Requiem for Murdered Deserters

One must fulfill the debt sacredly,
Sparing not even life,
As, they say, grandfathers once did.

They kept telling you: the laws,
They say, were written for you,
And into barracks, like into "zones,"
You were legally driven.

You were driven like a herd,
And it doesn't matter if it was to war.
They told you: "It must be so!"
And dipped you in filth.

For absolutely nothing
You were deprived of freedom
Boundlessly, immeasurably,
And not just for years.

The sovereign's beasts
Washed you in your own blood,
They turned you into slaves
With humiliation and pain.

But having rebelled, for a short while
You returned your will.
And the champions of "duty"
Killed you for that.

You, who shed no innocent blood...
Like wolves,
You are killed, heroes.
You were killed by scum.

Conversation with Vladimir Vladimirovich

Once, TV star Leonid Gennadyevich Parfenov called Vladimir Vladimirovich.

• Listen, bro, - said Leonid Gennadyevich, - I'm tired. I've had enough.
• What have you had enough of? - Vladimir Vladimirovich didn't understand.
• Everything, - replied Leonid Gennadyevich, - I'm tired of television, tired of "Namedni", tired of NTV. I sit here like a fool in a porcelain tower on the eighth floor, I see nothing, I hear nothing, I put on what they bring me. But I want freedom. I want to walk down the street, breathe some air.
• So take a vacation, - advised Vladimir Vladimirovich.
• I can't, - complained Leonid Gennadyevich, - I just took one recently. When Jordan was fired.
• Well, then just quit altogether, - suggested Vladimir Vladimirovich.
• How can I quit? - Leonid Gennadyevich said sadly, - Who's going to let me go?
• Well... - thought Vladimir Vladimirovich. - Well then, take some terrorist and show him as beautiful, as you can.
• Why? - Leonid Gennadyevich was surprised.
• They'll let you go immediately, - Vladimir Vladimirovich said confidently. - You'll see.
• Really? - Leonid Gennadyevich asked incredulously, - Well, I'll try.
• Go ahead, try, - said Vladimir Vladimirovich. - Go for it. And when they let you go - come to me, we'll go fishing.

And Vladimir Vladimirovich hung up.
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Editorial Information

Editorial address: 125414, Moscow, Onezhskaya St., 40, apt. 113, to Valeria Grigoryevna Lyubimtseva. tel: 453-3776 fax: 150-4573

Editorial Board:
* Pavel LYUZAKOV - editor-in-chief
* Anastasia DROZDOVA - executive secretary
* Alexander MAISURYAN
* Dmitry STARIKOV
* Valeria LYUBIMTSEVA

Vladimir MATVEEV - founder.

Former editors-in-chief:
* Alexander CHUEV (1988)
* Eduard MOLCHANOV (1988-91)
* Irina ALESHINA (1991-92)
* Andrei GRYAZNOV (1994-95)

The newspaper is registered by the Moscow Regional Inspection for the Protection of Freedom of the Press and Mass Media. Registration number A0352 dated 03.09.93