“Fusei” and “karamultuk” are the names of ancient flintlock rifles: the former were in service with regular armies, while the latter were used by shepherds and hunters in Central Asia and the Caucasus. The Russian Empire - the “prison of nations” - grew out of the deadly dialogue of these trunks in the days of Suvorov and Sheikh Mansur, Yermolov and Sheikh Shamil, Skobelev and the defenders of Khiva and Kokand...

The texts in this book are evidence of our era, in in which mercilessly opposing forces meet before the start of a general battle, exchanging single shots from cover until the time comes. They were written with the knowledge that future historians would begin to view the first decade of the third millennium as a prologue to radical, perhaps catastrophic changes in the face of world civilization as we know it. And every single shot - whether it is made from a “fusia” polished in the barracks or from my grandfather’s “karamultuk” carefully preserved in the hut - contains in the embryo the entire future barrage of fire, in which, perhaps, our present time will burn without a trace.