Old Friends

Vladimir Markovich Sanin (1928–1989) was a passionate traveler who visited hard-to-reach corners of the planet, including the Arctic, Antarctica, and the equator. One of the last Soviet romantics, he praised long journeys and heroic professions. His work was mainly devoted to sailors and polar explorers, with whom he was well acquainted. In the novella “Old Friends,” he tells the story of war veterans who, years after it ended, try to figure out which of them had been an informant who sent an innocent man to the GULAG.