My familiarity with Russian politics admittedly begins and ends with the 1997 animated film Anastasia, so I was not super shocked by this clip of a member of the Russian Parliament wishing her constituents a happy new year while swigging champagne atop a horse. All that seems fairly de rigueur, per Don Bluth’s universe.
Still, the video...is something. According to The Moscow Times, it stars one Natalia Poklonskaya, the current Russian State Duma deputy, ex-Prosecutor of Crimea, and former meme, having been the subject of a slew of Internet fan art back in 2014. That was then, this is now, and now she has a horse. They both want you to have a very nice 2019.
The Moscow Times says her tweet translates into, “Let those who are noble and bring justice and goodness ride high in the New Year,” though from the clip, it looks like Poklonskaya is having some trouble with that riding high part. Not to judge—let he who hasn’t struggled with his horse’s reins while attempting to simultaneously sip champagne cast the first Fabergé egg.
Poklonskaya is also reportedly a fan of Tsar Nicholas II, the last emperor of Russia (and briefly depicted in the aforementioned Anastasia), which perhaps explains all the aristocratic imagery.
Anyway, welcome back to the Internet, Poklonskaya, it looks like you missed it.