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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGoodbye Russia: a generation packs its bags
Chirikova became an environmental activist 11 years ago...this is an in-depth article on life in Russia under Putins mob rule
snip
Chirikova herself was targeted in another way - through her "weak spot", her children.
"The authorities spread lies about me saying I smacked my daughters and didn't feed them properly," she says. "A guy from the security services came to our apartment block and asked my neighbours to sign a document saying I was a bad mother."
Her elder daughter was so upset by the sight of men in unmarked cars watching the family that she was too scared to go to school. When strangers knocked on the door, the girls would hide under their beds. Eventually the family had to move to a new neighbourhood closer to the centre of Moscow but the harassment continued, now in the form of threatening phone calls.
Chirikova says it took her daughters three years of therapy to recover. Her own anxiety continued to grow, however, especially when the Child Protection Service hinted that it might take her "abused" daughters away from her.
Much more:
http://www.bbc.com/news/stories-42431009
article found via Bill Browder tweet
Link to tweet
?s=17
Irish_Dem
(47,560 posts)Leghorn21
(13,527 posts)Anatoliy Kuzmin held out his daughters blue U.S. passport over a red Russian one and snapped a photo from a Florida beach.
Woohoo! Got dual citizenship for my daughter! he wrote on Instagram.
American citizenship for the newborn girl was the goal of Kuzmin and his Instagram-celebrity wife, who sought the help of birth-tourism services in Florida for the arrival of their first child. They are among the estimated hundreds of Russian parents who flock to the U.S. annually for warm weather, excellent medical care, and, more importantly, birthright American citizenship.
And many, like Kuzmin and his wife, stay at President Donald Trumps properties in Florida.
much more:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/russians-flock-to-trump-properties-to-give-birth-to-us-citizens
Irish_Dem
(47,560 posts)DFW
(54,462 posts)As long as they learn passable German, no one even raises an eyebrow any more.
dalton99a
(81,656 posts)Its kleptocracy; its corruption. Its a nation that is really only dependent upon oil and gas for their economy, and so economic sanctions are important."
- John McCain
"They are a smaller country, they are a weaker country, their economy doesnt produce anything that anybody wants to buy except oil and gas and arms. They dont innovate."
- President Obama
murielm99
(30,779 posts)saying that. Any of our future candidates need to stress this. They need to stress how the repiggies allowed their party and our country to be weakened by this weak, criminal country and its thug leadership.
dalton99a
(81,656 posts)and their Russian thug bosses
StevieM
(10,500 posts)And he was totally right.
mountain grammy
(26,661 posts)Never been a real democracy anyway, but we were inching towards it. Full stop.
agincourt
(1,996 posts)sounds like all the US can produce under Trump and the GOP.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Hijacking another country's Pres. election seems pretty creative.
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)Blue_true
(31,261 posts)New York was first with Brighton Beach, but Boston-Cambridge and other large northeast cities are getting enclaves.