Interview Story - "From Russia with love"

“From Russia with love”

When Mikhail Gorbachev came into power over 20 years ago, Marina Rodina never believed that she would eventually end up in Utah. But it did signal changes to come.

“I have had a very interesting life”, Rodina said. Currently, she is an auditor for the Air Force Audit Agency but things haven’t always been so good.

When Gorbachev came into office in 1985, he promised to bring a new type of government to Russia. “He brought us something new-new hopes,” Rodina said.

Her newly-wed husband, Constantine, had left to Bulgaria for work, but the Communist government would not allow spouses to leave together for fear of defection. So she applied several times for permission to visit her husband but was denied. Rodina even went so far as to write a letter personally to Gorbachev to ask for permission. Finally, she was granted permission to go to visit Constantine for six months.

“But they interview you like you’re almost going to spy out there,” Rodina said. She needed to give personal and family information as a way of ensuring that she would return. But like the government had feared, she never did.

Soon after moving to Bulgaria, she attended drama school and had her first son, Christian. But that wasn’t enough for Constantine. He wanted even more freedom. Despite being “brainwashed” from all the propaganda against the United States, Constantine wanted to move to the United States. Constantine developed a plan to move to France and apply for asylum through the U.S. Embassy. But Rodina and Constantine still had to go through the Russian Embassy. They got permission to “take a vacation” to France but were told that they had to leave their son. “We were young and stupid,” taking Christian, only $300 and no paperwork. Amazingly, they had no difficultly leaving Bulgaria. However, the real trouble began when they arrived in France.

They were taken to a dark, locked room and were asked questions of the French officials. Once the purpose of their arrival in France was known, the French officials wanted to help. But they had no visa, no birth certificate, no proof that Christian did not belong to someone else. Finally, after five hours, Rodina noticed that there was a stamp on the passport that said that Christian was her son written in Russian. After getting a translator, they were able to translate the visa and allowed Rodina, Constantine, and Christian to pass.

Finally free, they were able to go to the American Embassy and started a petition for asylum. But they received no financial help and after the $300 was spent, they were homeless. Then by luck, they came into contact with the Tolstoy Foundation. It was originally established in 1939 by the daughter of Leo Tolstoy to help refugees from Europe and the Soviet Union. The foundation helped Marina and Constantine during the next 1 ½ years that they would spend in France.

Around the time that the Berlin Wall came down, they were finally able to make their way to San Francisco, just in time for a gay pride parade and Halloween, both of which were new concepts to the new immigrants. Rodina described her arrival as a “culture shock.” After some struggles with bad jobs and bad apartments, their lives took an interesting turn.

They met senior Latter-Day Saint missionaries.

“I fell in love with the LDS religion,” Rodina said. Soon she was baptized and became involved with the local ward. However, her heart was soon to be broken. After only a few months in the faith, the bishop that they had started the church with left his family for a younger girl. Devastated, she left the church, but kept in contact with the senior missionaries. These missionaries soon convinced Rodina, her husband, and Christian to move out to Utah. So they packed up everything they owned and headed to Utah. They lived with these ex-missionaries for six months before moving out on their own.

Constantine eventually got a job with the FBI and law enforcement. Rodina started a job at a supermarket, before moving to Zion’s Bank, where she developed an interest in finance. Finally, after a five-year stint with Southwest Airlines, she attended Weber State University, graduating in December 2005. She worked part time as a financial consultant until she became a certified accountant. During school, she started an internship with the Air Force Audit Agency and has stayed with them ever since.