Members of Putin’s United Russia party in Murmansk said gifts were initiative of the women’s wing

Summary

Officials from Putin’s United Russia party in Murmansk gave meat grinders to mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine during International Women’s Day.

The gift choice drew criticism as “shameful” and “inappropriate” because the term “meat grinder” (myasorubka) is commonly used to describe Russia’s brutal frontline tactics of sending waves of soldiers into battle with high casualty rates.

Party officials defended themselves, claiming one mother specifically requested a meat grinder.

Russia rarely discloses casualty figures, but independent sources have identified at least 91,000 Russian soldiers killed, with US estimates suggesting 700,000 killed or wounded. Ukraine has reported over 46,000 of its soldiers killed.

  • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    20 hours ago

    The local party later posted a video in which one of the soldiers’ mothers awkwardly thanked the party for the gifts and confirmed that she had asked for a meat grinder because she needed one.

    This is yellow journalism. The Guardian should be better than that.

    • WoodScientist@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      0·
      19 hours ago

      Exactly. Fuck Putin, but this is only outrageous if you speak a language where “meat grinder” is a synonym for a bloody war. I’m not sure if that is the case in Russian. But to me it seems like simply a language issue.