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Along the way, Svetlana found religion. Baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church in 1962 by a certain Father Nikolai ("He has died recently, unfortunately'), she developed "great sympathy" with Hinduism ("of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda"), Roman Catholicism ("In Switzerland I have met a lot of fine people who were Catholics") and Christian Science.
Social Purpose. Prodded by reporters to denounce the Soviet leadership, Svetlana showed a remarkable reluctance to oversimplify Stalin's injustices. "I feel somewhat responsible for those horrible things, killing people unjustly," she admitted. "But I think that many other people who are still in our Central Committee and Politburo should be responsible for the same things for which he alone was accused."
With her autobiography already sold to Harper & Row, and serialization set for this fall in LIFE and the New York Times, Svetlana will probably earn $1,000,000, which she plans to dispense philanthropically in her husband's native village, in Switzerland (where she stayed before coming to the U.S. last month) for an orphanage, and "here also for some social purpose. I am not going to become very rich woman because it is absolutely impossible for me to become a rich person here." Does she intend to apply for U.S. citizenship? "Well," said Svetlana, "I think that before the marriage, it should be love." After the press conference, Svetlana returned to her hideaway near Manhasset on Long Island. Two days later, she began to consummate that unlikely marriage by shopping for some $60 worth of shoes, slacks and a sweater along the suburban city's Miracle Mile.