June 16, 2016

Births: Modern Russia, baby LSDUZ, and lots of leopards


Births: Modern Russia, baby LSDUZ, and lots of leopards

A Red Star Is Born

1. Russians across Russia celebrated Russia Day on June 12. The holiday was founded as Independence Day in 1990, but simplified to Russia Day in 2002. Today, the emphasis is less on the fall of the Soviet Union and even patriotism, and more on having a day off in early summer. Still, the greatest patriotic gift of all: the birth of three leopard kittens in the Sochi Zoo.

2. Congratulations are due to Attorney General Yuri Chaika for the birth of two sons, LSDUZ and IFYAU9. Anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny claims that the new names mask the names of Chaika’s adult sons, Artem and Igor, from real-estate records showing them to secretly own luxury properties throughout Russia. The more logical explanation is that those new names just trip off the tongue like poetry.

Caption: “What do you call your son?” “LSDUZ.” ~Somewhere in the depths of the Attorney General's Headquarters. Source: meduza.io

3. The birth of a new Russian-British war – or at least, a particularly angsty soccer game. The Russian Football Union faces suspended disqualification after 35 people were injured in brawls at the Euro 2016 Russia-England match. Should the Russian fans be blamed as football barbarians? Or is this the birth of a brand new breed of hooligans?

In Odder News

  • A guy takes a leopard for walk in a lazy Russian town. Maybe a distant cousin of the Sochi kittens?
  • Soccer’s not the only big-deal sport in Russia: drone racing is now a serious and sometimes lucrative pursuit. Not as touchy with the English, either.
  • Russia has made it to spot #27 in the world’s soft power rankings, based on its international influence other than military power. Must be all the leopards.  

Quote of the Week

“I don’t see anything wrong with the fans fighting. Quite the opposite, well done lads, keep it up!”

—MP and top football Igor Lebedev on the violence between Russian and English fans at the Euro Cup. He toned down after learning that the brawls could lead to Russia’s disqualification from the tournament.

Cover image: ria.ru

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

Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
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. 
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

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.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

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.

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