The ceremony to honor a fallen Russian soldier went viral for all the wrong reasons.
The musical faux pas last May in the eastern Russian town of Kyakhta, home to a prominent infantry brigade, soon rocketed around social media.
If the incident was discordant in the extreme, it also accentuated the contradictions of Vladimir Putin’s war that are changing the face of garrison towns across Russia.
The local cemetery is growing exponentially.
The flood of newly purchased cars in Kyakhta telegraphs loss as much as prosperity — the money comes from large government payouts to families of the dead and grievously injured.
Persons:
” blaring, Vladimir Putin’s
Organizations:
telegraphs
Locations:
Russian, Ukraine, Kyakhta, Russia