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Russia, Brought to You by Coub

The outgoing year in Russia generated a lot of very important political, economic and social news — much of which got transformed at coub.com, the Russian analogue of the short-form video service Vine.

And because it's the end of the year and we're gearing up for some fun, here's The Moscow Times' Coubified News Feed. 

1. In April, a video of young dancers twerking got more than four million views after being posted to YouTube, and stoked a flurry of comments on online media outlets that ranged from supportive to scandalized.


Read more: Russian Girls Twerking in 'Patriotic' Costumes Cause Outrage


2. Much less provocative but no less popular was a classical view of a Russian monastery surrounded by nature with the music from the opera "Prince Igor." 

This was one of the most liked and shared video clips in 2015. 


3. A deleted YouTube video called "Feeding a Bear Salmon" showed part of an enormous brown bear and part of a man with a death wish. The video was reportedly recorded in February on Sakhalin — a large island in the North Pacific Ocean — by a group of geologists stationed there who had befriended a bear and named him "Boris," Russian social media users said. 


Read more: Fearless Russian Treats Wild Bear to a Fish Supper


4. Alexander Chernikov, a 23-year-old living in the Altai city of Barnaul in the Altai region, recorded himself lighting his pants on fire and then jumping off a nine-story apartment building. 

The Coub version ends more triumphantly than his real-life jump did. 


Read more: Reckless Russian Jumps 9-Story Building With Pants on Fire (Video)


5. The Russian version of "Interstellar." 


6. Free car wash, Russian style: efficient, fast, and convenient. 


7. And this is — well, this is just Russia on a bright snowy day. 

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