Commandos celebrate Airborne Day with an old-fashioned Russian pogrom

August 2 is a religious holiday in Russia; it is the Day of Ilya the Prophet. However, the majority of Russians know this day as another holiday: Airborne Day. Commandos always look forward to this day, which cannot be said of the rest of the Russian population, as they are rather afraid of it, because this day has become a tradition for numerous incidents. It would be ok if this holiday would always end with swimming in fountains, but, unfortunately, it usually ends up with a big fight in one of Moscow’s areas. Commandos go to beat up people of the Caucasian origin. Since this happens every year, the Caucasians are used to it, so they get ready as well.

A big fight happened in the town of Zelenograd yesterday (Zelenograd is very close to Moscow). Commandos fought with market vendors from Azerbaijan. Two hundred people took part in the pogrom, and four of them were seriously injured. One commando was hospitalized with a knife wound.

This is surely an unpleasant incident, but frankly speaking, one should expect such events, as they have become common. They occur every year, so Russians are used to them, both common people and the police.

However, people are used to bridges collapsing, new bridges, by the way. Market stalls were set on fire under the bridge in Moscow’s Luzhniki region. The market was situated under the overpass of Moscow's third ring road. As a result, the bridge began to fall to pieces due to the incredible temperature. The fire is said to have began because of a short circuit. Now, there is now bridge, but, luckily, no one was injured or killed, although the incident caused a huge traffic jam.

It has just been reported a passer-by killed with a flare pistol. This happened in St.Petersburg during the Airborne Day celebrations.

Vasily Bubnov PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov