U2 is visiting Russia as part of its 360 World Tour. Bono, using the opportunity, got to visit with Dmitry Medvedev in the president's private residence in Sochi, where Winter Olympic Games 2014 will take place. As the result of the high-profile meetings, aside from an agreement to fight AIDS, Russian President Medvedev and Irish Singer Bono concluded that they both love Led Zeppelin.
Enjoy the photos of Bono's visit at Medvedev's dacha in Sochi in the extended post.
Putin, Medvedev, Who's Next? Russia Can't Find a Leader
Yuri Mamchur
Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin share a friendly moment
On Monday, answering questions from journalists, President Medvedev said "I don't know what's going to happen in 2012, I don't know who'll be running. It can be Medvedev, it can be Putin, it can be someone third... I would prefer to avoid a competition within the friendly forces, it would be bad for the country" said Medvedev making clear that he will not compete with Putin if the latter decides to run. Russian political anaylsts called Medvedev's response a bluff. Sergey Mitrohin, chairman of political party "Yabloko" said that Sergey Ivanov can be that "third" candidate, since he did not get the Putin's endorsement in the last campaign, paving the way for Medvedev's easy victory.
In the meantime, public opinion poll--conducted by Russia's most respected independent agency Levada--showed that if Putin and/or Medvdev were to run today, 27% would give their vote to Putin, 20% to Medvedev, and 4% to Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov. Russia's liberal candidates popular in the West (like chess player Kasparov) did not get enough percentage to show even 0.1% (1 out of 1,000) chance of winning Russia's presidency. While 15% agree that Medvedev has been changing Russia's political course, 45% of the population do not know who to vote for and where to go. Russia, just like America's Republican Party, desperately needs new leader, but does not know where to find one.
Heat in Moscow Broken Up by a Storm. Weekend Forecast: 110F
Yuri Mamchur
The record-breaking heat across Russia was interrupted by a short storm that hit some cities more than others. Not just the farmers, but common people prayed for the rain. And they got it. Now that the brief and strong rain is over, Moscow suburbs forecast for this weekend: 110F. The temperatures will stay high at least until the end of July. No one (but property) was hurt in eastern Moscow, where wind tore out the trees and a construction crane.
Street thermometer shows 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit) in Russia's fourth largest city of Nizhny Novgorod. (Photo by RIA Novosti)
I am not sure if the snowcaps are melting in the North Pole (there are none in Moscow), but one thing is sure: "current Russian temperatures have overtaken those in Turkey and Egypt," reports RIA Novosti, calling Russia "tropical." The situation is verging on apocalyptic, continues the agency, and many people with heart problems and diabetes have been forced to see doctors, while children are suffering from heat stroke and sunburn. Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned "We must stop any attempt to capitalize on this disaster, this drought." Moscow is forecasted to maintain
Moscow, indeed, has been sunny and hot for weeks. An 85-degree day is now considered a cooling. Parts of central Russia are hitting or expecting to hit 115F. Moscow, which is only 3 degrees south of Alaskan Juno's latitude, is not built for the African-style heat. Certain underground subway stations warmed up and reached 90F and pavement on the freeways is softening or melting. Many people do not own air conditioners. Despite the obvious dangers of the extreme heat, my friends and most Muscovites love the weather and are cancelling their plans to travel to warm-climate countries. After all, Moscow suburbs are hotter than Africa!
Visit RIA Novosti's website to see the photos of Russians enjoying the heat.
Many Western media outlets said that there has been a media blockade in Russia of the recent spy scandal. My experience in the Moscow suburbs has been quite the opposite.
When Vice President Joe Biden appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" last Friday night, he said it was all right that the United States only got four accused spies from Russia while giving up 10. "We got back four really good ones," said Biden. "And the 10, they've been here a long time, but they hadn't done much." When comedy host Leno showed Biden an alluring photo of accused Russian spy Anna Chapman, a darling of New York tabloids, Biden said "let me make it clear, it wasn't my idea to send her back. I thought they'd take Rush Limbaugh."
Enjoy the full photo version of the spy swap brought to you by the Russian media (in the extended post).
6 Children, 1 Adult Die at a Russian Summer Camp; Medvedev Orders Country-Wide Inspection
Yuri Mamchur
Having visited then-Soviet and later Russian summer camps as a kid, and later having volunteered as a camp counselor in America, I have noticed the indescribable differences in attitude towards kids' safety in two countries. While the unregulated environment of Russian summer camps maybe provides for a better, wilder "summer adventure," American camps drill into camp counselors and children "safety first" and eventually provide it - the safety.
Yesterday's events in Yeysk (Krasnodar Krai) speak volumes about the degradation of Russian government and private institutions in their ensuring of children's safety. Seven camp counselors and 63 children (ages 8-16, all from Moscow), traveled by boat to a local island. Despite the signs "Swimming Strictly Prohibited" and absence of lifeguards or medical personnel, camp counselors allowed children to swim. In the meantime, counselors got drunk! While the counselors were drinking, six children disappeared. One counselor attempted to save the kids--who were being dragged into the open sea by strong currents--and died himself.
Government will cover all funeral expenses, and... that's basically it. Unlike the American Camping Association (ACA) there is no independent organization supervising summer camps' safety standards in Russia. Government officials who are supposed to fulfill the ACA's role are easily bribable, and most of them are using their 30-to-48-day vacations during summertime. An American family would see an opportunity to sue such a camp for millions of dollars. However, Russian camps do not have insurance to cover expenses associated with such legal cases, and the legal system itself does not allow for such law suits. I assume the parents of dead children can hope for about $5,000-$10,000 per child in government compensations from Moscow Mayor Luzhkov or Russian Federal government.
A friend in Moscow told me a true story. A couple weeks after the Moscow subway bombing, he was taking a train. A lady, in a traditional Muslim dress (but not in burqa), entered his subway car. All the passengers crammed--pressing each other--into the opposite side of the train car. The Muslim lady set down on the other side of the train car by herself, and started crying very hard. My friend was one of many who felt guilty, yet confused about what was right, and whose freedoms were more important. He still does not know what the right answer is. On the other hand, he told me how much he respects the U.S. for being able to fight for their freedom, yet respect each other's choices, no matter how challenging it is.
For over two centuries, America has been a free country with free people. The freedom of the nation as a whole and individual freedoms have not conflicted throughout the country's history but only complimented each other. Russia Blog's editors hope that today's ever-changing and challenging world will only strengthen America and its people. Happy Fourth of July, America!
Today, the Kremlin launched two separate Twitter accounts. One in English, and one in Russian language. Aside from tweeting about an outing with President Obama to Ray's Hell Burger in Virginia, President Medvedev posted the following today:
The decision of major American companies to come to Russia and invest shows that we can agree on more than just missiles.
While Western media isn't yet abuzz about the Kremlin tapping into Twitter, the comparisons to other leaders jumping on the popular short message system can't be far behind.
A visitor to Moscow might wonder how streets that are wider than almost any in newer cities in the US happen to be get that way, especially since they are bounded often by buildings that are a hundred or more years old.
The answer is that before World War II they moved thebuildings. (Tip of the hat to Matt Scholz.)
How is that possible; I mean politically? Well, it probably helps if you start with a dictatorship...!
US-Russia Bilateral Governmental Commissions: Where Are You?
Edward Lozansky
Those who feel like gloating over the difficulties America is experiencing fail to understand that many of U.S. problems are shared by the rest of the world. Therefore, it is in Russia's interests to take a dignified high road policy and to seek and find ways of helping America in solving them. The present moment is singularly auspicious for implementing real projects in the course of much hyped resetting, which, alas, cannot yet boast any tangible results.
It is well known that in the wake of the Obama-Medvedev meeting, an impressive number of 18 (!) bilateral governmental commissions have been set up to coordinate the resetting process. So far we did not hear too much about their activities or, most importantly, results, except perhaps just one, on cultural cooperation, headed by Mikhail Shvydkoi and US Undersecretary of State Judith McHale. Apparently, the other seventeen are still trying to decide what they are going to do. Don't you think it's about time you set to, gentlemen?
The alcoholism problem is Russia is really the vodka problem--it's too inexpensive. Accordingly, President Medvedev intends to raise the price up to a minimum of three dollars a bottle, still a very low price by American standards.
Why Russians don't Like Money? (or Why Kremlin doesn't Want Good PR?)
Yuri Mamchur
Entrance to an IKEA store in Rostov, Russia.
As economy is sliding down, and even the construction of the Moscow City is up in the air, one would think that Russians, and Kremlin especially, would want as much foreign investment as possible. It is well-known that Russians have had highest levels of disposable income comparing to other nations, and retail has made many Western companies wealthy. Among such companies was IKEA that has three stores in Moscow alone. IKEA built factories, streamlined supply chains, employed thousands of Russians, brought its products to the nation, and has helped Kremlin to look Western more than pictures of shirtless Putin did.
Nine years after the opening of the first IKEA store in Russia, and in the midst of the worst global financial crisis, one would think Russian regions, and especially Kremlin, would want more foreign money and positive PR abroad. IKEA had originally planned to open its new 1,400,000 square feet complex in November 2007 in Samara. But a year and a half later, the store remained closed. The Samara's store's opening was reportedly delayed on eight separate occasions, with local officials refusing each time to supply the necessary documents. The latest objection, according to IKEA, has been that the store is insufficiently resistant to hurricanes. That's a highly unusual requirement, in a region not previously noted for its high-power winds, reported the BusinessWeek. While its sales in Russia have been growing beyond expectation, problems seemed to have been piling up even faster; IKEA has publicly raged again against "blackmail, sabotage and pressure for bribes" from Russian officials. If Kremlin's latest slogan have been "fight with corruption" and "attract foreign investment," can someone help me understand if it's really that hard to imprison the gangsters with government titles who are not only killing the foreign investment (which fell by 45% in 2009), but alsoare hurting Russia's employment, economic development, and image abroad.
Moscow River embankment on a summer night (Photo by Yuri Mamchur)
MOSCOW -- German Sterligov is well known here, but unlike Roman Abramovich, Oleg Deripaska, and other publicly flamboyant Russian billionaires, he is little known abroad. Sterligov neither sails the Caribbean nor drinks in London's Mayfair district; most of the time he lives a traditional peasant lifestyle deep in the Russian countryside with his wife and five children. In winter, their farm is accessible only by horse-drawn cart, and the nearest house is seven miles away. Sterligov's way of life makes a strong Russian Orthodox statement and amuses Moscow's public.
Sterligov made his fortune in the 1990s running a large barter business. He founded a mercantile exchange where Russians traded products they were unable to buy or sell for cash. He lived the luxurious life of a billionaire and owned properties in Moscow, London, and Manhattan. In 2004, after an ill-fated bid for Russia's presidency, Sterligov sold everything and moved to the countryside.
If there is no domestic constituency that is offended, a gaffe is not treated as a gaffe. But Vice President Joe Biden's snarky remarks about Russia fall into the gaffe category anyhow. What is the point?
