January 27, 2022

Population, a Pistol, and Pregnancy Problems


Population, a Pistol, and Pregnancy Problems
In Odder News

In this week's Odder News: biathlons, chips for your pets, and a whole lot of Muscovites.

  • Residents of a small village in the Tsumadinsky District of Dagestan carried a pregnant woman in need of medical attention 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) to the nearest hospital. The group took several hours in order to traverse the mountain path with the stretcher, but everything ended well, with the woman receiving help in time. Of course, there's more to Dagestan than remote villages!
  • The preliminary results of the All-Russian Population Census are in, and experts now estimate that over 13 million people are living in Moscow, an increase of 1.5 million from ten years ago. The data will prove useful in understanding the extent to which Russians are leaving smaller cities and regions to move to larger cities like Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
  • Russian athletes Anton Babikov and Karim Khalili placed first and third in the individual biathlon in Antholz, Italy. The Italian stage is the last before the Winter Olympics, set to be held in Beijing in February. World champion of the sport Anton Shipulin congratulated the two athletes after their impressive performance. Of course, this isn't the only type of biathlon that Russians excel in!
  • Unfortunately, not everyone in Russia likes to ski like the two above. A trouble-making teenager in the Novosibirsk Region was goofing around and accidentally shot a classmate with a pneumatic pistol after refusing to participate in skiing classes. The injured boy, who's doing fine, was sent to have an MRI done after being shot in the forehead, and police are investigating the issue further.
  • Plans are starting to be made for all Russian pets to be labeled and accounted for. Currently, the only animals in Russia which need identification are farm animals. However, the State Duma Committee of Ecology believes that the mandatory markings will help with the identification of lost pets and will help bring to justice pet owners which abandon their animals on the street. The markings will be done for free, and pet owners will have the choice between a tag, a brand, and a chip. Just like Putin!

You Might Also Like

The First and Last National Census
  • January 01, 2022

The First and Last National Census

Late January 2022 marks 125 years since the first thorough count of the Russian Empire’s population was begun in 1897. What was the significance of this endeavor, how was it carried out, and what were its results?
TikTok Gets Cultured
  • January 01, 2022

TikTok Gets Cultured

TikTok isn’t just for kiddies these days. The video streaming platform offers a range of people, such as those of Russia’s many ethnic groups, the opportunity to educate others about their cultures.
Skiing Buddies
  • February 24, 2021

Skiing Buddies

“I hope we will be able to spend a little time together, relax after today's working hours. I would like to invite you to go skiing.” – Another productive meeting this week with Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko on February 22nd. The pair discussed their work together on the energy sector of Belarus, Putin particularly noting Lukashenko’s support for the country’s nuclear power plant. He followed up with an invite to ski.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

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.
The Little Golden Calf

The 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.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
Moscow and Muscovites

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. 
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

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.
Marooned in Moscow

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.
Survival Russian

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.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

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