Moscow Planning to Indict Lenin for Creating Ukraine, Russians Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 20 – In yet another example of the ways in which satire and reality are converging in Russia – and it must be acknowledged in other countries as well – Russians are now saying that Aleksandr Bastrykin, head of the State Investigations Committee, wants to indict Lenin for his role in the creation of Ukraine.

            Given that Vladimir Putin has repeatedly blamed Lenin for the creation of Ukraine, it is hard to dismiss this as simply another anecdote; but at least for the moment, it is and is the best of the ones Moscow journalist Tatyana Pushkaryova has assembled this week (publizist.ru/blogs/107374/43219/-). Among the best of the rest:

·       Dictators dream of a situation in which the life of the people living under their rule is such that they will rush to take part in any war as if it were a chance to go on holiday.

 ·       To demonstrate his loyalty to Putin, Duma Speaker Vyachesvlav Volodin has asked the Moscow Transplant Institution to sew on tail on his backside.

 ·       Dmitry Medvedev joined the CPSU long after he recognized that its promises weren’t going to be fulfilled. Did he do so because he is a careerist or from some other reason?

 ·       Putin has challenged world leaders to fight with him if they want, confident that he will win. But China’s head, Xi Jinping says that it is too early for him to fight with Putin and advises that Putin first show he can defeat “my little brother,” Kasym Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan.

 ·       Putin’s toadies are so outrageous in their praise that the Kremlin leader has every reason to believe that he will win in Ukraine.

·       Pigeons have disappeared from Russian cities because like the rich, they can fly off to foreign climes. 

 ·       Two-thirds of Russians say they’ve experienced a rise of prices in the last month but Putin says there hasn’t been one. It is clearly no joke that the Russian government lives on a different planet than the Russian people.

 ·       When the Kremlin makes fun of the people, that’s called domestic politics. When the people make fun of the Kremlin, that’s called extremism.