Russian Champ Fedor Emelianenko Still Looking for a Fight
Mike Wussow
Fedor Emelianenko of Russia puts down Matt Lindland of the U.S. during a mixed-martial-arts match in St. Petersburg Vladimir Rodionov / EPA / Corbis (Photo Source: Time)
You wouldn't expect there to be a lot of people standing in line to fight someone who, as described in American news magazine Time "possesses an assassin's glare and a face-denting right jab." As of Friday, that queue got even shorter when it was announced that a scheduled August 1 fight between American Josh Barnett and Russian Fedor Emelianenko is canceled because of Barnett's positive steroid test early last week.
Fight organizers (M-1 Global and Affliction Entertainment) said there wasn't enough time to find someone else to fight the former Russian army soldier who holds a 30-1 mixed martial arts (MMA) record.
Affliction Entertainment on Friday canceled its Aug. 1 mixed martial arts card in Anaheim because it could not find a suitable replacement opponent to fight Russian heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko.
MMA, which began formally in the 1990s, has become a billion dollar global business, with the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) owning the promotion space. According to the Los Angeles Times, it "has 275 fighters under contract, its own reality television series and impressive revenue from events such as this month's UFC 100 in Las Vegas, which generated a live gate of $5.1 million and more than 1 million pay-per-view buys." As Time reported earlier this month, Dana White, UFC's president and "foul-mouthed ex-aerobics instructor" has said UFC will be "the biggest sport in the world in 10 years." White may end up being correct, but he might have to do it without the top fighter in the world.
Passengers from America Treated as Potential Health Threat in Russia
Yuri Mamchur
Russian health official checking passengers' body temperature onboard a flight from Atlanta to Moscow upon its arrival in Russia.
The World Health Organization announced that the pandemic of swine flu (H1N1 influenza) is unstoppable; but so thought Napoleon and Hitler about their offensives against Russia... "The world is moving into the early days of its first influenza pandemic in the 21st century," said WHO's director-general, Margaret Chan, "further spread [of H1N1] is inevitable." Russian border and health officials think differently. If you are flying from the United States to Russia (as I did just two days ago), be prepared to fill out a form with your basic personal information and list all the geographic locations you visited in 10 days prior to your arrival to Russia.
While in flight, we were informed that no one would be able to leave the plane until Russian health officials checked everyone's body temperature! If a single passenger had high body temperature, all of the passengers would have been put into quarantine until the doctors found out the origin of the disease onboard. A long flight and free servings of wine produced multiple jokes about the way our body temperatures would be checked.
However, upon the landing, we were truly concerned: How long would it take to check the body temperature of over 200 passengers onboard the Boeing 767 airliner? We expected to see people in white uniforms with a lot of little appliances taking an hour to complete the testing. Our suspense expectations were crushed when a young gentleman in casual clothes (in the picture) went around with a Star Trek tricorder-looking device, pointing it at everyone from far away. Upon exiting the plane, there were half a dozen officials to collect our forms. The temperature testing of the entire plane took less than five minutes. Coincidental or not, but only three swine flu cases so far have been confirmed in Russia.
A famous photo of a Red Army soldier in World War II
Today is the 68th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. For a roundup of previous Russia Blog posts on Russia's role in winning World War II, click here and scroll down. To watch a Russia Today video on the solemn commemorations that took place across Russia to mark this day, click on the extended post.
Cantor Compares Obama to Putin Pravda Turns Paleocon Against Bailout USA
Charles Ganske
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (left) and U.S. President Barack Obama (right)
Last week Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA), the number two Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, compared President Barack Obama to Russian leader Vladimir Putin in an interview with the Associated Press. Cantor did not mean the comparison in a flattering way.
While criticizing the Obama Administration's handling of the bankruptcy of General Motors and Chrysler, Cantor declared:
"They said, 'Set aside the rule of law, let's strip secured creditors, bondholders, of their rights. Take them away outside of the bankruptcy process and give them to the political cronies and the auto workers' unions...it's almost like looking at Putin's Russia...you want to reward your political friends at the expense of the certainty of law?"
Russia Day (June 12, annually) is one of the newest state holidays in the country. It commemorates the 1990 act of endorsement of the Declaration of Russia's State Sovereignty by the first Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic. The day was originally known as the Independence Day, but many Russians, who no doubt enjoy federal days off, perceived the word "independence" as an offensive joke, as Russia liberated itself from the territories that originally had been part of the country for hundreds of years.
Since early Nineties, the general public has warmed up to the June 12 holiday, welcoming the opportunity to head to the dachas and catch up on sleep and gardening. The ceremony for presenting the 2008 Russian National Awards for outstanding achievements in science and technology, literature and the arts, and humanitarian work took place at the Grand Kremlin Palace (visit the official Kremlin website to learn more). However, Russia Day will never become as important to the Russian people, as, let's say, the Fourth of July is to the American nation. The main patriotic holiday remains Victory Day (May 9). Come back to Russia Blog in the nearest future to learn why this military parade and celebration of Russia's liberation from Nazi Germany and defeat of Fascism are hardly a portrayal of Russia's military might (as it is often described by the Western press), but truly are celebrations of the country's independence and the accomplishments of older generations.
"Those who went to Sparrow Hills this morning to stir up the trouble were simply wasting their energy. The world's biggest gay parade took place right here, at the Olympiysky [stadium in Moscow]" said Andrey Rybak, the 2009 Eurovision's winner, a Norwegian by passport and a Belarusian by birth.
I was in Moscow to witness the Eurovision the first two weeks of May, this year's most exciting European music event. The annual contest continues a tradition launched in 1956. It brought ABBA to light, along with many other talented (and not so talented) performers. The winning country gets to host the event, and last year's winning performance by Russia's Dima Bilan brought the festival to Moscow this month. Russia seemed to treat the occasion as a rehearsal for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, pouring a staggering $150 million into the song contest, and, according to all 42 voting countries, setting the bar so high, that no other European country can rival it for years to come.
Three interesting observations came to my mind after witnessing the glamorous event in person: the sexual orientation of its participants, the event's coverage in the Western media, and the lingual diversity (or lack thereof) among the participating countries.
Russia Today Goes John Galt RT Hosts Tea Partying Blogger
Charles Ganske
Russia Today, a 24/7 news network and website inspired by Al-Jazeera that was launched in 2005 to tell Russia's story to the world in the English language, has recently remodeled its main web page. In addition to the complete change of website layout, RT added several bloggers to its stable of writers, including an American from Virginia named Doug Wead. This is an interesting development, because Mr. Wead brings a "compassionate conservative" Republican voice to an otherwise apolitical or left-leaning collection of bloggers.
In the past, Russia Today has been criticized in the Western media for allegedly being too pro-Kremlin in its reporting and commentary. Russia Today features a commentary show and blog by Peter Lavelle, an American who has lived in Russia since the early Nineties who also contributes his commentary to Radio Free Europe/Liberty. Mr. Lavelle has been harshly critical of U.S. foreign and economic policies, which he blames for triggering the current global financial meltdown and the Georgia War that left hundreds of civilians dead last August.
Easter eggs and the traditional Russian Paschal cake, kuhlich (Click here for a recipe to make kuhlich
Today is the day Orthodox Christians in Russia and around the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. From Russia Blog to all of our readers around the world, Happy Easter!
Click on the extended post to watch video clips of Russian Orthodox Christianscelebrating Pascha.
Russian Banks Beg for Bailout Money Since They Will Suffer Controls Regardless
Yuri Mamchur
A currency exchange kiosk sign shows the exchange rate of one dollar to rubles in February 2009. In summer 2008, half a year earlier, one dollar could be purchased for only 23 rubles.
Americans these days are used to banks trying to avoid federal bailouts because they have learned that bailouts come with onerous government management controls. But in Russia, the government puts strings on banks if they are perceived to be in difficulty, and the Central Bank does this without providing any backup money of its own other than modest protection for individual depositors.
The St. Petersburg Times reports that small banks attending the annual conference of the Association of Russian Banks begged lawmakers and state officials to amend the new law that requires them to increase their net worth to 90 million rubles ($2.6 million) by January 1, 2010, and to 180 ($5.2 million) rubles by 2012. But government officials apparently regard the new law as necessary, even if it seems harsh. Minister of Finance Alexei Kudrin said that while there are still "honest" banks in this small-cap category, there are also many banks "engaged in money laundering," banks that exist not to lend but to "protect the owners' or someone else's money." He predicted that by January 1 about 150 banks would not have enough capital to meet the requirements.
Putin Bans Seal-Hunt, Surprises Environmentalists, Pushes Canada into Isolation
Yuri Mamchur
A Canadian seal hunter takes a swing at a baby seal. "Our hunt ... is sustainable, it's viable and it's humane" says Thomas Hedderson, the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture in Newfoundland and Labrador.
This week, animal welfare activists have found themselves the most unlikely ally. Vladimir Putin, Russia's Prime-Minister, a judo master, a book author, and a pet lover, who received a tiger cub for his birthday, banned seal hunting in Russian waters. On March 18, Putin labeled the annual hunt of the animals a "bloody industry" that "should have been banned a long time ago." Putin's words and law put Canada further into isolation on the seal-hunting issue.
Sheryl Fink, a researcher for the International Fund for Animal Welfare based in Guelph, Ont, was positively shocked by Putin's decision. The Russian branch of the organization held rallies in cities across Russia last month, but after years of fruitless campaigning, Mr. Putin's support caught them off guard. "It highlights the fact that Canada is still in the Dark Ages on this issue. It's astounding when even the government of Russia is more willing to listen to its own people than ours is," Ms. Fink said.
Medvedev Videoblogs from Krasnaya Polyana (Site of 2014 Winter Olympics)
Charles Ganske
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is a regular video blogger at Kremlin.ru Medvedev also enjoys hosting foreign leaders, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at Russia's southern resort city of Sochi
Like the U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is a big fan of using technology to get his message out. During his successful run for the White House, Obama used Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites to raise millions of dollars. Obama was also the first presidential candidate to use Twitter, a website that allows other users to receive short SMS type text messages of fewer than 160 characters from a particular person.
Medvedev, who is of the same fortysomething generation as Obama, is also using technology to reach a large audience -- without the filters of the mainstream news media that often emphasize Medvedev and Putin's occasional harsh warnings to the West rather than the main substance of their remarks. Over at the Russian presidential website kremlin.ru, Medvedev has posted a series of video blog posts about his administration and its goals. But Medvedev, a Leningrad-raised lawyer who is a fan of the British rock band Deep Purple, has also found the time to address some of his personal interests and hobbies.
Click on the extended post to read more and watch the video.
In August 1980, a new film was released in the Soviet Union, shattering any blockbuster records in the USSR and becoming an iconic feat of Soviet cinematography - "Pirati 20 Veka» (Пираты XX Века) -- (20th Century Pirates). This was the first domestically produced "boyevik" - an action thriller - and it became an instant and long-lasting success.
The film, almost three-decades old, has the feel of being "ripped off the headlines." Today's Russia is taking an active role in combat international piracy off the coast of Somalia. Its Navy is participating in protection, search and destroy missions, and along with its American and British counterparts, and has already enjoyed limited success.
Russia Blog Editors extend their warmest wishes to our Veterans. Thank you for defending our countries and freedoms and making this world a safer place!
