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St. Petersburg State University, Russian Orthodox Church’s legal department and Justice Ministry of the Russian Federation #wingnut #crackpot #pratt #conspiracy meduza.io

In April, Russia introduced a new Explanatory Dictionary of the State Language of the Russian Federation, compiled at St. Petersburg State University and immediately added to the official list of normative dictionaries that government agencies are required to use. In November, The Barents Observer noted that the dictionary’s authors say “some” definitions were coordinated with the Russian Orthodox Church’s legal department and prepared under the oversight of the Justice Ministry. They state outright that these entries are meant to reflect the “traditional spiritual and moral values” outlined in the presidential decree on state policy principles[…]
authoritarianism[…]Considered the most effective form of governance in difficult times for a country, as it allows for diverse forms of property ownership, is often supported by a bloc of parties and movements, does not eliminate hostile forces, and permits the limited existence of value systems other than traditional ones[…]
enemy[…]One whom the sovereign authority has deemed hostile to the people, the government, or the state[…]
homosexuality[…]Sexual deviation manifested in the satisfaction of sensual desire with persons of one’s own sex; sodomy, pederasty[…]
democracy[…]In the political practice of Western countries: a form of governance in which citizens possess certain rights and freedoms, and state institutions operate in the interests of the most influential actors[…]
unity[…]Historical unity of Belarusians, Russians, and Ukrainians[…]
lesbianism[…]Sexual deviation manifested in the satisfaction of sensual desire by a woman with another woman[…]
limitrophe[…]21st-century Europe: a state used as a buffer between Western Europe and Russia, which is politically, economically, and culturally incapable of being independent[…]
regime[…]The Kyiv regime (in Ukraine since 2014: the established form of political rule, which poses a threat to the fundamental rights and interests of the Russian-speaking population)

Maria Efremova #racist #conspiracy #wingnut #pratt meduza.io

Maria Efremova is your average filmmaker, journalist, actress, conspiracy theorist, and anti-gay[…]Her latest work behind and in front of the camera is the movie Good Neighbors[…]Promotional materials describe the film as fun for the whole family[…]Good Neighbors is also, somewhat convolutedly, about the search for a kidnapped 10-year-old boy and his mother’s book publisher[…]The abductions are the work of diabolical Leninists who react poorly to new research that “exposes the cult of Ilyich”[…]
In one especially cringe-worthy scene, “would-be bikers Dima and Olya” (the latter played by Efremova) sit together and reminisce about the greatness of the Russian people. Dima recalls something he read from “an English geologist and traveler” who once praised Russians’ ingrained capacity for “compassionate” colonialism. Olya comments on the “accuracy” of this description and then marvels that such perceptiveness was possible from an Englishman, “a representative of the most deceitful nation on Earth”[…]
Efremova’s character explains that “there are Russians by blood” and “there are Russians in spirit — those who have embraced our customs, culture, and moral values.” Dima agrees, adding that the latter group is called “Russified.” Laughing, he points out that no one but Russians has this infectious, universal appeal — not the British, the French, the Armenians, and especially not the Jews

In another scene, a character named Vera warns her son that Lenin’s Mausoleum functions as a “teraphim,” which she describes as an accursed object made from the dried heads of infants allegedly killed by Jews[…]
Later in the film, someone calls Lenin a “lispy Judas” and accuses him of “destroying the Russian Empire,” “ruining the country,” “carrying out a genocide of Russians,” and “selling Crimea to Jewish tycoons”[…]
After Good Neighbors disappeared from Star Media’s platforms, Efremova published an article titled Why Were the Jews Frightened by the Russian Film ‘Good Neighbors’?

