Russia: Victory Day

Global Voices Online
Sunday, May 11, 2008

Victory Day was as much of an event in the Russian blogosphere as it was in the streets of Moscow and other Russian cities on May 9.

LJ user kkk147 went for a morning bike ride and happened upon the departure of missiles, tanks and other heavy weaponry for the military parade on Red Square. He wrote (RUS):

Lots of fun to watch the parade when there are few people around and the vehicles are moving [so close you can touch them if you stretch out your hand] :)

More photos and video from kkk147 are here.

Aleksandr Plushev, Radio Echo of Moscow journalist, had a chance to see the same military vehicles on their way to the parade from his office on Novy Arbat. He posted photos and video on his blog, and wrote (RUS):

Finally, we've got something more interesting than the presidential motorcade driving by [below].

More parade photos from Plushev are on his Flickr page.

LJ user riverpilgrim (Mikhail Arkhipov) posted an impressive photo report from the parade's air show segment.

LJ user warsh (journalist Sergei Varshavchik) posted a photo tribute to surviving war veterans. In response to a reaader's comment, he wrote (RUS):

My grandfathers and grandmother are no longer alive, too. That's why I attend these veterans' reunions.

LJ user yashin (Ilya Yashin, leader of the youth wing of Grigory Yavlinsky's Yabloko Party) also posted veteran photos on his blog, taken by LJ user marie_automne. The first photo is of an elderly man holding a handmade poster that says that he returned from the front in 1944, disabled for life, and that his disability pension equals zero rubles, and that on May 9, 2007, there were 18,000 people like him - but only 6,000 remain this year. The last photo is of an SUV with the words "ON TO BERLIN!!!" scrawled on its back window. Yashin wrote (RUS):

On May 9, there were hundreds of veterans in the center of Moscow. They were being congratulated, children were giving them flowers, some were crying, others dancing.

And some remembered that in a few days people would take off their [St. George Ribbons] and forget about Victory Day till next year's May 9. [...]

LJ user drugoi, a top-ranking Russian blogger, posted parade and veterans photos, as well as a photo report from the Communists' May 9 rally. Below are a few comments (RUS) to the latter series:

4lynch:

Ha-ha... This [KPRF] is the only party opposed to the Kremlin in the [State Duma]. Only what's the difference between them? They've got so much in common. [...]

***

leo_nardo:

Amusing. A legalized alternative.

***

mcvanich:

Would be more use of them if they were cleaning streets and backyards.

***

shapelez:

Russia is an amazing country. Here, natural selection doesn't affect idiots - they continue to exist.

Stalin... I think these people hardly imagine what life was like in those conditions. [...]

LJ user net_livejournal posted more photos from the Communists march.

LJ user photolga was dismayed with the way some people in St. Petersburg were wearing their St. George Ribbons - "one of the most recognised and respected symbols of military valour in modern Russia," according to Wikipedia. She ended her photo report (RUS) on a reconciliatory note, however:

[...] Perhaps, it's not worth it to condemn anyone - these people have not seen the war, they don't know what this Ribbon really stands for. [...]

LJ user onepamop posted two photos from a May 9 trip to [Novgorod] region, during which unburied bodies of 150 WWII soldiers were found, along with 36 medals. He wrote (RUS):

[...] This is a lot, [discoveries like this are made] very rarely, if at all.

If you manage - drink to these guys, too. It's needed today.

[...]

[...] These people (of all kinds of different ethnic backgrounds) died at the very start of the war, spent 60 years lying unidentified in a swamp and were buried today by those who found them, in a way that befits the ones who die in a battle for their Motherland. [...]

Russia: Dissenters' March in Moscow (1)

Global Voices Online
Tuesday, April 17, 2007

The volume of blog coverage of the weekend's rallies in Moscow and St. Petersburg is truly overwhelming - as overwhelming, perhaps, as the number of riot police (OMON) deployed from all over Russia to disperse the opposition's Dissenters' March. But nowhere near as shocking.

Below is the first installment of links, accompanied with snippets of text translated from Russian. (Please note that many entries - arranged in no particular order - link to bandwidth-intensive content.)

- LJ user mnog (photos):

Don't feel like writing.

Photos (more than 50 (about 6 MB) )

- LJ user insie (other bloggers' photos, text):

[...] In the backyards near Tverskaya, I was surprised to discover little streams of people, who chose this path as the best, just like I did. In the backyards closer to Pushkinskaya, I saw trucks with OMON, police officers giving threatening orders via walkie-talkies, fire trucks and an ambulance. People walking nearby were on their cell phones, saying something like this: "See you later, unless I get detained." Made me feel uncomfortable. [...]

- LJ user serni (photos, video, text):

Disclaimer: I was present at the Dissenters' March out of curiousity only.

[...] When people moved forward, trying to break through, yelling, "There are more of us," the regime's forces produced sticks right away and started beating everyone who was in their way. It was the first time that I saw the enraged OMON fighters, walking towards me with sticks in front of them, beating everyone left and right. By miracle, I avoided the blows. It felt like a parachute dive. [...]

- LJ user dolboeb (photos, text):

Some OMON fighters, in the Ninja Turtles' outfits, looked appropriately intimidating and photogenic, but the pointlessness of their being there, their walking back and forth, seemed to tire both them and the audience. [...] As background for portrait shooting, the police looked great, I think.

- LJ user plushev (photos, text):

[...] We only got there at the very end of the rally, when they were no longer detaining or beating anyone - all were polite and respectful. The main and, basically, the only impression that I had the time to get was that they send A LOT OF young [police] women to work at rallies. Students of the police school, that is. Many were very beautiful, even in their ugly uniforms. Didn't manage to get a close shot of anyone - [my camera is too slow], and the girls were shy, they were turning away and asking not to photograph them.

- LJ user m_gaidar (text):

When they were taking me away, I called 02 [an equivalent of 911] and told them that I and a group of 20 people have been unlawfully kidnapped by people in uniform. The girl [operator] got very frightened and asked: "Where are you?" In a bus near Pushkinskaya, I replied, and the girl just hung up on me. I called again and asked her to introduce herself and register my call, because people in camouflage were taking us all in an unknown direction. She asked again where we were detained. I said, on Pushkinskaya, and she sign with evident relief and said: "Well... you know... here... We are just having a special operation there! Nothing to be scared of." A special operation against whom - against me?!!!!!! And what do you mean it's nothing to be scared of - for whom nothing scary? For you or for whom?!!! The girl was definitely feeling uncomfortable... said, please call the boss [starshiy]. "What boss?" I asked. "The one in camouflage," she replied. Okay, I see, you are all together in it, I said and hung up on her myself this time.

