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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