My May 9 photos are here.

First, there are the real (or more or less real-looking) veterans:



Then, there are the so-called average Russians, many of them with all kinds of flags:



And at least one non-Russian, with a Soviet flag:



And there's also this kid:



Then, there's all the disgusting Stalinist shit from Lubyanka Square:



And some more freaks from the same rally:



And finally, there are the nationalists, marching toward Pushkinskaya Square and making themselves comfortable there:



All in all, 87 photos.

***

I had only two hours for picture-taking that day, which is probably good, because, honestly, it was something I'd rather not see.

Two years ago, I didn't have to rush back to Marta (though I was already pregnant), and I spent about four hours among the freaks. Then, they were all piled together near Belaruskiy Train Station - and it was something. That was one of the first times when it occurred to me that if these people were the alternative to Putin, then it'd be better for Putin to stay. I also sort of sympathized with the cops then - the freaks were cursing them for those four hours non-stop and it would've been a completely logical human reaction to end it all in fucking bloodshed. But it ended peacefully then.

This year, they were allowed to march through the city. Accompanied by the riot cops, yes, but still, this was something that Kasparov's folks were not allowed to do on April 14. Strange, huh?

Two years ago, the freaks were really hurt by Putin's decision to occupy Red Square, fill it up with all the foreign guests - it was the 60th anniversary of the Victory. They were really mad at Putin then.

This year, they cursed Yeltsin the Drunk for having died before standing trial, and they also cursed the der'mocrats (this is what they call the "democrats" - "shitocrats"). I heard one of the speakers say that Putin was an okay guy, sober, but there was still no Order in the country.

The nationalists also seemed discontent with Putin: they were calling for a "Russian" regime. Kondopoga is the Hero City, according to them, along with Sevastopol. My favorite chant of theirs was "Christ has risen!" - "Indeed, he has!" It sounded weirdly Soviet somehow, the way they chanted it. Many people on Tverskaya looked at them as if they were aliens (the UFO type of aliens, not the gastarbeiter ones from Central Asia).

This year, Red Square was inaccessible again, and the cops, via a loudspeaker, were directing people towards Lubyanka. I found it amazing - because a much more appropriate destination would've been the tiny square in front of the Bolshoi Theater, halfway to Lubyanka, where veterans gather every year to listen to wartime songs and move everyone, including themselves, to tears. But the crowd was encouraged to go to where the Stalinist freaks were:



Around the flowerbed where Felix Dzerzhinsky used to stand, there was a little flea market: Soviet-time books, Stalin's portraits, toy soldiers. One woman was selling Taras Shevchenko's Kobzar, among other things (a Russian translation, the black-and-red book in the very center):



***

Darkness at Noon has a wonderful roundup of the day, with great pictures. He was lucky to see only one portrait of Stalin that day - the big one, attached to a minivan. I took a picture of it when it was already parked at Lubyanka, but Darkness at Noon saw it being driven there - and it made him wonder:

I don't know how the driver saw where he was going.

Here's my photo of the thing:



This same portrait was there two years ago as well - my 63 photos from the 2005 freak show are at fotopages.com, here.

(In 2006, I photographed the parade in Kyiv - 65 photos are here.)

***

The old Asian Stalinist from the previous post was there in 2005, too:



She's still wearing the same leather jacket and headscarf, but she's gained some weight in the past two years, and her Stalin is now safe inside a transparent plastic folder.

Back then, she was walking along Tverskaya, all alone, solemnly, and one of my thoughts was, "Doesn't she understand that if she decided to walk like this in, say, 1937, with a portrait of, say, Trotsky, she wouldn't last a hundred meters?"

Now one of my thoughts is, "Old age can be too fucking scary."

***

As for the Bronze Soldier hysteria, I think Putin is helping the angry folks let the steam out in a way that's safe for his ass. Kasparov is trying to do the same thing, but he's directing all that steam at Putin, not out of Russia, so it's not surprising that they are demonizing him so grotesquely.

But with this yearly Stalinist freak show, I don't get it. Because using the freaks to emphasize how scary/gross Putin's opponents are seems too smart for the people who act with so little common sense against Kasparov.

