Irina Levshakova

Irina Yuryevna Kuznetsova was born in Leningrad (modern Saint Petersburg) on 6 May 1959. She was born into a family of academics. Levshakova's mother was Irina Vladimirovna Linnik, an art historian specialized in Western European art. Her father, Yuri Ivanovich Kuznetsov, was also an art historian. and her uncle Yuri Linnik (1915–1972) was a mathematician. Her first marriage was to Sergey Levshakov. Already in the same year of their marriage, Levshakova at the age of eighteen had the twin sons Vladimir and Mikhail. For most of her adult life following the first marriage, she used the name Irina Levshakova. == Academic career ==

'' (top view), an extinct species of monitor lizard named by Levshakova Levshakova was a paleontologist During her studies Levshakova wrote two unpublished student works (supervised by Khosatzky) on trionychid turtles, one on trionychids from Late Cretaceous Fergana (1980) and one on trionychids from Cretaceous and Paleogene Mongolia (1981). For her graduate thesis, Trionychids of the Cretaceous and Cenozoic of Middle Asia and Mongolia (1982), Levshakova believed V. darevskii to be the ancestor of the modern desert monitor (V. griseus).'' == Leningrad rock scene ==

Involvement in underground rock From 1980 onwards, Levshakova was in England, where she recorded several programmes with the Russian-language BBC presenter Seva Novgorodsev, In the 25 February programme she was titled as both a paleontologist and an ecologist. Levshakova also unsuccessfully attempted to realize a musical project of her own during her time in England. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, Levshakova briefly moved to England and ran environmental campaigns. Murder attempt Once she returned to Russia, Levshakova began a relationship with , the founder of the band . She starred in the music video for the band's song "The Real Indian" (Песня о настоящем индейце). Their relationship came to an end in October 1992, when Chistyakov attempted to murder her. Reportedly believing that Levshakova was a witch and an "embodiment of evil", Chistyakov put on a painted ritual skirt and borrowed an Uzbek ritual dagger from a friend. While walking down a street with Levshakova at night, Chistyakov suddenly grabbed her by the hair and began to saw her throat with the knife. Because the knife was blunt and Chistyakov stopped immediately when blood began to flow, Levshakova survived the attack. After Chistyakov ran off, a neighbor found Levshakova in the street and asked what was happening, to which she reportedly responded "Don't you see, asshole!? I've been stabbed!" During his trial in court, Chistyakov to his own detriment attempted to defend himself by maintaining that Levshakova was a witch. Chistyakov was detained for a year at the Kresty Prison in Saint Petersburg and was then committed to a mental hospital for compulsory treatment for another year. == Cannabis arrest ==

Levshakova was arrested on 14 September 2010 and the largest ever cannabis plantation in northwestern Russia. In total, over 1247 bushes were found, alongside around 600 grams of already dried product and large amounts that were still being dried. Levshakova made no attempt at hiding her guilt and also confessed to having consumed marijuana for a long time. While they were cutting it down, Levshakova is reported to have yelled out to the policemen to at least let the cannabis ripen. Levshakova was tried for the crime of storage and cultivation of drug-containing plants. Despite the size of the plantation, she received a generous sentence of five years probation, meaning that she could continue to live at home in the Linnik Dacha. == Personal life ==

In 1993, Opinions on Levshakova among the residents of Komarovo were sharply divided. Some considered her an important and indispensable figure in the village whereas others (like Chistyakov had) derided her as a "witch", in large part due to the bad reputation her dacha had gathered during its time as a haven for rock music and drugs. Throughout her later years, Levshakova faced repeated harassment from ill-wishers. The most notable incident saw the killing of all but one of her dogs through poisoning their food. Levshakova also had a poor relationship with her eldest sons, who had grown up largely without her. At one point the twins reportedly attempted to burn down her dacha. Levshakova did not watch television or read books, with the exception of the works of Kozma Prutkov, which she greatly enjoyed. She listened to the Echo of Moscow and Radio Liberty radio stations. In her later life, Levshakova largely stopped listening to Russian rock since it was "not very good", instead listening to the band Gipsy Kings and to Arabic music. She regularly received Arabic records from her brothers, one of whom worked in Kuwait and another who worked as an ambassador in Baghdad. Levshakova also enjoyed writing poetry. Death and tribute Levshakova died of sudden heart failure on 31 January 2016, aged 56. Two days before her death, she called her long-time friend Andrei Tropillo and asked him to accompany her to buy medicines. Though Levshakova told him that she was believed she was dying, Tropillo did not give it much thought since she had often said the same before. Tropillo and Levshakova often took walks together and bought food for her dogs. Levshakova was cremated on the morning of 9 February 2016. Half of her ashes were per her wishes scattered over in Komarovo on 7 May through being shot out of a cannon. The other half were scattered over the grave of one of her sons. The cannon ceremony was attended by numerous artists and bands formerly part of the Leningrad rock scene and coincided with a reunion festival of such artists and bands held in Saint Petersburg from 1 to 6 May. Among the attendees were Tropillo, and his band , and his bands Avtomaticheskie udovletvoriteli and Atskiye Uskoriteli, as well as Pispiska Style, a group composed of several of Levshakova's former close associates. == Legacy ==

Levshakova continued to be remembered by the residents of Komarovo after her death, with some claiming that the Linnik Dacha remained "cursed" and "inhabited by an immortal witch". In 2023, Natalia Jagielska published a short biography of Levshakova in the Palaeontology Newsletter, published by the Palaeontological Association. Jagielska assessed Levshakova as follows: == See also ==