OZOLNIEKI, Latvia — Russian culture is often defined by nationalist rants on state television, the Orthodox Church’s cozy ties with politicians and soldiers marching on Red Square.
There are also iconoclasts, atheists, dissidents and gay poets with wild hair and pink trousers — but many are fleeing to Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania to recreate enclaves outside of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
“Here, I’ll be operational,” declares Dmitry Kuzmin, a Russian critic, publisher and poet, more than one year into his self-imposed exile in Latvia.
The military turn of phrase “operational” sounds slightly odd, coming from a man casually clad in pink tie-dye jeans and …read more
Source: European Voice
