Hello, comrades! My name is Sergei. I was born in the USSR in 1971. Since 1999 I have lived in the USA. Ushanka Show channel was created to share stories as well as my own memories of everyday life in the USSR. My book about arriving in America in 1995 is available on Amazon: www.amazon.com/s?k=american+diaries+1995&ref=nb_sb_noss Please contact me at sergeisputnikoff@gmail.com if you would like to purchase a signed copy of “American Diaries” You can support this project here: www.patreon.com/sputnikoff with monthly donations Support for this channel via PAYPAL: paypal.me/ushankashow Ushanka Show merchandise: teespring.com/stores/ushanka-show-shop If you are curious to try some of the Soviet-era candy and other foodstuffs, please use the link below. www.russiantable.com/imported-russian-chocolate-mishka-kosolapy__146-14.html?tracking=5a6933a9095f9 My FB: facebook.com/sergey.sputnikoff Twitter: twitter.com/ushankashow Instagram: instagram.com/ushanka_show/ Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/The_Ushanka_Show/
Hell yea he didn't even come back the whole night, obviously had lots of fun.....lol ladies with "light attitude" 😂 it's hilarious how things are known, like what really is a "light attitude" maybe funny? lol
Is there gold in Ukraine? Do they have gold mines or placer gold land ? Maybe do a video on gold and silver in Ukraine and how much it was worth? And did people buy jewelry? Do Ukrainians. Have gold rings for marriage? Or what do you do when you ask a lady to marry them?
Members of a Soviet college debate team visiting L.A. in 1986 were amazed at all the cars and asked: "Do ALL American familes own a car?!" We said no, no, no - two.
I remmber hosting a couple of Soviet guys for a conference in the states about 1985 and when they saw the breakfast buffet they just about freaked out, ended up piling their plates about 4" high with bacon strips. They definitely enjoyed the visit.
I have a better story)) One time I was invited to Shoney's buffett by my American friends, all you can eat seafood night. I ate so much I literally blacked out for a bit. Like lights went out in my head
Our two Soviet exchange students in 1984 ate a ton of food *but* they were very careful to make it look like they ate like this every day in the Soviet Union. In fact we were all very impressed at how blase they were about everything.
"To recognise always that the test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, and not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with them." -Peelian principle of Policing
Thank you for another interesting video, Sergei. Me and my mother always look forward to your videos; we've both learned so much info from your channel.
Speculation in other words. Find something people desire buy it at a low price and then sell it for a profit. It’s nice to see capitalism was alive and hidden but still well in side a communist country in 1969. Love your shows. Open communication between people throughout the world.
Sergei, you're awesome. Thank you for teaching, sharing and interacting with your fans. You're basically 99% the reason I'm learning Russian (it's the most difficult language I've ever learned, and my native is Portuguese... already complicated). The 1% is because of my Slavic blood from my father.
@@26muca07 Lucky you ;) You know I always tell myself even Stalin spoke Russian with an accent (at least that's what I've heard) so nothing to be ashamed of.
@@romanpollmeier2711 Just make sure to get that one vibration between your tongue and the roof of your mouth, don't try to say R like Americans that just rest the back of their tongue and move the lips to say "urh". It's the tip of the tongue that controls the maneuver do say the proper and short "rr" with the tip of your tongue making the work, and the back and sides relaxing and vibrating as you say "rr". Like Spanish too, you know? Or as French pronounces a strong "rh" made with the back of your throat to say an word like "Rat" i.e.. Americans say "Rhett" and Espanõles say "R(vibrate shortly)-ah-tô" (Rato)
Very interesting video. Years back on Ebay was a letter that translated that the bearer being a military officer should not be charged customs fees for bringing some goods back from the West. It was signed by a high ranking military personage.
In the mid 80s at college, 2 soviets came to speak at an event. You could see that each one was closely watching the behavior of the other. Both were very nervous after the event when people wanted yo ask informal questions.
Could be worse. The stazi in east Germany were fond of rearranging clothing and underwear drawers as well as placing sex toys in people's luggage during inspections. 🤣
Part of the KGB's job is to spy on their own people. It makes perfect sense for them to be keeping tabs on the model citizens they let out, lest they do something embarrassing.
