May 01, 2023

Sweet Discrediting


Sweet Discrediting
Anti-war cakes bakery_xoxo / Instagram

A court in Moscow fined pastry chef Anastasia Chernysheva for cakes with anti-war slogans. The pastry chef was accused of "discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation" and was ordered to pay an R35,000 ($435) fine.

Chernysheva, whose business was featured in Russian Life's Winter Issue, is a 22-year-old resident of Moscow, has an Instagram account with 29,000 subscribers. There she publishes her anti-war and anti-Putin cakes. In particular, there are photos of a cake with the flag of Ukraine and the phrase in Ukrainian, "Lyubov peremozhe" (love will win), mini-cakes with slogans "Putin will die, but we will stay" and "Russia will be free."

According to the BBC, Anastasia said she started the confectionery business four years ago and began making anti-war and protest cakes in March 2022. "When rallies became impossible, I started baking cakes and writing texts there. This is life in Russia. You could be afraid or you could choose not to be afraid. I made the decision not to be afraid," she told BBC reporters.

Novaya Gazeta Europe reported that the pastry chef was fined after a denunciation provoked by the pro-Kremlin TV channel Tsargrad (owned by the oligarch Konstantin Malofeev). After that, Anastasia also began receiving threats.

Denunciations have become a mass phenomenon since Russia began its War on Ukraine. According to the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media, over six months in 2022, Russians submitted some 145,000 denunciations. Most concerned posting "illegal information" on the internet, including "fakes" about Russia’s war against Ukraine and "pro-Ukrainian propaganda."

Many informers are one-time stool pigeons. But there are some who make a habit of it, like 39-year-old Vitaly Borodin. In 2021 he filed a complaint against the independent media Proekt, and, after Russia invaded Ukraine, he started to write denunciations of Russian celebrities: actress Liya Akhedzhakova, artist Simon Slepakov, singer Valery Meladze, and many others.

You Might Also Like

Too Free for Russia
  • April 03, 2023

Too Free for Russia

The Russian Prosecutor General's office has declared the Free University "undesirable."
Screws are Tightening
  • April 12, 2023

Screws are Tightening

March has seen a serious tightening of the screws of repression by the Russian regime.
Dangerous Dreams
  • December 23, 2022

Dangerous Dreams

Russians are being fined for their dreams, "likes," and "silent support."
The Wrong Kind of Patriotism
  • November 30, 2022

The Wrong Kind of Patriotism

A student in Karelia was reportedly disciplined for wearing a sweatshirt with an American flag on it.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

22 Russian Crosswords

22 Russian Crosswords

Test your knowledge of the Russian language, Russian history and society with these 22 challenging puzzles taken from the pages of Russian Life magazine. Most all the clues are in English, but you must fill in the answers in Russian. If you get stumped, of course all the puzzles have answers printed at the back of the book.
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. 
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
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.
The Samovar Murders

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

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.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

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.
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. 
The Latchkey Murders

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...

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