After reading through a whole bunch of WWII stories that I found through this blog (here, here, and here, all in Russian), after being moved to tears by a number of them, after finally managing to pick two texts for a GV translation - after all this, I don't really want to think of what Moscow was like today/yesterday, on May 9. It's such an embarrassment - and, in many ways, such an outrage. What this regime is trying to accomplish by letting the freaks rally all they want is totally beyond me.



Disgusting.

More pics later (I hope).

Moscow, May 8, 2007: how typical...


"Vladimir Mikhailovich Chkhaidze, Hero of the Soviet Union, attended this school."



"Dear Citizens,

PLEASE DO NOT PICK OR TAKE AWAY FLOWERS FROM AROUND THE HERO'S MEMORIAL PLAQUE.

Thank you!

HAPPY VICTORY DAY!"

***

(I mentioned this school once before - here.)

From a New York Times story on Turkish politics:

[...] Turkey has had trouble choosing a president before. Shortly before the military coup of 1982, the parliament held 114 rounds of voting to elect a president. All failed. Candidates included an actress and a singer. The political jousting went on for six months. [...]

We're back in Moscow: it was a very short trip, but it went really great.

This time, I spent very little time photographing the city, and when I did, I was just shooting randomly, while walking, so there are very few quality pictures. I guess I overdid it on my previous trips: wherever I looked now, I knew I'd be repeating myself if I paused to take a picture...

***

The revelation of this trip (our tenth one, I guess) is how much Turkish people love children and how eagerly they show their affection. All those beautiful young men, pinching Marta's cheeks, saying, "Masaallah, cok guzel!" - this is something I'll definitely miss here...

When we were making our hotel reservations back in March, we thought we were doing it sort of early - or, just in time. But we were late, and this is why we had to change rooms yesterday. Not a big deal, as long as we stay at this hotel.

The place - Kybele Hotel at Yerebatan Caddesi - is like home, and people here are family.

I used to consciously keep myself from writing about Kybele - guarding a secret, sort of - but there's no use to anymore: there are way too many visitors here anyway, and we've nothing to lose. So here goes:

I do recommend this Istanbul hotel to everyone - though I hope I've no jerks in my readership, and I also hope that none of you will beat us to a room next time we travel here again :)

We're in Istanbul, since Monday. I'm so supersticious, I didn't want to write about the trip before we actually got here. And since both Marta and I are more or less sick, I was scared we'd decide not to go.

Marta did really well on the plane (that's a 3-hour flight), but I didn't: my right ear still doesn't hear anything. To make things worse, my nose is running like crazy, and I can neither smell nor taste anything. The loss of taste perception is especially depressing, as I love and always crave Turkish food.

Istanbul is incredible, as ever. I'd love to move here one day - live here full-time.

It's been almost two years since we were here last - in June 2005, when I was pregnant - and this gap, as well as the fact that I spent the happiest almost-a-month of my pregnancy in Turkey, somehow helped me realize how much I've changed since Marta's birth. Everything is about Marta now, nothing else really matters.

Everything, including my photos.

Marta is extremely popular here, but of course.



Mashaallah.

Finally, the rallies - Istanbul is so huge that the only way we could tell something was happening somewhere on May 1 was by seeing that black helicopter flying over us again and again. And I don't regret missing it; I went to Taksim Square today, saw the remnants of the riot police, but soon forgot about it - because to me, riot police is a Moscow thing, something that Istanbul knows much better how to transcend.

I'm sitting on the stairs at the hotel right now - because their wifi doesn't reach up to our room. So I guess I better go now. Iyi geceler to you all. Good night.

Oh, what a month.

The Ukrainian rallies seem to be so far away now. I stopped following the events there even before Piskun became our prosecutor general yet again. The most important thing is that there's been no bloodshed.

And what a week.

First, Yeltsin. Now Rostropovich and Lavrov...

Lavrov the actor, not the foreign minister; the latter is quite alive, commenting on the situation in Tallinn left and right.

Yes, and now the situation in Tallinn: I've just posted a GV translation on that.

And the week's not over yet.

***

Chernobyl's 21st anniversary went pretty much unnoticed - by me, at least, because both Marta and I felt pretty ill on that day. Marta is teething; me, I don't know what it was.

***

An interesting point someone made on Radio Echo of Moscow today: in 1999, there were no Russian billionaires on the Forbes list; in 2007, there are 53.

