What’s Behind Putin’s Dirty, Violent Speeches
“Nravitsya, ne nravitsya—terpi moya krasavitsa,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the press conference after his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron this month: “You may like it, you may not, but you’ll have to endure it, my beauty.” He was referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly “not liking” the ruinous Minsk-2 agreement, which would create a Russian protectorate in Ukraine.
The etymology of the quip set off a lively online . Many Putin-watchers suspected that the phrase originated with the punk band Krasnaya Plesen’s (“Red Mold”) sex-obsessed, misogynistic, sadistic, profanity-filled, and at times necrophilic lyrics. Others claimed that the words were from a, a rhyming four-line folk ditty. The band, too, insisted that the line was borrowed from Russian folklore.
