Penza, 12 September 2014. PenzaNews. Lieutenant General Konstantin Pulikovsky presented three books of his creation — “Orient Express: Across Russia with Kim Jong-il,” “Stolen Retribution,” and “Here Begins Russia” — in the governor’s house of Penza on Friday, September 12.

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Members of veteran, military, sports, historical and youth associations were invited to the meeting with the author.

The honored guests of the event were the Penza region governor Vasily Bochkarev, the head of culture and the archive of the region Evgeny Shilov, and the editor of the literary magazine “Sura” Boris Shigin.

“Thank you, fellow countrymen, for coming here to see and listen to me. It is indeed a great joy for me,” Konstantin Pulikovsky addressed the audience at the start of the presentation.

He explained that the stories that led to his books are autobiographical in nature and describe the landmark moments in the life of Russia.

“I would not be able to write about something that I have not seen or known. It would not have been an honest story if I told about, say, Chechnya without really having been there,” Lieutenant General said.

Recalling the process of working on the book “Orient Express. Across Russia with Kim Jong-il,” Konstantin Pulikovsky explained that the described events took place in 2002.

“Back then President Vladimir Putin had instructed me to accompany Kim Jong-il during his trip across Russia. We spent 24 days on the train, talked every day with this interesting person during lunch and dinner. I have collected unique material and realized that it is important for the Russians to know this. Thus, my first book was born, which was later translated into Korean and English,” the author of the publication said.

During the presentation, he also answered questions on the state of the modern Russian army and a number of political events.