Anyway, I've now got a phone call from the prosecutor's office and they invited me to come tomorrow at noon to 19 Petrovka, to Boluchevskiy Sergei Anatolyevich and answer questions about my phone call. I said I'd come with journalists and a lawyer. They replied: "Yes, sure! Come with whoever you want..." Anyway, if anyone want to come along - write me. [...]

[A RIA-Novosti photo of m_gaidar's detention is here.]

- LJ user okalman (text):

I'm going to the March tomorrow... For many reasons. I disagree with the Other Russia, too, among other things, but I'm still going. [...] I don't like Kasyanov, nor do I like Kasparov, and even less so do I like Limonov. But if in the 1990s everyone wisely concluded that Yeltsin was a [Communist] party official and why would I go to the White House "for Yeltsin"? - then we'd still be living under Communists. [...]

Russia: Nationalism

Global Voices Online
Thursday, February 8, 2007

Fascists, nationalists, patriots, extremists: in Russia today, these labels seem to be used somewhat indiscriminately.

Chess champion and opposition politician Garry Kasparov calls Vladimir Putin's regime fascist - and the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi reciprocates by accusing the British ambassador in Russia of backing fascists (aka the opposition). The Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) allies itself with other self-described "nationalist patriots" to hold the so-called Russian March - and the National Bolshevik Party (NBP) declares (RUS) that hardly anyone has the "moral right" to be there, because it is their party, the NBP, that is Russia's one and only legitimate, "healthy," nationalist party. According to the self-described "anti-fascist" Nashi, however, both the NBP and the DPNI are fascists and extremists, along with Kasparov and Russia's other liberal politicians. A young man hits Kasparov on the head with a chessboard - and fingers are pointed in two different directions: Nashi suggest that the culprit could've been a member of the National Bolshevik Party, while the opposition claims that he must've been a nashist (a somewhat derogatory word that derives from both Nashi and Nazi, natsist in Russian).

In short, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, sort of.

Journalist Aleksandr Plushev (LJ user plushev) has recently raised the issue of nationalism (RUS) at his Radio Echo of Moscow work blog:

Nationalism on the march

During our [...] daytime show, it turned out that 40 percent of our audience consider themselves nationalists.

Is anyone bothered by it?

Is this what our society is like? Is the audience of our radion station like this: the conditional nationalists, just like the liberals, have no place to go? Or is this figure distorted because not everyone has admitted to be a nationalist?

This entry has inspired a very lengthy discussion, parts of which are translated below.

First, however, this laconic observation left halfway through the discussion thread:

Merkator: I'm bothered by something else. IMHO, everyone has his own understanding of what nationalism is. Hence the 40 percent.

Now, on to the discussion itself:

Mironova Nataliya Alekseevna: People feel miserable. Oppressed. I'm not aware of the mechanisms that make people feel ETHNICALLY suppressed. There are many myths here. The oil rent, for example. Everyone could have gotten his share, but Jews have grabbed it all. Nonsense? Nonsense. But try explaining to such a suppressed person that if you divide all the oil money equally for everyone, each person will get a hundred dollars maximum, not $125,000, as the demagogues claim. Even if you take away from all the evil Jews, no more than $5 will be added.

I cannot accept the call for everyone to consider and call ourselves Russian - then, they say, everything will work out fine. I'm a person of the Russian culture, the Russian language is my trade, but I am Jewish, and the Holocaust for me isn't an empty sound. Why should I reject my ethnicity? I would consider that treason. Among those 6 million, many of my relatives have fallen. But as soon as the conversation turns to the Russian nationalists - even those who are moderate and "velvet" - it turns out right away that we have grabbed all they had. This is hopeless. I don't know what has to happen for people to change their minds. For people to stop hating Caucasus natives, Jews, Chinese, Americans...

[...]

Mysh: "Why should I reject my ethnicity?" Of course, you shouldn't. No one should. But for some reason now everything is being done to label Nazi those who do not reject their Russianness.

Mironova Nataliya Alekseevna: Could you be more specific? Who asked you to reject your Russianness? In what form? [...] If to be Russian means walking like a goose, throwing your arm up [like a Nazi], then maybe it's better not to be Russian. [...] Try being Russian without hurting anyone: kind, open-minded, generous, seeking truth and justice. It's a lot more difficult but a lot more interesting as well than getting together for the "Russian Marches" and being angry and blaming the migrants for all your problems.

Vr: Nataliya Alekseevna, you provoke rude responses with posts like this. Is there nothing but Russian nationalism? In Plushev's show, there was a question about nationalism in general, regardless of what nationality it was about, but you were led by the familiar reflex: nationalism=Nazism=Russian=beat the kikes, save Russia! Why?

[...]

Mironova Nataliya Alekseevna: I'm not provoking anything. We live in Russia, where 80 percent of the population are Russians. The show was about the "Russian project" of the [pro-Kremlin United Russia party]. Forty percent of respondents called themselves nationalists during the show. Which nationalists? You decide. People who were calling in were saying that nationalism is a decent and harmless thing. All it takes is to get rid of the [term rossiyane] - everyone should be calling themselves [ethnic] Russians and step under their banners, and then everything will be good, and they won't hurt anyone. I don't want to join their rank. I don't want to call myself [ethnic] Russian. I'm a Jew. I'm not proud of it, it's just the way it is, a fact, but it's important to me. I understand very well a [Tatar] who wouldn't want to call himself Russian. And a [Mordvin], and an [Evenk]. Respect us the way we are. [...]

Igor: IMHO, patriotism is the love for one's motherland, and nationalism is the love for one's nation. Do you love your people? If yes, then you are a Jewish nationalist. You don't want to be Russian. Don't. But I want to and don't understand why in my own country I have to be a rossiyanin, and not Russian. [...]

[...]

Gena: [...] This is old news, Aleksandr. For our people, racial and ethnic prejudice is part of the worldview, and of course Russia means nothing but very good, but they, all those who are non-Russian, they represent everything that's bad. It's a generalization, of course, and there are many people who have an adequate world outlook, but a considerable segment of the population is infected with this virus of dislike of non-Russians, and to them getting Russia off her knees means that at the same time everyone around has to knee before Russia. [...]

