Russians about the Louis Vuitton suitcase in the Red Square

This (somewhat ridiculous if you ask me) marketing ploy is real:

Since construction finished this week, the gigantic luxury trunk, which is just steps from the Kremlin walls and was set to hold a charity exhibition of suitcases by the Paris-based designer, has been panned on social networks, denounced at the Duma and disowned by GUM, the luxury department store that abuts Red Square and approved the temporary exhibition.

Some Russians have expressed their outrage, due to proximity of the "suitcase" to this sacred place:

Of course, communists, ultra-nationalists and other demagogues* quickly jumped on the wave of popular outrage.

Sergey Obukhov, a Communist deputy for the Duma, called the square a “sacred place for the Russian government.” He added, “There are symbols that are forbidden to debase or defile.”

That the Mausoleum and the adjacent walls of the Kremlin are stuffed by hundreds of skeletons that used to carry some of the worst murderers of the last century doesn't seem to register with the pontificating political yobs. Nor does the fact that the Red Square itself served as a place for bloody punishment and executions during the centuries of Russian Tzars'. Sacred as sacred goes...

Russian people, on the other hand, have a healthy attitude to such problems and the jokes on the subject started immediately. Follow a few, haphazardly translated:

- Do you know why the "Suitcase" is being removed? The dwellers of Kremlin took it as a hint!

- Listen, Petrovna, who is it what forgot his suitcase on the Red Square?
- Nah, it is not a suitcase, it's just an oligarch's wallet.

- What does that suitcase do in the Red Square?
- Oh, the gent from the Mausoleum is fixing to move, so he put the suitcase out already.

(*) I noticed that I have, in fact, described the whole Russian Duma in that sentence. Oh well.

There are two other scandals, one related to the Red Square and another to Louis Vuitton.  The first:

Red Square has seen a lot over the centuries, from public executions to giant military parades, but a performance artist broke new ground on Sunday when he nailed his scrotum to cobblestones in a painful act of protest.

Pyotr Pavlensky said the protest was his response to Russia's descent into a "police state" and was timed to coincide with Police Day, which Russia's law enforcement officials celebrated on Sunday.

For details watch this (but don't blame me afterward):



Now this (real horrible stuff, I have to warn you):

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West left his New York apartment on Tuesday night and their staff were spotted carrying their belongings, which included some Louis Vuitton items, despite Kanye's recent call for a boycott.

I couldn't bring myself to include a video recording of the horror. So just go back and watch the clip above again, it will be better for you, I swear.