Russian citizens and news agencies are closely watching the American elections today, and... participating in them. Virtually, of course. As of noon U.S. Eastern Standard Time, nearly 3,000 Russian "voters" had cast their votes in a Gazeta.ru-sponsored poll. Barack Obama was defeating John McCain in a landslide: 68 to 32 percent. Russian voters also learned promptly about the death of Obama's grandmother, Canadian comedians' prank on Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, former actor and current California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's support for John McCain, and Obama winning the first vote recorded today in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. The Russian media overall has praised the openness of the American electoral system.
Russians Get News on American Elections that Even Americans Don't Get
Yuri Mamchur
Elephant Valery and donkey Sister voted at a Californian zoo. The animals probably have no clue that they betrayed their parties...
The Russian news media covers American elections in almost greater detail than the American media does. Russian readers can find plenty of information about both American presidential candidates, the scandal involving Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, an alleged murder conspiracy against Obama, Sarah Palin's love for fine clothes and hockey, and Barack's infomercial blanketing of American TV channels. However, the Russian mainstream media also gives a fair amount of coverage to minor party American presidential candidates, who, somehow, are largely ignored in their own country.
"Debates in a Margin of Error" by Gazeta.ru (Russia's most popular online news source) describes the debates between independent candidate Ralph Nader and constitutionalist candidate Chuck Baldwin. According to Gazeta.ru, the debates took place at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C. and were attended by "journalists and students of the Washington University." The presidential candidate of the Green Party, Cynthia McKinney, and the Libertarian candidate Robert Barr did not attend the debates because of their "conflict of schedules." The correspondent for Gazeta.ru was disappointed with the lack of contention between the two debating candidates. Basically, both Nader and Baldwin agreed that the bi-partisan system is old and ineffective, Americans need "change", and the free market can do a better job than the government.
Crystal chandeliers and golden toilet seats might become part of Moscow's decadent past instead of present thanks to the global financial crisis
Two articles, one from the U.S. Washington Post and another from the UK Telegraph do a fair job describing the severe consequences of the global financial crisis for the elite club going life-style of Russia's extravagant rich.
The Washington Post raises the issue of Russian oligarchs losing their fortunes and the Medvedev-Putin government's dilemma of either bailing out Russia's super rich in an unpopular move to shore up the economy, or seize an opportunity to legally nationalize their businesses. It's no secret that many oligarchs enjoyed a successful "head-start" on building their vast fortunes by stealing state assets in the early Nineties, during the so-called privatization of Yeltsin's reforms.
The Telegraph describes the half-empty rooms in The Most, one of Moscow's most glamorous clubs and shops [the Telegraph story was picked up by an expat blog called Moscow Doesn't Believe in Tears, which mocks the ludicrous excess of the Moscow clubbing and fashion world]. The $40,000 private tables, $1,000 shots of liquor, SWAT-team-like feis kontrol bouncers, and toilet seats made of gold in Moscow night clubs seem to be shifting from a nightly routine in the world capital for billionaires into a bizarre but amusing page in Russian history books.
Please visit the extended post to read the articles.
Japanese Pursue Space Elevator Concept Invented in Russia
Charles Ganske
A space elevator would tether an orbital station to the Earth via a lifting cable
Science fiction fans rejoice! At least one of the concepts from Arthur C. Clarke's novels, first proposed by the Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1895, is now closer to becoming reality, according to Russia's RIA Novosti news agency.
As incredible as it sounds, one of the cheapest ways to get cargo into orbit would be to hoist it on a cable suspended in a stable orbit from space, rather than the traditional launching of expensive chemically-fueled rockets. Japanese engineers now believe that with ultra-strong lightweight carbon nanotube technologies a working space elevator is possible. A reliable space elevator could make lifting satellites into orbit as routine as commercial airline flights are today.
Much like the proposed tunnel under the Barents Strait between Alaska and Chuhotka, the project has not yet been proven feasible from an economic perspective - especially in a difficult period for the global economy. $10 billion though, still seems like small change to achieve the greatest engineering feat in human history.
Click on the extended post to read this interesting article.
Crisis in the Caucasus: A Unified Timeline, August 7-16, 2008
Nicolai N. Petro
Russian tanks crossing the Roki Tunnel (photo by NYT)
First compiled on August 28, 2008, this timeline is continuously being revised as more information becomes available. The latest PDF version can be downloaded from my web site.
This unified timeline of the onset of the crisis in the Caucasus is based on the detailed timelines available on the web sites of the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Russia Today news service. These have been supplemented with various Georgian, Russian, and international press reports (references in brackets refer to the list of sources at the end of this document: "G" for Georgian, "R" for Russian, "M" for miscellaneous). For convenience all local times have been converted to GMT (UTC) which, at the time these events unfolded, was GMT (UTC) +4 in both Moscow and Tbilisi. There is surprisingly little disagreement about the actual sequence of events. Those that exceed two hours are noted with italics. My comments, in yellow at the bottom, attempt to highlight some notable findings.
The war in South Ossetia and Georgia, though appalling, resulted in fewer deaths and damage than originally reported. It is still not "over" and probably won't be for some time. Meanwhile, it definitely did serious damage to Russia's relationship with the West. In some ways, relations are worse than at any time since well before the collapse of the USSR--in other words, in roughly a quarter century.
We are going to say a lot more on this, and we are not inclined to be particularly laudatory to any of the players. The war has not made any country look good.
Meanwhile, before the war we wrote a report on Ten Reasons Americans Should Care About Russia. It follows, and, as you will see, it remains valid. Perhaps as tempers cool, people of good will can consider what is at stake; what there is to gain, and what there is to lose.
The Battle of the Dueling Presidents: Take Your Pick or "None of the Above"
Yuri Mamchur
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili (left) and Russian President Dimitri Medvedev
Russians and Georgians fight it out--in print. The Financial Times has scored by publishing articles by both Dimitri Medvedev and Mikheil Saakashvili. (P.R. firms representing both sides must be working overtime.) Obviously, both presidents are biased, but their points of view could have not been presented more clearly. Medvedev's "Why I had to Recognise Georgia's Breakaway Regions" and Saakashvili's "Moscow's Plan Is to Redraw the Map of Europe" in the order of their appearance in the FT:
Why I had to Recognise Georgia's Breakaway Regions By Dmitry Medvedev
Financial Times
August 26, 2008
On Tuesday Russia recognised the independence of the territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It was not a step taken lightly, or without full consideration of the consequences. But all possible outcomes had to be weighed against a sober understanding of the situation -- the histories of the Abkhaz and Ossetian peoples, their freely expressed desire for independence, the tragic events of the past weeks and interÂnational precedents for such a move.
Russian Conspicuous Consumption Reaches New Heights
Yuri Mamchur
The Villa Leopolda on the French Riviera
When Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, spent $45 million a few years ago to build a mansion on the east side of Lake Washington, near Seattle, it was thought to have been the most expensive house ever. Regardless, it was a carefully thought out space for man who was the richest person in the world -- at least until he gave most of his fortune away. Gates is the individual who did more than anyone to help put a personal computer in every office and home. Then he and his wife turned to helping save lives around the world through their new foundation.
In any case, the honors for Big-Spender in the home category just keep going up and up. And wouldn't you know that the folks who sold off Russia's assets in the 1990s would be the leading contenders what has become a spectacular new conspicuous consumption sweepstakes?
When the $750 million house on the Riviera went on the market recently, many just assumed that the buyer--if any--would turn out to be a Russian. And so it is, according to Fox News.
Just who is the happy new home owner? Is he someone who, like Gates, made his money improving life for others while making a fortune for himself? Did he, too, set up a prestigious foundation to help the sick and unfortunate? Or is he one of the notorious kleptocrats?
Discovery Institute and the War in Ossetia and Georgia
Bruce Chapman
Russian troops crossing the Russian-Georgian border.
"Truth is the first casualty of war," as is always said about now, because that statement is almost always right. And the second casualty is surely civilized restraint. Wars are easy to start, hard to contain, let alone end.
Right now, the surprising events in South Ossetia and Georgia represent a clash of information and interpretations. This is getting sorted out, but slowly. However, the events themselves are moving with agonizing speed.
For a couple of years now Discovery Institute's Russia Blog has been almost unique in representing otherwise ignored news about Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Often we provide access to news about business, culture and social developments that are occurring in a region that the West--including the USA--has tended to neglect since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Now we are faced with a war in Georgia that is as big a surprise to most people (diplomats, too, it appears) as it is an obvious catastrophe for the peoples involved and a historic setback for Russian/Western relations. The complications for other regions will soon develop.
Forbes is reporting for the third straight year that Moscow is the most expensive city in the world according to a cost of living survey of expatriate professionals conducted by Mercer, a UK-based global human resources firm. Expats who have lived like native Muscovites for a long time may argue that prices in London and Tokyo are worse (and indeed, when it comes to rent for a luxury apartment, Tokyo still takes the cake) but Forbes leaves Moscow at the top of this dubious category. A cup of black coffee costs $10.83 in Moscow, but a latte with an hour of Internet access at Kafe Haus or Chocolatnitsa will could cost you considerably more.
Although around the clock traffic jams, high food and housing costs, low entry level salaries in return for long hours, air pollution and snow turning to muddy slush five months out of the year may keep many talented Russians and foreigners away, the city still has its charms; 24-hour shopping and restaurants, street musicians performing for a few rubles in the Metro, reliable if crowded mass transit, wild night life, fine arts and culture, and beautiful women.
Click on the extended post to read "the rest of the story".
By Deroy Murdock
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
August 2, 2008
NEW YORK - If you like bilingualism, you will love septalingualism.
Big Apple Mayor Michael Bloomberg's latest brainstorm outstrips his notorious war on trans-fats, both for its audacity and sheer senselessness. America's largest municipality soon will conduct official business in English and Spanish - which would be bad enough - plus five other foreign languages: Russian, Chinese, Korean, French Creole and Italian.
Russia Becomes Europe's Largest Car Market; American Cars Lead Sales
Yuri Mamchur
The New Ford Focus...
...and the Chevrolet Lacetti are the most popular cars in Russia.
Russia has become Europe's largest automotive market after year on year sales grew 41 percent in the first six months of 2008, according to a survey by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), reported Moscow News. In this period, 1.65 million cars were bought in Russia compared to 1.63 million in Germany, which was previously Europe's largest market. The most popular cars in Russia are American Ford Focus and Chevrolet Lacetti. Gazeta.ru reports that according to the Association of European Businesses, in the first six months of 2008, Russians purchased 1,058,037 new foreign cars. General Motors had no explanation for such success with their Lacetti. "Probably, this model is what a Russian consumer needs at the moment," said a GM representative.
The demand for American vehicles inspired General Motors to open a new factory in Saint Petersburg. The factory will produce 45,000 Lacettis a year. However, even having a factory in Russia is not going to be enough to satisfy Russian demand for automobiles. Russian drivers bought 45,000 Lacettis in just six months. Ford Focus has been an all-time favorite for middle-class Russian drivers, and the new redesigned model added popularity and stronger sales for this model. 47,500 Focuses were sold in the first six months of 2008. Korean and Japanese cars are also very popular with Russian families. The newest version of the Mitsubishi Lancer takes 5th place on the "hit parade" of the bestselling cars in Russia. However, the Japanese also cannot catch up with Russian demand; 34,000 Lancers were sold in the first half of the year, but there remains a long waiting list for more Lancers.