Unnamed North Korean pharmaceutical companies #quack meduza.io

Reports began to surface that North Korean pharmaceutical companies were preparing to export their drugs to Russia. These weren’t familiar over-the-counter remedies like ibuprofen, but supposedly original medicines developed and manufactured in North Korea — drugs that, according to their producers, can treat everything from Ebola to drug addiction[…]
NK News[…]listed several examples:
*Royal Blood-Fresh — made from fermented soybean components and said to “improve blood health”[…]
*Angungsahyang — a mix of musk, essential oils, and unspecified plant extracts that[…]delivers “immediate effects” for aphasia, paralysis, and even coma
NK News notes that North Korean health products aren’t entirely new to the Russian market[…]Kumdang-2, a ginseng-based injectable, has been imported for years. Its packaging claims the drug is effective against hepatitis, malaria, tuberculosis, influenza, substance addiction, insomnia, and dozens of other conditions[…]
None of these drugs are officially registered with the country’s Health Ministry — meaning there’s no entry for them in the State Register of Medicines

There also isn’t any evidence that the North Korean medications actually work. No clinical trial data for these products can be found — though that’s hardly surprising, given how rarely North Korean scientists publish in international journals[…]
There’s a simpler route North Korean manufacturers might take: selling their products[…]as dietary supplements[…]
Kumdang-2 — which its makers call the “best remedy” for dozens of illnesses — is officially registered in Russia as an herbal facial toner[…]
Allowing North Korean pharmaceuticals into the Russian market could be yet another form of compensation — a thank-you for Kim Jong Un’s support in the war against Ukraine

Kirill Strelnikov #racist #conspiracy #psycho meduza.io

Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti published an inflammatory column Wednesday titled There’s No Other Option: No One Should Remain Alive in Ukraine by columnist Kirill Strelnikov. The piece argues that Western assessments portraying Ukraine’s military favorably are mere propaganda designed to keep Ukrainians fighting as “laboratory rats” for Western military research

The column contrasts Western praise for Ukrainian military capabilities with Kyiv’s growing setbacks on the battlefield. Strelnikov quotes American think tanks, such as the Atlantic Council, which recently published an article stating that Ukraine is “one of Europe’s leading military powers”[…]
A former editor at Politrussia.com and a regular guest on Russian state television, Kirill Strelnikov is typically introduced as a political analyst. The state-run news outlet RIA Novosti featured his No One Should Remain Alive column [url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250730165139/https://ria.ru/prominently[/url] on its homepage. The op-ed concludes that Ukrainians have chosen to “die for their Western masters” and that Russia will no longer try to win their hearts and minds:

The time for coming to one’s senses has passed, and we will no longer make appeals or try to convince anyone. If people are consciously and willingly prepared to die for their masters, that is their choice

Sergey Karaganov #wingnut #conspiracy meduza.io

Sergey Karaganov is one of Russia’s most prominent political scientists and a founding member of the Valdai Discussion Club, which Vladimir Putin has attended regularly for more than two decades. In a recent report, subtitled “The Ideological Foundations of Russia as a Civilizational State,” Karaganov lays out his argument for introducing a state ideology and indoctrinating Russians from childhood in a new “Citizen’s Code”[…]
In 2023, Karaganov published an article proposing a preemptive tactical nuclear strike on a NATO member, such as Poland[…]
At the heart of Karaganov’s new report is a clear assertion: Russia needs a national ideology. “We need a guide”[…]This forward-looking ideology should be backed by the state. It should be instilled in children[…]Without a unifying idea[…]the nation and its people face inevitable stagnation and eventual decline

Russia’s constitution explicitly prohibits state ideology. Article 13 asserts that “no ideology may be established as official or mandatory”[…]Karaganov proposes a workaround. Rather than rewriting the law, he argues, the government could simply rebrand a state ideology as a “living dream for the country”[…]
Karaganov’s report describes Russia as a “civilizational state”[…]
Karaganov goes further than his fellow ideologues. He casts Russia as an “Asian empire,” in the company of China and India, and argues that classical electoral democracy is harmful to Russia’s political system[…]
According to Karaganov, Russia’s optimal governance model is “strong leadership democracy,” supported by a “powerful leader” and backed by a strong and patriotic meritocratic elite[…]
Karaganov criticizes Westerners for “individualism” and a “cult of consumerism” that he claims is imposed by “globalist elites”[…]
In Karaganov’s view, Russia can oppose this “cult” with the “sobornost” (collectivism) its citizens who serve “the people, the country, the state, its embodiment — the leader — and God, if a person believes in him”