It's kinda weird for me to think that speculation was persecuted so heavily. Watching your video and watching the Fartsa show you recommended. Listening to my families stories and other people's who lived in eastern Germany, it seemed to be a thing that almost everyone took part in. My mom brought gold rings from ussr, since you couldn't buy gold in gdr and in order to get a wedding band from gold you had to bring an equivalent of gold and pay for the work. My grandparents who worked as embassy staff in Africa managed to put aside enough Valuta to afford quite a few luxurious holidays all over the world in the 90s.
My Grandfather was a motorcycle police officer in Glen Cove, New York in the 1950s. The Soviet mission to the United Nations had a mansion there. The Soviet drivers would speed through town. My Grandfather made it his mission to pull them over and give them speeding tickets. When they claimed "Diplomatic Immunity " he told to "tell it to the judge". 😆 I often wonder what my grandfather's KGB file was like ! 😆
Small world! I live right on the border of Glen Cove, one town over. The mansion is called Killenworth and it is still used by the Russian diplomatic delegation!
I find it interesting that high ranking people were allowed to travel abroad. I would think that they would be considered having " compromising material or information"
Making sure the citizens had no clue was a Soviet aspiration. In the West, having no clue was/is a personal choice. I wonder if U.S. self-identified Socialists watch your show. I am of 1/8 Russian ancestry, my Greaf-Grandfather, Simon Teleshuk left the Russian Empire as he did not get along with his stepfather. They were Kulaks from near Grodno. Later his family was killed off by Lenin guys, before the NEP? Simon Teleshuk joined the U.S. Army and was stationed at Schofield Barracks before WWI. Whether in the Cavalry or Artillery is unclear. He is said to have been attached to horses during his service, they followed him about, off duty. This was to facilitate citizenship. He married a first generation Polish woman from Philadelphia after he was discharged at Fort Sill. He was not inducted for WWI as he had served a hitch already? My Grandmother says he was a fierce disciplinarian, but it is said Grandma was the "Spoiled girl" in the family. He was struck by a car in 1945, saving a neighbor girl from death, according to the family story. Family stories are not 100% reliable in my family, as others?
I find it odd how that guy was able to obtain Maoist propaganda in Mongolia. Looks like Soviet influence over Mongolia wasn't as strong as I thought it was. I can understand why the KGB was annoyed. China and the USSR's were fighting over who was top dog in the communist world at the time.
I am the most anti-communist person that you would meet and I get really aggravated when I see remarks on your channel saying that you’re pushing Soviet propaganda and you’re not your when your whole story to be honest is there were some things that you thought were good and a a lot of things not so good you’re not doing this on a political basis you’re doing this based on your own life experience and I wish people that watch your channel they need to understand that I’ve seen some of the nasty remarks and they don’t know your channel they watch maybe one video and maybe halfway through and then make their decision but that being said please keep up the great work it’s very interesting I’m 42 and I was raised in Alaska and during through the end of the Cold War in the state of Alaska was a hotspot in a nutshell thank you and just ignore those people that won’t do the research of what you’re doing it’s not based on politics it’s based on your life experience!! 👍
It's interesting to me that when you released this video 2 years ago, you had to explain what the Ukrainian cities and regions were in the report (like Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia etc), and now they are household names in much of the world, and everyone pays very close attention to them. Although, I wish it were for a better reason...
Well there are/were 2 very good fountain pen factories in Belgium (at least1 still in Germany) where they make pens to order, custom nibs, whatever you want, you got it. Soem of these can be really pricey, and by that I mean I paid €550 for a proper nib alone (oblique left foot, broad, gold). Best pen I ever held, and I bet that if she stole a pen that this kind of pen would be worth it, to correct those papers in style.
how was the paranormal talked about in the soviet union I mean if someone claimed they saw a ghostly apparition were they ridiculed or did the state label them crazy and sen them to a mental health clinic or was it just ignored
13:36 decided he was too cool for their old man party I guess. Dude getting his chops wet and his shadows were salty, wrote it down, and so old dudes kicked him out. Nerds.
