The depths of bad taste: ‘Novichok’ board game on sale in Russia
Bad taste: The board game takes players through the cities allegedly visited by the GRU agents on their way to commit the Salisbury Novichok poisonings.
One would expect it to be fake news but it isn’t – a board game based on the Novichok attack in Salisbury last year is on sale in Russia.
The game, ‘Our Guys in Salisbury’, developed by manufacturer Igroland, features the cities visited by the GRU agents accused of carrying out the attack.
Players start in Moscow and pass through Minsk, Tel Aviv, Geneva, Amsterdam, London and Paris before arriving at Salisbury and the finish line, which is decorated with images of the cathedral and two figures in hazmat suits.
Elsewhere on the board is a spray bottle bearing a green skull and crossbones – an apparent reference to the perfume bottle that British police said was used to carry the Novichok nerve agent.
In another corner are illustrations resembling suspects Anatoliy Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin, who were placed under sanctions by the EU on Monday for their suspected role in the poisonings.
The Russian government denies the allegation but whether it is true or not, this game is an insult.
Even though Sergei and Yulia Skripal survived the attack, Novichok allegedly killed Amesbury resident Dawn Sturgess and poisoned Charlie Rowley and such a death should never be considered suitable material for a game.
Developer Mikhail Bober’s words ring hollow. According to The Guardian, he says it was an attempt to tell the West that its claims of Russian responsibility weren’t funny: “In some way, this was an idea of our answer to western media: enough already. To us it’s not funny any more. It’s sad. This needs to stop.
“We wanted to support our countrymen who might be offended by this situation … a lot of things are said and a lot of it without any proof.
He said: “We didn’t want to offend anyone.” Well, he has.
It is reasonable to point out that the evidence supporting the claim against Russia was tenuous – This Site has said much the same.
But contrary to Gospodin Bober’s claim, a board game about the event can be seen as glorifying the attempted murders – and will.
Rather than denying Russian responsibility, it seems to confirm it.
It is throwing fuel on the fire, rather than damping down the flames.
And I wonder whether the Russian government had a hand in it.
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But Monopoly doesn’t generate the same outrage? A game designed to promote neo-liberalism, with the only one winner and all the rest homeless and destitute.
Or how about Nuclear War?
Those aren’t about specific incidents that caused harm to particular individuals.
Ooops, pressed wrong key before finishing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_War_(card_game)
Totally agree with you…this is abhorrent.
Novichok allegedly killed Amesbury resident Charlie Rowley
Err….Try again. It killed Dawn Sturgess, allegedly.
WHAT a mistake to make!
Corrected.
Whilst I agree with you in principle that the perceived glorification of the alleged incidents is in poor taste from a British perspective, given the dry wit of most Russians it’s all a matter of perspctive.
Is it any more acceptable that Hollywood makes millions from a movie about the killing of James Bulger?
It depends on the way it’s done, I would say.
Don’t join the MSM VP! More fake news set to get tempers flaring in the UK. A simple google search shows the comapny “Igroland” to be a kids play area events company – NOT a manufacturer. Searches in Russian for ‘Our Guys in Salisbury’ reveal no such game! All bollocks as usual – I expeceted better from VP than copying Torygraph headlines without checking!
And have you not checked the multiplicity of news reports from other sources across the world, including photographs of members of the Igroland team in Moscow playing the game?
I think you are confusing the company responsible – in Moscow – with a company in Kiev, which is in Ukraine, a completely different country. And have you been searching the correct title? You can find it in Cyrillic script on the box cover.
To me, it is a shame that, amid all the growling’s about Russian behaviour, it was Herself that said that the next war would have to be nuclear, and it seems to be us that we are continually involved in sabre rattling. Watch though, because our history of 25 years between wars, inviting investment into the South sea Islands project (A disguised money raising project for another war) and various other pointers could lead you to believe, (especially if you have read about how some English people were in contact with their German friends throughout WW2) that these wars just could have been about “Taking back control” and letting the population of the lower classes match the needs of the others! Don’t just blame Russia because they apparently used this nerve agent within close proximity of Porton Down!! (Nothing suspicious there then!
Might this be an example of some Russians saying “So what are you going to do about it!?”
After all, the UK is doing Russia’s bidding by leaving the EU, thus weakening Russia’s main economic rival in Europe. Like Putin’s Russia, a large part of the UK population is nationalistic and believes that they are safer under the full control of their “own”British oligarchs rather than those awful “foreign” oligarchs in the EU.
Many Britons value ties to Trump’s USA rather than to our immediate neighbours.
Just as there are established business links between Trump and Russian oligarchs so there are business links between Russian bankers and leading Brexiters.
The USA and UK are supposed to be boycotting certain named, dodgy Russian millionaires but this seems to hardly have any affect and Trump seems more than willing to drop existing sanctions as long as he can swing such a move with the voters. So, that question again “What are you going to do about it!?”
Problem is I agree with the Russians ! The entire thing was a false flag scam by the corrupt British government and it has also been exposed by a number of serious news outlets that A. Russia was not involved. 2 Novichok was not used. 3. the drug used was manufactured in UK and or USA, BZ as specified by and independent Swiss laboratory and confirmed. . So why can Russia not have a satirical game. becuase the UK papers say so ? The lies of the UK government and its despicable MSM is apparently OK ? The entire farce ( like Gatwick after it ) had nothing to do with Russia. All organised by the far right British ‘ elite ‘ . See Institute for Statecraft. for the crooks behind it and the real news from the likes of See Moon of Albama The Saka http://thesaker.is/a-curious-incident-part-xi/ and a great deal more. and other links by doing research. This is playing right into the May fascist government hands.
It’s in very poor taste to make a game out of an incident that caused a death. That is why this should not have happened.
‘Depths of bad taste’! Probably but we mustn’t forget that the UK is not exactly a world leader in good taste or good anything at the moment but is currently doing well in the league ratings for nastiness and utter ridicule from the world at large. What we are really good at and rate with the best/worst in the field is ‘political circus’, ‘clowning politicians’, ‘serious political miscalculation, misjudgment and mismanagement’, ‘contempt for human rights, the United Nations, decent wages, basic welfare for the sick, disabled and jobless, thousands of homeless and hundreds of deaths on the streets, collapsing medical and healthcare’ and organizing emergency ferry services for Brexit Day! I’m sure we have plenty of ‘budding entrepreneurs’ in this country who would just love to make a board game out of that little lot and think nothing of it: just a little further to the right perhaps!