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Letters to Leonid the Cold Lion: #4
Translations provided by the Avenger; both letters were written in Russia.
Dear Leonid,
As you already know, there were too many men in Russia's previous establishment who are clever in hiding their darkness. Putin was soulless and cruel, but the media portrays him as dutiful and kind. For example, the state media under him did a video of him visiting a young boy in a hospital to wish him good health because his establishment wanted us to think that he cares about our children and future. Yet it was obvious that he shows no remorse in targeting his critics with assassins. Prigozhin, as you know, was an extremely successful businessman and catering chef. In fact, Prigozhin was my mentor because I wanted to be a career chef.
Getting a job for his company is challenging, and being accepted into it was a privilege for me. I learned so much from him, and the values of humanity in the workplace he taught me. I remember him telling me that when things fall in the workplace, let the things fall, so that way I can pay attention to see if my coworkers fall, I can save them from falling. Why? It was his way of telling me that at work, objects can be replaced but workers cannot. In fact, he treated his workers in his catering company almost like if we were his children. That's how much he loved us, and even made sure that we only have the best quality uniforms, from shoulders to shoes, to the best kitchen equipment for use on the job. Because of this, he was the main driver of Russia's tourism and hospitality industry, and was even praised by businessmen from western Europe to the United States of America.
I also remember him taking me and his chef interns on a trip to Paris, to learn from their top catering chefs as well as helping them. They praised us in our cooperation and willingness to not only learn from them, but to demonstrate passion in what we are certified to do. So we took our lessons and experience from France to Russia to boost our tourism industry. Russia has furry conventions, and I was catering to one in my hometown. Much to my surprise, Prigozhin visited me to check on me and my staff before he helped us out and made sure that we were doing a good job for the convention. He was very kind as usual, and his last words in our communication were, "I'm proud of you. Never leave the ones who mentored you behind, because they helped you to become a mentor for the next generation of hospitality workers."
Prigozhin would even go the extra effort to attend weddings of his workers to wish them the next chapter in their lives, and I was one of those workers. He would give us lavish gifts and provide more support for us before telling us that he will be there to mentor us as parents so we can provide more support and resources for our children. I really thought he was a kind guy who was passionate in what he does for Russia. I still remember him talking about how much fun he had teaching us how to make Japanese dishes for our clients and how much he wished to take us to Japan to learn from their chefs. And of course, he would tell us how special it is to serve our Forsythians lunch and dinner after their marching performances for major events.
Too bad that was the Prigozhin that Putin wanted us to see, and that's it. Before I saw the videos of him threatening you at the Kremlin, a colleague of mine sent me an e-mail telling me to look at the attached videos because I've been working for a monster, and that my life with him was fake. So I looked at the videos, and it looked like they were leaked. But there it was, Prigozhin, but in dark military gear from shoulders down, which is the complete opposite of his sparkling clean ice white chef uniform.
Little did I know, it was an execution video, where he took a sledgehammer and used it on someone. I wasn't aware that he's been utilizing mentally ill ex-convicts, especially the worst of murderers and rapists, as his mercenaries. Many of them even had domestic violence charges, but knowing how Russia was run under Putin, it didn't matter as long Prigozhin could hire and train cold-hearted murderers with military weapons to cause graphic havoc in countries like Syria, with the main goal of causing carnage against the same enemies America was fighting against. Pretty much he wanted to show America how Russia would things get done with terrorists and why we should be the most powerful nation on Earth.
Those videos were so graphic, I threw up for at least three hours, for a week and a half, and felt ill from that. On top of that, when I realized that I was working for one of the sickest and most disgusting of murderers and excuse of a human being in Russia, my mental health started to decline as I developed PTSD from those videos. I had nightmares of Prigozhin, where I'd see him perform graphic executions with a gun and a sledgehammer before yelling out homophobic slurs at his victims along with yelling disturbing phrases, such as "I am going to [expletive] you up!". I just can't believe that this is not only the man I worked for, but also the man who mentored me throughout my life and supported my family.
I felt hopeless and down, but then I realized you exist as Leo's Russian parallel, so I saw you with a glimmer of hope from you. Let's say after you defeated the three evil men, my faith in Russia has been restored thanks to you. I knew you could bring us a much better future and you did everything right, including returning Kuril Islands to Japan, because Japan had them first (or were originally Japanese territory anyways) and was way more capable of maintaining those islands under their jurisdiction than us. You also allowed ethnic nations that were once conquered by us to be their own independent nations again, so that it is much easier for you to take care of us Russians first. Because of that, I feel very happy that you are my President.
