Paul Goble
Staunton, Mar. 21 – The visit of Chinese leader Xi to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin has generated a remarkable number of anecdotes that probably say more about both the meeting and how Russian people see things. Moscow journalist Tatyana Pushkaryova offers five of the best (publizist.ru/blogs/107374/45432/right):
· Xi told Putin that Lenin invented Siberia when it fact it has always been a historical part of China.
· Putin called the deal of a century his plans to sell gas to China at a 70 percent discount. When he sells it for nothing, then that will be the deal of the millennium.
· Muscovites are truly ungrateful: they complained about being restricted in their movement around the city during Xi’s visit. They should have been pleased they weren’t shipped out to the boondocks entirely.
· The Russian and Chinese presidents have announced the creation of a new union, PuXi Right, which is pronounced in Russian just like “Pussy Riot.”
· Two unanswered questions from the summit: Xi wants to know how Putin is going to wrap things up? And Putin wants to know whether Xi will help him with weapons?
Pushkaryova offers four additional Russian anecdotes that are also worth noting:
· Moscow fashion designers are coming up with a new clothing line for the elite. It will have simple lines and feature black and white stripes.
· Putin says that if London supplies Ukraine with depleted uranium shells, Russia will be forced to react. After all, Moscow has plenty of red felt-tip pens and can draw another red line or two.
· Bank security officers call a depositor and ask for his number so they can protect his account against unauthorized access. The man says he has a ten. When the officers ask what comes next, he says “the ten of clubs.”
· Russians are now circulating Chekhov’s observation that “they say truth will prevail in the end, but that’s not true.”
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