Leo: Sasha, are you sure that those who voted had read the Wikipedia definition [of nationalism]? I'm not sure. Have you explained to them that "nationalism" isn't the same as love for your nation?

Igor: Suggest another term, to replace nationalism.

Aleksandr Plushev: Natiophilia.

Igor: You can be a Francophile without being French. Can one become a French nationalist if one is, say, a [Chukcha]? I don't think so.

Aleksandr Plushev: Then this assertion doesn't work: that nationality is a matter of how one feels about himself and that anyone who grew up in the Russian culture ans speaks Russian is Russian.

Roma Sh.: Dear Nataliya Alekseevna! You've painted an image of a "Russian nationalist" and then took it apart with your arguments. But here goes. I don't feel miserable or oppressed. Yet, I'm a normal Russian nationalist. I consider all Russian citizens Russian by their citizenship, but different in descent. I can't allow myself to say a single negative word about Jews. Jews also did and do create the great Russian culture. By the way, my Jewish friend, a vet doctor, recently returned from Israel and said that he hadn't seen more ardent nationalists than the Jews. And they consider him Russian, not Jewish.

Dmitry: I've never heard anyone at [Echo of Moscow] criticise the nationalism of the State of Israel (their ban on marriages with non-Jews, etc.)

Evgeniy: To Roma Sh.: What do you consider a Russian nationalist? How different is he from just a Russian (I mean a Russian citizen here)? Only please don't write about [Matryoshka dolls], birch trees, etc. In general, what's a nationalist?

Mironova Nataliya Alekseevna: [I want to know the answer, too.] Someone who isn't miserable or oppressed doesn't need to consider himself a nationalist. And a nationalist's primary occupation is to look for and gather those who have been hurt.

Roma Sh.: [...] Nehru and Ghandi gathered those Indians who felt hurt and created the Indian NATIONAL Congress, and then the state of India itself. It was the sense of national injustice of the young American nation that had been oppressed by the English, which created the USA. The national hurt of the Jews from all over the world has gathered them at the Sinai. And only the Russian nationalism that helps Russians to become a nation is bothering everyone, for some reason. [...]

Igor: [Russian nationalists are no different from other Russians if these citizens] consider Russia their Motherland.

Yevgeniy: Then there are 150 million nationalists in Russia, not 40 percent. And don't tell me that liberals don't consider Russia their motherland, it's silly. Everyone has their own way of seeing ways of development for their motherland and everyone wishes only the best for her.

[...]

muta: [...] Over 80 percent of those who live in this country are Russian. If Russia is not for Russians, then it's definitely not for the [Dagestanis] or [Azeris]. And to say that both I and a Dagestani live in the same country, according to the same laws, isn't correct. That's is, it's correct but only on paper. In reality, I was cruelly beaten in [Dagestan's capital Makhachkala] for just [staring] at an attractive girl. And the cops only said that this is how it works there. So, when I come to the Republic of Dagestan I have to bother about their customs and traditions, and when a Dagestani comes here, he skillfully slaloms around using his own traditions and ideas [...]. But we do have traditions, too: for example we won't beat you up if you're just looking at a girl. No one would harass you (well, except for the totally screwed up ones) for kissing your wife in the street. The customs of the mountains should stay in the mountains, but the brotherly peoples of the Caucasus refuse to understand it. And the regime says I'm a fascist. Where is the truth?

Gataullin Rail Ravilevich: And were you looking at her? In what way? [...]

Marina: [...] This question reminded me of one story: we were talking with one guy, a Kurd from Iran who has assimilated successfully in Europe. He had it all, including a European girlfriend. And suddenly it turns out that it hurts him a lot that his girlfriend wears nothing but a swimming suit at the beach: why does she have to bare her legs and arms?! No comment.

muta: I don't understand why people who have escaped from their own countries drag their customs to the places that have agreed to give them refuge. Yours is a typical example. The Australian Muslims, as far as I remember, went even further - they walked around the beach and beat everyone who was there. [...] And they were the first ones to scream about Australian fascism when the people stood up and hit them back. I've noticed a long time ago that the indigenous population is always to blame for all the problems of the migrants. The French are blamed by the Africans, the Belgians by the Chechens, and [the Russian] are always blamed by everyone. Please understand that this cannot continue forever. And it won't. If the regime doesn't want (or is scared) to get involved in these issues, then the population itself will deal with it. The first ones like the DPNI are getting more and more active with each year and their ranks grow [...].

[...]

Gataullin Rail Ravilevich: What does migration have to do with it?????? Dagestanis are the citizens of Russia! And so are Chechens! Are you for the purely Russian state? Then you should address [Vladimir Putin] - ask him to let the ethnic republics and autonomies split from the Russian Federation. [...]

[...]

Mikhail: As for the "Russia for the Russians" slogan - it's too hyped by the journalists. It's becoming fashionable to call Russia a fascist state, but only those who are not smart enough are doing it. Fascism is considered to be the regime's project, etc., but I don't see a serious problem here... I just feel sorry for the murdered and maimed foreign students.

Russia: Covering the "Russian March"

Global Voices Online
Wednesday, November 8, 2006


The "Russian March" rally by the Leo Tolstoy monument at Devichye Polye in Moscow. (Photo by LJ user hegtor, taken from the staircase of a 16-storied apartment building nearby. More of hegtor's Nov. 4 photos are here, here, and here.)

A few thousand ultranationalists rallied at Devichye Polye in Moscow Saturday morning. About 1,000 anti-fascist demonstrators counter-rallied at Bolotnaya Square later that day. Both events were heavily guarded by riot police.

Due to the worldwide LJ outage, live blog coverage of the controversial "Russian March" (which took place not just in Moscow but in other Russian cities as well) was scarce. The mainstream media, however, seem to have done even worse. Below is part of a discussion on Russian journalism that took place on the blog of LJ user plushev, a Radio Ekho Moskvy host (RUS):

plushev:

Freedom of Speech

Information blockade of the "Russian March" has been declared on federal TV channels. At least, until the evening news, when they'll tell us how a "provocation by a few nationalists" has failed.