I still see a psychiatrist for my PTSD and depression for my revelation of Prigozhin's true and evil side twice a week, so I can continue to work as a passionate chef for the tourists and loving Russian couples. I of course do take my medications to help me get over Prigozhin. And no, I did not attend Prigozhin's funeral because he makes me sick now for what he's really been doing behind my tail. Even worse is that he tried to attack you as well. I will never condone his acts and I just wished I knew who he really was before I worked for him in his catering company.
A mentor does not talk about killing people and calling them homophobic slurs. Prigozhin has done more harm to everybody, including his catering workers, than he will ever know.
Now that I gave you a lengthy personal experience with Prigozhin, how do you feel about this man, if he deserves to be called one but is a monster disguised as one, being a kind mentor to people like me with actually useful knowledge for Russia's future and people, whilst hiding his true and dark side away from the public and you? Do you have any advice or comments for me on how to continue living my life with passion as a career chef and father after the disturbing revelation of Prigozhin's true side through my colleague's videos? I want to be truly happy again, but I feel like that one day soon, I will need to spend a good amount of time talking to my children about Prigozhin. We all saw the videos of him trying to attack you; my children saw them, too, even though they were cheering for you to defeat him.
Sincerely,
Elisei Sigachyov, age 33, red fox
Astrakhan, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia
P.S.: I almost turned atheist because under Putin, the Russian Orthodox Church supported him and would often justify violence on his behalf. Luckily, the old priests and other church leaders are replaced by ones who actually understand that Christianity is about forming a community together, not to preach the Bible out of context to justify violence on others, especially Putin's assassinations on others, particularly those of the LGBTQ+ crowd. Because of that, I continue to remain Christian.
Leonid's reply:
Dear Elisei:
My guess is that you probably shouldn't have watched those videos, but on the other hand, the truth will set us free, and it set you free. I am a believer in Christ myself, which is one reason I am so embarrassed at myself for blowing up at all those dopers. However, the Lord has forgiven me, and I can put the past behind, so rest assured I will be praying for you as seek therapy and counsel. Nobody should suffer from PTSD. My American counterpart's administration includes a few former military personnel who had also suffered PTSD, one of which had been both a soldier and superhero (Super Slash). I think the best advice I can give you is to keep praying to the Lord about it as well as talking it out with your relatives. After all, He is in control. He'll be very happy that you did not abandon the faith; you almost let Satan take you away from Him and His glory, His neverending love, and His amazing blessings, but you said no to the devil. Well done, you.
I haven't been able to wrap my head around the double life that Prigozhin was living, and personally, I now wish I hadn't let them inside the Kremlin. But you should know that I did try to peacefully reason with them. But, no; they had to resort to violence. It's the same with Kadyrov; if he wanted Chechnya to be its own independent nation, he could have just asked me, and I would have said yes. But, no; he had to be violent, and it didn't he was also terrorizing his people, but in a different way. In the end, he paid the ultimate price for it.
Prigozhin had Medvedev and Shoigu with him, and Medvedev's exact words to me, lies as they were, were as follows:
Now you listen to me right here, you overgrown beast! How dare you let Putin die alone with thyroid cancer! I wanted to say goodbye to him, but you never let me! You ordered the FSB (Russian equivalent to FBI) to raid my homes, stole my properties, and my money, too! My wife divorced me, and I lost everything! My vinyl collection! My Harry Potter books! I can't see my children, let alone my grandchildren! Now I have to watch my friends die slowly one-by-one! You're lucky that I live in a apartment because I could've been freezing my {BLEEP} off on the streets during winter as everybody makes fun of how short I am! I could've been Putin's successor! But no! You instead created a power vacuum to fill it! You kicked me, Shoigu, and Prigozhin to the ground! You handed Kuril Islands to Japan without consulting any of us and did the same with Crimea to Ukraine! And you pulled Russian troops out of Abkhazia, too!
Note that I am bleep-censoring out the profanities because I don't want you to hear it. After all, the Bible does say, "Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouth." That includes profanity.
You know that's not true. Yes, I did tell Japan they could have the Kuril Islands, no questions asked. Yes, I did tell Ukraine they could have Crimea, no questions asked. Why? Those places weren't ours to start with; nor should they ever have been ours. Yet we fought over them for all those years, and I feel it was all for nothing in the end.
