Victory Parade

Once, a comrade, friend, and colleague of mine from Moscow named Zhenya Bekhard called me and exclaimed: "Guess what, man? I was visiting my favorite little museum the other day and focused in on the huge miniature model of the Victory Parade there and just got around to reading the sign next to it about the artist who made the diorama. It turns out it is Vladimir Nikolaevich Nuzhdin! Is that the same Nikolaevich you keep talking about?" I laughed and replied: "Of course not. How many Nikolaeviches do you know in Russia?"

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Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Count Suvorov in Space

A clever tongue will, as it is well-known, take you anywhere. Though it could be even farther than you wish!

The thing is that in 1992 the international space flight was being organized. The space crew included representatives from Russia and Austria. In order to nail friendship down and for future fruitful cooperation the Russian party was getting ready to present the Austrians with a special gift. The party was surely getting ready, though it was absolutely unable to figure out what gift to present.

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