Bread and circus seals: How Russia marked the Nazis’ defeat
COMMENTARY
First Crimean combat dolphins; now Siberian military seals.
As Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrated Victory Day in Moscow on Saturday with big tanks and even bigger rhetoric, the Siberian city of Irkutsk observed the holiday differently.
According to the Siberian Times, two seals — named Winnie the Pooh and Laska — “marched’’ with military hats and toy rifles in a performance, marking the 70th anniversary of the Nazi’s surrender to the Soviet Union. The seals dove through obstacles holding plastic knives in their mouths, hoisted a flag, and shot targets with water guns.
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“We have a military patriotic show here,’’ aquatic park director Alexei Berdnikov told Reuters. “We wanted to pay tribute to those who died and those who fought.’’
While these seals are undoubtedly talented, they may not be the only ones being asked to jump through hoops.
The Russian economy has slightly rebounded on rising oil prices during recent weeks. But as PBS’s Frontlinerecently reported, just 111 people own nearly a fifth of the wealth in Russia, a country of roughly 140 million. Excluding Russia’s 158,000 millionaires, the median wealth per person is $2,360, according to Credit Suisse.
Despite this, Putin garners 85 percent approval ratings, wrote Moisés Naím for Fortune, in part in part because of his knack for patriotic diversions. The ones in the Siberian aquarium had Putin-esque charm that some in the country find irresistible.
“How long can high approval ratings last in a country so economically and socially frail?’’ Naím wrote. “To hold off the storm, Putin is successfully distracting the public with international theatrics that tap into his people’s devotion to the motherland.’’
On one hand, the performance could be said to grossly oversimplify one of the most important military victories in history.
On the other hand: cute seals.
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