New microchips will help locate the deer with previously unheard of precision and track it during the long winter nights”. When I switched on the television on Tuesday I could hardly believe my eyes. The rest of the world was watching scenes of riot police and pro-government youth activists attacking pro-democracy demonstrators in Moscow. The name of Triumphalnya Square, where the rally was taking place, was topping Twitter trends. But the main story on state-owned “Rossiya 24”, Russia’s only 24-hour TV channel, was the microchipping of polar deer. It was a testament to the way Russia’s leadership is handling the first real political crisis of the Putin era.
“新型微晶片将提供前所未有的定位准确性，帮助人们在漫长的冬夜里追踪北极驯鹿。”周二的时候我打开电视，看到的居然是这样一条新闻，让我简直不敢相信自己的眼睛。全世界其他人都在看莫斯科的好戏——防暴警察和支持政府的年轻活动者与支持民主的抗议者发生冲突。抗议集会地点凯旋广场(Triumphalnaya Square)已经成为Twitter上的热门词汇。但在国有频道“Rossiya 24”（俄罗斯唯一的24小时频道）上，主打新闻却是用于追踪北极驯鹿的微晶片。从中可以看出，俄罗斯领导层是怎样在处理普京时代第一场真正的政治危机。