Aluminum cucumbers

Grigory Pasko, journalist

In the September 19 issue of the newspaper «Moskovsky komsomolets» is printed an article «And on the seacoast by the bay Putin walks…» Sub-heading – «At the economic forum in Sochi they acquainted the premier with a mermaid». [Even the most illiterate Russian would instantly recognize these as references to «Ruslan and Ludmila», an epic fairy tale in verse written by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, universally lauded as the greatest Russian who ever lived: the tale opens on a seacoast by a bay, with a talking cat walking around an oak tree to which it is chained, and a mermaid perching improbably on one of the tree’s branches. It does get better…—Trans.] What the article speaks of is that after his speech at the forum Putin set off to inspect stands with models of various construction investment projects. The author precisely describes the act of the passing of the «tsar» surrounded by his retinue along the row of models and people. The retinue servilely clarifies where is whose model and who is standing behind it. The «tsar» nods the head and benevolently hears everyone out.

Here’s how Putin’s encounter with Kadyrov is described.

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