Day of Border Guard Troops in Moscow

<p>This is not a question -- just would like to share a link to the photoblog of the young Moscow, Russia, photographer Ilya Varlamov, who has documented today's celebration of the Day of the Border Guard Troops in Moscow, at a considerable risk to life and limb; the text is in Russian, but the images speak for themselves. The photographer notes that he did not specially focus on the drunken and disorderly, and did his best to photograph the sober and the decent (images 40-43), but it was not easy to find the latter category. http://zyalt.livejournal.com/253048.html#cutid1</p>

<p>Excellent shots, interesting and education for me. Kind of a mardi gras scene.</p>

<p>Mikhail, looks like a fun party, only one group of guys looked overly menacing, are you talking about the danger of a really drunken border guard accidently falling on one? I was googling it and a couple of papers had similar photos from the day, but your man's photos I thought were very good. Can you give us a little background on the Border Guards day?</p>

<p>While I'm burning a bunch of backup DVDs, I'm working on an older machine, but usually it's not all that slow on the internet. However, this link is so slow for me right now that I could never get further in than several pictures. Everything from scrolling to picture display went like cold molasses.<br>

I had thought maybe the pictures were too large, but that doesn't seem to be the case.</p>

<p>Maybe it's all those P.netters looking at this ;)</p>

<p>Very nice images, thanks for sharing!</p>

<p>Reminds me of a party I was part of in Crete in 1968. On the beach, beer (Fix) provided for us by the Greek Navy. </p>

<p>The Border Guard Day is inherited from the Soviet era, when the government proclaimed various "days" to celebrate various branches of military service, the border guards being one of them. The interesting thing is that the border guard troops during the soviet days were not party of the military, but of the KGB, just as today they are under the KGB's successor, the FSB. The celebration is not as good natured as one might think: the last entry by the blogger/photographer is that the drunks tried to smash his camera, and he had to be rescued by the police. Whenever I go to Moscow, I certainly avoid public places on the Day of the Border Guard Troops and the similarly celebrated Day of the Air Borne Troops.</p>

<p>Thanks for the background Mikhail, I tried to find some info on the web, but it was fairly sketchy. Are the border guards progeny of the old NKVD? (IF i have the acronym correct?) the special troops originally under Beria during WWII (Great Patriotic War). </p>

<p>For the real roots of these blubbery Border Guards you have to look back long before the Revolution. </p>

<p>specifically here <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hero-Our-Time-Lermontov/dp/1604244615/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276298430&sr=8-2">http://www.amazon.com/Hero-Our-Time-Lermontov/dp/1604244615/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276298430&sr=8-2</a></p>

<p>For their mothers' sakes, let's hope these softies never actually face Russia's biggest historic sources of anxiety, China, Persia (Iran), and the various mysteries in the Caucasus </p>

<p>Wow! wild crazy images of wild crazy guys.. If this how they have fun, imagine being an illegal border crosser?<br>

Chances way better in Arizona!Great images.</p>