Just another way of looking at the years of Yeltsin's rule vs. the years of Putin's rule.

April 25, 2007
Near Novodevichye Cemetery, shortly after Yeltsin's funeral.

More photos - here.

The whole Communist faction at the Russian Duma refused to stand up to honor Yeltsin today.

This says a lot more about him and his legacy than all the obits in the world would.

Marta had her first radio appearance yesterday - on BBC Radio Five Live, Pods and Blogs show!!!

I'm kidding, of course: it was me who was being phone-interviewed in our TV room, while Marta was desperately trying to get past the locked door, screaming her lungs out... And I'm exaggerating, too - you can barely hear her, just a couple of times, a sound that resembles a cat's meow (myaaooo).

:)

My segment begins somewhere at 2:45 minutes into the show and lasts till about 8:15.

The audio is here, show notes are here.

UPDATE: The audio content for this episode seems no longer available at the Pods and Blogs site, so here's a clip with my segment (thanks so much, Georgia, for capturing it!) -

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First, Chris Vallance quotes from my last night's Global Voices translation, and then I say stuff about Yeltsin and about the Russian blogosphere.

I'm not saying anything special, but I'm still extremely happy. It was damn scary to be interviewed - I haven't spoken English in months, have only been reading and writing - but I think I sound okay. Yes, I do like the way I sound - it's a really nice surprise. :)

***

Thousands of people have come to the Christ the Savior Church in Moscow to say good-bye to Yeltsin - it takes at least an hour of standing in line to get inside and view the body.

Looks like Putin's got himself yet another peaceful rally - which he can't disperse, mainly because of all the Bushes-Clintons-John Majors coming over for the funeral.

The funeral is a good reason to do some repairs, too. Here's what LJ user grinka reports (RUS, my sleepy translation):

All the janitors that could be found in [Moscow's Central Administrative District] seemed to swarm on Prechistenka at 10 pm. They were washing the facades, painting lamp posts, washing shop windows. Evacuators were [towing cars away], road workers were shutting down [sewage holes] [...]. Someone standing in line [to view Yeltsin's body] said that by the Novodevichye [Cemetery] they had even promptly put fresh asphalt everywhere.

The timing of Yeltsin's death is outstanding: he died amid all the rallies, and the parading of riot police, and the endless talk of Putin's possible successor.

After reading Sergei Ivanov's interview in the FT just a few days ago, I caught myself thinking that I might even miss Putin a little bit if Ivanov became the next president. For a number of reasons.

And now everyone's talking about Yeltsin, and so many people speak of "the end of an epoch" - and so many admit that they miss the 1990s, Yeltsin's time.

***

A quick GV translation of the Russian bloggers' reactions is here.

***

A sort of a tribute to Yeltsin, from the piece I wrote for Euro-Correspondent.com in 2003 (no longer in their archives, though):

[...] Two years later, in October 2002, I was in a cab in Moscow, on my way to the Kremlin Cup finals. The driver was Georgian, and since he seemed interested, I decided to share some of the tournament's highlights with him. One was Russia's ex-president Boris Yeltsin, of course, who had spent over six hours cheering for a succession of this country's players on a previous day. No matter what one's political views might be, Yeltsin the Tennis Fan could be very amusing, even cute. The Georgian cab driver had a slightly different take on it. He shook his head in disbelief and fired out a curse in Russian so powerful and wordy that I think I blushed. Then he elaborated: "And look at our old fart, Shevardnadze! That's what he should be doing - retire and spend the rest of his life watching tennis! And instead, he is stealing and stealing and stealing, till nothing remains of the country!" [...]

Yeltsin has died, and somehow it's really hard to believe, and it's sad, too. Hard to believe they are mortals, you know. I felt the same kind of shock when Milosevic died, though there was no sadness at all then.

Yeltsin sat at a tennis game in Luzhniki just a few days ago, I've read. He was really good at it. (CORRECTION: Actually, he wasn't there, and it got people - Russian fans - worried. Sorry for confusion.)

Besides seeing him a few times at Kremlin Cup, I also bumped into him in spring 1987, when he was still a minor politician - but already considered progressive. He was visiting Ramenki then, a neighborhood in the south-west of Moscow - a really tall guy, sticking out of the crowd that gathered around him. Twenty years ago. We really liked him then.