Interesting video, maybe these Issues from the Sovjet days, was still present in 2010-2020 , russian tourists from the Russisn middleclass was hated everywhere these years, i have experienced myself in Spain, in Thailand i have seen bars with signs saying, Russian tourists not welcome. I have heard about hotel owners complaining about how towels and even lamps disappeared from rooms. I was disgusted from watching their behaviour at hotel buffets (all-inclussive) . I guess it was due to recently improvements in wealth that these middleclass citizens where able to travel. Certainly they disappeared from the holiday resorts, its like they certainly lost their financial freedom . Now only the decadent oligarks to experience.
What was it about those old Soviet cameras that made them such a commodity in countries outside the USSR? How were these cameras different from ones made in the US, Western Europe or Japan?
You have to remember, the glass tooling (if that is the right word, basically the glass for things like optics and things like that) is from the post war USSR was from the German factories of the war. And that glass is impressively good for the era.
I LIKE AND SOMEHOW BELIEVE YOUR ANECDOTES . THE ARE NO PRETENSIONS. YOU SAY IT LIKE IT IS. IT MAKES IT AUTHENTIC BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT CONCERNED WITH POLITICS.
Regarding the lady stealing a pen, she couldn't legally trade for it, or buy it, or get it in any way right? Seems silly but as you have said, people were trying to survive any way they could, whether it was smuggling or trading or making pirate garages or whatever. Sounds pretty awful but the US is pretty awful in a lot of ways when you're a kid as well.
@@UshankaShow thanks. I can certainly relate to the posters, pretty common in my country too (Romania). Just curious on the difference to the ones in the soviet union
By middle class lifestyle? What the duck is that even? I say low class ghettoite behavior should be abhorred. Or muslim, communist, or other anti individual rights ideologies.
Hello, comrades!
My name is Sergei. I was born in the USSR in 1971. Since 1999 I have lived in the USA.
Ushanka Show channel was created to share stories as well as my own memories of everyday life in the USSR.
My book about arriving in America in 1995 is available on Amazon:
www.amazon.com/s?k=american+diaries+1995&ref=nb_sb_noss
Please contact me at sergeisputnikoff@gmail.com if you would like to purchase a signed copy of “American Diaries”
You can support this project here: www.patreon.com/sputnikoff with monthly donations
Support for this channel via PAYPAL: paypal.me/ushankashow
Ushanka Show merchandise:
teespring.com/stores/ushanka-show-shop
If you are curious to try some of the Soviet-era candy and other foodstuffs, please use the link below.
www.russiantable.com/imported-russian-chocolate-mishka-kosolapy__146-14.html?tracking=5a6933a9095f9
My FB: facebook.com/sergey.sputnikoff
Twitter: twitter.com/ushankashow
Instagram: instagram.com/ushanka_show/
Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/The_Ushanka_Show/
Hey Sergei what inspired you to make this UA-cam Channel
Congratulations on 200th video Sergei
Hell yea he didn't even come back the whole night, obviously had lots of fun.....lol ladies with "light attitude" 😂 it's hilarious how things are known, like what really is a "light attitude" maybe funny? lol
Can you get me a kgb Soviet script writing for my car?
Is there gold in Ukraine? Do they have gold mines or placer gold land ? Maybe do a video on gold and silver in Ukraine and how much it was worth? And did people buy jewelry? Do Ukrainians. Have gold rings for marriage? Or what do you do when you ask a lady to marry them?
Members of a Soviet college debate team visiting L.A. in 1986 were amazed at all the cars and asked: "Do ALL American familes own a car?!" We said no, no, no - two.
Now america college students want the socialist government those kids visiting came from, such a face palm.
I remmber hosting a couple of Soviet guys for a conference in the states about 1985 and when they saw the breakfast buffet they just about freaked out, ended up piling their plates about 4" high with bacon strips. They definitely enjoyed the visit.
Well you know they weren't Muslims then!
I have a better story)) One time I was invited to Shoney's buffett by my American friends, all you can eat seafood night. I ate so much I literally blacked out for a bit. Like lights went out in my head
@@UshankaShow Shoney's is awesome! Unfortunately our closest one closed years ago.
@@UshankaShow I remember Shoney's
Our two Soviet exchange students in 1984 ate a ton of food *but* they were very careful to make it look like they ate like this every day in the Soviet Union. In fact we were all very impressed at how blase they were about everything.
Yeah! Fascinating. I hope you find more old documents like that!
