12 Facts About Vasily Belov

Vasily Ivanovich Belov was a Soviet and Russian writer, poet and dramatist, who published more than sixty books which sold seven million copies.

Vasily Belov was a harsh critic of the Soviet rural policies, which he felt were dominated by the cosmopolitan doctrines aiming at repressing the Russian national identity.

Vasily Belov, the USSR State Prize and the State Prize of the Russian Federation laureate, was a recipient of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, the Order of Lenin, the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class and the Order of Honour.

Vasily Ivanovich Belov was born in Timonikha, Kharovsky District, Northern Krai, now Vologda Oblast, into a peasant family, the eldest of five children.

An outspoken opponent of some of the Soviet official policies, Vasily Belov has not for a moment been considered a dissident, having found his ideological stronghold in the opposite corner of the ideological specter.

Vasily Belov's plays Over the Light Waters, On the 206th, The Immortal Koshchey were running in theatres all over the country, all highlighting the idea of fighting amorality and concentrating upon preserving the Russian natural riches.

Vasily Belov started to get involved in the practical politics, first as the People's deputy, then the member of the Supreme Soviet.

The Honeymoon novella came out in 1996, but by this time Vasily Belov became better known as an author of highly emotional essays on issues like the demise of small Russian villages and the degradation of the Russian language.

In 1997 Vasily Belov became the Honorary citizen of Vologda.

Vasily Belov devoted his last years to the restoration of the Nikolskaya church in Timonikha where he had been baptized as a child.

Vasily Belov financed the project and worked on scaffolds himself.

Vasily Belov died on 4 December 2012, aged 80, in Vologda.