RIP.

It is getting more and more surreal here.

On Sunday, a bunch of Russian human rights people decided to have a walking tour of last weekend's "battlefields" - the sites where OMON attacked, beat up and detained participants of the April 14 Dissenters' March, random passerby and journalists.

OMON fighters were awaiting them: seven people got detained right away, before they had time to gather in a group, and then the police followed the rest around - fewer than 20 people total, about half of them journalists, according to Marina Litvinovich (RUS), who was there with her son (a 5-year-old, I guess).

Here's a quote:

We walked, smiling, talking to journalists, and a walkie-talkie in the hands of an OMON guy nearby was saying: "They are just walking. What shall we do with them?"

OMON was definitely confused.

Photos from this walk are here.

And another quote from Litvinovich:

It may seem funny, but it's absolutely not funny. It's paranoia and fear. The regime is completely inadequate if it fears people who are just strolling peacefully.

Anyway, let's walk around our city! We are the free people and we aren't scared.

***

Litvinovich wrote that the majority of OMON guys had been deployed to Trubnaya (Pipe) Square - and, believe it or not, soon after they were gone, some 200 square meters of the pavement sank in somewhere nearby. (Most likely, it happened because of subway construction there, but still.)

Here're a few comments, again from Litvinovich's LJ (RUS):

el_cambio: The earth can't hold them anymore.

[...]

rgkot: What would happen if OMON guys jumped all at once?

abstract2001 [Litvinovich]: The Earth would come off its orbit and the global freezing would begin.

ilarion: Here you go: the gravitational weapon :)

***

Later that day, around 9:30 pm, some 30 activists of Rossiya Molodaya (The Young Russia, an anti-opposition movement) gathered by the Ukrainian embassy to protest Victor Yushchenko's pro-West policies: according to Gazeta.ru (RUS), they drove out a cart with "the U.S. president" sitting in it and "Yushchenko" acting as a horse; they also lit up firecrackers and dropped anti-Yushchenko leaflets over the embassy's fence. Gazeta.ru reports that

As a result of the rally, one activist, one journalist and a passerby were detained.

***

And here's what Sergei Ivanov, the man who may or may not become Russia's next president, thinks of all these marches and Russia's "civil society" in general:

[...] Russia is a huge country and mentally, unfortunately, the majority of the population, as before, relies on the tsar. Our civil society is still weak. It can’t be strong because only 15 years have passed since it began to be created.

[...] the majority of the people are apolitical, and I don’t see anything terrible about this.

[...] Monopolism of state power is harmful and we don’t even need to discuss this. But in conditions of weak political culture, when demonstrations easily turn into fights, when they close down roads, this just arouses aversion among the apolitical population, for whom it’s not important what slogans people are going around with, it’s important for them to be able drive along the road, and the rest they couldn’t care less about. There is a thin line between political freedoms and extremism.

[...]

FT: What do you think about the marches that are due to happen this weekend?

MR IVANOV: I don’t even know about them, I don’t really follow them. I know they happen from time to time, where about 100 people take part in the march and 2,000 police guard them. I think too much attention is paid. The only aim of the organisers of the marches is to attract the attention of the media. Why do municipal authorities ban marches, but allow meetings? Say whatever you want. We have freedom of speech. This is a free country. Read our newspapers. They write such things, sometimes you could say it’s total garbage. But print what you want, say what you want. But as for the marches, which you asked about. Here you are, here’s a place. Stand there. For a week if you want. Shout there, like in Hyde Park - Speakers Corner. Go ahead. But if you insist that you want to close down all the traffic in the centre of Moscow, if the interests of 10m people don’t concern you at all, if you couldn’t care less about them…any authority would say no because the majority of people are against this. And this really is the case, and there is no politics in this. If you want to demonstrate your opinion of the authorities, to criticise them and complain, stand here and shout. But don’t block the traffic. This is the principal contradiction.

I've read the interview with Sergei Ivanov in Financial Times and wanted to write down a few things, but I'm really tired right now, so I'll do it later, and for now, here's a picture from Kyiv - a crazy license plate on a Lexus parked near Mandarin/Arena City (taken with my cell phone)...