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7 things Snowden should do in Russia

Posted by / August 5, 2013

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By now y’all might know that whistleblower Edward Snowden is in Russia – probably to stay. With that in mind, Time Magazine has compiled a list of top 7 things that he should see, while there. More or less tongue-in-cheek but good info for the rest of us!

Here’s how they start their article:

A year is barely enough time to study a country as strange and enormous as Russia. So Edward Snowden, the American whistle-blower who was granted a year of asylum in Russia on July 31, will have to make good use of it if, as his lawyer claims, he wants to “study Russian culture” and travel its nine time zones. So far, there is no clear information on where he would be living or how far he’d actually be allowed to travel. But in case he’s able to take in some sights, TIME compiled a list of seven things he should definitely put on his calendar.

And here are some of the recommended sights:

Visit the Duma:

Considering the fan club Snowden has developed inside Russia’s parliament – one lawmaker has pledged to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize – it would be rude not to swing by for a visit. In the gift shop on the first floor, he could pick up a token of gratitude, such as a selection of hollowed out books where a parliamentarian might hide his, um, candy, or a nice big rubber stamp.

The Duma’s cafeteria, which one whimsical patron once dubbed “the colon of liberty,” also happens to offer the cheapest meal you can find in Moscow outside of a soup kitchen. The prices haven’t changed much since perestroika, so for about 100 rubles ($3.25) Snowden could enjoy a bowl of borsht, a beet-prune-and-mayonnaise salad and a patty of don’t-ask meat fried in sunflower oil. The cheap meal wouldn’t hurt if Snowden is really having money troubles: His pro bono Russian lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, said on Thursday that the whistle-blower “really doesn’t have that much money, but so far he’s got enough money to eat.” At the Duma’s borsht bar, definitely.

And I, for one, missed this news but seems Snowden could hang out with another new-Russian:

Hang out with Russia’s second most famous refugee:

When it emerged on June 16 that Russian asylum would allow Snowden to travel freely about the country, Jon Lee Anderson, a staff writer for the New Yorker, was the first to tweet: “A roadshow with Depardieu?” Imagine the possibilities. The grizzled French movie star Gerard Depardieu received a Russian passport in February from the hands of President Vladimir Putin himself, leaving his own motherland because of high taxes. Depardieu’s official address is now One Democratic Street in the Russian city of Saransk, a mere 400 miles east of Moscow. That’s in the region of Mordovia, home to an impressive constellation of prison colonies. So when he’s done watching old movies with Depardieu, Snowden could also hop over to Mordovia’s Corrective Labor Camp No. 14 for a visit with one of the founders of the performance art collective Pussy Riot, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova. She’s about half way through a two-year sentence for hooliganism that she got for singing an anti-Putin song in a Moscow cathedral last year. But visiting her might ruffle Putin’s feathers, so Depardieu might just as well hang back in Saransk.

For more suggested sights and sites, see this week’s Time here: Time / World.

More stories about Russia.

Photo credit: vvoe – Fotolia.com

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  • alison lapoint

    Thanks Ed.I don’t no what else to say.u opened the door for anisty and a new biging for all.u have a lot of good well diserved years ahaed.I’m glad the people dident burn u on the cross again.I’m so greatfull for that.I wouldent have let that happen to u.I woulld take a bullit for you eny day without a thought..take care.hero.xoxo.over

  • Sorry, but this strikes me as a rather sneaky way of defending the indefensible. As things stand, the only right the citizen has is to use one government against the other to expand the sliver of freedom still available. Snowden has played his cards admirably (amidst very trying circumstances) and done the planet a great favour in the bargain!