The Hidden War: A Russian Journalist's Account of the Soviet War in Afghanistan

by Artyom Borovik, Artem Borovik

Release Date: 10 May, 2001

Edition: Paperback

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Before and After Shots of War Journalism

Borovik died before getting the chance to re-edit the book, so what you'll get is a striking juxtaposition of stances toward the Russian-Afghan war. The first section of the book was written in 1987, when Borovik was working for the Soviet magazine Ogonyok. It's the sort of patriotic, sentimental journalism you'd get a 19th-c. British or 20th-c. American reporter: lots of conversations with goodhearted, homesick grunts, but very little thought about what they're doing or whether it's working.

The second part of the book describes the very messy withdrawal of the Soviet Army from Afghanistan. It was written only two years later, but it's a completely different style of journalism. With the Soviet verities crumbling, Borovik can describe the chaos and folly of an Imperial war gone wrong. His account of the Soviet convoys trying to get through the Salang Pass without being ambushed is a weirdly lyrical, beautiful description of military failure as high drama.

This isn't an account of the war, nor a carefully-crafted essay on war journalism. It's a collection of articles by a very good journalist describing the collapse of his country, as refracted in the latter stages of the disastrous Soviet Afghan adventure.

A Journalist's Account

I am an avid reader of military history and have a particular interest in the Soviet Army. I must say that I was very disappointed with Artyom Borovik's book.

Given the author's vast personal experience and newly acquired literary freedom, the work should have provided priceless insight into the Red Army and combat in Afghanistan. Instead, the book was nothing more than a series of interviews with officers, soldiers, statesmen, and deserters. Keeping in mind that Borovik was a writer for a Soviet magazine at the time, it shouldn't be too hard understand how he could have dropped the ball. The book reads like a long magazine article.

There were only descriptions of two brief actions in the entire book. One was in the opening chapters and the other was at the end of the story. To make matters worse, Borovik rails on about bloodshed, nightmares, and the countless horrors of war he's witnessed, but never gives any details. It is very frustrating for the reader.

One should also keep in mind that this book was written originally in Russian, intended for people who had been living in a society without freedom of the press. More ground breaking than anything else to them is the mere fact that Borovik was able to write a story stating that Moscow possibly wasn't telling the truth about the war, or that her soldiers may not believe in the communist cause, or that corruption was rampant in the Red Army.

That's all old hat to American readers and makes for dull reading.