I have been collecting and preparing this photo album throughout the last 50 years of my life as a reporter. Initially, I did not quite know why I was doing it. Now that the book has seen the light of day, I would like to thank all my heroes who have enabled me to take these photographs. I am sorry that circumstances have prevented me from photographing everything I wanted to. I hope that, in time, my work will become a photo chronicle of our times, my generation and my country.
Yuri Abramochkin