150 years ago, on October 22, 1870, Ivan Bunin was born. He was a Russian poet and prose writer, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, honorary member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, emigrant and one of the most sophisticated and unbiased witnesses of his turbulent time.

Foreigners put blind trust in stories about Russian bears, nuclear threat and ubiquarian KGB agents. However, the list of the most convincing myths about Russia is topped by the one of Russian drinking. It turned out to be so strong and persistent that even the Russians have believed  it. It is not a mere coincidence that our fellow citizens think Russian people have always drunk, and a holiday  feast is considered to be a national tradition. Who made the whole world believe the banal stereotypes? Why do all historians claim the opposite and who benefits from the myth of Russian drinking?