Russians Now Protesting the War Using a Fish
‘I experience a very strong dislike for the smell of that type of fish’
For writing “Nyet V…e!” one can be imprisoned in Russia. Nyet means no in Russian. “V…e,” the missing middle letters are represented by the dots, means “voine.” All of this together means “no to war.”
24-year-old Alisa Klementova recently wrote on the pavement at the Unity and Agreement Square in the city of Tyumen the very same words. “Nyet V…e!”
She was arrested but then a local judge released her and made the police return to her the chalk she used to write on the ground.
Alisa was released because she said that the words did not mean “voine” or “to war” but rather “voble,” or Caspian roach — “no to voble.”
What is a vobla?
The handsome, fat fish in the image above is a vobla, otherwise called a Caspian roach in English. This is one of the most popular fish in Russia and has been eaten almost exclusively by people in the Soviet Union with beer for well over a hundred years.
Vobla is not particularly popular when eaten fresh. Every time that I have eaten this fish it was perfectly salted and dried and consumed with a cold, frothy beer.
