March 11, 2026

Patriotic Post-Humanism


Patriotic Post-Humanism
Plants attack.  The Russian Life files

Nizhny Novgorod Oblast has created a register of "foreign agent plants”: a list of non-native species that threaten the environment or human health. The chairman of the regional Legislative Assembly, Evgeny Lyulin, reported on this in his Telegram channel. 

On March 1, 2026, a law came into force throughout Russia that obliges landowners to destroy dangerous plants on their property. In essence, nothing unique is happening in the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast – officials are simply bringing local laws into line with federal ones – but it's all about creative wording. The new law attracted attention and was immediately picked up by several articles devoted to the seasonal fight against invasive species, with headlines like “Tatarstan declares war on plants: foreign agents,” tying the fight against invasive weeds to efforts to quell subversive movements.

The concept of a “foreign agent” first appeared in Russia in 2012 and has been constantly expanded and supplemented since then. Initially, this status could be assigned to organizations receiving funding from abroad. In 2017, the term “foreign agent media” was added to describe media outlets that, according to the Russian state, are under the influence of other countries and thus spread misinformation. Soon after, work began on a law that allowed individuals to be designated as foreign agents. The first list of foreign agent citizens was published in 2020, and it began to be regularly updated after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The label imposes a number of legal restrictions, but most importantly, it marks a person as hostile. The similarity between invasive plants and dissident internal elements writes itself.

According to the federal registry, there are between seven and ten different invasive species in each district, but Lyulin named as the main enemy the legendary Sosnovsky's hogweed, capable of causing severe burns (Russian Life reported on the hogweed problem way back in 2019 – see article links below). It was deliberately cultivated in the USSR as cheap silage, but has now become an agricultural problem. A popular conspiracy theory that hogweed was brought in by Western secret services is respected even in the State Duma.

You Might Also Like

Hogweed instead of Birches
  • July 01, 2019

Hogweed instead of Birches

The Caucasus had a fast-growing plant that the Soviets wanted to plant up north to use for animal feed. What could possibly go wrong?
Taxing Foreign Agents
  • January 04, 2026

Taxing Foreign Agents

As of the new year, registered foreign agents are liable for a high income tax rate.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

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.

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. 

At the Circus
January 01, 2013

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.

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.

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

About Us

Russian Life is the 31-year-old publication of an award-winning publishing house that also creates books, 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