I am Wearing Black

today because I assume you are in mourning.”

Note the use of the pronoun “you”.  Not “we are in mourning”.  But “you are in mourning”.

When I first saw the video, it appeared as though Medvedev was wearing a red shirt, and I wondered at the significance of that.  But then I looked for pictures, and he is wearing all black.

I am also having difficulty identifying everyone at the table here.  But I found a list of names, and their titles in Russian.  Those in attendance were:

Boris Gryzlov — Duma Chairman;

Sergei Mironov — Federal Chamber Chairman;

Vladimir Zhirinovsky — Liberal Democratic Party Chairman;

Gennady Zyuganov — Communist Party Chairman;

Igor Lebedev — Faction Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party in the State Duma (also happens to be the son of Vladimir Zhirinovsky);

Nikolai Levichev — A Just Rusia Party Chairman (next to Gryzlov in the photo);

Vyacheslav Volodin — Deputy Speaker of the State Duma;

Ivan Melnikov — vice-chairman of the Communist Party;

Vladislav Surkov — First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration.

For more pictures go here, here, and here.