Who is Mikhail Ivankov from Welcome to the Monkey House and what is their importance?

Mikhail is a stone mason from the U.S.S.R. His son, Stepan, was killed in space during an altercation with Bud Ashland. Mikhail writes a letter to Bud's father, Charles, in a gesture of respect, goodwill and understanding. Mikhail is forty-nine years old and bases his understanding and support of space exploration solely on his son Stepan's convictions. To Mikhail, Stepan's thoughts and actions were beautiful, and he remains proud of everything his son did in life. Mikhail struggles to understand why man wants to use space as a tool for war and why the world wants to use his son's death to fuel a conflict. He writes to Ashland to connect with someone he imagines is in a similar position. He also writes to tell Ashland about his son and to let Ashland know that he, Mikhail, does not blame Bud Ashland for what happened.