January 18, 2021

The Family Panties


The Family Panties
Airing the dirty laundry. / Настоящее Время. Настоящее Время, Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFoUB27mdIY

Quarantine might have gotten many of us used to hanging around in our underwear, but Russian film director Vitaliy Mansky has taken his to the streets of Moscow.

Last month, Mansky stood outside the office of the FSB in a one-man protest in support of Alexei Navalny, who plans to return to Russia on January 17 after an alleged assassination attempt.

Mansky was holding a pair of light blue boxer shorts.

When two police officers who arrived at the scene approached the director to ask why he was holding the boxers, Mansky reportedly answered that they stood for his civic position – “I think that everything should be clean – clean conscience, clean underwear.”

The day before Mansky stood in protest, Navalny published a recording where he claims to have duped an FSB operative who was involved in his poisoning with the nerve agent Novichok. The officer admitted, on the phone, that the chemical was applied to Navalny’s underpants.

Russian officials have rejected the claims. In top form, Press Secretary Dmitriy Peskov has stated that Navalny suffers not only from mania, but also a fixation on “the codpiece zone.”

The Russian prison service has announced orders to detain Navalny upon his arrival in Moscow. Officials have justified his arrest with assertions that Navalny missed parole hearings for a 2014 conviction for embezzlement and money laundering.

It seems that at least a few Russian officials might have to deal with more dirty laundry than they bargained for.

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At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.

Fish
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Fish

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.

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas
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The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.

 
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Moscow and Muscovites
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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. 

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