Sochi
Translation: “V. Putin sends his regards to the 2014 Sochi volunteers” Source: Rus Demotivator
The Internet responds to the debacle that was the Sochi Olympics. Gay rights had been wiped off the books in Russia months before the Games. Sochi hotels began welcoming customers in spite of issues like a missing floor in one hotel lobby and a bathroom door in another that locked an athlete in; US bobsledder Johnny Quinn punched a hole through the fake-wood door to free himself. The balmy weather made real snow impossible and fake snow slushy. Terrorism was a real possibility and security was high.
Like the rest of the world, Russians turned to the internet to vent their frustration at the mess that was the 2014 Winter Games, but for them, Putin’s vast overspending was the cherry on the their melting ice cream sundae.
Facebook And Crimea
Roman Romanenko Source: Radio Free Europe
Roman Romanenko posted a tongue-in-cheek open letter to Putin on his Facebook page and was brought in for questioning by the regional prosecutor in April 2014 for “extremist activity and fomenting social, ethnic, and linguistic strife.” He’s the editor of a mainstream weekly newspaper in Vologda state, but this letter wasn’t published; it was only meant for his friends to see. At the time, Crimea was about to be annexed by Russia, who were offering the peninsula billions of dollars in government subsidies. Vologda is in the midst of its own financial struggles, so Romanenko joked that Putin should invade his state next:
“We’ve learned that you want to send troops to Crimea to defend the rights of the Russian-speaking population. In relation to that, we have a big request — to send troops into Vologda. We all totally speak Russian here, and our rights are frequently violated…The occupiers who seized power here with the help of fraudulent elections do nothing to help the conquered population .
They lavish money on themselves, on their homes, offices, and private planes…We’ve heard about all the money you’re going to spend in Crimea, and hardly dare to hope that you might do the same for Vologda region? Our region has become a debt pit, and we desperately need new bridges, roads, industrial development, new jobs .
With respect and profound hopes for liberation, the Russian-speaking inhabitants of Vologda.”
What’s really scary is that because laws aimed at deterring and punishing extremist activities were recently strengthened under Putin’s regime, this poor guy could get up to five years hard labor or six years prison time if his case goes to trial.