I think the entire world was cheering for me during that battle; when I came outside to give a speech to my people, I could hear the applause from the other nations of the world (literally), and I said, "Oh, wow; I hope they don't break their hands from clapping too hard." I don't think anybody did, though. But I can tell you that because of that battle, the show biz district of the United States of America known as Hollywood wants me to be their highest-paid action film star. You have to add up the net worth of the richest actors from that country to figure out what they want to pay me. Personally, I think they're overreacting. I'm not abandoning Russia. I wouldn't mind doing it.
I hope that answers the questions you've asked me; if I missed anything, let me know what I missed. Thanks again, and take care.
Yours truly,
Leonid Markowski, a.k.a. Leonid the Cold Lion
President of the Russian Federation
-----------------------------------------
Letters to Leonid the Cold Lion: #4
Translations provided by the Avenger; both letters were written in Russia.
Dear Leonid,
As you already know, there were too many men in Russia's previous establishment who are clever in hiding their darkness. Putin was soulless and cruel, but the media portrays him as dutiful and kind. For example, the state media under him did a video of him visiting a young boy in a hospital to wish him good health because his establishment wanted us to think that he cares about our children and future. Yet it was obvious that he shows no remorse in targeting his critics with assassins. Prigozhin, as you know, was an extremely successful businessman and catering chef. In fact, Prigozhin was my mentor because I wanted to be a career chef.
Getting a job for his company is challenging, and being accepted into it was a privilege for me. I learned so much from him, and the values of humanity in the workplace he taught me. I remember him telling me that when things fall in the workplace, let the things fall, so that way I can pay attention to see if my coworkers fall, I can save them from falling. Why? It was his way of telling me that at work, objects can be replaced but workers cannot. In fact, he treated his workers in his catering company almost like if we were his children. That's how much he loved us, and even made sure that we only have the best quality uniforms, from shoulders to shoes, to the best kitchen equipment for use on the job. Because of this, he was the main driver of Russia's tourism and hospitality industry, and was even praised by businessmen from western Europe to the United States of America.
I also remember him taking me and his chef interns on a trip to Paris, to learn from their top catering chefs as well as helping them. They praised us in our cooperation and willingness to not only learn from them, but to demonstrate passion in what we are certified to do. So we took our lessons and experience from France to Russia to boost our tourism industry. Russia has furry conventions, and I was catering to one in my hometown. Much to my surprise, Prigozhin visited me to check on me and my staff before he helped us out and made sure that we were doing a good job for the convention. He was very kind as usual, and his last words in our communication were, "I'm proud of you. Never leave the ones who mentored you behind, because they helped you to become a mentor for the next generation of hospitality workers."
Prigozhin would even go the extra effort to attend weddings of his workers to wish them the next chapter in their lives, and I was one of those workers. He would give us lavish gifts and provide more support for us before telling us that he will be there to mentor us as parents so we can provide more support and resources for our children. I really thought he was a kind guy who was passionate in what he does for Russia. I still remember him talking about how much fun he had teaching us how to make Japanese dishes for our clients and how much he wished to take us to Japan to learn from their chefs. And of course, he would tell us how special it is to serve our Forsythians lunch and dinner after their marching performances for major events.
Too bad that was the Prigozhin that Putin wanted us to see, and that's it. Before I saw the videos of him threatening you at the Kremlin, a colleague of mine sent me an e-mail telling me to look at the attached videos because I've been working for a monster, and that my life with him was fake. So I looked at the videos, and it looked like they were leaked. But there it was, Prigozhin, but in dark military gear from shoulders down, which is the complete opposite of his sparkling clean ice white chef uniform.
Little did I know, it was an execution video, where he took a sledgehammer and used it on someone. I wasn't aware that he's been utilizing mentally ill ex-convicts, especially the worst of murderers and rapists, as his mercenaries. Many of them even had domestic violence charges, but knowing how Russia was run under Putin, it didn't matter as long Prigozhin could hire and train cold-hearted murderers with military weapons to cause graphic havoc in countries like Syria, with the main goal of causing carnage against the same enemies America was fighting against. Pretty much he wanted to show America how Russia would things get done with terrorists and why we should be the most powerful nation on Earth.