In February, Mr. Abramovich bought a five bedroom, 5,600-square-foot house in Snowmass Village, Colorado for $11.8 million. Two months later he spent $36.4 million on another property only a few miles away: a 14,300-square-foot, 11 bedroom ranch on 200 acres.
Russian oligarchs, pop stars, and rich people have bought properties all over Europe, pushing real estate prices in Prague and London to new heights. After a visit to Southern France in 2005, a friend of mine commented that, "Russian was the major language of the French Riviera." With wealthy Muscovites finding it easier to obtain visas these days, perhaps now the time has come for America to become a popular destination for Russian elites. Wealthy Russians have figured out that the U.S. has spectacular mountain and ocean views, fresh air, wide open spaces, which can be enjoyed for home prices far below those of comparable properties in the playgrounds of Europe or the Russian Riviera.
"Sergey Skaterschikov, a Moscow-based private-equity investor, is shopping for a house in Palo Alto, California, because his son will attend school in the area. With a budget of $3.5 million to $5 million, the five- and six-bedroom houses the 36-year-old Mr. Skaterschikov has looked at struck him as cheap compared with Moscow real estate, which he called "insane..." reports The Wall Street Journal.
Please visit the extended post to read the newspaper's report and see the photos.
The Spanish team showed admirable professionalism and fully deserved to go on to the final against Germany. Nearly twenty unscheduled flights with fans left Moscow for Vienna this morning. Russia lost, but there are no bad feelings towards the squad or its Dutch coach. A young Russian team looked tired and overmatched, but it achieved something that no one could have dreamed of just two weeks ago, and the country is proud of its players for reaching the semi-finals of the European championship. Tonight fireworks can be heard in major Russian cities, but there were no riots by upset fans. Many Russian families went to bed around 2 a.m. Moscow time with the full understanding that today their team faced highly experienced professionals - and it will compete at the highest levels again very soon.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms made the game hard on both teams, but it did not interrupt the satellite broadcast (as it happened yesterday during the game between Germany and Turkey).
Congratulations to Spain - we can't wait to see the final between German and Spanish teams this coming Sunday. The game, as usual, will be broadcast at 2:30 PM EST, 11:30 AM PST.
A Russian band and fans marching through the streets of Vienna before the game. Russian fans preferred taking photos with local statues dressed in Spanish jerseys, while Spanish fans enjoyed taking photos with Russian girls. The spirit was high and interactions were warm and friendly.More photos in extended post.
Semi-Finals Euro 2008: Russia vs. Spain 2:30 PM EST, 11:30 AM PST
Yuri Mamchur
Russian Soccer team training in Vienna on Tuesday We stongly recommend this video from CNN about Russia's victories this year.
Don't miss this historic game! This is the first time that a Russian (not Soviet) team has made it to the European quarter-finals and then semi-finals. Previously, no Russian team made it past the qualifying round of the Euro soccer tournament. Now, after conquering the previously undefeated Dutch team, the Russian squad, led by a Dutch coach, will play Spain in Vienna. The Russian parliament may advise Russian vendors to avoid sales of alcohol the day of the game. Even though such suggestion is not a law, many businesses will most likely listen to it, because the profits to be made from alcohol sales cannot compare with the losses suffered from damage caused by rowdy fans. Last Saturday to Sunday night (June 21-22, 2008), Moscow became the scene of the largest Russian public demonstration since victory day in World War II. The spontaneous celebrations in the city streets were peaceful and continued until 8 a.m.
Dutchman Guus Hiddink, Russia's coach, celebrates victory over the Dutch team
This past Saturday, another example of Russia's global resurgence was exhibited on the soccer pitch in Basel, Switzerland, in a thrilling quarter-final match between Russia and a highly thought of Dutch squad, at the European 2008 men's soccer tournament ("Euro '08").
Open container? Yes. To the Russian soccer team!
Playing inspired soccer from the start, Russia had several scoring opportunities. After a scoreless first half, Roman Pavlyuchenko connected for Russia's first goal (so far, Pavlyuchernko is Russia's leading scorer in the tournament). Later on in the second half, the Dutch answered with a well executed header from Ruud Van Nistelrooy. After a 1-1 tie in regulation time, the two sides played to a scoreless first half of extra time. In the second half of extra time, Dmitri Torbinsky and Andrei Arshavin scored to ice the game for Russia.
Fans in Red Square, Moscow, celebrate Russia's victory
On June 22, 1941 Nazi Germany launched the largest invasion in history
Today is the 67th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. While Russians this year celebrated Victory Day and unprecedented peace and prosperity in Russia, the country remains deeply scarred by World War II. Some Western demographers believe that Russia's difficulty in maintaining its population is partially the result of the loss of nearly 20 million people in the Great Patriotic War. And a few older Russian military analysts fret that Russia may not have the manpower to maintain its borders in the 21st century.
The proposed installation of U.S. missile defense systems in Poland and Lithuania, combined with the possibility of NATO membership for Georgia, is rubbing salt in old Russian wounds. These "expand NATO eastward on autopilot" policies stand in stark contrast to the deliberate peacemaking President Reagan accomplished in the late 1980s, when he acknowledged the tremendous insecurities the Soviets felt as a result of their trauma from World War II. By offering to share missile defense technology, Reagan helped to convince Gorbachev and other Soviet leaders that the USSR could feel safe enough to end the Cold War. By promising no NATO military installations east of the Oder (a promise his successors did not keep), the George H.W. Bush Administration gave Boris Yeltsin even more confidence to break up the Soviet Empire. Interestingly enough, Russian President Dimitri Medvedev in his recent public speeches has revived the use of Gorbachev's phrase "from Vancouver to Vladivostok" to describe East-West relations after the Cold War.
Today the main threats to Russia come from within, rather than from without. Instead of Stalin's purges leaving the Red Army leaderless, the main problem today is cynical officers and NCOs all-too-often turning a blind eye to abuse and exploitation of the hapless conscripts under their command. Russia can and must do better. Russia should create an all-volunteer corps backed by reservists that can secure its borders against the main threats of the 21st century - terrorism, trafficking in people, narcotics and weapons, and natural disasters.
Click on the extended post to watch the PBS miniseries "Battlefield: The Battle for Russia" and for links to other Russia Blog posts about Russia's role in World War II.
Holland-Russia Soccer Game to be Nationally Televised in the U.S.
Michael Averko
Dutchman Guus Hiddink is the head coach of Russian men's national soccer team (photos by ESPN)
Throughout history, Russia has shown a willingness to utilize non-Russian know-how for greater advancement. As a case in point, Peter the Great studied shipbuilding in Holland and England, to enhance Russia's maritime status. In 2006, Dutchman Guus Hiddink was hired to coach the Russian men's national soccer team.
Prior to Hiddink's hiring, Russia's soccer program was in disarray. The quality level of a soccer coach has been known to greatly influence the level of a given program. Money was shelled out to Hiddink with that in mind. Hiddink has a good track record for improving the stature of the national soccer teams he has coached.
After a sluggish start in their first game of the men's European 2008 soccer tournament (a 4-1 loss to Spain), the Russian team won its games against Greece and Sweden. Russia now faces the daunting task of playing the highly regarded Dutch team in a quarter-final match.
This week, two articles once again bring Western readers' attention to the growing wealth of many Russians. While Sean Guillory of Sean's Russia Blogwrites about the bottom 15.3% of the Russian population that survives on less than $95 a month, The New York Times delivers some amusing reporting on the growing flocks of Russian tourists abroad. Salon.com has photos of a $25,000 set of vodka bottles and descriptions of other extravagant luxury items that many of the 200,000 wealthy Russians residing in London like to buy.
Please, visit the extended post for links to and the texts of these articles, and make sure to read Sean's report, in which a journalist tries to survive in Moscow, "the most expensive city in the world", on $95 a month.
Russian Travel (Made Easy) Finally! Sheremetyevo Gets Connected to Downtown Moscow via High-Speed Rail
Yuri Mamchur
Russian travel made easy. Sheremetyevo express train will travel at 75-100 miles an hour, will take 25-35 minutes, and will cost only $10. The service begins... tomorrow! (Photo by Itar-Tass)
Sheremetyevo (Terminals 1, 2 and C) is Moscow's major international airport. The one to five hour drive that could be never predicted or estimated by Moscow drivers is finally unnecessary, once and for all. The airport welcomed the first high-speed express-train that departed from Savyolovskaya subway station and train station today (June 10, 2008). The opening ceremonial trip was just a trial and took longer than promised on the way from the airport for multiple safety checks. The railroad opens tomorrow (June 11, 2008) for regular operation. Dear foreigners and Moscow visitors, please, do not be fooled anymore by taxi drivers offering 100-200 euro cab rides to downtown, and read on.
The trains travel at 75 miles-an-hour with the capacity to go much faster. The Russian Railroads promises the 100 miles-an-hour travel to begin soon. Now it takes only 35 minutes and 250 rubles ($10) to get to the Sheremetyevo airport; 300 rubles ($12) for a business class car. While Sheremetyevo's Terminal 2 is connected to train station by a walkway, the shuttle-buses for Terminals 1 and C are available for 40 rubles ($1.60).
Sheremetyevo was the last airport, after Domodedovo and Vnukovo, to receive its own railroad. It costs $6 to get to downtown Moscow from Domodedovo airport (train stops at Paveletskaya subway station and train station), and $4 to get to Moscow from Vnukovo airport (train stops at Kievskaya subway station and train station). Furthermore, you can register for your flight and check in your luggage at the train station just an hour and a half prior to your flight departure, take the thirty-minute train ride, and step on a plane. Enjoy the express-trains and welcome to Moscow!
When the Western Allies successfully landed in Normandy 64 years ago, they overcame tossing seas, heavily fortified defenses, and murderous fire from determined defenders on the beaches. What they did not have to face on June 6, 1944 were the Luftwaffe or over 80% of the German armies. Today Time magazine's Jordan Bonfante reminds his Western readers of the main reasons why:
By measure of manpower, duration, territorial reach and casualties, [the Eastern Front] was as much as four times the scale of the conflict on the Western Front that opened with the Normandy invasion of June 1944. The Nazis' initial invasion of Russia, Operation Barbarossa, involved 3.2 million German troops and 3,000 aircraft, and even after the U.S.-led invasion of Western Europe, the vast majority of German military resources remained deployed against the Soviets. By war's end, according to historian Norman Davies, the U.S.S.R. had lost 11 million troops.
St. Petersburg Economic Forum: Productive Discussion or Bling of Russia's Beau Monde?
Yuri Mamchur
The annual St. Petersburg Economic Forum took an interesting turn this year, when participants were allowed to arrive at the forum by sea. Pink Floyd 's Roger Waters opened the forum with a concert, and President Dmitry Medvedev is expected to participate in the Forum's discussions.
The Forum's organizers had wanted to build a special dock for the participants' lavish yachts. President Medvedev's remarks will likely draw major media attention, the concert is going to be great, but as usual, the docks happened to be too small for...Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's Pelorus, a 377 feet and 3 inch-long (115 meters) "boat."
