Putin Shouldn’t Just Ignore West’s Rules; He Should Ignore All Rules, Russians Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 1 – Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that Russia won’t follow rules imposed by the West. But that is a half measure, Russians say. It’s time for the Kremlin leader to declare that Russia won’t follow any rules at all. Rules are for other people; for Russia, there are only exceptions.

            That is just one of the anecdotes now circulating in the Russian capital that have been posted online by journalist Tatyana Pushkaryova (publizist.ru/blogs/107374/45710/-). Among the best of the rest are the following:

·       Putin wants to create museums devoted to the special operation in Ukraine. It is very scary to think what the exhibits will show other than destroyed houses, coffins and cemeteries.

·       Those who want to increase the term of military service from one year to two are engaged in silly half measures. They should go all the way back to tsarist rules and make service a 25-year sentence.

·       Moscow city government employees have been told to be on the lookout for drones during the May Day holidays.

·       Patriarch Kirill has defrocked Deacon Andrey Kurayev because the latter thinks that priests should talk about God rather than Putin and keep the commandments rather than break them. Today, according to the Russian Orthodox Church, those views are blasphemy.

·       A Russian watching television while wearing a helmet is asked what is going on. He says he is at war with NATO and his head is bandaged because of a concussion.

·       After being fined 35,000 rubles (500 US dollars) for a cake featuring anti-war slogans, Moscow baker Anastasiya Chernysheva says that it is obvious that at present “out army can be discredited by everything and that a cake with the wrong inscription hits it far worse than any bombs or shells.