July 21, 2024

Adopting the Enemy's Tactic


Adopting the Enemy's Tactic
Worse than the front lines? The Russian Life files

This month Ukraine began recruiting paroled prisoners to defend the state from Russia's full-blown invasion — taking a page from Russia's playbook.

Russia has been recruiting convicts for the frontlines in its ongoing War on Ukraine for more than a year. Prisoners are given a reduction in sentence and a chance to work outside the prison walls in exchange for answering the call. This method has become a major way to increase manpower as the war grinds on, despite undesirable outcomes. What's more, recently, Russia began drafting even those suspected but not convicted of a crime, promising an end to their criminal investigations if they enlist.

Ukraine has been hesitant to adopt similar strategies until now, but it is beginning to face manpower shortages and is feeling the effects of years of war.

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Some of our Books

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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.

The Moscow Eccentric
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The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

White Magic
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White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

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This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

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The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

Little Golden Calf
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Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas
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The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.

 
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
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Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

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