The 42 year-old Abramovich may be the richest man in Russia, so wherever he goes, from Moscow to London, he is sure to draw the paparazzi, especially now that he has a 26 year-old girlfriend, Dharia Zhukova, who is a model and interior designer. Today his yacht moored on the Neva river in downtown St. Petersburg attracting more tourists than the city's centuries-old cathedrals and palaces. Mooring in downtown St. Pete is normal for cruise ships, and costs $15 a day per one meter (3 feet) of space. Mooring the Pelorus would have cost Abramovich $1,725 a day, but the city granted the oil and metals tycoon free "parking,". Abramovich is used to the high expenses associated with maintaining his prize vessel. Maintenance of the $300,000,000 dollar ship serviced by 46 full-time employees costs $12 million dollars a year. The ship, powered by two 5,500-hp engines, is equipped with 22 luxurious rooms, entertainment centers, swimming pools, helicopter pads... a missile-defense system and a mini-submarine. The vessel was purchased from a Saudi sheik, is registered in New Zealand, flies the flag of the Cayman Islands, and spends a lot of time in the Caribbean.
Russia Blog wishes much success to the participants of the Economic Forum, and hopes that the results of the discussions will allow every Russian family to buy a boat like this.
Please, visit the extended post to view the photos (photos by Gazeta.ru).
UCLA's Professor Launches a Website on Russian Pop Music
Yuri Mamchur
Professor MacFadyen
David MacFadyen, Professor and Chair of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles, has created the only English-language site dedicated to new music from Russia. The portal is called "Far from Moscow" (the name of a famous Soviet novel and film) and covers all kinds of genres -- all the way from Dima Bilan's soothing melodies to vile noise. The website covers not only Russian music, but also gives snapshots of the Russian recording industry, providing information about Russian record labels and music portals.
This project is unique for several reasons. First, a Brit, not a Russian, is writing about Russian music, thus he brings attention to nuances that might be overlooked by a common Russian reviewer. Second, the website is frequently updated; every day it adds video, audio, and quick sketches of the artists. And, third... the UCLA Department's Chair himself brings his life-long expertise in Russian language and the arts to this unique outlet. UCLA Professor David MacFadyen is an author of multiple books and dozens of reviews and publications on Russian culture.
In 2007 Renaissance Capital's keynote speaker was Gen. (ret.) and former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. This year the featured speakers are former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
One of the Real Russia Project fellows has discovered the existence of a hidden community in the depths of Siberia. His film was aired by English Al Jazeera. Please, take a look at this extraordinary video. The film is about people who have chosen to live in the kind of place most would be desperate to escape from. The town is called Yeniseysk 15 and used to be a secret Soviet military base, but was closed down by Mikhail Gorbachev when the Soviet Union began to collapse. Now, Yeniseysk 15 is being repopulated...
NYT: Metropolitan Laurus, Who Healed Rift in Russian Orthodox Church, Is Dead at 80
Yuri Mamchur
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Metropolitan Laurus
Metropolitan Laurus, who led the overseas branch of the Russian Orthodox Church to a historic rapprochement with the Moscow mother church, from which it split after the Communist revolution in 1917, died Sunday at a monastery in Jordanville, N.Y. He was 80. Nicholas Ohotin, a church spokesman, said no cause had been determined. News reports from Russia made much of the day of his death: it was the Feast of Orthodoxy, when those who have given greatly to the church are venerated.
Metropolitan Laurus's most historic moment occurred last May in the great rebuilt Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, which Stalin had once destroyed to build a swimming pool. As leader of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, he exchanged kisses on the cheek with the Patriarch of Moscow, Aleksei II.
To The Point News reports on something that would have made Khrushchev take both shoes off and bang along with the Red Army Choir to "Sweet Home Alabama." Prepare yourself for this one - maybe with a Stoli martini or two.
Back in the days of the Soviet Union, the Soviet Red Army had an official choir composed of male soldiers and musicians. It still exists. The Red Army Choir performs throughout Russia to this day. Now consider the Finnish rock band called The Leningrad Cowboys. A little while ago, they held a concert in Russia, in which - to the screaming applause of Russkie teenagers - they got the Red Army Choir to join them on stage for a performance of "Sweet Home Alabama." In English. You couldn't make this stuff up.
We're talking seriously off the wall here. Better have that Stoli ready when you watch it:
Oleg Deripaska is the richest Russian with a fortune of over 28 billion dollars
Forbes reports: Moscow has overtaken New York City as home to the most billionaires, according to Forbes magazine, with 74 of the super-rich elite now counting the Russian capital as their home. By contrast, 71 billionaires live in New York, according to the magazine's annual list, which placed London in third place with 36.
"Russia is again the dominant story in (Europe) this year. Its billionaires are just fast and fearsome. What's fascinating is that every single one of them is self made," said Forbes senior editor Luisa Kroll. "We're not going to get into exactly how they got it but none of them inherited it and their average age is 46," she added.
Russia now counts a total of 87 billionaires, ousting Germany in second place but still trailing the first-placed United States, which has 469. Russian oligarchs have made seen their fortunes rise in recent years thanks to booming commodity prices. Among the top-placed Russian figures were aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, valued at 28 billion dollars and Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich, said to be worth 23.5 billion dollars.
Click here to read the rest of the Forbes billionaires list articles at Forbes.com.
Presidential Debates Russian-Style: Get the Hell Out of the Studio! Scoundrel. I'll Rip Your Head Off!
Yuri Mamchur
"Take him out, and shoot the scoundrel!"Better than Saturday NIght Live, and real...
Presidential candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky about presidential candidate Andrey Bogdanov: "He's a scoundrel. Look at his face! The guy's sick! A typical schizoid! Any psychiatrist will tell you, the guy is a wacko..."
Vladimir Zhirinovsky to Andrey Bogdanov's representative: "Get the hell out of the studio! Scoundrel. I'll rip your head off. A professor, my foot! Idiot!"
Vladimir Zhirinovsky to his bodyguard: "What are you looking at? Take him out, and shoot the scoundrel in the hallway!"
Election debates are a new Russian tradition. Even though Dmitry Medvedev refused to participate in the debates, 47% of Russians still watched them with plenty of interest. One third of Russians find the debates to be a useless, but entertaining show. Russia Blog believes that debates are a necessary component of modern elections, and condemns the United Russia presidential hopeful Medvedev for rejecting the invitations to the debates.
Russian viewers were left with three debaters: Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, famous leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and the independent liberal candidate Andrey Bogdanov. Last weekend was definitely the high point of the debates. The most interesting episode took place when the debaters thought the cameras were off...
The most exclusive club in Moscow, Dyagilev, burned down on February 7, 2008. No one died, but three people were hospitalized with serious injuries. One of the injured sustained serious burns, while two others suffered from smoke inhalation. Overall, the rescue effort lead by Moscow firefighters was impressive, as a facility filled with 1,500 drunk people was promptly evacuated at the break of dawn. The roof of the Diagilev club collapsed during the blaze. A rescue helicopter was scrambled to fight the fire with multiple ambulances and fire trucks also arriving on the scene. The fire, which spread over 15,000 square feet, was put out. Neighboring buildings were also evacuated.
The Diagilev Project was known to be the most lavish and high-profile spot for international celebrities, corporate executives, and the clubbing elite in Russia. Famous U.S. comedic actor Jim Carey, Brazilian soccer superstar Ronaldo, and former world heavyweight champion boxer Mike Tyson used to stop by the club. The Chinese Embassy was planning to hold a New Year's party (Chinese Year of Rat) at Dyagilev the night after the fire. The club did not serve beer, and many Russian stars were unable to pass through the notorious face-control; reserving a private booth could cost as much as $40,000. Time magazine devoted three full pages to the club in a recent issue that proclaimed Russian President Vladimir Putin as Man of the Year.
Muscovites who live in the city's Strogino neighborhood received a nice gift from the City of Moscow for Orthodox Christmas -- a new subway station. The Strogino station is the 176th station of the Moscow Metro. The station has a modern design, unlike many Soviet-era stations. However, the benches and floors of the stations are decorated with expensive wood and granite. Combining functionality with luxury is a well-known tradition in the Moscow subway. If several million people have to spend a few hours each day underground, why not make their experience more pleasant?
The idea of building the metro was conceived on June 15, 1931 by the Communist Party. The first trains started running between Sokolniki, Park Kulturi, Okhotny Ryad, and Smolenskaya (the "red" line) on May 15, 1935, carrying 177,000 passengers daily. Today, the Moscow Metro is 292.9 km (182.5 miles) long and carries over ten million passengers a day. Statistics show that the metro carried 3.14 billion passengers in 1994. The trains leave every 40 seconds during rush hour, and every 3 minutes during later hours, travelling at 55-60 miles an hour. The stations are open from 5 am until 1:30 am, and it costs just 17 rubles (70 cents U.S.) to go anywhere in the city. Some of the stations are connected by a 4.2 mile monorail. Many foreign employees and executives who live in Moscow don't own cars and swear by using the metro in their daily routine.
Ringing in 2007 in from Spasskaya Tower in Red Square To watch President Vladimir Putin's 2008 New Year's address to the nation, click here. You can also watch the 2007 Russian presidential New Year's speech here
Today is New Year's Day, perhaps the most beloved family holiday on the Russian calendar. Today marks not only the beginning of the new year, but also of the extended holiday vacation season in Russia. Many Russians won't be returning to work until Monday, January 14.
January 1, 2008 also will see the merger of two Russian oblasts, Ust-Orda Buryatia and Irkutsk Oblast, following the results of a 2006 regional referendum in Siberia. The Russian Federation will now go from having 85 federal regions to 84.
From Russia Blog to our readers around the world, best wishes, health and happiness for the new year!
After Putin endorsed Medvedev's presidential bid last week, the 42-year-old St. Petersburg-educated lawyer urged Putin to serve as his prime minister if he is elected. Putin waited a week before responding. "If the citizens of Russia show trust in Dmitry Medvedev and elect him the new president, I would be ready to continue our joint work as prime minister, without changing the distribution of authority," Putin said. Later, the party voted overwhelmingly to nominate Medvedev. The Week Daily gave its kind permission to Russia Blog to republish the article naming the reasons why Russians love Putin. Some of our readers may find the opinions expressed by the The Week Daily different from our own; however, the article does a good job of looking beyond the regular assumptions about the Russian President:
Russian President Vladimir Putin's party just won a crushing electoral victory, and Russia is again throwing its weight around like a superpower. Is Putin building a new 'evil empire'?
Just how popular is Putin?
Hugely so, judging from Russia's Dec. 2 parliamentary elections. Putin's United Russia party and its allies captured 400 of 450 seats in the Duma, making it highly likely that Putin will remain in power when his term ends next year. With widespread reports of voting irregularities, the election was not exactly a pure measure of Putin's popularity. Many voters were forced to mark ballots in full view of soldiers, for instance, and United Russia reportedly bought votes with cash and vodka. Still, such tactics were probably not necessary. Pre-election surveys put Putin's approval rating above 70 percent, and by all accounts, most Russians revere him.
And it is doubtful that Mother Russia will ever see the art again, says VIV GROSKOP.
Special Report by the online daily magazine The First Post
Russian expats wanting to decorate their sumptuous homes and build new art collections gathered in London yesterday for what is expected to be a record-breaking week of Russian art auctions.
