Samara Oblast
One day in the countryside…

What it takes to show a potato field to your visitors?
Let’s imagine that one day of September 2000, on the invitation of governor Titov, Vladmir Putin decides to visit the Samara Oblast, village of Shiryayevo and its museum dedicated to the Russian painter Ilya Repin. Museums are not all. Why not then to show a potato field to Putin? It’s easy. First, you plant potatoes, specially for the guest’s visit. Then, you build a special concrete helipad. Last, you build an asphalt road so that the guest can be driven from the helipad to the potato field. Of course, when the guest leaves, the helipad and the road remain, but the potatoes are immediately dug back out.
Of course, the visit of the president is a big event in a village like Shiryayevo. The inhabitants cluster together at the entrance of the museum in expectation of Putin. Luckily, the president’s security guards are here to remind them to act naturally.
Then Putin arrives, walks into the museum, and asks a first question: “Is everything here real?”
Tell me after that he’s not a Potemkin specialist.

Based on the text “The modern Potemkin village” by Grigory Pasko

Full text: http://www.robertamsterdam.com/2007/05/grigory_pasko_the_modern_potem.htm
Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4 Grigory Pasko