A Baker’s Dozen of Russian Stories Too Strange Not to Be True

Paul Goble

            Staunton, March 31 – This past week, as it seems every week, has featured numerous stories from Russia that are definitely in the too strange not to be true category. Below are 13 of the most interesting and at least in some ways potentially instructive about Russia today:

1.      Siberian Teacher’s Dismissal for Swimsuit Photograph Sparks Others to Pose in Protest. A teacher in Siberia who had a photograph of herself in a remarkably modest swimsuit, prompting teachers and celebrities across Russia to post photographs of themselves in swim suits and more risqué underwear in protest (maximonline.ru/guide/maximir/_article/fleshmob-kuvshinnikova/ and ura.news/articles/1036277824).

2.      Global Warming May Cost Russia Territory but Add to It as Well. As the Russian Arctic warms, some islands are disappearing but others are appearing. As of now, Russia has gained more land there than it has lost (siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/changing-face-of-the-arctic-one-significant-island-vanishes-from-the-map-but-a-dozen-appear/).

3.      Nastya Rybka Names Her Price.  The young “sex trainer” whose dalliance with an oligarch and activities in Thailand attracted so much attention a few months ago has now announced her price: anyone who wants to spend a night with her must come up with 2,000 euros (2600 US dollars) (rusmonitor.com/za-2000-evro-nastya-rybka-stanet-vashejj-na-vsyu-noch-istochnik.html).  Meanwhile, Snob has published a comparison of the prices of prostitution in various regions of the Russian Federation (snob.ru/entry/174160).

4.      Saami Accuse Russian Officials of Racial Discrimination. Members of the Saami nation who live astride the Norwegian-Russian border have accused Murmansk officials of racial discrimination against them (novayagazeta.ru/news/2019/03/29/150425-korennoy-narod-saami-obvinil-pravitelstvo-murmanskoy-oblasti-v-rasovoy-diskriminatsii).

5.      Krasnodar Youths Caught Pissing on Eternal Flame. Two young men in Krasnodar Kray were caught on camera extinguishing the city’s war memorial in a most unattractive way (by24.org/2019/03/30/piss_on_eternal_flame/). Other, better behaved young Russians, however, are going to find getting into university easier: 20 Russian higher educational institutions have announced they’ll give extra points in the admission process to those in Russian Youth Army (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5C9E29CF51954).

6.      KPRF, Orthodox Church in Kaliningrad Say Gnome Statues Promote Paganism.  The communists and the Russian Orthodox Church in the Russian exclave have united to oppose displays of gnomes because, they both suggest, such statues promote paganism (facebook.com/SANDYMUSTACHE/posts/1465154306952097).

7.      Tula Deputy Fined for Meeting with Voters without Permission.  A deputy in the Tula assembly has been fined for meeting with his own electorate without getting permission from the authorities, a violation of Russia’s law governing public meetings (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5C9A110A4110D). Meanwhile, other deputies at the regional level are showing that they are prepared to go even further in taking repressive measures than Moscow yet is: St. Petersburg deputies are calling for reviving the Soviet-era practice of forced psychiatric treatment for those who don’t fit into Russian life (facebook.com/serkova.natalya/posts/1214971411985038).

8.      Moscow Patriarchate Priests Signal What’s Important: Money and Nuclear Weapons. Patriarch Kirill’s personal spiritual advisor took the unusual step of blessing only those with money at a recent religious service (credo.press/223609/), and a new church-sponsored memorial to the developers of Russia’s first atomic bomb is shown as a priest (credo.press/223605/).

9.      Officials to Pursue Heirs for Money Owed for Trash Removal. If someone dies without having paid for trash collection, officials will now pursue his or her heirs, a step that will only further infuriate Russians already outraged at Moscow’s trash policies (mbk-news.appspot.com/region/mertvye-tozhe-dolzhny-platit/).

10.  If Rosstat Doesn’t Report It, It isn’t Happening? The Russian state statistical committee has announced that it will stop publishing monthly figures on the state of Russian incomes, likely because recent months have shown such a precipitous drop in them (finanz.ru/novosti/lichnyye-finansy/rosstat-prekrashchaet-publikaciyu-ezhemesyachnykh-dannykh-po-dokhodam-rossiyan-1028042521).

11.  Putin Pardons Far Fewer Criminals than Yeltsin Did.  New figures show that Vladimir Putin has pardoned far fewer criminals than his predecessor Boris Yeltsin did, a trend fully consistent with his more repressive approach but one certain to anger many in Russia who have long seen pardons, often tied to public holidays, as something normal (newtimes.ru/articles/detail/178502).

12.  When There was a Mosque in the Kremlin.  The scandalous proposal by the Turkish president to transform the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul has prompted Russian historians to recall that there was once a mosque inside the precincts of Moscow’s Kremlin (moslenta.ru/istoriya/ryadom-s-krestami-na-khramakh-vidny-ochertaniya-polumesyacev.htm). In another religion-related development, Moscow officials have agreed that land held sacred by the Buryats will not be subjected to the free hectare program that republic has been part of since its transfer to the Far East Federal District (nazaccent.ru/content/29469-sakralnye-mesta-buryatii-isklyuchat-iz-zemel.html).

13.  ‘Make Russia Great Again’ Should Be Moscow’s Slogan. A Russian commentator says that Vladimir Putin should take a page out of Donald Trump’s playbook and make the Russian Federation’s slogan be “Make Russia Great Again!” (iarex.ru/articles/65273.html).