HBO’s recently-ended Chernobyl mini-series is easily one of the best shows of the year — and so much better than Game of Thrones season 8, by the way. The show tells the real story of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster as experienced by the ones who had to deal with the consequences.
Unsurprisingly, Putin’s Russia doesn’t like it. Not only that, but a Russian network is making its own Chernobyl, which will be a fictional story based on a conspiracy theory that claims the CIA — who else — sent an agent to the Chernobyl zone to carry out acts of sabotage.
According to The Moscow Times, Putin’s media is struggling to deal with the fact that HBO, an American TV channel, told the story about its heroes. Several major media outlets in the country have criticized HBO’s show, which is a national sensation in Russia, even though it’s only available online to paying views.

Almost 40 percent of Russians would consider no longer using plastic bags, according to a state-funded survey published on World Environment Day.
The UN’s World Environment Day takes place on June 5 every year to raise environmental awareness. Greenpeace estimates that more than 26 billion plastic bags are handed out annually in shops across Russia.
A total of 85 percent of Russian respondents would consider fully (39 percent) or partially (46 percent) giving up plastic bags, the VTsIOM pollster said Wednesday.

A popular saying once said there was no sex in the U.S.S.R. — but there is now, and with whom else but Stalin himself?
A newly announced game that offers players the experience of getting to know Stalin a little too intimately has drawn a range of reactions, including the ire of Russia’s communists, who have vowed to fight its release.
Global game distributor Steam announced the release of the bluntly named “Sex With Stalin” single-player BDSM simulation on Oct. 10. The player, assuming the role of a “young time traveler,” is given a chance to change the course of history and, as the game’s developers say in broken English, “show that mustache guy what’s real love is!”

The daughter of President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has stirred controversy on social media for not sharing some of her followers’ concerns about homosexuality being punished by the death penalty in certain Muslim countries.
Dmitry Peskov’s daughter Yelizaveta Peskova marked the end of Ramadan with an Instagram post Tuesday. There, one user asked if she was concerned “by the fact that homosexuality is punished by death in Islam,” according to a screenshot of an Instagram story shared by Pyotr Verzilov, a member of the anti-Kremlin group Pussy Riot.
“There are laws of nature, and these things [homosexuality] are haram for me,” Peskova replied, using a term denoting a forbidden act or item in Islam, according to the screenshot.
“It’s a good thing that Liza’s dad has money and Liza will never have to make a career in the West, because no company will hire a person with these views,” Verzilov remarked.  
Strict Islamic law known as Sharia permits the death penalty for adultery and homosexuality.
Pop culture websites have inferred that Peskova may be dating a Muslim based on past Instagram posts of trips to Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Chechnya.

An extinct volcano that has awoken in Far East Russia could unleash destruction not seen since the ancient Roman city of Pompeii was destroyed by volcanic eruption nearly 2,000 years ago, scientists warn.
Geophysicists said in new research that increased seismicity and “magma intrusions” measured at the Bolshaya Udina volcano since late 2017 justify its reclassification from “extinct” to “active.” The “catastrophic” amount of ash that would spread from the long-dormant volcano in the Kamchatka region could wreak havoc far beyond Russia if the volcano erupts, said Ivan Kulakov, the study’s lead author.

Tourists are not traveling to Moscow because they think it’s too expensive and unsafe, according to a Boston Consulting Group (BCG) survey obtained by Russia’s RBC news website on Tuesday.
BCG polled 3,500 tourists and classified their answers into two categories to reflect the respondents’ biases and structural barriers. The consulting group didn’t disclose the percentages of each response.
BCG said responses that mentioned high costs, lack of safety and excessively long flights to Moscow were filed under the “biases” category, RBC cited its research as saying.

The clever animal that for the past two weeks has thrilled locals along the Arctic coast of Norway should be transferred to a “suitable facility,” fishery authorities say.
The white whale that turned up around fishing vessels in late April has since stayed in the waters of Hammerfest. Hundreds of people from the small north Norwegian town have since enjoyed the acquaintance of the animal along the local shores.
The harness that originally was connected around its body was successfully released by representatives of the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, together with local fisherman Joar Hesten.

Russia has eased its weapons resale rules to alleviate secondary buyers’ fears of U.S. sanctions, according to an unpublished government decree cited by the Vedomosti business daily Wednesday.
Reports found that Russia sold the second-most weapons in 2018 despite five years of declining sales. Countries trading with Russia’s defense and intelligence sectors currently face secondary sanctions under U.S. measures imposed in August 2017 over Moscow’s actions that include alleged election interference.