Dear Readers:
A couple of weeks ago, Nazi She-Wolf Ursula von der Leyen (=”Ursula the Queen of Lies”) decreed that Russian citizens may not travel within the EU on any personal transport, for example private automobiles. Nor may they bring any personal items into the country that may be deemed a “luxury” item. Such items, including cars, are subsequent to confiscation. I recall seeing some frantic articles in the Russian press: Russian government warning people not to drive to Finland, for example, to go shopping; because they risk having their automobile confiscated. Not only could it happen, it is happening.
Then I saw this piece which tells a horrific story about the ordeal of an ordinary Russian lady driving through Germany. Well, “ordinary” if it’s ordinary to compete in dog shows around the world. In any case, what they put this woman through shows the total maliciousness of the Western world, their nastiness, the way they treat their fellow human beings.
The heroine of our story is a 52-year-old woman named Irina Belyaeva, a native of St. Petersburg, who trains and shows champion cocker spaniels.
In her main career, Irina is actually a “stomatologist”, which is what the Russians call a dentist. She owns her own clinic on the prestigious Krestovsky Island, and is certified for dental surgery, such as implants, etc. On the side she has a very interesting hobby: She breeds and raises American Cocker Spaniels, of which almost every dog in her stable boasts a championship in international-level competitions. Her dogs don’t just look pretty, they also dance and do tricks. Most of them are related to one another, via the miracle of frozen sperm: For example, favorite bitch Polina gave birth to two boys, Marmelade and Caramel. These two, in particular, turned out so amazing that, after being grounded by covid for a couple of years, Irina simply couldn’t NOT show them at the World Dog Show (2023) in Geneva. The trick was getting into Europe, where massive barriers had been set up to keep Russian citizens out.
Irina: “I flew out of St. Petersburg to Istanbul, then to Madrid, then to Munich, then to Helsinki. I had to do this torturous around-about way because Finland has blocked Russians from entering with tourist visas. Meanwhile, my 4 dogs were shipped separately, from St. Petersburg to Helsinki on a ferry boat, with assistance from a citizen of Czech Republic, who had filled out the paperwork to take my car over. I own a Mercedes V-Class with a trailer; I need all of that to cart my dogs, with all their accessories and equipment, around.”
Once they were all together in Helsinki, Irina got behind the wheel of her “Dogmobile” as she calls it. The next part of their trip involved several ferryboats: Helsinki to Tallin; Tallin to Stockholm; Stockholm to Rostock. From there they used the German Autobahn to cover the 1500-kilometer distance across Eastern Germany and Austria, all the way to Geneva, Switzerland.
In her ferryboat travels, Irina did not experience any manifestations of Russophobia. Quite the contrary! Every time she exited a ferry and had her documents checked by the police, they all smiled and cooed at the spaniels.
The dog show went super well. As a member of such a unique subculture, Irina has friends all over the world: Dog-lovers, dog-handlers, etc. Her own professional handler, whom she enticed over from America, is a Peruvian named Oscar Sanchez. Thanks to Oscar’s expert handling, 15-month-old Marmelade scored in his very first show. He won the championship for Switzerland; and the Vice-Championship at the Junior level world-wide. Switzerland is one of the few European countries which have not banned Russian dogs from competing. It was an amazing and euphoric experience for Irina. Well worth the hassle she had to go through with all those plane flights and ferryboats and other complicated logistics. Recovering from the stress of the show, Irina took time for some touristy pleasures: She visited the local lakes, sampled the excellent Swiss cheeses and chocolates, and so on. Life doesn’t get any better.
And then the return trip back to Russia, and that’s when her nightmare began…
[to be continued]
Awful Avalanche 
So she is a fellow dentist and a fellow dog parent? (Though I’m not a spaniel fan, I prefer mastiffs). I hope the spaniels eat all the people giving her trouble. Starting with von der Lyin’.
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I had a feeling that you and Irina would have a lot in common!
Yes, I too long for the day when Ursula the Queen of Lies will find herself being chewed to death by dogs. Maybe chihuahuas so that the suffering lasts longer, plus having to listen to their little yips.
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First, my apologies about the WP fiasco and wondering about your handling of the mess. I was wrong, because I see today Doctorow’s blogsite is now infested with the same new WP format as yours. Mea culpa.