I was watching Vesti-24 channel (at which I'd been lucky [to work]) at 6 pm. The whole newscast - not a word about the marches, only the celebrations all around, and Putin. There was an excellent intro to the video about [the president]: "After laying flowers, Putin answered questions of the cadets." But on the video, it's the cadets who are answering Putin's questions. This isn't the funnest part, though. As they talk about celebrations, they are using a quote from [Moscow mayor Yuri] Luzhkov, who is speaking about possible disturbances, "all those instigators" and "provocations" - and it totally looks like Luzhkov has gone nuts: everyone's celebrating, and he is talking some nonsense.

wombatik: [...] Let's imagine a semi-ideal situation. The ideal would be for you to produce a newscast at an absolutely independent channel, where there is no editorial policy in favor of these or those [political] forces. And you have an event - the "Russian March." Will you include a story about it? It seems as if you have to, since there is the fact of it, which belongs in the informational picture of the day. But how can you do it so that the viewers, after watching the piece about the march, don't come running to join the demonstrators? Should history segments be included? I really can't imagine what to do in a situation like this. What would you do?

plushev: Are you serious? Imagine that a few thousand people took to the streets in London. Doesn't matter what for. In any case - it's an event. I'd like to see a TV company that would decide against showing it.

Me, I'm telling about it at Ekho Moskvy anyway, without editing the information out. Why should TV be any different?

wombatik: What do you mean, am I serious? That I don't know how to present it and under what dressing? The problem is I understand that it is an event. But I wouldn't want to [advertise] the "March." At "my" TV station, this item would be given with some kind of analytical supplement. Like, this is this and that, this is where [the origins] are, and this is what the result of something like this was in certain countries. And would you present it just like it is, the way, say, it's presented on Ekho now?

plushev: Yes, I would present it the way it's presented on Ekho.

The problem is you treat news as PR. You've said it yourself. And you're not the first one who is genuinely surprised: on TV, they're good at beating this attitude into you, I've seen it already. And here are the results: a PR person is always thinking whether to include or not what's considered a news item. A news person, on the other hand, thinks only about whether something is news or not.

I don't understand at all why this issue is raised at all: "to say it in a way that wouldn't [inspire] people to rush to the march." This is not the goal of the news, to think if people will rush there or not. The main thing is to tell about what's going on.

Just imagine that today many people were walking next to a mob of potentially dangerous, unbalanced, aggressive persons. If someone (let's say with the wrong skin color) got injured because, for example, he unknowingly happened at Komsomolskaya [subway station, where the "Russian March" was supposed to begin), those who hadn't told him about the potential danger would share some blame for his sufferings.

[...]

***


A very short video of the "Russian March" participants; their slogans: "Russians onward!", "Long live Russia!" and "Death to the occupants!" - by yakovlev106.

***

There was plenty of inflammatory content at the Moscow rally, and a little bit of actual violence, with at least two cases that involved photojournalists.

One of them, Oleg Klimov, is also a blogger, and he mentions the attack in part 2 of his three-part photo report (RUS, Antifa and Fascists, Journalists and Fascists, Leo Tolstoy and Fascists):

[photo omitted]

I did end up getting punched in the nose. By the fascists. One was just passing by, approached me from behind and did a hook right into the camera while I was shooting. It didn't really hurt, but was disgusting. [...] When there's no one to beat, it seems, they are beating journalists. [...]

[photo omitted: three young demonstrators urinating under a tree]

In part 1, Klimov writes (RUS) about the antifascist counter-rally that he attended as well:

[photo omitted: "Nuremberg is a hero-city."

I've always thought that we don't have fascists. Turns out we don't have anti-fascists. The rally at Bolotnaya Square was a worthless event. Journalists, not understanding the difference between "antifa" and "fa" fighters, attacked the masked teenagers, assuming that they were fascists. But they turned out to be nothing more than a militant group of antifascists, and many were surprised when they began to chant: "Fascism won't come through!" Our anti-fascists are elderly people, liberals and demagogues, but they are being replaced by the generation of antifascists of "direct action," as it has already happened in the West.

[photo omitted: "Fascism won't come through."

LJ user karimova witnessed an attack on another photojournalist - and got verbally assaulted herself (RUS):

Yesterday, at the [well-known disgusting event] some Russian [Cossack] beat up a female photojournalist - because she was photographing him.

When the riot police was seizing the Cossack, he was yelling that the girl attacked him first. A choir of [elderly women] was echoing him. When I interfered with the words "You are lying," the [elderly women] choir switched over to me and diagnosed me right away: "[female Jew]" (!!!) and "prostitute" (!).

Organizers tried to look decent. [Sergei Baburin]'s phrase that "you shouldn't raise your arms in a pseudo-Roman greeting because there are journalists here" characterizes the spirit of the event very well. Baburin didn't say that it's shameful IN GENERAL for a Russian person to do it - he said it shouldn't be done when journalists are around.

Crazy [old women]. My God, it seems as if it was a revelation for them yesterday that the poets who had made a huge contribution to the Russian culture, [Osip Mandelshtam] and [Joseph Brodsky], were ethnic Jews. They refuse to accept it. Just as they refuse to come to terms with a simple thought that all Tatars, Bashkirs, Jews, Chechens, Dagestanis living in Russia - are as Russian as the majority of us, because they speak the same language, read the same literature and obey the same laws. [...]

Anyway, people who gathered at the so-called "Russian March" hate Russia and refuse to accept it the way it is, and instead they are [obsessed with their own genes and genealogy].

I'm sorry that my acquaintances took part in [this], too. I hope they'll change their minds.

And yes. Luckily, the [disgusting] event was a failure, basically. The pathetic 1,000-1,500 of those who showed up, and of them at least a third were journalists and another third were totally sick and mentally unbalanced elderly people. Here's all of your "Russian rebellion."

Russia, Ukraine: Stories About Words

Global Voices Online
Friday, July 28, 2006

Below is the translation of three stories about words: in the first one, they are being banned; in the second, they offend; in the third, there aren't enough of them.

LJ user plushev, a Russian radio journalist, writes (RUS) about the government's attack on the name of the controversial National Bolshevik Party (NBP):

All words, words, words

These people are for some reason afraid of words. [...]

The Federal Registration Service has asked RosOkhranKultury [Russian Culture Protection Department] to punish the mass media that cover NBP. On what grounds? Because when they call NBP a party, these mass media are spreading false information, since NBP isn't registered as a party. According to this logic, those who aren't members of the Writers' Union cannot be called writers. By the way, I still remember that this is exactly how it used to be in the Soviet times. But what's most interesting is that folks at RosOkhranKultury are totally confused themselves:

RosOkhranKultury recommends calling the National Bolshevik Party of the Bolsheviks "the party that calls itself NBP." [...]

