Playing a dangerous game

摘要

A few days before Vladimir Putin's state-of-the nation address on May 10th, a strange, seemingly unrelated apparition presented itself in a Moscow park: some 50 Africans, plus the odd Afghan and Iraqi, carrying rakes. They came to perform a subbotnik-an old Soviet tradition of voluntary civic work. They headed for a wooded glade favoured by barbecuing Muscovites, and began clearing leaves and rubbish. "Good on them," said an elderly Russian park cleaner. "Friendship between the nations is very important."