As for the gross pettiness of EU officials regarding sanctions/seizures on Russian civilians travelling in the EU, the Germans seem pretty much the worst. Not only are they seizing Russian-registered vehicles, but personal toiletries and clothes. too.
I don’t know why the official idiots in the EU have nothing better to do than make travelling Russian civilians lives a living hell, but one hopes the Russians respond in kind. Might as well be just as idiotic. Grab themselves some free Westie goodies from whatever dull Eurocitizens decide to cross the border.
One reads that the Finns living near the border crossing nearest Petersburg are suffering a complete lack of business from Russians who used to shop there, and vice versa, Finns who hopped over into Russia to buy cheap gasoline and whatnot are having problems. The benefits of joining NATO are neverending. Vote Biden for a free world!
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That’s okay, Beluga, I forgive you because everybody is under a lot of stress. So Doctorow is infested too? Poor bastard. WP probably do their so-called “security upgrades” in several stages, instead of just ripping off the band-aid.
Anyhow, it’s not just the Germans doing this, but also the Finns, Estonians, and others. So petty and so mean-spirited.
I don’t believe that Russia should respond symmetrically in this case, though. It’s not right, and Russia should not treat ordinary people in this way, even though they are being treated that way. Russia should take the high road and be super-nice to all tourists and visitors, in my opinion.
But nor should they turn the other cheek. I think they need to come up with some kind of tit for tat which punishes EU officials like Ursula and the other Nazi monsters. Not sure how, though…
You’ll see in tomorrow continuation of the story, that Irina is thinking about a lawsuit against the German government, maybe this is the way to go, although I am not sure if there is a venue she could use. Since international law doesn’t really work any more.
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Yeah, and Dmitry Medvedev even stated that such retaliatory conduct will not be done, saying that “we are not racists”.
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The “Berliner Zeitung” (Berlin paper) reported in July that a Russian from St. Petersburg got his car back.
https://www.fontanka.ru/2023/07/13/72494390/
They also reported two days ago that Finland ignores the EU rules.
Maybe that’s why the EU also very recently decided to clarify its regulations. Mountains of it starting in 2014: regulations and implementation regulations, like the FAQ file below.
If you look at the items listed starting with sanctions in 2014, there is nothing they seem to have forgotten. I was admittedly somewhat puzzled about one item on the list when I scanned it: worn clothes. What??? Ok in bundles, bigger amounts of them.
More crazy is that the EU now seems to use extraterrestrial tricks outside its borders. Following its master. But I am not a lawyer. And have no idea about the larger field.
But below is a very recent FAQ file by the EU. Plus the original file from 2014 [COUNCIL REGULATION (EU) No 833/2014]. There are loads and loads of files following it referring to Russia and/or Ukraine, et al ..
Click to access faqs-sanctions-russia-listed-goods_en_0.pdf
IMPORT, PURCHASE & TRANSFER OF LISTED GOODS RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE 3g, ARTICLE 3i, ARTICLE 3o OF COUNCIL REGULATION NO. 833/2014 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – AS OF 12 SEPTEMBER 2023 *******
13. Can Russian nationals temporarily bring personal goods and vehicles listed in Annex XXI and subject to the prohibition in Art. 3i of Council Regulation 833/2014 into the Union, e.g. for touristic travels?
Last update: 12 September 2023
As per the case law of the European Court of Justice, sanctions need to be interpreted broadly, among other reasons in order to ensure effectiveness of the adopted prohibitions and avoid circumvention. It is for the national competent authorities to assess each situation and to implement the prohibitions accordingly.
Article 3i of Council Regulation 833/2014 prohibits the purchase, import, or transfer, directly or indirectly, of goods as listed in Annex XXI to the Regulation if they originate in Russia or are exported from Russia. This includes motor vehicles (cars) falling under CN code 8703.
Furthermore, motor vehicles are a category of goods prone to circumvention, hence national competent authorities need to pay particular attention to them. It is not relevant whether the use of the vehicles is private or commercial as long as the vehicles are falling under a CN code listed in Annex XXI (e.g. CN code 8703) and are originating in or are being exported from Russia. This is most likely the case for vehicles having a Russian license plate and are registered in Russia. The duration of their possible stay in the Union and respectively the customs procedures under which they will be placed (e.g. release for free circulation or temporary admission) is also not relevant. For goods which raise insignificant circumvention concerns, like personal hygiene items or clothing worn by travelers or contained in their luggage and clearly destined for a strict personal
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:02014R0833-20231001&qid=1694780379105#tocId78
Was her car and Ivan’s too expensive? €50.000 and beyond? Have a little patience with the link; it might take time to load. If it works as intended.
