October 25, 2018

Lawmakers versus Troublemakers


Lawmakers versus Troublemakers
Them’s fightin’ words!

1. Challenge accepted! Prominent opposition leader Alexei Navalny accepted head of the Russian National Guard Viktor Zolotov’s challenge to a duel. However, he did so on his own terms. Zolotov had initially suggested that he and Navalny engage in a duel after an unflattering investigation by Navalny into the National Guard. Navalny has now accepted the duel (while reiterating and repeating his claims of corruption and nepotism; link shows video with subtitles), though he stipulated that he is entitled to choose the weapon and the location. What weapon and location did he choose? A debate on a federal television channel. Zolotov’s reaction? Well, apparently he had “something else” in mind.

2. You’re never safe from the narcs, not even on the *high* seas. This week police raided a floating marijuana farm in the Arkhangelsk region of Russia, confiscating 230 cannabis plants and other products used to grow marijuana. A video of the raid shows Russian police officers raiding the vessel and finding both the plants and the people growing them. Let’s be *blunt* though, maybe floating your weed farm on a boat is not the best idea.

The High Seas

Photo: Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia

3. Is throwing money out the window of a Bentley making a political statement or just being obnoxious? Whatever the right answer, these rich Russian kids are doing it. Literally, the “Rich Russian Kids” instagram account posted a video of a man in a gem-encrusted balaclava stating that working all one’s life for money is pointless, then making it rain cash as he drives around in his Bentley (the account has since been set to “Private”). Although this isn’t technically illegal, two businessmen have been fined in relation to the episode for traffic violations. Apparently, wealthy people telling regular people they shouldn’t work for money is a poor joke.

In Odder News:

 

  • Ok, ok, we know this hilarious dub of the Russian national anthem didn’t come out this week. But let’s just pretend it did, just so that we can all get in a good laugh.

  • Congratulations! You just won a… parcel of land in the Far East? That you could have gotten for free? [Special thanks to reader David Edwards]

  • Steven Seagal was whipped to become an honorary Russian Cossack

Quote of the Week:

“Since there’s no law banning the throwing of money, you can always look into traffic violations.”

— An unnamed Russian law enforcement officer, ruminating on how to trip up self-satisfied rich kids

Want more where this comes from? Give your inbox the gift of TWERF, our Thursday newsletter on the quirkiest, obscurest, and Russianest of Russian happenings of the week.

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955