May 03, 2023

From Splash to Hash


From Splash to Hash
Svetlana Varganova sightseeing in 2016. Wikimedia Commons.

Svetlana Varganova, 59, a former member of the USSR swimming team and an Olympic silver medalist, has been arrested in the state of Goa, India, on suspicion of selling drugs.

According to The Indian Express, Varganova was arrested on April 14 in the village of Arambol after being under surveillance for some time by the Indian Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), due to reports of a Russian cartel operating in Arambol and adjacent Goa. Further investigation identified that a local resident, Akash, was also involved. Akash was arrested on April 28. A former Russian policeman named Andre, whom the NCB has described as the "kingpin" of the operation, was arrested the same day.

An official from the NCB reported that Varganova has been living in India for several years. "She supplied narcotics to foreign nationals only. She also had a hookah bar set up at home where foreigners could come and consume drugs," the official said.

The Indian Express described the inventory of seized drugs as "88 blots of LSD, 8.8g of cocaine, 242.5g charas [a strain of cannabis resin popular in India], 1.440kg of [cannabis], 16.49g of hash oil, 410g of hash cake, 2g of methamphetamine and MDMA." Over $7,000 in cash – in a mixture of rupees, US dollars and Thai baht – were also seized, as were fake identity documents.

Meduza reported that the Russian embassy in India is investigating the event.

Varganova represented the USSR in the 1980 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:29.61. She also held the world record in this event in 1979.

You Might Also Like

We'll Swim After Victory
  • October 15, 2022

We'll Swim After Victory

Our correspondent was offered a business trip to Odesa, Ukraine. He took it and brought this back.
En Garde, Russia and Belarus
  • March 13, 2023

En Garde, Russia and Belarus

The International Fencing Federation greenlit the return of Russian and Belarussian fencers to tournaments — and the Olympics.
What Is Fair in Love and War?
  • February 07, 2023

What Is Fair in Love and War?

The International Olympic Committee is advocating for Russian and Belarusian involvement in the 2024 Olympic Games.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

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. 
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. 
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
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.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
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.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
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.

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