European Commission spokesperson Arianna Podesta said that it depends on the citizens of Russia themselves whether they will have a government that supports the war against Ukraine or not. She said this in response to a question from «Vot Tak» about Yulia Navalnaya’s comment after the EU decision to lift sanctions on Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman.

#Azerbaijan #VladimirPutin #WarinUkraine #EuropeanCommission #EuropeanUnion #society #protests

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Glukhovsky posted his new novel online for free — as he explained, for those who cannot afford to buy the book. Given that in Russia the books of the writer-«foreign agent» are banned, such readers there now make up the majority.

#business #WarinUkraine #DmitryGlukhovsky #denunciations #women #lifeinRussia #society #prose #review #Russianlanguage #modernliterature #Emigration

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In early September 2002, the fashionable New York restaurant Cipriani threw a party for widows who had given birth to children by their husbands killed on September 11, after their deaths. Among the 60 mothers with babies in their arms was one man: his wife gave birth a few days before the attack that killed her. There was barely any chance to have lunch properly: the little ones, who a year earlier had not yet been born, were screaming, being fussy, demanding attention. Today these children are already 25 years old. Just think. In this quarter of a century, an incredible amount has happened. But September 11 is not forgotten. I remember that day in every tiny detail.

#America #security #historicalmemory #personalexperience #society #freedom #USA #theterroristattacksofSeptember112001

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After the victory of the far right in the parliamentary elections in Saxony-Anhalt, special representative of the President of the Russian Federation Kirill Dmitriev wrote on his X: «I look forward to jointly building a great future together with ‘AfD’ — Germany’s most popular party». Russian authorities have indeed long supported this party, and elections in eastern Germany may affect the result of the federal elections to the Bundestag. However, not necessarily in favor of AfD. 

#AlternativeforGermany #VladimirPutin #EastandWest #elections #GDR #Germany #DonaldTrump #migrants #society #rightandleft #Russianinfluence #SaxonyAnhalt #ultraright #fascism #Economy

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In Iceland, 52.8% of voters voted against resuming negotiations on joining the European Union, while 47.2% supported the move. The vote was a blow to Brussels, but it did not mean the country was abandoning its close ties with the EU.

#EuropeanUnion #Iceland #conflict #society #referendum

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Beloozersk is one of the oldest cities of the Russian North. The small town in Vologda Oblast, which can be walked across in an hour, has more than 50 cultural monuments, and its pearl — Lake Beloye — attracts tourists from all over the European part of Russia. But this summer the residents of Belozerye, which can be reached only by road transport, are having a hard time: because of the fuel crisis, five fill-ups of a passenger car cost locals an average monthly salary. A report from «Most».

#WarinUkraine #lifeinRussia #society #Regions #reportage #fuelcrisis

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August 19-21, 1991, with each passing year, become an increasingly mythologized distant past. The current authorities generally prefer not to recall them at all, even though many of their representatives would never have reached their current heights without those historic days. A whole generation has already grown up that simply does not remember. And those who do remember are increasingly critical of these events. They say, well, what was achieved? Was it worth it? Believe me – it was.

#1991 #Augustputsch #gkchp #Gorbachev #democracy #Yeltsin #History #personalexperience #society #aftertheUSSR #protests #revolution #Russia

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Desperate pleas from Wildberries owners and sellers to the government are provoking a sluggish and chaotic response. And it seems the issue is not just a banal lack of money.

#Wildberries #Analytics #business #WarinUkraine #elections #state #capitalism #acrisis #mobilization #society #Putin #retail #Russia #elites

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To celebrate the Night of Ivan Kupala according to the customs of the ancestors, you need to call the phone number listed in one of the thematic Telegram channels in advance. Get instructions. On the appointed day, put on a simple light dress, take the commuter train at Kursky Station, and about two hours later get off at a sparsely populated station in the Vladimir region. Every year on the eve of the Summer Solstice Day, pagan Rodnovers gather here and celebrate their main holiday for a full day, symbolizing the peak of nature’s bloom and fertility. Journalist from «Most.Media» spent this day with them.

#WarinUkraine #lifeinRussia #Myths #society #Orthodoxy #religion #reportage #Slavs #ultraright #paganism

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Forty years ago, the fourth reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded. Belarus, which bore the brunt of the disaster, still lives with its consequences. Over the years, the annual «Chernobyl Way» rally has transformed from a mournful procession into a form of civic protest: first against the suppression of the truth, then against the construction of a new nuclear plant, and now — against a system where people's voices mean nothing.

