Second-Class Sentient Beings

“We are children of a mute country.” Graffiti on a wall in Petersburg, 11 February 2024. Identity of photographer suppressed for their own safety. Last night I dreamt I was taking a long exam to see whether I “met the standards of the biological species.” The examining committee was chockablock with priests, Cossacks, and members of the ruling party. A bust of Stalin stood on the table. The…

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Russia Reads

A young man on the Nevsky Prospect in Petersburg reads a book by Friedrich Engels whilst handing out discount coupons to the nearby so-called Lego Museum. Source: Marina Varchenko (Facebook), 9 November 2023 “‘The Arab world is not just beautiful ethnic costumes, exquisite dishes, and other One Thousand and One Nights-type stuff, but also brutal dictatorships, poverty, a high tolerance of…

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"We Love You, Uncle Zhenya"

I went to see the spontaneous memorial to Prigozhin on Zolnaya [“Ashes”] Street [near the former (?) Wagner Center office building in St. Petersburg]. I have to say that what I saw impressed me. People kept coming and coming—young dudes and girls, men who were slightly older, and some people even had their kids with them. They brought flowers. They stood and looked for a long while. Some got down…

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Em Uyaya'am (Things I Saw, Read and Watched This Week)

Asilomar State Beach, 21 July 2023. Photo by the Russian Reader Who is Girkin? Igor Girkin (Strelkov) is an ethno-fascist FSB officer and the warlord who prepared the ground and then launched the war in Donbas in 2014. He stated that without him, “there wouldn’t be any war”. He is also responsible for ordering the execution of numerous civilians, for which he still face justice. He was…

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How Russians Are Forcibly Conscripted

“Summer in Petersburg”: photo by Marina Varchenko The Russian security forces have been increasingly organizing dragnets to sweep up potential army recruits. This is occurring amidst a full-scale war with Ukraine in which the Russian army has suffered heavy losses. There are more and more accounts of these roundups. Mediazona, for example, details how a 25-year-old Muscovite, employed in the IT…

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Mounted

Photo by Marina Varchenko. The banner behind Petersburg’s newly minted mounted police features an illustration of and a reference to the Battle of Poltava (1709) and a quotation from Alexander Pushkin’s poem The Bronze Horseman (1837): “Now, city of Peter, stand thou fast, / Foursquare, like Russia; vaunt thy splendor!”  The mounted police have returned to the streets of St. Petersburg. Source:…

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I Miss the World

anatrrra, from the series “Petersburg in April,” 2023You can see the entire series on their LiveJournal I just spent many hours roaming around Kolomna. I love the neighborhood: it soothes my soul, if only for a short time. I came upon two dudes approximately my age sitting on a bench and drinking beer. From what I heard them saying it was clear as a bell that they had listened to Kinchev,…

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I Had a Dream

“The USA is the archenemy.” This photo was taken by my friend M. on a recent walkabout in Petersburg. I had a dream before finally waking up today. My husband telephone, saying that he had been working in Pushkin today (which never happened, but okay), and couldn’t come home. I asked why he couldn’t—it was just past six in the evening, according to the clock. “Just you take a look at the sky,”…

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Nevsky Prospect

A street concert on Nevsky Prospect in Petersburg, date unknown. Photo courtesy of ZAKS.ru A draft regulation for the authorization of street performances was published on the website of the Government of St. Petersburg on April 11. The new rules should take effect from May. Musicians will be obliged to notify the district council of their desire to perform ten business days before the concert.…

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"Our Songs Are For Those Who Have Stayed" (The Russian Draft Goes Online)

“Our songs are for those who have stayed [in Russia]. To those who have left: don’t come back.”Photographed by Marina Varchenko on Vasilyevsky Island in Petersburg, 13 April 2023 Today, coming out of the front door of my building, I saw the following tableau. A neighbor from the third floor, who is somewhere between thirty-five and forty, was, on the contrary, coming in the front door. Judging…

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Looking for Ecuador

I was walking down Dostoevsky Street when a middle-aged dame jumped right at me from out of Candle Lane and screamed, “What an obnoxious street, solid zigzags! There’s no way I can find the right address!” Somewhat blown away by the notion of a “zigzag street” in Petersburg, I asked what street she needed. “Razyezzhaya, 12. Ecuador is there too.” “Ecuador!?” I repeated, even more…

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"Their Logic Suggests It's Immoral to Have an Opinion"

A snapshot of the “voluntary” resignation letter Vitaly Blazhevich was forced to submit on February 17, 2023. Thanks for his kind permission to publish it here. The Far Eastern Institute of Management, a branch of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), has asked Vitaly Blazhevich, a lecturer at the institute, to resign. He spoke about the incident with…

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"Prophecies about Ukraine"

“Prophecies about Ukraine”

The books on display, from left to right, are: I.A. Ivanova, “Yevgenia Negina: A Novel in Verse”; Klementina Bove, “Is That Really the Same Tatiana? (A Novel)”; A.S. Pushkin, “Yevgeny Onegin: A Graphic Guide”; I.V. Stalin, “Prophecies about Ukraine” A textbook and resource guide store for school teachers, Lomonosov Street, Petersburg, today. Source: Marina Varchenko, Facebook, 21 October 2022.…

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Moving Pictures

People ask how things are going for me on the professional/international front. My answer: nowhere fast. For two reasons. Firstly, the clusterfuck in which “our village” (c) has become entangled, imposes certain restrictions. By working with foreign galleries and submitting works for international awards, I risk getting branded a “foreign agent.” You can’t explain to the comrade major from the…

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Empire

“Empire” Today, on Razyezhaya, I came across a simply perfect illustration of what we’re living through. Source: Marina Varchenko, Facebook, 25 December 2022. Razyezhaya is a street in central Petersburg that I know like the back of my hand since I lived nearby for many years. ||| TRR These comments by Mira Tai were published by Doxa, the Russian online student magazine that has become a…

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