Category Archives: Russia

Lev helped me report on today’s protest rally in downtown Moscow

The Left Front is too far… left to his taste. He did mention the need for rule of law, and expressed his disappointment with the fact that the Investigative Committee was actively denying the fact that lawyers were at first barred from entering the apartments of opposition figures as they were being searched yesterday. Finally,Continue reading “Lev helped me report on today’s protest rally in downtown Moscow”

Moscow. Jean-Jacques on Nikitsky

Snails. Gossip. Playwrights. Annoying actor types. The greatness and terriblness of power. Class anxiety and cheap wine. Or, in other words, a personal take on the famous (and, some would say, famously obnoxious) cafe that became the site of a police crackdown during Vladimir Putin’s inauguration on May 7 of this year. Remember that oldContinue reading “Moscow. Jean-Jacques on Nikitsky”

Perhaps the gods will punish me for this column

But I really don’t see why Vladimir Medinsky is apparently The Most Horrible Person Of All Time. I was genuinely afraid that a genuinely polarizing figure such as Nikita Mikhalkov or Stanislav Govorukhin or whoever was about to be appointed Culture Minister – so when I heard it was this guy, I was busy beingContinue reading “Perhaps the gods will punish me for this column”