October 25, 2018

Lawmakers versus Troublemakers


Lawmakers versus Troublemakers
Them’s fightin’ words!

1. Challenge accepted! Prominent opposition leader Alexei Navalny accepted head of the Russian National Guard Viktor Zolotov’s challenge to a duel. However, he did so on his own terms. Zolotov had initially suggested that he and Navalny engage in a duel after an unflattering investigation by Navalny into the National Guard. Navalny has now accepted the duel (while reiterating and repeating his claims of corruption and nepotism; link shows video with subtitles), though he stipulated that he is entitled to choose the weapon and the location. What weapon and location did he choose? A debate on a federal television channel. Zolotov’s reaction? Well, apparently he had “something else” in mind.

2. You’re never safe from the narcs, not even on the *high* seas. This week police raided a floating marijuana farm in the Arkhangelsk region of Russia, confiscating 230 cannabis plants and other products used to grow marijuana. A video of the raid shows Russian police officers raiding the vessel and finding both the plants and the people growing them. Let’s be *blunt* though, maybe floating your weed farm on a boat is not the best idea.

The High Seas

Photo: Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia

3. Is throwing money out the window of a Bentley making a political statement or just being obnoxious? Whatever the right answer, these rich Russian kids are doing it. Literally, the “Rich Russian Kids” instagram account posted a video of a man in a gem-encrusted balaclava stating that working all one’s life for money is pointless, then making it rain cash as he drives around in his Bentley (the account has since been set to “Private”). Although this isn’t technically illegal, two businessmen have been fined in relation to the episode for traffic violations. Apparently, wealthy people telling regular people they shouldn’t work for money is a poor joke.

In Odder News:

 

  • Ok, ok, we know this hilarious dub of the Russian national anthem didn’t come out this week. But let’s just pretend it did, just so that we can all get in a good laugh.

  • Congratulations! You just won a… parcel of land in the Far East? That you could have gotten for free? [Special thanks to reader David Edwards]

  • Steven Seagal was whipped to become an honorary Russian Cossack

Quote of the Week:

“Since there’s no law banning the throwing of money, you can always look into traffic violations.”

— An unnamed Russian law enforcement officer, ruminating on how to trip up self-satisfied rich kids

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

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

Steppe
July 15, 2022

Steppe

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.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

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
October 09, 2011

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.

Fearful Majesty
July 01, 2014

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.

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

Little Golden Calf
February 01, 2010

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.

Life Stories
September 01, 2009

Life Stories

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.

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

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. 

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