Sotheby's kicked off last night with a sale of treasures from private collections across the world, rarely seen in public. The highlight was Natalia Goncharova's Bluebells (see next page), circa 1909, which went for £3m. The total take was £25.7m making it an historic night, according to Sotheby's head of Russian art, Jo Vickery. "It shows the Russian art market has come of age."
All London's major auction houses have sales this week: on Wednesday, Christie's is due to sell a newly discovered Faberge egg which could fetch as much as £9m.
Which is worse: Media suppressed or Media gone wild? As loyal Russia Blog readers know, we are continually amazed by the lack of objective reporting about life in modern day Russia. Every month, Russia Blog pours over hundreds of mainstream media articles in an effort to identify the most biased, stereotypical piece we can find about the country. Recently, one publication's coverage of Russia easily thrust itself into first place to win the coveted Shoe Award. After only limited deliberation, our distinguished panel of judges happily provides the latest award to (drumroll please).... The Economist.
The Chinese Wall between business reporters on the one hand and the soft news writers and other chattering heads on the other is a disturbing trend. While plenty is written about the lack of press freedoms in many parts of the world, we are especially saddened when venerable journals in free countries do such a poor job of covering issues in Russia -- here, however, The Economist has excelled beyond all others.
Russia Blog congratulates all those who are fond of space exploration and science fiction by marking the 50th Anniversary of Sputnik (translates into English as "Satellite") being launched into orbit. Sputnik was the first man-made object in outer space.
"I am convinced that the Sputnik accomplishment by the Russian people was responsible for the creation of the American space program that I head today," NASA administrator Michael Griffin told space veterans at Russia's Academy of Science in Moscow. "Without Sputnik there would have been no Apollo," said Griffin, referring to the Apollo project, which put a man on the moon in 1969.
Even Hillary Clinton managed to tie Sputnik in to her election campaign by contrasting her position on stem cell research with her Republican opponents. "What America achieved after Sputnik is a symbol of what America can do now as we confront a new global economy, new environmental challenges, and the promise of new discoveries in medicine," Mrs. Clinton said. However, Hillary's reference to Sputnik isn't nearly as entertaining as her recent proposal to imitate President Putin's pro-natalist policies on American soil: "I like the idea of giving every baby born in America $5,000."
Sugar free Red Bull in Russia? Yep, they've got it
As those of you who live in a foreign country know, it is the "small victories" which make all the frustrations of a different culture seem irrelevant. Several weeks ago I had three such small victories.
1. I "discovered" that it IS POSSIBLE to buy Sugar-Free Red Bull. Red Bull mixed with vodka and a twist of lemon is a great drink. The problem for me had been "uglivodee" (aka carbs) or way too many calories in a standard can of Red Bull. Problem solved.
Russia/Ukraine to Restart Antonov 124 Production Russian An-124s Flying into Iraq, Afghanistan
Charles Ganske
A Ukrainian Antonov Airlines An-124 landing in Southern California in 2006
One of the little noted news stories to come out of the MAKS 2007 air show was the announcement by Motor Sich OJSC and Ukraine's Antonov Design Bureau that they would jointly resume production of the Antonov 124 "Ruslan" cargo plane. It has 25% more cargo capacity than the largest plane in the U.S. Air Force inventory, the C-5 Galaxy.
The An-124 and its successor, the An-225, were originally designed in the late 1970s to support Soviet oil and gas development in Siberia. In 1992, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, all new production of Antonovs came to halt. During the Nineties, when transport aircraft were still in high demand but civil and military aviation in the former USSR was in terrible shape, several Antonov jets crashed. However, since the year 2000, Antonov 124s and the -225 have safely logged thousands of flight hours without incident in some of the harshest climates on Earth.
"If you do business in Russia, you will lose all of your money, because your Russian business partner will steal it from you, because he or she is a thief. And you will die, because the Russian mafia will murder you in your hotel bedroom when you visit Moscow or St. Petersburg (I'm happily surprised that so many of you survived the night)."
"This is the Wall Street Journal and CNN view of business in Russia...and it's 98.6% wrong, rubbish, garbage. Business success in Russia is the best kept business secret in the world. More rubbish is written and spoken about Russia than any other country on the planet Earth."
An expedition aimed at strengthening Russia's claim to much of the Arctic Ocean reached the North Pole yesterday afternoon.
An advance party of six researchers flew to the North Pole in a helicopter early Wednesday and spent 11 minutes on the ice scouting the route for the icebreaker Rossiya and the scientific research vesselAkademik Fyodorov.
Nuclear-powered icebreaker Rossiya
Mir-1 and Mir-2, the mini-submarines, each carrying one pilot, reached the seabed at a depth of 1,311 meters (4,301 feet), 47 nautical miles (87 km) north of Russia's northernmost archipelago, Franz Josef Land in the Barents Sea during the test dive on July 30.
Mini-sub Mir during the test dive. These mini-subs are best known for doing all the under-water filming for the blockbuster movie Titanic
As you might have noticed, Russia Blog has added several political, business and cultural news
sources at the top of its blogroll, listed in alphabetical order. Also, if you point your cursor at the categories in the far left hand column of Russia Blog, you will see descriptions of each category to facilitate searching for information on different topics.
In addition to linking to the BBC Russia service, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Russian news agencies and English-language newspapers, we have provided links to the websites for Russia's two major stock markets, the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, the Patriarchate of Moscow, and Sochi's preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
If you keep scrolling down, you will find Russian news aggregators, political commentary websites where Real Russia Project content has previously been featured, and much more.
Click here to read a transcript of the most recent RRP event in Washington, D.C.
Rusiya Al-Yaum (روسيا اليوم ) Russia Today in Arabic
Charles Ganske
Rusiya al Yaum news presenter Ibrahim Al-Kumat
On May 4, 2007, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency launched an Arabic satellite news channel, Rusiya Al Yaum (Russia Today). The new channel uses the same name, logo and format as the English language Russia Today TV network, which first went on the air in late 2005. Rusiya al Yaum is broadcast every day from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. Moscow time (you can watch it live over the web here)
In 2004, America created the Al-Hurra (The Free One) satellite television network to reach Arabs with news and views unfiltered by Arab governments. Now Russia has created its own government-sponsored satellite TV network to engage the Arab world.
Click on the extended post to watch a clip from Rusiya al Yaum.
Every day adds something new and exciting to life here in Moscow. The web has created many new opportunities for my business, and the feedback I get from readers of Equity Financing in Russia and Russia Blog has amost all been positive. In fact, thanks to StatCounter, I have compiled a nice list of visits to my site from servers of numerous government agencies and financial institutions all over the world. Clearly there is a growing demand for real-time and breaking news from Russian financial markets.
Working hard, and apparently playing hard in Moscow too:
"On Saturday night of June 23 [2007] residents of Moscow City area were intrigued by a group of young people partying at the Federation Tower. Dance music was heard, and break-dancers performed right in the street, and more and more people were coming."
"That was the beginning of the Street Challenge competition, which became a major event of our corporate life. The organizers -- the Council of Young Specialists and MGSU students -- brought together a hundred of Mirax Group staff, who divided into 29 teams and rushed along the night city streets to display quick wit and resource and win the Cup."
"The tasks were different -- from epatage, for example, to take a picture of a young man in a skirt at the entrance to the army recruitment center, to mathematical problems. During the game they had to communicate with unsmiling guides, faked policemen, and angry vendors and make them render assistance or least stay out of the way. It was not easy to distinguish between ordinary passers-by and masked organizers not to put a foot into it."
Click on the extended post to read more about the developers building the the most visible addition to Moscow's skyline.
Click on the extended post to see the video tour of Sochi 2014, President Putin's speech in English and French, pictures, reason to travel Russia, and more
Sochi, Russia's Black Sea Riviera, has won its bid to host the Winter Olympics in 2014. This will be the first time ever Russia will host the winter games. Moscow hosted the Olympics in 1980, when the U.S. boycotted the games to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Sochi has the most expensive real estate in Russia. This statistic should be staggering, considering that Moscow is already 35% more expensive than New York City. The reason is simple -- Sochi is a happy childhood memory for any well-off Russian over the age of twenty. Maria Sharapova, the world famous tennis player, grew up in Sochi and campaigned abroad for the city to host the games. Vladimir Putin loves to ski in Sochi. Russian pop-stars and business executives have vacation homes there, Russian young professionals grew up taking summer trips to Sochi with their parents, and even the author of this post chose to live in Seattle, Washington, because the Pacific Northwest is so much like... Sochi.
During my career here in Moscow, I have come across many American businessmen who were keen to play golf in Russia. In one case, we even cancelled a couple of business meetings in favor of taking our guests to the Moscow City Golf Club.
The question foreigners always ask at first is -- does golf exist in Russia? Does the average Russian know anything about golf? The first answer is yes, it does exist; but the second question is more difficult to answer.
Video clip of the Russian Red Army Choir singing "The Sacred War" (СвÑÑ‰ÐµÐ½Ð½Ð°Ñ Ð’Ð¾Ð¹Ð½Ð°) This movie clip shows some typically Russian dark humor...
66 years ago today Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the fascist invasion of the Soviet Union. You can read some thoughts about whether young Russians are forgetting the Great Patriotic War (Belikiya Otechestvennaya Voyna) over at Sean Guillory's Russki Blog. You can also find reviews of new books about Russia's role in the Second World War at Kunikov's Book Reviews.
Click on the extended post for links to other Russia Blog posts on this topic.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- If your boss wants to transfer you to Moscow this year, he'd better offer you a fair sum to do so - or even a downright handsome one depending on where you live now. That's because Moscow has just been designated the world's most expensive city for the second year in a row by Mercer Human Resource Consulting.
Using the cost of living in New York as a base, Mercer determined Moscow is 34.4 percent more expensive after taking into account the cost of housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
"The appreciation of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, combined with ever-increasing accommodation charges, has driven up costs for expatriates in Moscow," Mercer research manager Nathalie Constantin-Metral said in a statement.
A luxury two-bedroom in Moscow now rents for $4,000 a month; a CD costs $24.83, and an international newspaper, $6.30, according to Mercer. By comparison, a fast food meal with a burger is a steal at $4.80.
Read more on CNN website. Click on the extended post to watch a Russia Today TV video on this topic.
"White Russians" in ice glasses on an ice table in an ice-bar in St. Petersburg (photo essay at the end of the post)
I was in Russia in 1965 and just returned. "I like to visit every 40 years or so," I told folks in Moscow. The place has changed, I explained deadpan to some young Russians of my acquaintance. Where an Intourist restaurant of yore served bad food with a sour attitude and left you free thereafter to wander vacant streets after dinner, utterly bored, intimidated and depressed, Moscow today fairly shouts its attractions, some of which are embarrassing, and all of which are costly. The formerly deserted, fourteen lane-wide streets are now so full of traffic at midnight that one has to dodge frustrated drivers who decide to pass on the "sidewalk lane." Police in their sad little Ladas are the ones who seem intimidated now.
Everyone seems to stay out late and arrive late to work in the morning. Heavy traffic is both a real excuse for it and just an excuse. These early summer dates, when the night is still light at midnight, remain hot until late, so it takes a long time for the typical apartment to cool down and make sleep possible.
