September 15, 2016

Siberia's natural wonders meet the Duma elections


Siberia's natural wonders meet the Duma elections

Sink your tusks in

Amos Chapple, rferl.org

1. There’s a treasure hunt on in Yakutia, and X marks the fossilized woolly mammoth. In the hunt for ancient ivory, illegal tuskers spend their summers carving, spraying, and finagling excavations of Siberian permafrost, avoiding police patrols and having some casual drunken fights amid the labor of looking for priceless white gold. Follow Amos Chapple on a powerful photo journey documenting the hunt.

Sergey Karpukhin, dailymail.co.uk

2. Is that a backdrop from an old Star Trek set? Nope—it’s the natural world’s latest wonder: towering granite formations in a part of Russia so remote they’re believed never to have been spotted before. The formations spout from the ground in almost inaccessible part of northern Yakutia (a few thousand miles north of the tuskers). After they were spotted by air, wildlife photographer Sergey Karpukhin crowdfunded a snowmobile journey to the site and returned with the first pics of Russia’s answer to Stonehenge.

youtube.com

3. Elections for Russia's parliament, known as the Duma, take place tomorrow. It may be predictable that United Russia will score pretty high, given the state’s low tolerance for opposition candidates and continued popularity, but the elections will be legitimate, analysts say. Some Russians don’t need to read the analysis: they’ve voted for the same candidates for years. So where’s the excitement? In the campaign ads, which add a spark (and some sweet scything) to this electoral party.

In Odder News

dailymail.co.uk

Quote of the Week

“I know it's bad, but what can I do? No work, lots of kids.”

—A man who spends his summers in the difficult, often futile labor of hunting mammoth tusks in the hopes of striking it rich. Only 20-30% of tuskers find enough to make a profit.

RosKultLit
Russian Cultural Literacy

What do this year’s Duma elections really mean for Russian politics and Russian society at large? Sure, the ruling party’s win is predictable, but with post-Crimea patriotism, a tighter focus on traditional values, and the aftermath of the 2012 protests shaping political change of recent years, this round of elections may have more to it than meets the eye. But don’t take our word for it: get down-and-dirty on the Duma with this in-depth analysis.

Want more where this comes from? Give your inbox the gift of TWERF, our Thursday newsletter on the quirkiest, obscurest, and Russianest of Russian happenings of the week.

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas
October 01, 2013

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.

 
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...

Bears in the Caviar
May 01, 2015

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

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.

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