moscow

Door-Burning Scrotum-Nailing Ear-Cutting Political Performance Artist Declared "Sane" In Russia

Marina Galperina · 04/03/16 01:45PM

In November, artist Petr Pavlensky—now famous for nailing his scrotum to the ground in the Red Square—set fire to the wooden doors of Moscow’s Federal Security Service headquarters. He stood there quietly with the gasoline canister for about 30 seconds until he was arrested. He was charged with “vandalism motivated by ideological hatred.” This week, psychiatric experts declared Pavlensky sane and fit to stand trial for his actions, RIA Novosti reports.

Hamilton Nolan · 11/11/13 01:30PM

"Moscow city officials are now offering free rides on the subway to any passenger who does 30 squats before crossing the ticket barrier to enter the metro." Did America lose the Cold War after all?

Ed Snowden's Great Escape: An Annotated Guide

Max Read · 06/24/13 02:32PM

On Sunday morning, Edward Snowden boarded an Aeroflot flight in Hong Kong, landing in Moscow more than 13 hours later. We think. The truth is, no one's quite sure where the NSA leaker is—Moscow? Havana? Quito? Reykjavik? (He's not on Aeroflot Flight 180, we know that much.) But we can reconstruct his movements—and speculate where he's headed.

You Should Read the Pussy Riot Defendants' Powerful Closing Statements

Max Read · 08/10/12 04:16PM

The Pussy Riot trial — in which three members of a Russian punk collective were charged with "hooliganism" and held in jail for months over a guerrilla performance Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral (you can read more about it here) — ended yesterday with two of the defendants, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (on the right and the left, respectively, in the above photo), giving closing statements. You should read them.

Man Eats $5,000 Worth of Caviar in 86 Seconds

Louis Peitzman · 04/21/12 12:58PM

When you think "binge eating," caviar is probably one of the last foods that comes to mind. But hey, competitive eating doesn't just have to be about pies and hot dogs.

Naked Man Crashes into 15 Cars 'on Wings of Love'

Max Read · 10/30/11 04:21PM

Breakups are bad news, as we all know. Who here hasn't spent a week binging on raw cookie dough and episodes of The Good Wife after getting dumped? Or gotten behind the wheel of his cab, naked and drunk, and crashed into 17 cars?