Head of state-owned VTB bank says Russians should be ‘satisfied’ with their economy, tells sex joke about 80-year-old man
VTB bank chief Andrei Kostin closed his remarks at a conference of the Association of Russian Banks with a joke about an 80-year-old man who visits his doctor to complain about a ringing in his ears. The radio station BFM published video of Kostin’s appearance.
Kostin noted that Russian banks have been under Western sanctions since 2014 but have nevertheless continued to grow.
“We have accumulated capital, we are lending to the real economy, all of this is working. And of course, there is military spending — we cannot ignore that either,” Kostin said.
Given those factors, he argued, “you have to be satisfied with how our economy is developing.”
“Otherwise, if you will excuse me, consider this joke: A patient comes to the doctor and says, ‘Doctor, I have a complaint: when I have sex, there’s a whistling in my ears.’ ‘How old are you?’ the doctor asks. ‘80,’ the pensioner replies. ‘And what were you expecting — applause?’” Kostin joked.
At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.
If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at reports@meduza.io.
To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.