April 30, 2022

Deukrainianization


Deukrainianization
Khrabrovo airport in Kaliningrad, prior to its new paint job. MediaZone

Sandboxes, stadiums, airports, and fences: if it's blue and yellow, it must change. Russian authorities are repainting everything that could be visually associated with Ukraine.

The color changes began back in February, when, on the fourth day of the war, the Kaliningrad Khrabrovo airport changed its website logo from blue and yellow to red and blue. Not long after that, they repainted the logo on the airport's exterior. An airport spokesperson said that the change to the exterior logo was to keep the look cohesive.

A Yekaterinburg shopping center recently followed in Kaliningrad airport's footsteps. The shopping center roof, which was blue and yellow, has recently been removed. According to the center's call center, the paint was chipping anyway, and its removal was part of regular maintenance.

In Yakutsk, a stadium's very Ukrainian-looking seating is being ripped out. The speculation that this is due to its colors is incorrect, or so says the stadium head, who claims that there were only three rows of blue seats and plans to rip them out were created long ago.

It isn't only major businesses that are changing logos and paint jobs. A Pskov resident who traditionally paints her fence yellow and blue every year was forced to change it; sandboxes at a park in a town south of Moscow received complaints and were repainted green; and a woman who works for a translation agency in Yalta was asked to remove her nail polish due to their coloration.

You Might Also Like

Defiant Postage
  • April 27, 2022

Defiant Postage

“It's a symbol of Ukraine, a symbol of our future victory.” – Director of Ukraine's National Post on the new stamp honoring the guards of Snake Island.
Blue and Yellow Lights
  • March 11, 2022

Blue and Yellow Lights

Many famous landmarks across the globe have been illuminated with blue and yellow lights, showing solidarity with Ukraine. 
An NFT to Unite Under
  • March 12, 2022

An NFT to Unite Under

An NFT of the Ukrainian flag raises over $6.7 million for the war against Russia.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

Russian Rules
November 16, 2011

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.

Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

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.

A Taste of Russia
November 01, 2012

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

Woe From Wit (bilingual)
June 20, 2017

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.

Survival Russian
February 01, 2009

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.

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.

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

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