Konstantin Chuychenko #wingnut #psycho #conspiracy meduza.io

Russia’s justice minister has proposed introducing “the defense of moral values” as a new basis for exemption from criminal liability. Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum, Konstantin Chuychenko said, “Currently, individuals can be exempted if they acted out of extreme necessity or in self-defense. But what if someone was defending moral values?”

As examples of when such a “third ground for exemption” might apply, Chuychenko cited the actions of Russians in the Kursk region, parts of which were temporarily occupied by Ukrainian forces, and a father who killed a man for allegedly raped his young daughter. “Nationalists entered Kursk. Many local residents defended their loved ones and their property — and, naturally, they killed,” he said. “Nobody really questions whether those killings were lawful”

“Morality must be embodied in the law, and the law must be deeply moral,” Chuychenko continued. “At present, our Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes define justice solely as the proportionality of punishment to the offense”

Earlier at the same forum, Chuychenko asserted that strengthening Russian statehood should take precedence over protecting individual rights and upholding the rule of law. He also described the Decembrists — the liberal military officers and political dissidents who led a failed uprising against the Russian Empire in 1825 — as “agents of foreign influence,” and argued that the “liberal” monarchy had punished them too leniently. (Most Decembrists were executed or exiled to Siberia)

Sergey Lavrov and Maxim Grigoryev #dunning-kruger #wingnut #crackpot #conspiracy meduza.io

A foreword written by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is raising concerns in Eastern Europe that Moscow is once again laying the groundwork to challenge a neighbor’s international borders. Lavrov’s preface appears in a monograph titled “The History of Lithuania,” published in March but only recently noticed by journalists. The book questions the existence of the Lithuanian language and the very statehood of modern-day Lithuania

Earlier this week, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys called the monograph a tool of Russian propaganda and likened its message to Vladimir Putin’s July 2021 essay, On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians, in which the president rejected the foundations of Ukrainian sovereignty[…]
In his foreword, Lavrov accuses the Baltic states, including Lithuania, of trying to “use falsified historical narratives to incite anti-Russian and Russophobic sentiments.” The book, he says, pushes back against this trend

The monograph, The History of Lithuania, was published in 2025 by the Moscow State Institute of International Relations’ publishing house. The lead author of the nine-member team was Maxim Grigoryev, head of the pro-Kremlin Foundation for the Study of Democracy Problems, a member of Russia’s Civic Chamber, and chair of the “International Public Tribunal on the Crimes of Ukrainian Neo-Nazis.” Grigoryev is also a veteran of Russia’s war in Ukraine[…]
In the book’s chapter on Lithuania after its separation from the USSR, Grigoryev, Grabauskas, and their coauthors argue that the country today “officially considers itself the successor of the Lithuania of the pro-Nazi dictatorship” under Antanas Smetona. They also write that the “contemporary Lithuanian regime” embraces a “pro-Nazi” ideology and survives “largely” thanks to “police measures and the suppression of dissent”

Patriarch Kirill #fundie #wingnut meduza.io

During an Easter service at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral held on Saturday night, Russian Orthodox Church head Patriarch Kirill referred to the holiday as a “victory day”

“Easter is a victory day. We know there’s the victory day connected to victory in war, but Easter is a day of victory over the greatest enemy — over the devil, and over the forces of evil that once held total sway over the world,” Patriarch Kirill told the congregation

He referred to Easter as a “victory day” several more times throughout the sermon

Russian President Vladimir Putin was in attendance at the service, along with Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin