EVERY January 18th a million Russians make foreigners shiver and wonder. This year again, in temperatures ranging from -10°C in Moscow to -45°C in Yakutia, they plunged into a cross-shaped hole cut in the ice. The annual ritual, marking the baptism of Christ, was the top news item on Russian state television, mainly because one man taking part was President Vladimir Putin. Arriving dressed in the peasant attire of a sheepskin coat and felt boots, he stripped off, crossed himself and leapt into the icy waters of Lake Seliger.
Local officials followed suit. In the ancient city of Yaroslavl, on the Volga, the local mayor and a member of the United Russia party told district prefects to lead by example. “I ask all heads and their deputies to take part in this organised event. You are all Orthodox people, are you not?” he said in a televised statement. He seemed the spitting image of a Soviet Komsomol leader ordering public workers to take part...Continue reading
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