Russia as I see her is a book covering 50 years of life. It is about the Soviet Union, Russia and the transition period between one state and the other. Its author, photo reporter Yuri Abramochkin, worked for APN, one of the largest news agencies in the world. He has travelled around Russia and the world. Everything in this book is fascinating: the photo reports, the portraits, the landscapes, the memories of things that have passed, and intimations of the future. But the most valuable aspect of the book is the people; the world-famous and the unknown, Abramochkin capture both. He possesses the rare ability to see a person and reveal their inner world. Indeed, he is a brilliant portraitist. As a Kremlin photographer, Abramochkin accompanied general secretaries and presidents, engaged with kings and national leaders. But beside snapshots of politicians, he has created a whole portrait gallery of working people and personalities in science, culture and art. These photographs almost seem to be living. Yuri Abramochkin's photographs are accompanied by captions of short stories, which offer the author's own vision of events, psychological background for the scenes or some additional information. The result is an amazing photo chronicle of Russia at the end of the last century and the beginning of a new one. Every snapshot be Abramochkin is a story coming alive. Put together, they are a work of talent, an example of honest and passionate attitude towards life.