On August 30, on the same day that President Medvedev announced his support of small business, an insane story appeared on Russia’s evening TV news about a corporate takeover raid in the city of Tula, just south of Moscow. Russian television was ablaze with amazing footage of a gangland battle scene straight outta the 90s—as if the 90s never ended.
A battle for ownership of a local cable TV station called Altair led to an armed daylight attack on the company’s offices. The raiders brought in two busloads of armed goons—some decked out in full OMON battle gear and toting AKs, handguns, and tear gas; others dressed in jumpsuits and carrying bats, 2X4s, wire cutters, and pellet guns—and the two goon platoons launched a full-on assault on the building. (more…)
(This article was originally published April 1, 1997)
On March 26th, communist leaders Gennady Zyuganov and Anatoly Lukyanov been seen entering dacha of famous writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn at Serebryany Bor. What for? We now know what for. (more…)
Sergei Gorshkov, the political blogger who’s in it for the money, not the politics — and isn’t afraid to say so
It was a freakishly warm February morning in Moscow, eight days before Russia’s 2008 presidential election. Green army trucks packed with bleary-eyed soldiers crawled through the city streets, a sign of a paranoid government mobilizing itself against an election-eve revolution. (more…)
Gov. Sergei Morozov baptizes a UAZ-Patriot, the grand prize for one lucky newborn’s family.
ULYANOVSK, Russia—On a humid Sunday afternoon in late June, about 100 couples clutching newborn babies filed into the Lenin Memorial overlooking the wide banks of the Volga River. This mammoth concrete slab of Soviet constructivism was erected in Lenin’s hometown to commemorate the leader’s 100th birthday and now houses one of the city’s many Lenin museums, but the families had not come for a lesson in Soviet history; they were there to pick up their prizes. (more…)
Limonov’s next move: organize Russia’s ex-cons
Russian summer is short and unpredictable. The only thing that is predictable about Russian summer is that it is short. Usually, the month of May is cold, July is hot and August looks like an autumn month. In 2008, the months of May and June were cold and this half of July was rainy and cold. Shitty climate, shitty weather, only the girls are pretty in Russia. (more…)
