From Russian with Love : Joseph Brodsky in English

Had I been there? Had I seen the Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin arriving, at the last moment, in a stretch-limousine and immidiatly voicing objections to Joseph being buried outside Russia, because after all the was a great Russian poet (великий русский поэт), perhaps I would have found if easier to believe that he truly was gone. Since they had come to claim him, he had to be gone! He belonged to the Russian language, not to Russia, either Soviet or post-Soviet.

«I simply think that the best every country has is its language. To say the least, I am perfectly confident that the best thing Russia has... had... will always have... is its language» Иосиф Бродский