I agree. This was a good video.
Your presentations are VERY Interesting - Thank you
"To recognise always that the test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, and not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with them."
-Peelian principle of Policing
Thank you for another interesting video, Sergei. Me and my mother always look forward to your videos; we've both learned so much info from your channel.
Speculation in other words. Find something people desire buy it at a low price and then sell it for a profit. It’s nice to see capitalism was alive and hidden but still well in side a communist country in 1969. Love your shows. Open communication between people throughout the world.
Sergei, you're awesome. Thank you for teaching, sharing and interacting with your fans. You're basically 99% the reason I'm learning Russian (it's the most difficult language I've ever learned, and my native is Portuguese... already complicated). The 1% is because of my Slavic blood from my father.
I am also trying to learn Russian however for some reason rolling the R for me is super hard :(
@@romanpollmeier2711 I'm quite lucky because Portuguese is a Romance tongue. Makes our muscle and palate much more versatile.
@@26muca07 Lucky you ;) You know I always tell myself even Stalin spoke Russian with an accent (at least that's what I've heard) so nothing to be ashamed of.
@@romanpollmeier2711 Just make sure to get that one vibration between your tongue and the roof of your mouth, don't try to say R like Americans that just rest the back of their tongue and move the lips to say "urh". It's the tip of the tongue that controls the maneuver do say the proper and short "rr" with the tip of your tongue making the work, and the back and sides relaxing and vibrating as you say "rr". Like Spanish too, you know? Or as French pronounces a strong "rh" made with the back of your throat to say an word like "Rat" i.e.. Americans say "Rhett" and Espanõles say "R(vibrate shortly)-ah-tô" (Rato)
@@romanpollmeier2711 I don't think that Stalin is a good role model!
Very interesting video. Years back on Ebay was a letter that translated that the bearer being a military officer should not be charged customs fees for bringing some goods back from the West. It was signed by a high ranking military personage.
The Border between the Soviet Union and Finland must have had plenty of hikers going for profitable walks in the forest.
Hahaha 😆
Another educational and very enjoyable video . Thanks Sergie 👍
In the mid 80s at college, 2 soviets came to speak at an event. You could see that each one was closely watching the behavior of the other. Both were very nervous after the event when people wanted yo ask informal questions.
The KGB kept tabs on immoral behavior. What, were they running out of ideas?
free_at_last LOL
Could be worse. The stazi in east Germany were fond of rearranging clothing and underwear drawers as well as placing sex toys in people's luggage during inspections. 🤣
Part of the KGB's job is to spy on their own people. It makes perfect sense for them to be keeping tabs on the model citizens they let out, lest they do something embarrassing.
It's kinda weird for me to think that speculation was persecuted so heavily. Watching your video and watching the Fartsa show you recommended. Listening to my families stories and other people's who lived in eastern Germany, it seemed to be a thing that almost everyone took part in. My mom brought gold rings from ussr, since you couldn't buy gold in gdr and in order to get a wedding band from gold you had to bring an equivalent of gold and pay for the work. My grandparents who worked as embassy staff in Africa managed to put aside enough Valuta to afford quite a few luxurious holidays all over the world in the 90s.
That’s because they betrayed Unser DDR!
This was a gem!
Hey Sergei, how did funerals and Wakes work in the Soviet Union? I have never heard anything about them
This is a worthwhile and interesting question!
Mao's badges my guess would be gift for friends and children when you get home. I'd get a baggie of them when I went to China.
Most people under 40 have never seen it actually but you could watch his fresh body if you want
Soviets gone wild!!!
My Grandfather was a motorcycle police officer in Glen Cove, New York in the 1950s. The Soviet mission to the United Nations had a mansion there.
The Soviet drivers would speed through town. My Grandfather made it his mission to pull them over and give them speeding tickets.
When they claimed "Diplomatic Immunity " he told to "tell it to the judge". 😆
I often wonder what my grandfather's KGB file was like ! 😆
Small world! I live right on the border of Glen Cove, one town over. The mansion is called Killenworth and it is still used by the Russian diplomatic delegation!
Sounds like the old man was a fool
I doubt that the KGB invested any time in an idiot small town cop who clearly had no concept or understanding of the law.
