Last night I read a very interesting translation by Lyndon Allin of a censored article originally drafted for publication in Bolshoi Gorod, describing the author’s personal disenchantment with his great country’s diminishing freedoms in Nizhny Novgorod, and the mental burden of living under a managed democracy. It is a remarkably evocative and well written piece, capturing an oft-ignored side of today’s political reality in Russia – the humanist perspective. I’m grateful to Lyndon for continuing to demonstrate how to properly add value to the blogosphere. Original Source:

An Echo of Moscow by Roman Gruzov c. December 3, 2007 The city before the elections In late November it was cold in [Nizhny Novgorod], and the people handing out United Russia fliers on the streets were bundled up in scarves against the chill. Nizhny covered in snow feels oppressive to a person unused to the Russian provinces. The industrial areas which die out towards the evening and the touching wooden downtown, restored in some places and lop-sided and half-abandoned in others, seemed like some sort of different, unknown, incomprehensible and thus not entirely safe country. There were campaign banners on every corner, so the word “Putin” was always visible from several angles at once.