Albert is selling the best water melons in the whole of the Stavropol region in Russia. At least that’s what he said. Watermelons are traditionally grown in large quantities in the southern regions of Russia and enjoy somewhat of a special status in former Soviet countries. Russian children discover watermelons’…
Ostblog Posts
Alexey is a resident of the town of Budyonnovsk in the south of Russia. It rose to international prominence when a group of more than 100 Chechen rebels led by their leader Shamil Basayev attacked the town in 1995. They stormed the city hospital where they took almost 2000 people…
Yuka was roaming the central Druzhba (friendship) park in Elista (Kalmykia) to sell magazines. He only had two issues on offer, one for boys and one for girls (which one is for whom I let you figure out). He also claimed to have built several businesses already, such as a…
Zarina is originally from Chechnya and now lives in Volzhsky, a town not far from Volgograd. She came there “just before the war in Chechnya broke out”. Many of her relatives stayed back home to fight. Her brother used to be one of Chechen president Kadyrov’s main bodyguards and now…
Gen Pen Tso is a Buddhist monk from Tibet who has been living in Kalmykia since 2006. The Republic in Russia’s south is the only region in Europe where Buddhism is traditionally the majority religion. Gen came to live in the republic’s capital Elista to work in one of the…