#nuclearenergy #Belarus #catastrophe #Lithuania #society #protests #reportage #ChernobylNuclearPowerPlant #Emigration #nuclearexplosion

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The 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident is a reason to talk about many things. About the fatal flaws in the design of Soviet high-power reactors and the mistakes made by Anatoly Dyatlov’s ill-fated shift at Reactor No. 4. About the heroism of firefighters like Vladimir Pravik, who battled the flames at the plant, and the courage of hundreds of others involved in the cleanup. About the debates among Soviet bureaucrats and scientists regarding what really happened in Pripyat. Finally, about the construction of the one-of-a-kind sarcophagus over the explosion-ravaged Chernobyl reactor. But most importantly, it’s worth recalling how the Kremlin first denied the disaster on April 26, 1986, then concealed its true scale—and ultimately lost the battle against reality in less than three weeks.

#nuclearenergy #Belarus #state #Twoleggedbelt #historicalmemory #catastrophe #MikhailGorbachev #society #Restructuring #PolitburooftheCentralCommitteeoftheCPSU #theUSSR #Ukraine #censorship #Chernobyl #nuclearexplosion

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Last week, few people remembered Vladimir Ulyanov’s (Lenin’s) birthday. Among those who did mark the date was the Turgenev Library in Paris: on April 22, the complete 55-volume collected works of the leader of the Russian Revolution were ceremoniously carried out from its shelves. In the past 30 years, not a single reader of the Turgenev Library had requested Lenin’s works—so the staff of the oldest Russian émigré library decided to bid a cheerful farewell to the Soviet past, making room for new books. Parisian supporters of Lenin tried to intervene in the process.

#Twoleggedbelt #europe #historicalmemory #lenin #society #Paris #aftertheUSSR #protests #reportage #Russia #TheTurgenevLibraryinParis #Emigration

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According to the most optimistic estimates, the total audience of popular science publications in Russia is only about 6 million people. That’s roughly 4% of the population. And this market in Russia today, it seems, is experiencing a crisis.

#Analytics #UnitedKingdom #west #acrisis #Thescience #society #Russia #market #USA #censorship

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A week ago, Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party suffered a crushing defeat in parliamentary elections. Thus ended the Viktor Orbán era. For 16 years in power, he assumed that the benefits of close ties with Moscow would always outweigh the image costs. In reality, Hungarian voters wanted not only low prices for gasoline and gas, but also a European identity.

#Analytics #Hungary #ViktorOrban #VladimirPutin #WarinUkraine #democracy #DonaldTrump #EuropeanUnion #Voters #KajaCallas #MarineLePin #society #parliamentaryelections #rightandleft

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Today is World Autism Awareness Day. It’s a good reason to talk about a new form of discrimination against people with this diagnosis in Russia: recently, they have been banned from driving cars. The updated list of medical contraindications for driving now includes autism spectrum disorders. We spoke with ASD experts about why this ban is absurd and harmful.

#autism #state #discrimination #medicine #society #psychiatry #autismdisorder #Russia

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The sharp drop in university admissions last year is easy to explain by government policy, where «loyalty is valued over intelligence.» But the reasons for the crisis in higher education run much deeper.

#state #discussion #lifeinRussia #career #acrisis #education #society #aftertheUSSR #universities

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The author of «The Bridge» spent the day under sirens and shelling. A personal account

#security #Israel #Iran #IranIsraelwar #personalexperience #society #Haifa #Emigration

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In the four years since the start of the Special Military Operation, military funerals in Russia have become entirely routine. Funeral brigade workers do not openly condemn the war, but their negative attitude toward what is happening becomes clear in conversation.

#WarinUkraine #lifeinRussia #everydayculture #personalexperience #MinistryofDefense #society #thefuneral #deathinRussia

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Khovanskoye Cemetery, January 27, two o'clock in the afternoon. A group of four people stands by a black minivan. They are dressed in identical black jackets and hats. Next to them, on metal trestles, is a four-sided coffin with no handles. People in work uniforms are nailing the base of the coffin. About 5 meters from the coffin—just one grave away—stand several gravediggers, ready to take the coffin in their hands and lower it into the grave. We only need to cover those 5 meters. But three out of the four people in black take turns falling, bumping the bottoms of the coffin into the grave fences. Only the fourth one managed to stay on his feet. That was me.

#WarinUkraine #lifeinRussia #everydayculture #personalexperience #Moscow #society #precariat #reportage #deathinRussia #LaborandCapital

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One of the most high-profile political assassinations in modern Russian history took place on January 19, 2009. On that day, Stanislav Markelov, a lawyer from the Moscow Human Rights Center, and Anastasia Baburova, a freelance correspondent for Novaya Gazeta, were shot dead by an activist from the far-right group BORN (Combat Organization of Russian Nationalists). They were killed because they supported the anti-fascist movement. And a recent accomplice in this crime was recently released from prison.

#2000s #antifascists #EvgeniyaKhasis #lifeinRussia #historicalmemory #leftandright #Moscow #Shuyne #NikitaTikhonov #society #reportage #ultraright

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