@@TheAsheybabe89 your old man was fool and has d like gerkin
@@TheAsheybabe89 big time
I find it interesting that high ranking people were allowed to travel abroad. I would think that they would be considered having " compromising material or information"
Awesome video man!
The word you're looking for in English for when you really break the rules badly is "Flagrant".
Making sure the citizens had no clue was a Soviet aspiration. In the West, having no clue was/is a personal choice. I wonder if U.S. self-identified Socialists watch your show. I am of 1/8 Russian ancestry, my Greaf-Grandfather, Simon Teleshuk left the Russian Empire as he did not get along with his stepfather. They were Kulaks from near Grodno. Later his family was killed off by Lenin guys, before the NEP? Simon Teleshuk joined the U.S. Army and was stationed at Schofield Barracks before WWI. Whether in the Cavalry or Artillery is unclear. He is said to have been attached to horses during his service, they followed him about, off duty. This was to facilitate citizenship. He married a first generation Polish woman from Philadelphia after he was discharged at Fort Sill. He was not inducted for WWI as he had served a hitch already? My Grandmother says he was a fierce disciplinarian, but it is said Grandma was the "Spoiled girl" in the family. He was struck by a car in 1945, saving a neighbor girl from death, according to the family story. Family stories are not 100% reliable in my family, as others?
Democratic Socialism and Soviet Style Communism are not the same thing at all.
I find it odd how that guy was able to obtain Maoist propaganda in Mongolia. Looks like Soviet influence over Mongolia wasn't as strong as I thought it was. I can understand why the KGB was annoyed. China and the USSR's were fighting over who was top dog in the communist world at the time.
I am the most anti-communist person that you would meet and I get really aggravated when I see remarks on your channel saying that you’re pushing Soviet propaganda and you’re not your when your whole story to be honest is there were some things that you thought were good and a a lot of things not so good you’re not doing this on a political basis you’re doing this based on your own life experience and I wish people that watch your channel they need to understand that I’ve seen some of the nasty remarks and they don’t know your channel they watch maybe one video and maybe halfway through and then make their decision but that being said please keep up the great work it’s very interesting I’m 42 and I was raised in Alaska and during through the end of the Cold War in the state of Alaska was a hotspot in a nutshell thank you and just ignore those people that won’t do the research of what you’re doing it’s not based on politics it’s based on your life experience!! 👍
Good on ya fellow!
everybody has good and bad memories from their childhood. It's only natural and I suspect some in Hitler's German have some good childhood memories
I don't see how anyone could think he is pro-Soviet. He's done a number of segments on Chrenobyl, Stalin's purges, the Holodomor, etc.
"Maybe you're just looking for some, you know, midnight adventures" 😂😂😂
What you prescribed it is happened in common life everywhere not only USSR people's are involved also happens in US and Europe.
Those Capitalists!
Ushanka Show - I am Bulgarian and regarding the Bulgarian prostitutes in the 70s - the KGB probably found out about that guy through them!!! :D
Thank you like my comment below this is exactly what I’m talking about extremely interesting I enjoy it
It's interesting to me that when you released this video 2 years ago, you had to explain what the Ukrainian cities and regions were in the report (like Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia etc), and now they are household names in much of the world, and everyone pays very close attention to them. Although, I wish it were for a better reason...
Comrades Gone Wild!
I bet there are some interesting stories about the KGB holidays abroad.
Well there are/were 2 very good fountain pen factories in Belgium (at least1 still in Germany) where they make pens to order, custom nibs, whatever you want, you got it. Soem of these can be really pricey, and by that I mean I paid €550 for a proper nib alone (oblique left foot, broad, gold). Best pen I ever held, and I bet that if she stole a pen that this kind of pen would be worth it, to correct those papers in style.
No change there then. The top brass of any organisation in any country under any type of rule is usually the most bent.
how was the paranormal talked about in the soviet union I mean if someone claimed they saw a ghostly apparition were they ridiculed or did the state label them crazy and sen them to a mental health clinic or was it just ignored
The crime novelist Reginald Hill wrote a very funny short story "There are no Ghosts in the Soviet Union" in a book of the same title. Recommended!
It must have been some pen!