Bruce Chapman frustrated at a traffic jam on the embankment of the Moscow River
I come back to the States with a few tips for tourists and visiting businessmen.
For Russians, the iconic image of Red Army soldiers standing victorious over the Reichstag is the equivalent of the U.S. Marines raising the American flag at Iwo Jima
Today is Victory Day in Russia, the holiday when the country pauses to remember the Russian victory over Nazi Germany. Historians estimate that between 1941 and 1945 the Soviet Union lost 8.5 million soldiers killed, wounded or missing in action, and more than 12 million Soviet citizens died from starvation, deportation, and mistreatment.
To put Russia's staggering losses between 1941-45 in perspective for Americans, the equivalent would have been for America to lose New York to a three year siege, to have forcibly evacuated millions of people beyond the Rocky Mountains, followed by the loss of nearly every city east of the Mississippi to the enemy, until the American army finally stopped the invaders at the decisive battle of St. Louis.
UPDATE - 05/20/2007: Russians in Bellevue, Washington commemorated Victory Day. You can read more about it here.
See the extended post for photos of a Russian Orthodox priest consecrating Easter cakes and eggs in the small town of Naro-Fominsk 45 miles outside of Moscow. In the extended post, you will also see photos of Russian leaders attending the Easter night service in Moscow, which was aired on national television.
April 18, 2007 Russia: Friend, Foe, or What? Moderated by Ambassador John Miller and featuring University of Washington Professor Herbert Ellison and Bill Robinson, JD
Discovery Institute is pleased to host distinguished Russian Studies scholar Herbert Ellison and international attorney Bill Robinson for an insightful and informative forum and discussion on the state of U.S.-Russia relations. The event will be moderated by Ambassador John Miller and will focus on recent events related to Russia as well as Western stereotypes about Russia and how these stereotypes negatively impact trade and diplomacy.
This will be an opportunity to hear the views of experts who are familiar not only with Moscow, but Russia's regions as well. Their insights into the business and investment climate through out the country will be helpful in discerning the truth behind many of the prevailing stereotypes.
The event is organized by the Discovery Institute's Real Russia Project and will be held in Washington, D.C. on April 18, 2007. The event is open to the public and will be held at 4:30 PM at the University Club located at 1135 16th Street, N.W.
You will not want to miss this important and timely forum. To register, please contact Logan Gage at (202) 558-7084. If you have questions about the event, please contact Yuri Mamchur at (206) 292-0401, ext.151.
See the extended post for the speakers' biographies.
Enjoy these photos taken last month by Anton Verstakov on the Sparrow Hills near Moscow State University! The slopes are not nearly as nice as Lake Tahoe in California, Mount Baker in Washington or Vail in Colorado, but they are good enough for being near downtown Moscow, just a 15 minute drive from the Kremlin!
Cobblers by Day, Cabalists by Night Russia Blog Launches the Shoe Award
Nick Slepko
A recent experience Russia Blog had with a local media outlet over a movie screening we organized highlighted for us how Russia and coverage of Russian news is often overshadowed or outright hijacked by various public personalities and media for their own agenda.
It is for this reason that we have decided it is time to launch the Shoe Award to identify and decorate those who best exemplify either an irrational love of Mother Russia or a fanatical fear of the Bear or just an irrational fanaticism on a Russian scale.
The award is named in honor of the fifth premier of the Soviet Union and Time's 1957 Man of the Year, Nikita Khrushchev. A man who embodied the fickleness, the misplaced righteous indignation, the complete lack of knowledge about basic facts of Russia, and the unfounded, sanctimonious outbursts that have come to characterize media coverage of the Russian Federation. Khrushchev's tirade upon learning that his tour of Los Angeles had been cancelled best captures the tone of much of what passes for news about Russia today:
We have come to this town where lives the cream of American art. And just imagine, I, a Premier, a Soviet representative, when I came here to this city, I was given a plan, a program of what I was to be shown and whom I was to meet here.
But just now, I was told that I could not go to Disneyland. I asked: "Why not? What is it? Do you have rocket-launching pads there? I do not know."
And just listen, just listen to what I was told, to what reason I was told. We, which means the American authorities, cannot guarantee your security if you go there.
What is it? Is there an epidemic of cholera there or something? Or have gangsters taken hold of the place that can destroy me? Then what must I do? Commit suicide? That is the situation I am in--your guest. For me the situation is inconceivable. I cannot find words to explain this to my people!
We are looking for pieces from print and broadcast media that are either extremely pro-Russia or exceptionally anti-Russia or are great examples of Russia being used for a completely non-Russia related agenda. Please send submissions (including the article or video clip) to shoeaward@gmail.com.
For our first Shoe Award recipient we are proud to recognize Annie Wagner of The Stranger, a Seattle-based weekly newspaper, for her amazing ability to write an entire review on one of the highest grossing blockbusters in contemporary Russian history without actually having seen the film. Her use of 9th Company as a platform to attack the Discovery Institute and bus transit is truly remarkable and only surpassed by the way in which she concocted her crazed ranting. And for that we are honoring her with not only the award, but a replica of Nikita's left shoe and a DVD of the film she described as an "apparently entertaining movie". We salute her egregious appropriation of Russia for her own personal agenda.
For the second recipient of the Shoe Award (after all, they come in pairs), we are awarding the right one to the Real Russia Project for the same self-serving reasons.
Click the extended post to see the award and the methodology
March 8th in Russia is International Women's Day. Besides Russia and a few former Soviet republics, no one really celebrates it anywhere else in the world. In Russia, March 8th is a federal holiday and a reason for men to sometimes spend more money than they do on Christmas gifts. American Valentine's Day doesn't come anywhere close in spending on flowers, diamonds, cars, and other knick-knacks of endearment.
How did Russia end up celebrating the international day which is not celebrated anywhere else? It has its roots in Roman times. Roman matrons (married women who were born free) had their special day, when their husbands would surround them with extra love, care, and gifts. Even female slaves got the day off.
Walking through St. Petersburg - The Admiralty and St. Isaac's Cathedral
Charles Ganske
The famous Bronze Horseman statue of Peter the Great facing the Neva River
These photos are the result of Russia Blog editor Charles Ganske's visit to St. Petersburg between January 11 and 14, 2007. The city, known as Leningrad in Soviet times, was the capital of Russia from the 1700s until the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.Today it is the second largest urban center in the Russian Federation and the northernmost city with a population over one million people. St. Petersburg's northern latitude means that the sun doesn't quite set during the famous White Nights in June, when most tourists like to visit. The city of 4.7 million people also is the second largest in Europe in size, trailing only London in terms of landmass.
Peter the Great created St. Petersburg to be Russia's gateway to Europe and the West. The nearly 7 foot-tall emperor fought a long war with Sweden to secure this bustling port on the Baltic Sea and to build a base for the Russian Navy the Czar ordered built to make Russia a great European power.
In recent years Ford, Nissan and Toyota have all built auto plants near St. Petersburg, and the Chinese are investing billions of dollars into new infrastructure and commercial developments for the region. St. Pete (or "Piter" as it is known to Russians) also remains a center for high culture, the arts, and Russian breweries. Visitors will immediately notice the difference between the fresh air and tourist-friendly atmosphere in St. Petersburg and the more hurried pace of life in Moscow. By design, the old imperial capital has a more European, if not Scandinavian feel to it.
St. Petersburg is also the hometown of Russian President Vladimir Putin and many high government officials. The Governor of the St. Petersburg region, Valentina Matviyenko, is a personal friend of Putin. Matviyenko was a classmate of the future Russian President when they both attended what was then known as Leningrad State University. Russia's state-owned natural gas monopoly Gazprom plans to relocate its corporate headquarters from Moscow to the northern capital next year. For all of these reasons, some American expats have nicknamed the city "Putingrad".
This is the first part in a series of three photo posts about Russia's second city. To see Yuri Mamchur's photo series "Night Drive Through Moscow", click here. Click on the extended post to begin the St. Petersburg photo tour. Please be patient as photos may take some time to upload.
"The Soviet Union? I thought you guys broke up."
"Yes, that's what we wanted you to think...hahahaha!"
Recent reports about Russia remind me of this old "Simpsons" episode. Is the Evil Empire really coming back? We don't think so. However, some Western politicians, think tank scholars, and even some of our readers seem to believe this. Enjoy the video!
"New Year's Fireworks over Red Square", 1958
Photo from the David Douglas Duncan collection, Harry Ransom Center
University of Texas at Austin
Real Russia Project Director Yuri Mamchur and Russia Blog editor Charles Ganske send you New Year's greetings from Moscow. Posting will be light until January 16. We wish our readers all the best in 2007.
Real Russia Project Director Yuri Mamchur (right) in the studio with Alexander Gurnov
Yuri Mamchur, Director of Discovery Institute's Real Russia Project, is a featured guest this week on the Russia Today TV program Spotlight with Alexander Gurnov. The topic of the interview is the Real Russia Project special report "10 Western Media Stereotypes About Russia: How Truthful Are They?". Russia Today TV is Russia's first 24-7 English language news network.
The 26-minute interview will air on Saturday, December 30 from 4:31 a.m. thru 4:58 a.m., at 8:31 thru 8:58 a.m., at 12:31 p.m. thru 12:58 p.m., at 4:31 thru 4:58 p.m., at 8:31 thru 8:58 p.m., and again Sunday December 31 at 12:31 a.m. thru 12:58 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (GMT-08:00).
To watch the show online during scheduled air times, go to www.russiatoday.ru and click on the red link on the left marked "Watch RT Now".
To find a complete schedule of Russia Today TV programming, click here and select your time zone.
Soviet T-34 tanks rolling through Moscow on their way to battle
Last week not only marked the 65th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but also the defeat of the Nazi armies at the gates of Moscow. To mark this historic occasion, Russia Blog has posted two episodes produced in 1943 for Frank Capra's famous World War II documentary, Why We Fight, titled "The Battle for Russia".
People who know why World War II began will immediately notice at the start of these episodes that Capra omits any mention of the notorious Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which in 1939 divided eastern Europe into Nazi and Soviet-occupied spheres of influence. Film critics will also notice that Capra relied extensively on Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein's films and Soviet propaganda footage for much of his material.
In spite of the film's soft peddling of Soviet complicity in the start of World War II, it did serve its purpose of reminding Americans of the tremendous sacrifices the Russian people were making to crush the Nazi regime. The introduction to the "Battle of Russia" also portrays facts about Russia's vast natural resources and strategic importance that still hold true today.
Click on the extended post to watch Part I and II of "The Battle of Russia".
Artist rendering of the Federation Tower (now under construction), part of the Moscow City business district and the tallest building in Europe (93 stories; 448.2 meters or 1,470.5 feet)
Welcome to the Russia Blog! As you can see, our website now has a new design and user-friendly interface; however it is the same resource about Russia produced by Discovery Institute's Real Russia Project. As of November 14, 2006, Russia Blog has logged 356 posts and 1,280 reader comments, covering all aspects of life in Russia, including politics, economics, popular culture, human rights, and crime.
