Russian English

'Russian Godfathers' concluded last Thursday on BBC2. It was mainly about Yuri Luzhkov, Mayor of Moscow. Vladimir Putin at one point supported a man called Lebedev (I didn't catch his first name - neither did The Scotsman, it seems). Lebedev spoke very good English, better than Boris Berezovsky, I would say.

One English phrase seems to have gained global currency: a woman, whom Luzhkov was trying to deprive of her flat, was asked what she would say to him if they met face to face. The reply shown in the subtitles was: 'I would tell him, " f**k off." '

The sound came over as ' [unintelligble Russian] "Fukov." '