Those videos were so graphic, I threw up for at least three hours, for a week and a half, and felt ill from that. On top of that, when I realized that I was working for one of the sickest and most disgusting of murderers and excuse of a human being in Russia, my mental health started to decline as I developed PTSD from those videos. I had nightmares of Prigozhin, where I'd see him perform graphic executions with a gun and a sledgehammer before yelling out homophobic slurs at his victims along with yelling disturbing phrases, such as "I am going to [expletive] you up!". I just can't believe that this is not only the man I worked for, but also the man who mentored me throughout my life and supported my family.
I felt hopeless and down, but then I realized you exist as Leo's Russian parallel, so I saw you with a glimmer of hope from you. Let's say after you defeated the three evil men, my faith in Russia has been restored thanks to you. I knew you could bring us a much better future and you did everything right, including returning Kuril Islands to Japan, because Japan had them first (or were originally Japanese territory anyways) and was way more capable of maintaining those islands under their jurisdiction than us. You also allowed ethnic nations that were once conquered by us to be their own independent nations again, so that it is much easier for you to take care of us Russians first. Because of that, I feel very happy that you are my President.
I still see a psychiatrist for my PTSD and depression for my revelation of Prigozhin's true and evil side twice a week, so I can continue to work as a passionate chef for the tourists and loving Russian couples. I of course do take my medications to help me get over Prigozhin. And no, I did not attend Prigozhin's funeral because he makes me sick now for what he's really been doing behind my tail. Even worse is that he tried to attack you as well. I will never condone his acts and I just wished I knew who he really was before I worked for him in his catering company.
A mentor does not talk about killing people and calling them homophobic slurs. Prigozhin has done more harm to everybody, including his catering workers, than he will ever know.
Now that I gave you a lengthy personal experience with Prigozhin, how do you feel about this man, if he deserves to be called one but is a monster disguised as one, being a kind mentor to people like me with actually useful knowledge for Russia's future and people, whilst hiding his true and dark side away from the public and you? Do you have any advice or comments for me on how to continue living my life with passion as a career chef and father after the disturbing revelation of Prigozhin's true side through my colleague's videos? I want to be truly happy again, but I feel like that one day soon, I will need to spend a good amount of time talking to my children about Prigozhin. We all saw the videos of him trying to attack you; my children saw them, too, even though they were cheering for you to defeat him.
Sincerely,
Elisei Sigachyov, age 33, red fox
Astrakhan, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia
P.S.: I almost turned atheist because under Putin, the Russian Orthodox Church supported him and would often justify violence on his behalf. Luckily, the old priests and other church leaders are replaced by ones who actually understand that Christianity is about forming a community together, not to preach the Bible out of context to justify violence on others, especially Putin's assassinations on others, particularly those of the LGBTQ+ crowd. Because of that, I continue to remain Christian.
Leonid's reply:
Dear Elisei:
My guess is that you probably shouldn't have watched those videos, but on the other hand, the truth will set us free, and it set you free. I am a believer in Christ myself, which is one reason I am so embarrassed at myself for blowing up at all those dopers. However, the Lord has forgiven me, and I can put the past behind, so rest assured I will be praying for you as seek therapy and counsel. Nobody should suffer from PTSD. My American counterpart's administration includes a few former military personnel who had also suffered PTSD, one of which had been both a soldier and superhero (Super Slash). I think the best advice I can give you is to keep praying to the Lord about it as well as talking it out with your relatives. After all, He is in control. He'll be very happy that you did not abandon the faith; you almost let Satan take you away from Him and His glory, His neverending love, and His amazing blessings, but you said no to the devil. Well done, you.
I haven't been able to wrap my head around the double life that Prigozhin was living, and personally, I now wish I hadn't let them inside the Kremlin. But you should know that I did try to peacefully reason with them. But, no; they had to resort to violence. It's the same with Kadyrov; if he wanted Chechnya to be its own independent nation, he could have just asked me, and I would have said yes. But, no; he had to be violent, and it didn't he was also terrorizing his people, but in a different way. In the end, he paid the ultimate price for it.
Prigozhin had Medvedev and Shoigu with him, and Medvedev's exact words to me, lies as they were, were as follows:
Now you listen to me right here, you overgrown beast! How dare you let Putin die alone with thyroid cancer! I wanted to say goodbye to him, but you never let me! You ordered the FSB (Russian equivalent to FBI) to raid my homes, stole my properties, and my money, too! My wife divorced me, and I lost everything! My vinyl collection! My Harry Potter books! I can't see my children, let alone my grandchildren! Now I have to watch my friends die slowly one-by-one! You're lucky that I live in a apartment because I could've been freezing my {BLEEP} off on the streets during winter as everybody makes fun of how short I am! I could've been Putin's successor! But no! You instead created a power vacuum to fill it! You kicked me, Shoigu, and Prigozhin to the ground! You handed Kuril Islands to Japan without consulting any of us and did the same with Crimea to Ukraine! And you pulled Russian troops out of Abkhazia, too!
