Shooting, Amnesty and Relics

School Shooting

Russia suffered its first ever school shooting this winter. Unlike in the US, where disgruntled students with firearms make headlines with tragic regularity, the phenomenon is virtually unheard of in Russia, given that there is no constitutional right to bear arms.* So when a tenth grader entered his school, held the guard at gunpoint, killed two people, and briefly held his schoolmates hostage, Russia could hardly believe it.

The school in Otradnoye, a grey and unappealing suburb of the capital, was the target of a teenager armed with two shotguns belonging to his father, an FSB officer. He killed a police officer and a biology teacher and held two dozen students captive before police apprehended him. At press time, no motive for the boy's action had been released, but reports said that he was a stellar student unhappy with a bad grade.

* To obtain a gun legally in Russia, you must be over eighteen, have a registered permanent residence, and demonstrate a legitimate use (self-defense, hunting, or sports). You must obtain a license, which is valid for five years and is issued by your local police department after a thorough background check, including a review of your ability to store guns safely and an evaluation of your medical records. Mentally ill people and those who have been treated for substance abuse are not allowed to possess firearms. 

Amnesty

In December, the Kremlin freed hundreds of prisoners through an amnesty tied to the 20-year anniversary of Russia's constitution
(or, depending on who you talk to, the Sochi Winter Olympic Games).

Among those set free were the 30 Greenpeace activists arrested in the Barents sea in September; a few protesters who had been held for over a year on charges of inciting a riot, after they attended a demonstration one day before Vladimir Putin was sworn in; and the two still-imprisoned members of the punk group Pussy Riot.

The surprise beneficiary of the year-end spate of forgiveness was Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who spent over ten years in prison. He was not actually released under the general amnesty, but was the recipient of a special pardon – one that put him on a charter plane flying straight to Germany.

Relics Attract

The Gifts of the Magi — the latest visiting Orthodox relics to draw crowds in Moscow – attracted some 400,000 visitors, with some waiting in line for hours.

This is the second such set of relics to be displayed in Moscow since unheard-of crowds gathered to see the Belt of the Virgin Mary in 2011 amid some skepticism at their authenticity.

The Gifts of the Magi then traveled to be venerated by similar throngs of believers in
St. Petersburg, Minsk, and several other Russian cities. The only place that did not attract huge crowds was Kiev, where the wait was reportedly just 30 minutes. One reason may be the lingering hostility between the Moscow Patriarchy and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which not only supports the Ukrainian opposition's protests, but stated on its website that, “there is not enough proof that the Gifts of the Magi are genuine.”