Not to worry, Alexei. Homicidal tyrants can destroy a lot, but not cultural heritage. Hitler, for example, made every effort to co-opt Germany’s spectacular intellectual, artistic, and musical heritage for his own ideological purposes—he even had a performance of Beethoven’s 9th (“All men shall be brothers) at the. Climax of his massive, showy Nuremberg rally. Yet the Allie’s adopted Beethoven’s 5th as their own theme song, since the Morse Code for “V” is dot-dot-dot-dash. Cultural monuments, whether artistic, literary, or musical, originate within and reflect specific cultures, but they belong to the world, for they reflect deep truths that transcend cultural differences altogether. So encourage your mother to offer Russian lessons by all means, so that her students may one day savor the glories of Pushkin or Dostoyevsky or Chekhov in their own native language.