State Department: Russia Not Doing Enough to Protect Trafficking Victims in Mythical Underwater City
Photo by Harry Engels/Getty Politics News Russia
Trump may not be willing to take Russia to task for their involvement in hacking the election, but there’s one issue his administration absolutely will not let slide. According to Newsweek, the State Department released its “Trafficking in Persons Report” last month and found Russia to be severely lacking in support for victims of human trafficking. The report listed several examples of cities in Russia that just weren’t up to snuff. One of the biggest offenders? A homeless shelter run by the Russian Orthodox Church in Kitezh.
Oh, is that name not familiar? Well, considering the city isn’t real and is basically the Russian folklore version of Atlantis, that makes sense. Note: This is not to make light of a very serious issue, but, uh…come on guys. How did this happen?
“A homeless shelter run by the Russian Orthodox Church in Kitezh began accepting trafficking victims and offered them food and housing, though not medical or psychological care,” reads the State Department’s assessment of the city that was supposedly sunk into Lake Svetloyar as a way to thwart Mongol invaders back during the Medieval Ages. “The government did not provide financial support for the shelter,” the report continues, apparently referencing the difficulty of sending financial aid down to the bottom of the lake frequently referenced in famed Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s 1907 opera The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya, Werner Herzog’s 1993 documentary Bells from the Deep; Faith and Superstition in Russia, and, most importantly, the second most-recent Tomb Raider video game.
After the report was released, several different Russian outlets—like the Moscow Times—pointed out the mistake.
According to US @StateDept report, Russian authorities are not supporting shelters in Kitezh aka mythical Russian Atlantis… #RussiansDidItpic.twitter.com/7P5SOu0pCo
— Russia in RSA ???????? (@EmbassyofRussia) July 10, 2017
To be fair, there is a Kitezh Shelter for Victims of Domestic Violence, located outside Moscow, but it’s hardly a separate city. Sort of like how viewers may have confused HBO’s The Newsroom’s Atlantis Cable News as being the local news station for the people of the mythical, underwater city of Atlantis. It happens to everybody.
Also, be sure to read our review of the Tomb Raider right here. If more State Department officials played the videogames we recommend, maybe we wouldn’t be so constantly embarrassed on the international stage.