Washington, Aug. 25 -- American schoolgirl Samantha Smith managed to "melt the ice" of the Cold War with her letter to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov in 1982, a friend of the Smith family and founding director of the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Washington, Natalia Batova, told RIA Novosti on the 40th anniversary of Samantha's death.
"Samantha's action, this letter, indeed melted the ice of the Cold War, when our countries had almost no dialogue. "It is very important to remember it now," Batova said.
She recalled Samantha's own story of how the idea to send the letter appeared. One night, the girl watched TV and asked her parents why the Russians allegedly wanted a war. The adults were busy and advised her to ask the Russians a...