult words below.
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Controversial Russian stamps
Summary: A new series of Russian stamps is causing controversy. They carry the portraits of six of Stalin's secret policemen. They've raised concern amongst human rights groups that the power and influence of the country's secret services may be growing. This report from Steve Rosenberg:
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| | The News | |
| | | Anyone receiving a letter in the Russian post is likely to be a little unnerved by the faces staring up at them from the envelope. Six members of Joseph Stalin's infamous secret police have become the heroes of Russia's latest set of stamps. They are a rather unlikely group of celebrities: among them, Sergei Puzitsky - responsible for the deportation of thousands of peasants during the 1930s - and Vladimir Styrne, a man said to have instigated widespread repression when he was in charge of a local branch of the secret police. The six agents are better known in Russia for their success in catching foreign spies and it's in that capacity they're being honoured by the country's postal service. The stamps have been issued to mark the eightieth anniversary of Russia's counter-intelligence service. Not everyone, though, is celebrating. Human rights activists have expressed their opposition to the idea of putting spies on stamps. One survivor of the Gulag, who I spoke to, said she considered the stamps an insult, and would not be sticking any on her letters.
Steve Rosenberg, BBC, Moscow
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| | The Words
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| | | unnerved
frightened or startled
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| | | infamous
people or things that are well known because they are evil or connected with something evil
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| | | deportation
the sending out of an area, region or country of a person or number of people
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| | | peasants
people who work on the land, especially those who own a small piece of land in a poor country
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| | | instigated
if you instigate an event or situation, you cause it to happen by your own effort or work
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| | | repression
the use of force to restrict and control a group of people
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| | | to mark
to note, or commemorate an event
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| | | the Gulag
the system of detention camps for political prisoners
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