March 29, 2021

Who's Not Done With Quarantine?


Who's Not Done With Quarantine?
Lavrov in his Covid finest. Screenshot from the Tiktok account of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov traveled to China this week for a working visit and was caught with his mask up.

Lavrov was filmed in Guilin County wearing a mask he had received from a group of journalists the day before. The inscription on the mask reads “FCKNG QRNTN.” We'll let you fill in the rest.

Russian journalists have vocalized appreciation for the Minister’s sense of fashion. Journalist Dmitry Kiselev wrote on Telegram: “Sergei Lavrov is just a handsome man!”

He also reminded readers that Lavrov is the “minister of the country that is certainly controlling Covid better than the West,” sent greetings to those who thought they knew better than Russia, praised Sputnik V, and recommended that no one “suffer because of the police, who stroke you with clubs and water cannons.”

The video of Lavrov was posted to the Tiktok account of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the video, Lavrov is standing on the deck of a boat gliding past mountains and tall willowy trees.

There might be worse ways to spend this FCKNG QRNTN.

 

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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.

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The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.

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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.

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