@mason I know my sons do

lol, in some new biodoc, former Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu brags about the reforms he instituted after taking charge of the military, highlighting how he introduced daily showers and fresh underwear changes. Есть такая профессия!

https://t.me/moscowtimes_ru/33426

“'It was all calm ­conversation, like in a mafia movie,'” Ukrainian negotiator Taras Kachka told The Times, likening the mineral deal negotiations with the Trump administration to "films in which men in dark suits ­quietly decide matters of life and death."

https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/inside-zelensky-mineral-deal-us-lh60qbgts

wow the white genocide has spread to congo! somebody get congo’s president on a plane to washington, and make sure to leave the keys in the ignition

@ikentcpel I have little sympathy for ethnic or racial essentialism, particularly when expressed as contempt for "mothers and their children."

Anybody out there with a Pebble watch encounter a problem where you can get your watchface to fetch weather data, but only when selecting the watchface through the app, and then it stops fetching new weather data, soon after you've put the phone back in your pocket?

Truly capable scholars — trained experts, you see — know the real culprits behind Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are mothers and artists.

If I were 25 years younger and about to start studying Russia, I'd mostly warn myself about how much British English I'd be inflicting on myself in the decades to come. Look away, little "don't tread on me" snake.

@kallekn always does

“Russia’s attempts to purchase hundreds of aging tankers — often approaching the end of their useful life — have been aided by the willingness of Western shipowners to sell vessels into the Russian fleet, with an outsized contribution by E.U. shippers in general and Greek shippers in particular.” https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-race-to-sanction-russias-growing-shadow-fleet/

Kommersant correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov accompanied Putin to Kursk today and reported on his meeting with local officials. He suspects it was some of the most candid testimony Putin has ever heard about Ukraine’s incursion. This excerpt about “unity” stands out.

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/7737456

Putin is now getting in directly on the “Russia will annex Sumy next” threats, though the state media describes his remarks as “a joke,” so far, anyway.

https://ria.ru/20250521/khinshteyn-2018218573.html

Stalin has returned in a big (life-sized) way to the Moscow subway. The restoration work is shoddy, compared to the original's lavish style, and ofc Russian liberals are bickering about the politics of pointing this out. It's another chapter in Russia’s de-de-Stalinization. https://meduza.io/en/feature/2025/05/21/the-moscow-metro-s-strange-gift-to-passengers

The European Union agreed earlier today to provide $6.2 million in "short-term emergency funding" to help keep Radio Free Europe afloat after the Trump administration stopped USG grants.

https://apnews.com/article/europe-radio-free-trump-funds-9e6283df860222e825c81ff0c1c0ef9b

@jerry I first read “Middle Earth” and thought “awesome!”

@pronichkin @mackuba It hasn’t developed with Mastodon’s decentralization, but it has the potential, which is promising at least in theory. Let a thousand flowers bloom, etc.

😬

Rest in peace, J. Arch Getty. I will always be grateful for the kindness you showed me when I was only just beginning to study Russia and the Soviet Union.

Damn, the governor of Vologda fired the mother in question, saying, “We are responsible for our children.” (The “kid” is 19 years old.) He also advised mom to devote more attention to her upbringing and “maybe send her to volunteer at a military hospital.” This is childfree propaganda, if I ever saw it! https://t.me/filimonov_official/19346

@wupatz Most of the damage is the independent press getting kicked out (there are still ways to report on life, of course, but the media space has contracted enormously). The press in exile finds itself scooped by Western MSM on stories that belong less to the Russian news agenda than a global discourse. It’s all pretty depressing, and I sense we’re seeing and understanding less about Russia than at any time since before Perestroika.