So is it a party or not? And is [the RosOkhranKultury representative] spreading false information by calling NBP "a party that calls itself NBP"?

I asked [Eduard] Limonov [leader of NBP] today why there is such a fear of words - maybe he, as a literary master, has an idea. He said that history doesn't know a single case where something ceased to exist after a forcible extraction of the word [its name] from the lexicon.

In fact, everything has been turned upside down. Here's what false information regarding NBP's status is: "NBP party registered by the Ministry of Justice." The rest has been made up, but no one cares, and that's why, beginning today and until the cancellation of this piece of paper, you won't hear the words "NBP party" on the air (including our station, though on others these words are rarely used now anyway). But please be sure that plenty new constructions will be coined (I've offered "non-party NBP" and "the Party That Can't Be Named"). This, of course, is good for the NBP party, which considers itself a party, but which cannot be called a party. Ministry of Justice ([Federal Registration Service] is its department) couldn't have made a better present to Limonov - awesome advertisement.

But still, why such a fear of words?

***

qopqop: I'm surprised by something else. The readiness of the mass media to follow idiotic orders. Everyone thinks this is idiotic but all are eager to play along. Officials aren't allowed to use the word 'dollar' and here's [German] Gref [Russia's Minister of Economics] looking like a "clown of a federal level" at a government meeting when he says "non-rubles." Idiocy must be ignored simply because of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech. Or a lawsuit should be filed. But when even [the Echo of Moscow radio station where LJ user plushev works] obeys, I don't even know what to say.

plushev: If you don't know what to say, don't say anything.

vika_1_2: The Soviet Union also doesn't exist anymore. How are they going to punish for mentioning it? [...]

klober: This is absolute, pure paganism, where words are meanings. Pagan women are not allowed to say the names of male gods and fertility spirits. Children are given names at birth but throughout life they are called something else, in order to deceive evil spirits.

***

LJ user otar (Otar Dovzhenko) writes (UKR) about how a TV journalist-turned-politician hurt the feelings of some of his new parliamentary colleagues by using a synonym of the word "Homo Sovieticus":

When he was introducing a draft (don't remember which) from the parliamentary rostrum, head of the freedom of speech and information committee Andriy Shevchenko [member of Yulia Tymoshenko's Bloc, not to be confused with football star Andriy Shevchenko] used the epithet "sovkove" [derivative of "sovok"] to describe some aspect of our television.

This has caused the "Bolsheviks" to protest. Representatives of the three factions took turns demanding that Shevchenko respect other people's views and not offend what they hold sacred.

In particular, a representative of the Party of the Regions noted that "our people were born in the Soviet Union and one shouldn't offend their Motherland."

[...]

***

LJ user lucysd writes (RUS; warning: contains a graphic photo) about how, allegedly, members of the Pora party ran out of words and used feces to punish a young man who claimed at a press conference to have been stood up on a promise to be paid for living in Pora's tent camp at Kyiv's Independence Square:

Contemporary Ukraine: Arguments and Facts

Today [Pora members] poured shit over a guy next to the UNIAN [news agency]. Literally. Out of a pail.

Regardless of whether he deserved it or not, this gesture, imho, expresses very vividly the state of affairs in Ukrainian politics.

[Graphic photo and news story text omitted]

P.S. I've just imagined how [head of Pora] Kaskiv [...] orders Pora soldiers to go inside the tent and come up with a pail of the weapon of contemporary proletariat (or intelligentsia?). [...]

***

b0ris: The weapons befit the war.

aier: Would be nice to do this to all parliamentarians from the Party of the Regions [...], Communist Party and Moroz's Socialist Party - and, ideally, to all who voted for them.

zgollum: I don't see why this shouldn't be done to all parliamentarians in general.

do_: The weapons befit the people, yes.

lucysd: I wouldn't generalize like this :) More like, the weapons befit the army :)

djushes: It'd be interesting to read about it in some English-language media. Any links?

Russia: Madonna and the Church

Global Voices Online
Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Madonna is giving a concert in Moscow on Sept. 11, and Russian Orthodox Christian and Muslim representatives have already issued statements criticizing the upcoming show.

Well-known gallery owner and once notorious political consultant Marat Guelman (LJ user galerist) isn't a fan of the clerics' position (RUS):

And now the popular American singer Madonna hasn't yet arrived in Moscow, but has encountered, in absentia, harsh criticism from the Russian Orthodox Church (RPTs).

[link to a Russian-language news story omitted]

And this is okay - it's the church's duty to recommend its followers not to attend concerts, films and exhibitions. Like, art and the RPTs are incompatible.

In the comments section, there is quite a lot of passion and no unity in opinion - neither on the church's stance, nor on Madonna, nor on Marat Guelman:

warsh: Father Vsevolod Chaplin [head of the Moscow Patriarchy's department for external relations, who issued the Madonna concert statement] also spoke in the news about the not-so-obvious incompatibility of the RPTs and the internet.

[...]

mcparker: Well, Guelman, you folks over there in [Moscow] have gone completely nuts. To call your gallery and Madonna art - that's not even funny. Despite all my respect to Madonna.

aenocyon: This isn't a simple issue. Even La Gioconda's creator couldn't find a home for her for a long time, and there are many other examples - say, Faberge was considered tacky by contemporaries. As for me, I am indifferent to Madonna, but what matters is that the RPTs has remained a loyal branch of the [CPSU's Central Committee], only today they can [kiss] in public with members of the [United Russia] and award them with medals.

[...]

gugomat: Yes, yes. It's also time to start burning artists on the stake en masse. Traitors of the faith!! :)

salnikov_vova: Madonna ain't an artist. Her songs are poo. She herself is a Coca Cola.

gugomat: Oh! Here come the artists. We'll start with you :)))

sergelin: Madonna is the best.

mr_quietest: A silicone fool. There're [plenty] of "artists" like her in any music school.

[...]

gubalance: What makes you feel uneasy? The believers will pay attention, and atheists and people of other faiths will do as they see fit. What's wrong with parents correcting their children's ways, for example, and explaining why?

galerist: Church instead of parents and adult believers as little kids?

kubedinov: For most people this is how it works, more or less: the Church provides reference points, which is normal and good. Most people are, of course, not as smart, successful and independent as you are, Marat. Please forgive them for it.

gubalance: As far as I understand, you don't believe in God?

galerist: I do believe - but without intermediaries.

