science

Marina Kalashnikova

Marina Kalashnikova is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Marina Kalashnikova rather than just read about it. In short: Marina Kalashnikova (died 3 August 2013) was a Russian historian and freelance journalist. In 2010 she and her ex-KGB agent husband Viktor Kalashnikov were treated in hospital in Germany for mercury poisoning in what they have said was an attempt on their life by Russia's FSB, the successor to the KGB.

Key takeaways

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Reference excerpt

Marina Kalashnikova (died 3 August 2013) was a Russian historian and freelance journalist. In 2010 she and her ex-KGB agent husband Viktor Kalashnikov were treated in hospital in Germany for mercury poisoning in what they have said was an attempt on their life by Russia's FSB, the successor to the KGB. The case has been compared to the alleged poisoning and murder of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko. She died of cancer in Moscow in 2013.

Personal life She was married to Viktor Kalashnikov, a former KGB colonel and journalist.

Activities Kalashnikova and her husband had been publishing articles critical of the Russian Government since the 1990s. They left Russia and have lived in various countries, such as Ukraine, Poland, Estonia and now Germany. They claim to have been warned to cease their activities at various points in the 1990s and 2000s by KGB agents.

Views Kalashnikova considers Russia to be ruled in an anti-democratic way: "It is clear that the [Kremlin] regime has no restraint and will commit any crime, break any rule, surpass any benchmark in order to consolidate its already illegitimate power". She has also criticised Western analysts for thinking that conflict with Russia can be avoided. In August 2009 she stated, "The West does not care to wake from the dream of its wishful thinking, even when Moscow turns to [...] reanimating Joseph Stalin’s cult of personality together with the ideology of the Cheka." She also accuses Russia of trying to expand its influence around the world: "The Kremlin has activated a network of extremists in the Third World [...] Russia has managed to shake off nearly all international conventions restricting the expansion of its military power." In the view of writer Jeffrey R. Nyquist, these kinds of views have made Kalashnikova a target: "When Marina Kalashnikova presented her analysis to Russian and Ukrainian readers on August 26, 2008, she annoyed the regime and made herself a target of the Russian secret police. Her Moscow residence was broken into. Private papers were stolen. Threats were made. And last, but not least, she was forcibly incarcerated in a psychiatric clinic for 35 days. 'I am completely healthy,' Kalashnikova told me during a telephone interview on Sunday. 'It was absolutely political … and not medical at all.'" Kalashnikova said that the authorities justified her detention as being because she had been "aggressive".

Poisoning In 2010, Kalashnikova noticed she was losing her hair. Doctors at Berlin's Charite hospital discovered that she had 56 microgrammes of mercury per litre of blood, while her husband had 53.7 microgrammes. The safe level is between one and three microgrammes. Viktor Kalashnikov has told the press that "Moscow poisoned us". The case has been compared with that of another former Russian security officer, Alexander Litvinenko, who was murdered in London in 2006. He was administered radioactive polonium. Later, German prosecutors have dropped an investigation. Spokesman for the state prosecutor's office in Berlin told the AFP news agency: "There is no evidence that they were poisoned, at least in Germany."

See also Karinna Moskalenko – lawyer who claims to have been poisoned with mercury by the Russian authorities

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Marina Kalashnikova

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Marina Kalashnikova claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Marina Kalashnikova before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Marina Kalashnikova ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Marina Kalashnikova

In research: Marina Kalashnikova appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Marina Kalashnikova in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Marina Kalashnikova is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2013 deaths, 21st-century Russian journalists, 21st-century Russian women journalists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Marina Kalashnikova outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Marina Kalashnikova in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Marina Kalashnikova means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Marina Kalashnikova out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Marina Kalashnikova in simple terms?

Why does Marina Kalashnikova matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Marina Kalashnikova?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Marina Kalashnikova.