Note that I am bleep-censoring out the profanities because I don't want you to hear it. After all, the Bible does say, "Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouth." That includes profanity.
You know that's not true. Yes, I did tell Japan they could have the Kuril Islands, no questions asked. Yes, I did tell Ukraine they could have Crimea, no questions asked. Why? Those places weren't ours to start with; nor should they ever have been ours. Yet we fought over them for all those years, and I feel it was all for nothing in the end.
I think the entire world was cheering for me during that battle; when I came outside to give a speech to my people, I could hear the applause from the other nations of the world (literally), and I said, "Oh, wow; I hope they don't break their hands from clapping too hard." I don't think anybody did, though. But I can tell you that because of that battle, the show biz district of the United States of America known as Hollywood wants me to be their highest-paid action film star. You have to add up the net worth of the richest actors from that country to figure out what they want to pay me. Personally, I think they're overreacting. I'm not abandoning Russia. I wouldn't mind doing it.
I hope that answers the questions you've asked me; if I missed anything, let me know what I missed. Thanks again, and take care.
Yours truly,
Leonid Markowski, a.k.a. Leonid the Cold Lion
President of the Russian Federation
Leonid's fourth letter, and a disturbing one to boot.
Character joint-owned by me and Chuong and me; he wrote the original letter, and I did the response.
Character joint-owned by me and Chuong and me; he wrote the original letter, and I did the response.
Category Story / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Gender Any
Size 120 x 80px
Listed in Folders
Yamazaki: I'm glad you returned Kuril Islands to us. We were just about to prepare a formal meeting with you but you returned them quickly to us. I wasn't aware that there were Americans in Wildcat City calling for the return of Kuril Islands to Japan but they were right.
Zax: I'm just so glad that Russia can put an end to homophobia. Violence has finally come to an end in Russia.
Chuong: So all this time, the man responsible for Russia's growing tourism industry was also one of the country's coldest murderers. Something tells me Valmia is going to have a field day with him and by that, let's just say his punishment will be beyond torture and pain.
Zax: I'm just so glad that Russia can put an end to homophobia. Violence has finally come to an end in Russia.
Chuong: So all this time, the man responsible for Russia's growing tourism industry was also one of the country's coldest murderers. Something tells me Valmia is going to have a field day with him and by that, let's just say his punishment will be beyond torture and pain.
Leo: I don't want to imagine what Valmia is going to do to him.
Cripto: Nobody does.
Leonid: I guarantee you I don't. *to Yamazaki* I had a ton of people angry at me for it, but yes; I did return it to you with haste. And after we beat Kadyrov, I also declared that any other Russian-controlled areas such as Chechnya were no longer under our control, but free to act as their own independent entities. The only thing that hasn't changed is the fact they're speaking Russian, well, in addition to any other languages they might be speaking.
Leo: Did you know Wildcat City had people calling for the Russians to give the island back to Japan?
Leonid: Yes, I did, actually.
Cripto: Nobody does.
Leonid: I guarantee you I don't. *to Yamazaki* I had a ton of people angry at me for it, but yes; I did return it to you with haste. And after we beat Kadyrov, I also declared that any other Russian-controlled areas such as Chechnya were no longer under our control, but free to act as their own independent entities. The only thing that hasn't changed is the fact they're speaking Russian, well, in addition to any other languages they might be speaking.
Leo: Did you know Wildcat City had people calling for the Russians to give the island back to Japan?
Leonid: Yes, I did, actually.
Yamazaki: And per our national request, we prefer the name, Chishima, for those islands instead. You could say Chishima Islands, but Chishima works.
Zax: So it's Chishima, not Kuril Islands, got it.
Yamazaki: Yes.
Zax: So it's Chishima, not Kuril Islands, got it.
Yamazaki: Yes.
Leonid: Done. Chishima Islands it is, and it's all yours.
Super C: I'm going to write that down. *He jots it down on a notepad.*
Super C: I'm going to write that down. *He jots it down on a notepad.*
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