[...]

narodzash: Oh well, here begins Guelman's new promotion campaign.

Another blogger - LJ user plushev, a radio journalist - understands the church's position, but doesn't necessarily agree with it (RUS):

I don't understand why everyone is so surprised by the [Orthodox Church's] recommendations, announced by Vsevolod Chaplin, to ignore Madonna's concert. This is the church's internal business. It does not ask the government to cancel or ban the show, so we are not talking about interference in the worldly affairs here. And no matter how critical we may be of the RPTs, it's probably not good for us, laymen, to interfere in the church's affairs.

This is an absolutely normal and the only correct practice, for the church to voice its opinion on various issues and to recommend or not recommend its followers to do something or not to do it. Moreover, why the hell should there be the institute of the church if not for recommendations like this? This is basically what a pastor's for: those who for some reason don't have a position of their own, they can adopt the position of their spiritual leader. A person [capable of independent thinking] will, of course, ignore such calls, but the congregation isn't known for critical worldview and needs specific reference points: these ones are good and those ones are bad.

And although, if you count the heads, we have a great number of Orthodox [Christians], baptised as children without consent, this is nothing but a formality and the real faithful in our country are very few. And so Chaplin's call has nothing to do with the majority of the people.

There's some arguing in the comments, too, much of it irrelevant to plushev's post. A few bloggers in his audience, though, seem to believe that the clerics' public criticism of Madonna will only boost her popularity:

boroda_v_nature: This is exactly what Madonna is counting on: the ones who are curious because something's forbidden.

[...]

spiridonov: I think that many suspect that the tour's organizers have this line in their "Advertisement Expenses": "Negative comment on the concert from [the Russian Orthodox Church] - $N000."

One commenter recalls another person not welcome in Russia and by the Orthodox Church:

lovekraft: What I don't understand is why the Pope isn't allowed into Russia :-(
(they let everyone but him in...)

Russia, Georgia: Crisis Continues

Global Voices Online
Friday, October 6, 2006

As the confrontation between Georgia and Russia continues, so does the discussion of it in the Russian blogosphere. Below are some of the exchanges, translated from Russian.

LJ user plushev writes:

I don't even remember when nearly everyone was writing on one subject. Beslan, perhaps. Was there anything like this after Beslan? [...]

What follows is a selection of Georgia-related quotes from plushev's LJ friends' journals: one blogger worries about president Putin's mental health, a few others crave Georgian food (Moscow authorities have shut down several Georgian restaurants), there are mentions of sculptor Zurab Tsereteli and writer Boris Akunin (Grigoriy Chkhartishvili), both of whom are Georgia-born, and both, as of today, are reportedly under investigation for tax evasion and fraud. LJ user cook (Sergei Parkhomenko) shares this "I'm Georgian" ("Ya gruzin") solidarity badge:



LJ user individuumus adopts the image for his userpic:



LJ user alisezus gets someone to add a Georgian flag to hers:



She writes:

You see, I don't care about Saakashvili's regime at all, but I do care about the fact that ethnic cleansing is taking place in Moscow and its excuse is the fight against Saakashvili's regime. [...] Yes, I am for the Georgians who are being abused in Russia.

In the comments to plushev's LJ roundup, bloggers discuss the seeming hopelessness of the situation - and wonder if they as bloggers can change anything:

_ko_alla: Do you think this can stop the shame that's taking place now? Our officials will read it - and it'll move them and they'll change their minds?

We write about it, discuss it among each other, but what's the use...

plushev: Do you mean you'd like the LJ to have a direct impact?

_ko_alla: Wouldn't you like it? :-))

Seriously, though, the only result of all these discussions is the possibility to find people who share your beliefs. To see that the nonsense of the authorities isn't absolute and that normal people still exist...

thespinningone: Right.. =\ Intelligentsia will, of course, sympathize and voice discontent, but the masses are either indifferent to this anti-Georgian state policy, or they [approve of it], imho...

_ko_alla: Exactly: it's not just the official position that's frightening, but the opinion of the majority as well [...].

Those labelled "the minority" seem pretty vocal, however, and pretty inventive in their dissent. LJ user o-b-vinitel writes:

If there's a need to hide a Georgian family from the [Federal Security Service], I can help.

Georgian cuisine, again, seems like a good weapon in the current situation. LJ user kmaka writes:

[The only way I can help]

I'm on my way to buy ingredients for khachapuri. Kharcho, lobio and chakhokhbili are in my plans, too.

Very ashamed [because of the situation]. Disgusting jackals.

If someone needs it - there's a Georgian cuisine chapter here [in Russian].

LJ user mash-ka has similar intentions:

my personal
protest.
tonight
i won't be lazy and will cook
khachapurrrrrrrrrri and satsivi.
my personal protest action, damn it.

***

In an earlier post, LJ user plushev points out the sad irony present in the ways the Russian authorities are dealing with the crisis - and the ways in which they are fighting organized crime:

A political component in crime prevention

The latest events demonstrate vividly that it's very easy to overcome ethnic criminal groups: all it takes is to [have a fight] at the highest level with the countries from which members [of these groups] originate. But according to this logic, Russian criminals are absolutely safe - to [break up] with oneself isn't a trivial task. But on the other hand, our own bandits are quite bearable, because they are a lot more pleasant and are easier to understand. And above all, they are a lot more spiritual.

Comments reveal that while for some criminal situation in Russia is an abstract topic, for others it's personal - and very painful:

hetribadi: Russian criminals will be overcome when Muslims become the majority in Russia. Then it'll be possible to say that all the trouble is caused by Russians.

frolin: I think that it's all very well. If you get a new playground for kids in your backyard because of the geopolitical confrontations - will you be upset?

plushev: Of course, I will. I've always assumed that children's playgrounds are to be built on my taxes, that are being ripped off me regularly once a month, and now it turns out that in addition to this, there should also be a geopolitical confrontation. I'm all for being happy about it, but only if they eliminate the income tax.

[...]

plushev: [Nature abhors a vacuum], as we know. One criminal entity will undoubtedly be replaced by another, mono- or multiethnic. So quantitatively nothing whatsoever is going to change, no matter how many [punitive] actions they stage to show off. Until the system that protects these criminal entities is destroyed. [This very system] is now chasing the Georgian bandits around - who but not [this system] knows better where to look for them. They are just unlucky, that's it.