By the way, your Department of Corrections is quite a bit different from ours 🤣
13:36 decided he was too cool for their old man party I guess. Dude getting his chops wet and his shadows were salty, wrote it down, and so old dudes kicked him out. Nerds.
Interesting video, maybe these Issues from the Sovjet days, was still present in 2010-2020 , russian tourists from the Russisn middleclass was hated everywhere these years, i have experienced myself in Spain, in Thailand i have seen bars with signs saying, Russian tourists not welcome.
I have heard about hotel owners complaining about how towels and even lamps disappeared from rooms.
I was disgusted from watching their behaviour at hotel buffets (all-inclussive) . I guess it was due to recently improvements in wealth that these middleclass citizens where able to travel. Certainly they disappeared from the holiday resorts, its like they certainly lost their financial freedom . Now only the decadent oligarks to experience.
If being drunk and chasing ‘hors is a bad thing they can keep their damn vacation as far as I’m concerned!
Does "other countries" only mean "western countries", any place outside the USSR, or even the other republics within the USSR?
Both. But there were tighter restrictions if a person was travelling outside the Soviet sphere of influence like France, England or America.
What was it about those old Soviet cameras that made them such a commodity in countries outside the USSR? How were these cameras different from ones made in the US, Western Europe or Japan?
Most Soviet cameras were copies of the German Leica, Contax etc. Very cheap and good quality.www.sovietcams.com/index.php?-1887505578
@@UshankaShow That Kiev II camera looked like an extremely nice camera, especially for an immediate post WWII camera.
You have to remember, the glass tooling (if that is the right word, basically the glass for things like optics and things like that) is from the post war USSR was from the German factories of the war. And that glass is impressively good for the era.
My first "decent" camera was a 35m Werra from East Germany. By far the cheapest useable beginner camera at that time (1965). This was in Australia.
I LIKE AND SOMEHOW BELIEVE YOUR ANECDOTES . THE ARE NO PRETENSIONS. YOU SAY IT LIKE IT IS. IT MAKES IT AUTHENTIC BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT CONCERNED WITH POLITICS.
"Surprised there were prostitutes available ...." Maybe the KGB was supplying the prostitutes ;)
Very cool
I recomend watching the film "Moscow in the Hudson" starring Robin Williams, they all go to Bloomingdale's and say "Vat dekadense!"
Funny enough my uncle Phil used to do the opposite from the UK. Jeans and records in, caviar out.
Regarding the lady stealing a pen, she couldn't legally trade for it, or buy it, or get it in any way right? Seems silly but as you have said, people were trying to survive any way they could, whether it was smuggling or trading or making pirate garages or whatever. Sounds pretty awful but the US is pretty awful in a lot of ways when you're a kid as well.
Think it would be nice if you were to add translations on the soviet posters
I am planning to make videos just on posters alone
@@UshankaShow thanks. I can certainly relate to the posters, pretty common in my country too (Romania). Just curious on the difference to the ones in the soviet union
I doubt there was any)))
@@UshankaShow graphics are certainly the same :D
re the badges, probably Mao was considered no longer acceptable in Russia as this was in the midst of the Sino-Russian split
😂 these cracked me up
The USA now has Facebook and phone tapping by the FBI cia
It sounds like Soviet citizens were never allowed to have fun, even outside their country.
Ever sense a man got some item a woman would trade him for it history in motion
Selling vodka is pretty cool 😎
Brussels is in Belgium.
You know, NATO headquarters.
UA-cam worker: "boss this commie's latest video is about his people getting into trouble traveling abroad"
Boss: "ok don't flag it"
Oh, it was flagged automatically. I had to file a complaint and waited a day for the manual review
@@UshankaShow 🤦♂️
@@shelby3822 KGB < UA-cam's lackey
Wish everyone I'm the USA would watch your videos and get off the Burner Sanders show.
I just thank little baby Jesus that Americans have never misbehaved in foreign nations.
It's a miracle! LOL
Being amazed by the bourgeois lifestyle is indeed the worst thing :) :) No, seriously. All shit starts there.
By middle class lifestyle? What the duck is that even? I say low class ghettoite behavior should be abhorred. Or muslim, communist, or other anti individual rights ideologies.
Why only muslim ? Not christians ? If communism is anti individual how come there were painters, dancers, poets and musicians in Soviet Union ?