"Pravda" editors pledge to do better, 23 August 1991

Editors’ statement on the front page of iconic Soviet/ Russian daily "Pravda" from 23 August 1991, just after the failed 1991 anti-Gorbachev putsch.

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The founding of the Memorial Society in the late 1980s

Three moments in the early history of Memorial, a human rights group established in Gorbachev-era Russia (and abolished by Putin’s government in 2022) to document and memorialize Soviet political repressions and abuses.

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Svetlana Baskova's "Little Green Elephant" (1999)

Svetlana Baskova captures the surreal, deeply violent, and grotesque essence of the 1990s and the Chechen wars in her cult trash movie, "Zelenyi slonik" (The little green elephant, 1999).

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The Hit Song “Ubyli Negra” (1999): Dark Humor or Racism?

Music video and lyrics from the 1999 musical hit “Ubily negra [They Killed a Black Man]” by the band “Zapreshchennye barabanshchiki.”

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Vladimir Putin Brings Criminal Slang (and Attitude) to Mainstream Russian TV

At a press conference held in the wake of the September 1999 apartment bombings, then-Prime Minister Putin declared that he would “whack terrorists in the crapper.” In so doing, he reinforced his image as a strong and somewhat thuggish leader, ultimately boosting his popularity ahead of the 2000 presidential election.

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