[...]

timoha67: No matter what, it's easier to live next to our own bandits... They are, in one way or another, "the guys from the [same neighborhood]" who went to the same school with you, who grew up in the same culture with you... And it's possible to come to an agreement with them...

plushev: Aha, tell it to my papa, who was killed at the request of one Russian bastard by the twenty other Russian bastards.

sluza: You serious?

plushev: [Yes.]

timoha67: There are enough bastards everywhere...

plushev: But you promised it'd be easier to come to an agreement with them. So I decided to find out where they do come to agreements, thought you'd know.

Russia, Georgia: Unfriendly Relationship

Global Voices Online
Wednesday, October 4, 2006


A Tbilisi, Georgia, spice seller: "I was taking some photos in the Tbilisi's market and this lady, instead trying to sell me something, she asked me a portrait." - by tomaradze

Georgia (population approx. 4.4 million) arrested four Russian soldiers last week, charging them with espionage. Russia (population approx. 142.4 million) reacted by accusing Georgia of "state terrorism," recalling its ambassador as well as other diplomats and their families, imposing a travel and postal ban, and threatening to adopt a bill that would prevent Georgians living in Russia (approx. 1 million) from sending money (approx. $300 million each year) back home. On Monday, Georgia handed over the alleged military intelligence officers to the OSCE, and they were later flown back to Russia. Today, Russian president Vladimir Putin advised Georgia not "to talk to Russia in the language of provocation and blackmail," after which the Russian parliament passed a motion condemning the Georgian leadership.

LJ user plushev writes (RUS) that the current sanctions against Georgia aren't too different from the ban on Georgian wine and mineral water imposed by Russia in May 2006:

The Georgian story repeats itself: fake justifications for pressure. Aeroflot's flights are cancelled because Georgian air companies are bankrupt - that's original. Postal transactions are suspended because it sometimes happens that this money isn't paid in Georgia - amazing care for the Georgian population. Why is my biggest country in the world, the country that aspires to some [leading] role in this world, is acting like a [small doggie], afraid to say this out loud: "Guys, we're doing this to you because of this and that." Who is it afraid of?

Here are some responses (RUS):

sashachist: [...] The logic is simple: Georgian authorities [have done too many] of these provocations - at first, there was an intention to resolve the conflict in a friendly way, stop saying nonsense, Mr. Saakashvili, you are rificulous - do you remember how you blamed Gazprom for blowing up the gas pipe... et cetera [...] The idea, of course, is to make the Georgian people understand that such a confrontation with Russia hurts not those they've elected - it hurts themselves, so that they were choosing the ones [needed by Russia] in the future. This logic is very simple and has every right to exist.

[...]

tson: Obviously, [they are afraid of] the other biggest country in the world.

[...]

woronin: If we pressure them for political reasons, we'll be violating international conventions [...]. For example, politically-motivated embargo on products is in violation of the WTO norms, etc. Though China [doesn't seem to care about it], I think. Let someone try to get friendly with Taiwan...

wombatik: [...] Terribly sorry for Borjomi. It was good for children's health. Though, if one stops being selfish, one feels even sorrier for people whose trips, work, contacts are being cancelled and interrupted.

But I don't get this one thing: why do we need this? Of course, it hurts when something that used to be "ours" suddenly [barks] something about independence and go off to be friends with a strong competitor. [...]

Experts say that to us it's more important not to hurt Georgia, but to spit into America's soup one more time. My kid - a third-grader - asked me the other day if America is good or bad. Good, I say. Then I realize that the kid has had the time to hear things at school and on TV. So I say honestly, it's now a norm to dislike America. Why, asks the kid. I haven't been able to explain.

nesmeeva: This is called political correctness, Russian style %)

father_gorry: [Afraid of] the world community. It's so easy to tie the leash of someone else's opinion upon oneself, and it's so hard to take it off.

sara_phan: Don't remember who and where recalled how the USA announced the blockade of Cuba after the Carribean crisis. The situation is very similar: Americans also have military bases on Cuba, who doesn't know about Guantanamo! The aim of the blockade was to stifle Fidel's regime. I want to remind the hot heads that it all happened over 40 years ago, and Fidel is still there. Maybe it's not worth it to [repeat mistakes]?

Before last Wednesday, there was a totally real opposition to Saakashvili - but now it has unanimously supported the president.

[...]

Blogger Alex Exler is being sarcastic (RUS) about the alleged Russian spies' ordeal:

Finally, the released officers have told us about the abuse they were through in Georgia. One feels like crying reading it. For something like this, the blockade is not enough - everything should be bombed to hell! I'm citing these mournful lines:

"I think that my rights were violated: I wasn't allowed to get in touch with the consul and the relatives, I wasn't given a lawyer. Besides, I wasn't shown the accusation papers. The investigator read the charges, and I refused to sign. Besides, there was talk about political accusations [...], which I denied, and I didn't meet with anyone else before the trial," - said Savva. - "I saw the lawyer in the evening of the second day (after detention), and I had a meeting with (Georgia's minister of internal affairs) Vano Merabishvili, who offered me a drink and a snack, but I refused."

Aren't they evil or what? Offered him a drink only on the second day. And it's likely that they brought him the same wine that, thanks to Onishchenko, is teeming with pesticides. [...]

Quite a number of readers disagree with Exler:

igMamont: I don't see the grounds for sarcasm. They showed off by detaining the servicemen - and got hit on the [head] for that. What would the United States do if Georgia detained CIA officers?

[...]

eImage: Alex, you are wrong. One thing is when cops are "abusing" someone like this, and it's a completely different matter when this is being done by an unfriendly state. It's more than mere abuse - it's humiliation of the state employees using fake reasons. They just wanted to humiliate the state of Russia. And it has to be punished. [...]

The TV footage alone, of a Georgian embassy in Moscow employee hitting [...] a protester who was already being held by the police - it says a lot. If they aren't shy [to do something like this] in Moscow, then what are they doing to our folk in Georgia? [...]

Are we Russia or a "helpless and weak state," as some Georgian officials say? Who cares about consuls and lawyers when the guys were facing 15 years for "terrorism"? And they would've gotten it, if Putin hadn't [woken up].

And he refused the drink because who knows what could have been put into it. You drink it and then sign everything. [...]

