April 15, 2024

From the Club to Ukraine?


From the Club to Ukraine?
People dancing at a party under purple lights. Vyacheslav Argenberg, Wikimedia Commons.

Russian nightlife – from hookah lounges to karaoke venues to bars and clubs – made headlines on April 12 after a deputy in the State Council proposed mobilizing those who attend clubs on Fridays to the frontline in Ukraine.

State Council member Eduard Sharafiev, who represents Tatarstan, declared himself a party pooper after announcing on his Telegram account, "I proposed a one-day mobilization! It must be done across the country on Fridays in all nightclubs." Sharafiev added that those with medical exemptions found inside a club should also be drafted, because "their health status allows them to visit a club" — the logic being that, if you can dance, you can fight.

Rumors are swirling around a possible mass draft. In late March, reports emerged that the Kremlin was planning to call up 300,000 reservists after the elections were over. Pro-government blogger Vladimir Romanov posted on Telegram that more people would be mobilized in May, but government authorities quickly denied his claims.

Sharafiev decided to call for this unusual draft method to address Russia's mobilization crisis. According to the Tatarstan State Council member, commanders in the army are holding back from mass enlistments due to labor shortages in certain sectors of the economy.

In his post, Sharafiev recognized that his proposal was unlikely to be accepted. However, the deputy added, "On the other hand, why not? After all, those people jumping around at the nightclubs are pretending nothing is happening. So, we will open their eyes to what is happening!"

Sharafiev traveled to the frontline in Ukraine in the fall of 2022 and April 2023. His visits inspired him to propose sending dance groups and artists to combat zones. The deputy has also justified his absences from the State Council's meetings as "military missions." 7x7 Gorizontalnaya Rossiya points out that politicians often go to Ukraine to strengthen their political positions, wait out a scandal, or avoid prison.

You Might Also Like

Migrant Flow Slows to Trickle
  • February 25, 2024

Migrant Flow Slows to Trickle

Immigration into Russia from Central Asian countries has slowed since the start of Russia's War on Ukraine.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

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. 

The Little Humpbacked Horse
November 03, 2014

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.

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.

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.

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...

The Samovar Murders
November 01, 2019

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

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.

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