I visited Russia, in June (2026), both Moscow and Saint-Petersburg. That involved four institutes—ACTP, RQC, Skoltech, Ioffe Institute—and a conference, the ICLO22, where I chaired a session (nonlinear quantum optics) and gave an invited talk (in another session on semiconductor lasers).
I had long and privileged interactions there with my old friend Anton Nalitov (who joined me in Wolverhampton before). He insisted I read The Doomed City by the Strugatsky brothers, which I will before our next meeting, in Paros, in September.