The United States is brought up in the comments to this post, too. Here's one that differs somewhat from those cited earlier:

Yeretik: Oh and ah. I remember when the Russia-friendly Iraqis cut off the heads of the Russian diplomats - Russia's reaction then wasn't as brave. At first, when the heads were still in place, they [were trying to please the terrorists], and then they put the blame for what happened on the USA.

***

The United States features in some Russian bloggers' Georgia-related posts for an entirely different reason, too: they are discussing the seemingly proverbial "stupidity" of Americans and their poor knowledge of geography, citing a Yahoo! Message Boards thread - "Anti-Georgia campaign heats up in Russia" - and the subsequent report (RUS) in a Russian online newspaper, according to which, "some Americans, on hearing about the blockade of Georgia, have demanded withdrawal of the Russian troops from the USA."

It turns out, however, that much of the message board discussion took place in May 2005 and was meant as a joke; LJ user watertank compiles a list (RUS) of the bloggers who didn't recognize it as such:

[...] how a last year's joke can be turned into a fresh piece of world news :) [...]

And at a forum frequented by the former Soviet citizens currently residing in the United States, one poster, formerly of Kyiv, Ukraine, reveals that the joke is pretty old:

- Did you hear it, CNN said thet russian invaded Georgia
- I hope they'll start from CNN headquarter

***

Moscow-based LJ user silna expresses her warm feelings for Georgia and its people (RUS):

Emotions

You know what. I want to scream out loud here.

I LOVE GEORGIA!

Here.

I've never been there, I have only a few Georgian friends, but this land and this people are dear to me. [...] And what's going on is hurting me. Yes, with my mind I understand why it is happening and what for, but my heart aches. And what can I do? Me, an apolitical Russian person, [not belonging to any party, not the one who runs the country]? I can only say something, and I'm saying it.

And here's more: I'll definitely go to Georgia one day, and will hug as many Georgians as possible, and I'll drink home-made wine there for all of us. For the dear ones. [...]

This blogger also links to the travel reports and photos (RUS, part one and part two) from a recent trip to Georgia by LJ user semasongs (Aleksandr Semenov, Moscow).

Russia: Ban on Georgian Wine and Water

Global Voices Online
Sunday, May 7, 2006

Beginning today, Russia has outlawed Georgian sparkling mineral water Borjomi, a health product that many ulcer patients have been relying upon since the Soviet times. Gennady Onishchenko, Russia's chief health inspector, has ordered the ban allegedly due to the discovery of a batch containing fake Borjomi. A few weeks earlier, Onishchenko restricted imports of Georgian (and Moldovan) wine - allegedly on health grounds, too. It is widely believed, however, that the embargo is politically motivated. Both mineral water and wine are Georgia's most famous - and biggest - exports, and the ban is expected to have a severe impact on the country's economy.

LJ user plushev, a Moscow-based radio journalist, has been documenting (RUS) his hunt for the "disappearing" Georgian goods:

April 15, 2006

plushev:

Disappearing Goods

Aha, in addition to Georgian cognac, I now have to manage to buy a box of Borjomi. Interesting, but it is often recommended by doctors. Now, from the point of view of [the Russian Consumer Goods Inspection], they are killer doctors, definitely. The likes of Onishchenko [Russia’s chief health inspector] work to increase my stocks.

In summer, they'll find harmful substances in Moldovan apples, and towards winter - if the situation doesn't change - in tangerines. Needless to say, apples from Transnistria and tangerines from Abkhazia would be deemed ecologically safe.

***

altist72: I've been to Ashan [Moscow shopping mall] today: the wines department looks very funny.

prosvet: Hm, don't they sell French wines in Ashan? Also, Vichy St. Yorre is better than Borjomi ;o)

[...]

plushev: If I understand it correctly, to compare Vichy and Borjomi is like comparing Chablie and vodka. Besides being two different drinks (Borjomi is a health product, mineral water rich in various salts), they are also in different price categories. [...] I haven't met a single doctor who was recommending Vichy water.

[...]

drugoi: I wonder what wine they are serving in Georgian restaurants now? [...]

plushev: Nothing's changed in the restaurants. I suspect that those who've managed to take the wine off their shelves, took it straight to the restaurasnts with substantial discount.

[...]

bizam: You are joking, and Borjomi relieves my stomach ache. Nothing but Borjomi. Now all that's left are pills... :-(

azh7: We're fellow victims... Will have to stock up on it today.

bizam: A box won't last long to save me. I need 1-2 liters a day.

azh7: I also drink up to four plastic bottles...

April 18, 2006

plushev:

Shopping

Have been to Ashan, pure entertainment, especially in the wines department: my impression is that someone played a wild game of bowling at some shelves - where the Georgian and Moldovan wines used to be. But not just this. There were just two (!) types of Russian wine. [...] Borjomi is still there, but I didn't have space for a whole box, of course, and took only three bottles, just in case.

[...]

***

svetosila: "There were just two (!) types of the Russian wine." I wonder which ones. Maybe there's some homespun truth in their names?

plushev: I was in a hurry, didn't catch the names, sorry.

[...]

svetosila: Under these circumstances, it'd be fitting [to have wine] called "Smile" (there used to be such wine or some other alcoholic beverage). I've never had enough courage to try it.

One of the saddest childhood memories - a provincial bookstore where all the shelves are filled with one (AND THE SAME) book.

May 5, 2006

plushev:

They've done it faster with Borjomi than with cognac. I've managed to buy some, but not much. And today there's nothing left, not in the stores I had time to check in, at least.

But some bootleg [Borjomi] has been delivered to the Echo [of Moscow radio station].

***

sdanilov: [...] Soon they'll be editing out scenes with Borjomi and Georgian wines from the Soviet movies - as an alien, unfit for our time, form of "product placement."

[...]

mcavity: In Krasnodar [...], there's no Georgian but plenty of Abkhaz wine - on the shelves in the "Russia" department - with labels of horrible quality, as if made of torn newspapers. Borjomi is still there.

[...]

sivilia_1: [...] What's next? Soon we'll probably be using nothing but Soviet... Russian, that is... stuff, despite its quality, as in the "good" old times.

May 6, 2006

plushev:

There's still time

Borjomi can still be bought in stores and drugstores, I've stocked up on a few more bottles. [...] It's interesting, by the way, that even at the time of worsening of the relations with Latvia, [the Russian Consumer Goods Inspection] didn't think of [Latvian] sprats.

***

ailon: Latvian economy wouldn't have been affected by a sprats import ban as much as the Georgian economy is affected by the wine and Borjomi ban.