Culture & Customs

In this issue we look at the shape of things Russian.

“I noticed that there are places here, shall we say, for contemplation.” said a Duma deputy, referring to… the bathroom. He continued: “And when important issues are being discussed, they should broadcast it there.”

In this week's Odder News, regions work on ethnic villages, presidents get songs written about them, and coronavirus countermeasures take a surprising twist.

“Maslenitsa week is usually accompanied by all sorts of food excesses, including plentiful blini eating. And in this regard, any overeating is harmful to the body.”

– Member of the State Duma Committee on Health Protection Dr. Boris Mendelevich on the potential pitfalls of eating too many blini

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The threat of coronavirus is not funny, but advertisements for tongue-in-cheek “remedies” are catching on among entrepreneurial Russians.

Two young Russians fall in love in the midst of a Coronavirus quarantine.

This week's Odder News: Belarus, the "Switzerland of the East," quiet hours, and tank-fueled wedding proposals.

“We wanted to draw attention to the problem: a lack of medical masks in pharmacies, the lack of information on the coronavirus. We were not trying to scare our compatriots or laugh at a hot topic. We just set up a social experiment.”

– One of two men fined for their video pranking the coronavirus

In this week's G-rated Odder News: Kid-friendly World War II history, kid-friendly educational TV, and kid-friendly swearing lessons.

Curious about vodka stats? Russia's Research Center for the Federal and Regional Alcohol Markets has you covered.

Russian priests in Sverdlovsk Oblast are upset that they could start seeing local license plates numbered 666, a number often associated with Satan.