A Baker’s Dozen of ‘Only in Russia’ Stories

Paul Goble

Staunton, March 9 – Every day brings a fresh harvest of stories from Russia that generally pass under the radar screens of most Russians and even more of those who live beyond that country’s current borders.  But many of them, in small ways and large, shed light on Russia and Russians. Herewith a collection of 13 from the last week:

1.      Will Russia Soon Have a Happiness Ministry? As polls show that Russians are becoming ever more unhappy with their lot under Vladimir Putin, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko wants to establish a happiness rating system and even a federal ministry of happiness to help turn the situation around (finanz.ru/novosti/aktsii/matvienko-predlozhila-izmeryat-schaste-rossiyan-ot-resheniy-chinovnikov-1028004238 and fedpress.ru/news/77/policy/2200667).f

2.      Defense Ministry Needs a Fact Checking Department to Gets Its Stories Straight. Independent military analyst Aleksandr Golts says that Russian generals and defense ministry officials are now contradicting themselves and each other so often that the defense ministry should set up a special department for fact checking their statements (ej.ru/?a=note&id=33515).

3.      Communalkas Returning This Time for Profit and Kremlin Doesn’t Like It.  One of the things most Russians were glad to see the end of with the passing of Soviet times was the communal apartment, but such arrangements in which more than one family lives under one root are returning, this time around for profit (lenta.ru/articles/2019/03/05/komnaty/). The Putin regime is not entirely happy about this kind of capitalism and is moving to ban one form of the new communalkas, the renting out of apartments as hostels (egnum.ru/news/2584725.html  and themoscowtimes.com/2019/03/06/russia-moves-to-ban-hostels-in-apartments-endangering-budget-travel-a64719). Many say this will depress incomes further and reduce tourism as well.

4.      Federation Council Wants Sobering Up Stations – But Those Put in Them Must Pay.  Sobering up stations, a ubiquitous feature of Soviet cities, have generally disappeared from the Russian scene. But some Russian senators want to bring them back to cope with public drunkenness – but only if this not cost the state anything. Instead, they say, those put in such places should pay for the privilege (rbc.ru/politics/05/03/2019/5c7d3c8e9a79478aa0d03963?from=from_main).  

5.      98 Richest Russians have as Much Wealth as All Other Russians Combined. Income inequality has long been on the rise in Russia, but a new estimate shows just how extreme this has become. The 98 richest Russians now are reported to have as much wealth as the other 145 million Russians combined (charter97.org/ru/news/2019/2/28/325105/). But money isn’t everything: doctors who took government subsidies to move to the Trans-Baikal are giving it back so they can come back to European regions of the country (agonia-ru.com/archives/29860).

6.      6. Rogozin’s Wife Wants a Fan Club for Roskosmos, the Agency Her Husband Heads.  Dmitry Rogozin who has faced much criticism for his mishandling of the Russian space program and has complained recently about a shortage of funds now has a new ally: his wife, who has announced plans to create a Roskomos fan club (znak.com/2019-03-07/supruga_dmitriya_rogozina_obyavila_o_sozdanii_fan_kluba_roskosmosa). 

7.      Russians Don’t Like Rising Tide of Foreign Words but Don’t Want State to Stop It.  A new survey finds that ever more Russians are upset about the flood of foreign loan words that have come into their language in recent years, but the same poll also finds that they do not want the government to take steps to try to reverse this trend by bureaucratic means  (ruskline.ru/news_rl/2019/03/06/borba_za_velikij_i_moguchij_prodolzhaetsya/).

8.      If You Live in Patience, Russia, You Need It. A man who lives in the Russian village of Patience (“Terpenye”) in Omsk Oblast has filed 1700 complaints about the same problem with officials and has yet to receive an answer (sibreal.org/a/29806075.html). 

9.      Moscow Patriarchate Now Fighting Leaks. The Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church is now confronted with a problem many large organizations have: leaks.  And it has announced plans to crack down on all who release information to the media and others which the church hierarchs want to keep secret (credo.press/223252/).  

10.  Russia Falls Behind Belarus on Rule of Law and Gender Equality. According to new international surveys, Russia now ranks lower than  Belarus as far as rule of law and gender equality are concerned, a striking and disturbing finding given the reputation Belarus has (thinktanks.by/publication/2019/03/05/v-reytinge-verhovenstva-prava-2019-belarus-obognala-rossiyu-i-ukrainu.html  and thinktanks.by/publication/2019/03/01/vsemirnyy-bank-belarus-oboshla-rossiyu-po-urovnyu-gendernogo-ravenstva.html).

11.  Russian Prisons Plan to Set Up Hospices Rather than Release Gravely Ill Inmates. In most countries, officials release gravely ill prisoners so they can die at home, but in Russia, the penal system wants to keep them in jail until the end and has announced plans to set up hospices to hold them at the end (takiedela.ru/2019/03/umeret-na-vole/). What is striking about this besides its cruelty is that the Russian authorities, in the name of Putin’s “optimization” campaign, have not been supportive of hospices for Russians in the big zone.

12.  Vladivostok Christ Statue Would be Taller than Rio’s.  Officials in Primorsky kray are now discussing a proposal to build a statue of Jesus Christ on the model of the one in Rio de Janiero but to make it 68 meters tall and thus higher than the Brazilian version, yet another manifestation of the Russian proclivity for surpassing others no matter how absurd that might be (govoritmoskva.ru/news/190311/).

13.  Tver Man Raises ‘Flag of Freedom’ on His House – It’s That of Ukraine. A Russian in Tver has put up the national banner of Ukraine on his house, telling his neighbors that it is “the flag of freedom” and that he had raised it in honor of Ukrainians held captive in Russia (qha.com.ua/po-polochkam/eto-flag-svobody-elektrik-iz-tverskoj-oblasti-rasskazal-zachem-podnyal-nad-domom-ukrainskij-flag-i-kak-na-eto-otreagirovali-sosedi/).