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Thank you for this research and additional information!
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thanks to christopher guest i can’t see a story about dog shows without thinking of this:
always nice to have some unelected bureaucrats decide where the entire populace of a country can and can’t go. why oh why did they want to brexit?
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Have a read of this guy’s latest. He’s an ex-British high level bureaucrat who went to retire in France years ago.
https://aurelien2022.substack.com/p/too-much-of-not-a-lot
Brexit is featured in this article. Talks about May and Johnson.
In the US, high level bureaucrats run the cabinet departments and agencies, virtually independent of which party’s leader becomes president. They recycle themselves. Blinken is one such appointed unelected twit. Mouthpieces of the elite.
In any case, I found the linked essay on today’s neutered pols in Europe who interact only with their own parties, far superior to the but!, but! comments from mostly Americans who haven’t the faintest clue about parliamentary systems.
Still and all, von der Lyin” as appointed prez of the European Connission (supposedly by vote of all the leaders of EU countries) is the ultimate bureaucrat-run institution. She doesn’t have to pay the slightest attention to what the members of the European Parliament pass as “legislation”, and runs the budget of the army of Eurocrats under her. Totally undemocratic, but the politicians these days are no better.
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I agree that’s one of the main problems in the West, these unelected bureaucrats who are accountable only to American unelected bureaucrats.
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I try not to use rough language when writing or, before I’ve had a few beers but…
While I know this “European-effort” is being led by graduates of elite-anglo-academies who infest the swamp surrounding DC…European are a bunch of fucktards for effing with ordinary citizens. US propaganda films, [and there are few films from Hollywood that are not nowadays], regularly portrayed villainous governments, Nazis/Communist, as using police to harass the passage of innocent civilians…whoda thunk they’d ask their poodles to play the role of the villainous fucktard?
On the comments thing, lately, I’ve had problems on all the blogs that are opposed to the 3LAs policy-directives. I’m guessing, it is a rehearsal for what is to come.
Let’s face it. all these these little blogs are what’s left of free speech in the US. And the totalitarians within the National-Security-State [3LAs] can not “tolerate” even a trace of actual political freedom, the only freedom on offer in a 3LA dominated matrix is that of the Caesars, imperial freedom, the freedom to tell other what to do, what to say, what to hear and what to think.
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Yes, things are looking very ominous, but all we can do is keep on trucking and do our thing!
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Is that a dog or a bean bag chair?
I hope Russia doesn’t retaliate in the same way against citizens of unfriendly nations. But they should just turn away from the decadent West. Russia gets enough trade and tourists from Asia. And they can always sell energy and energy related products to Europe. More interaction isn’t really needed until the West eventually cleans their house for corrupt evil leaders. Something I doubt will happen at this side of 2050. 500 years of supremacy thinking doesn’t go away in a year or two.
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I think it’s a bean bag chair in the shape of a dog!
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Every early morning husband and self take a constitutional walk to the seaside, to our local dog beach. We talk about the politics of the previous day, what we’ve been reading, and always draw the same conclusion: the west Is finished! It has become something vile, and everyone here seems so oblivious to this descent. These dawn walks and our conspiratorial chats are leftover from the times of lockdown when this was a genuinely subversive act.
But what can we do but enjoy the morning, the sky, the birds, the horizon, the sea and all the funny frolicking dogs.
Our pets are two cats and a parrot. Recently, certain politicians are again talking of restraining and even banning pet cats. The demonisation of the pet cat is underway, and this process of demonisation always signals a further whittling away of our humanity. (Trump is the contemporary exemplar of this process).
Some politicians even talk about the eradication of the pet dog, as though this would be a sign of societal progress!
Irina loves dogs, cocker spaniels in particular, and she breeds and shows them. (Cats? Forgetaboutit). Her tale is a salutary warning, only to get worse in tomorrow’s instalment! Yalensis- thanks for this microcosm of the effects of occidentalis horribilis.
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Why would anybody try to ban pet cats? I think that’s an impossible idea, there are way too many people who own cats, and they would never stand for this.
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