Оборотень

[cle-fable.livejournal.com]

Hi guys,  I'm sorry for posting so much lately but your comments have been very helpful.

The phrase оборотень в производстве was explained to come from a phrase once used to dub fairly normal policemen 'corrupt' and is now a phrase referred to arcastically in a number of contexts to comment on Soviet propaganda.  But why оборотень specifically?  Does it literally mean werewolf or would it be better as turncoat or saboteur?

Comments

[heilkitty-ru.livejournal.com]

In that context it means saboteur.

оборотень
. . .
2) разг. О человеке, резко меняющем свои взгляды, поведение или ведущем двойную жизнь.
Это прямо какой-то оборотень.
Тема оборотней в средствах массовой информации.

I'm not really sure if there is a full equivalent in English, so maybe it's the closest.

[edricson.livejournal.com]

It was a police corruption story that made a big splash on state TV in the early Putin years, and the newspeople uniformly referred to the officers as оборотни в погонах. The irony is that despite the occasional splashes like these corruption has become, if anything, worse.

[doremishka.livejournal.com]

Hi!
This expression "оборотень в погонах" is often used in russian media for some policemen.

[crashonthelevee.livejournal.com]

Literally it means shape-shifter, not werewolf. In folklore it applies to a person who can turn into (in Russian - оборотиться) something (or anything) else, not necessarily a wolf. Interestingly, the Russian 'оборотиться' and the English 'turn into' use the same root - turn - оборот-поворот-поворачивать(ся). In Russian folklore shape-shifters are evil, I would guess they are akin to imps, hags, etc.

[pinky-the-cow.livejournal.com]

Indeed. It's just that werewolves is a more common species of possible were-someones/-things.

Werefox — лисица-оборотень. Werebat — летучая мышь-оборотень.