Please use the search engine on the left to find a specific article on the topic you are interested in. For example, if you are looking for anything to do with Chechnya, simply type in "Chechnya". If you are looking for what Putin might have said about Iran's nuclear program, type in "Putin Iran" and click search. Also feel free to use the categories list on the left to look up articles related to the topic of your choice; sometimes you will be surprised by the information you will find in the "Did You Know" or "Human Rights" categories.
Please click on the extended post to read more about us and how you can support our work.
New Zealand's Crackdown on NGOs Ignored by Western Freedom Activists
Yuri Mamchur
Will this Kiwi grow up in a free country?
A new bill introduced in New Zealand's parliament threatens to crack down on non-profits. "A new law could strip charities of their tax-free status if they get too involved in politics. The move has led to fears that charities such as Greenpeace and the Sensible Sentencing Trust may be less inclined to speak out," says the One News website. According to the new bill, many tax breaks will be taken away from NGOs, and harsh audits will be authorized to determine the purpose of NGO activities; supporters say that the bill will combat abuses in the non-profit sphere in the country.
The reason Russia Blog pays any attention at all to this Kiwi controversy is the fact that Wellington's legislation seems to be more strict than the law issued by the Russian Duma and signed by Vladimir Putin. There was a huge negative media outburst a year ago in the Western media regarding the Russian NGO bill when it was being discussed. On October 19th the new Russian law came into effect, sparking another wave of outraged articles and reports with scary titles like "Crackdown on Democracy", etc. The question is: Where is the well-deserved outrage in the American and European human rights communities about this new New Zealand bill? Or are human rights activists implying that somehow freedom is less precious for New Zealanders than for Russians?
Chinese Migration into Russia - Fear vs. Opportunity
Charles Ganske
Location of Khabarovsk Krai on the Manchurian border
The Russia Profile website has two excellent articles this week on the relationship between Russia and China, between the former superpower and the rising superpower. Here at Russia Blog, we have commented on several articles about the ongoing shift in the balance of power between the two nations and what it means for the future of Siberia and the Russian Far East. Now Russia Profle confirms that popular fears of Russia losing territory and resources to Chinese demographic expansion are both widespread and much overblown.
For now, official Chinese migration to Siberia and the Far East regions is small, though these figures are probably dwarfed by the number of illegal migrants crossing the completely open border. Even so, most young Chinese probably see far more opportunities in China's booming coastal cities than in Far Eastern Russia, where business still mostly involves trading Russian raw materials for Chinese manufactured goods.
Event: How Do Western Stereotypes Harm U.S.-Russia Relations?
Yuri Mamchur
Discovery Institute is pleased to host distinguished Russian Studies scholar Herbert Ellison and international attorney Bill Robinson for an insightful and informative forum and discussion on the state of U.S.-Russia relations. The event will be facilitated by Yuri Mamchur, Director of Discovery Institute's Real Russia Project, and will focus on Western stereotypes about Russia and how these stereotypes negatively impact trade and diplomacy between our respective countries. Board members and affiliates of the Russia Roundtable of the Tacoma World Trade Center will participate in the forum as well.
This is a rare opportunity to hear the views of these highly knowledgeable Northwest leaders as they examine the business and investment climate in Russia, while at the same time debunking a number of myths about life within the country. The event will be filmed by Russia Today, Russia's English language news channel.
The lecture and reception will be held Wednesday, October 11, 2006 from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. at Discovery Institute, located at 1511 Third Avenue, Suite 808 in downtown Seattle (map). Beverages and hors d'oeuvres wil be served. There is no cost to attend, but we do ask that you register soon, as space is limited.
To register please contact Annelise Davis at adavis@discovery.org or call (206) 292-0401, ext. 153.
The Real Russia Project's special report"10 Western Media Stereotypes About Russia - How Truthful Are They?" has created a big wave of news reports and talk radio discussion in Russia.
Below are links to numerous Russian news websites that cite or discuss the report. The author of the report, Yuri Mamchur, participated in a popular one hour talk show aired on Radio Svoboda (Radio Freedom) in Moscow, hosted by Elena Rykovtseva. Yuri was joined in the discussion by the opinion page editor of The Moscow Times, Thomas Rymer, and the director of the Human Rights organization "Agora", Pavel Chikov. The show was aired on September 26, 2006 at 11 a.m. Moscow time (midnight -- 1 a.m. PST). To listen to a podcast of this discussion or to read a Russian-language transcript, please follow this link.
To read the transcript of the news report by Echo Moscow Radio (Echo Moskvi one of the highest rated Russian FM newstalk stations) please follow this link.
The Real Russia Project's report was also a topic of discussion for Jon McComb of CKNW radio in Vancouver, Canada. The pre-recorded interview will air sometime between 3 pm until 7 pm PST today. Please read the extended post link to find more information on our report from Russian media sources. All articles are in Russian language; we recommend to use this free automatic translator.
Special Report by The Real Russia Project of Discovery Institute
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the U.S. media's overarching, if unspoken, perception of Russia and Eastern Europe is that this region doesn't matter much any more. Though some still see Russia as a dangerous enemy, most mainstream media appear to have lost interest in what happens there, except for occasional sensational events. As a result, there is inadequate awareness in America of the fascinating cultural, political and economic developments taking place in today's Russia.
Relying on old Cold War stereotypes ignores centuries of Russia's history and shows a lack of curiosity about its future. Such indifference is not in the interest of America or its citizens, and it threatens to shut down imagination about potential cooperative relations with Russia and her neighbors. The Real Russia Project aims to focus on the emerging new Russia with accurate and fair reporting and analysis--without fear or favor.
Last year, Russia Blog wrote about Moscow's astronomically-priced real estate market. This month, the Discovery/New York Times Channel series Super Homes is showing American TV viewers a glimpse of this bizarre world, where anonymous people buy multimillion-dollar properties with grocery sacks full of cash (one grocery sack can hold about $200,000).
The first character we meet for our education in New Russian excess is Phil Bogdanov - real estate agent to Moscow's super rich. Like many Russians who came of age in the perestroika years, Bogdanov found himself in 1991 with an education but not many connections or opportunities to make money at home, so he emigrated to the United States. In the U.S., Phil worked various low-wage jobs in restaurants and other businesses until he found his true passion: real estate. Phil married an American real estate agent and brought her back to Moscow during the go-go 1990s. This was the era - Phil's wife explains on camera - when fifty Moscow businessmen would pose for pictures toasting their entrepreneurial success. Six months later, she says, half of them would be dead, the victims of business murders.
During this transition, prices for Moscow apartments and office buildings were still officially fixed by the state, but the real value was determined by negotiations and paid in cash. Even today, with the Kremlin trying to return capital to Russia, Moscow's millionaires and billionaires must remain discreet.
Zurab Tsereteli describing his public art work in Moscow
Internationally renowed Russo-Georgian artist Zurab Tsereteli will be in Bayonne, New Jersey on September 11, 2006 for a public ceremony dedicating a monument "To the Struggle Against World Terrorism".
The Associated Press reports that "The monument also has been billed as a gift from 'Russian President Vladimir Putin, the people of Russia and the artist' to the people of the United States, in the spirit of France's gift of the Statue of Liberty. The segments of the monument arrived in New Jersey from Russia last September, shortly before Putin attended a groundbreaking in Bayonne when he traveled to New York for meetings at the United Nations."
Fox News has an earlier version of the story discussing the controversy over whether some names should be removed from the monument. Unlike many other 9/11 memorials, the site includes the names of six people killed in the first terrorist attempt to bring down the World Trade Center, in 1993. New York and New Jersey officials are in talks with the artist's lawyer to decide about the other names not found in the official list of WTC dead.
Click on the extended post to see the monument and read the full AP article.
RussiaBlog has written many times about the conspicuous consumption of wealthy Muscovites and the outrageous excess of Russian nouveau riche spending money left and right. Finally this week a new report has the statistical proof that Moscow is the world's most expensive city. Below you can read quotes from multiple news sources outlining the most interesting facts. Please don't forget that while Moscow is the Russian capital, many Russians and Eastern Europeans say that Moscow isn't the real Russia and vice-versa. While Moscow prices are booming, common Russians aren't doing so well.
June 22nd marked the 65th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Since the opening months of the war found Soviet soldiers completely unprepared for the onslaught, in Russia this date passes with far less notice than the VE Day celebrations in May. All around the world people prefer commemorating victories to defeats, though military strategists have understood since the Spartans that more lessons are learned from failure than success.
During any season of the year, Western tourists are amazed at the number of Russians on the beaches of Turkey, Egypt, Spain and Italy. In Egypt and Turkey you might have trouble communicating complicated thoughts in English, but you will never have a problem finding locals who understand Russian or billboard targeted exclusively at the Russian tourist crowd.
These observations paint a picture of rich Russians traveling abroad and spending tons of money as they go. Stories abound of Russians throwing hundred dollar bills left and right on their Mediterranean vacations. To find out if these rumors of prodigal Russians are representative of the general Russian population, RussiaBlog decided to take a closer look at who is traveling where and how much they are spending. The numbers we found challenged many generalizations about Russian tourists. It appears that only 1.4% of Russians will go abroad for their vacation this summer, and only 13% of Russian kids will be able to afford summer camps. The rest of the nation will stay close to home, working at their "dachas" where many families and elderly raise fruits and vegetables to get them through the rest of the year.
Sochi is the southernmost city in Russia and is located on the Black Sea. The airport is easily accessible from Moscow or St Petersburg via a three hour flight. The seawater is rather dirty, and the environment isn't nearly as clean as you will find in the Pacific Northwest. However, this is the only opportunity to enjoy the "Riviera" for many Russian businessmen and officials who either do not have enough time to go abroad or cannot leave Russia, because they will be arrested for financial crimes. The examples of Pavel Borodin and Yevgeny Adamov proved that sometimes it's better to stay in Russia.
Agence France Press has a great story about Sochi. The town is receiving incredible investments from the state gas monopoly Gazprom, and local officials want to bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics. The only thing I would like to correct from Yahoo's story is the fact that Sochi isn't known for being a ski-resort, but it used to be a famous summer resort destination for Soviet elite, and now serves as an extremely overpriced destination for Russians above the law.
Yesterday The American Spectator published my article about illegal immigrants. I'm receiving a lot of letters to the editor related to it. Below is the revised published version of the older RussiaBlog post; the letters to the editor can be found in the extended section of this post. I just got back from an extended trip and apologize for a long time without new posts. Please enjoy the comments and the article and come back soon for more posts about Russia!
What Is Russian Media? The Issues of Government Ownership and Media Control
Yuri Mamchur
Anton Verstakov at Discovery Institute April 17, 2006
Last week my good friend Anton Verstakov spoke at Discovery Institute in Seattle about the freedom of the press in Russia and state control of the Russian media. Anton is a news editor for the Russia Today TV channel in Moscow, Russia's only 24/7 English-language news network. Anton also has his own documentary movies company, AV Productions. Before he joined Russia Today TV, Anton worked as a reporter and producer for the Russian channel RTR (Rossiya). Anton shared some important facts with us and two day ago his speech was aired on TVW, Washington State's public affairs network. You can click here to listen to the event on TVW's website. I want to share some of his insights and first-hand experience breaking the news in Russia with our readers.
First of all, Russia isn't Iran or Syria, and people freely protest against Kremlin policies, including state media ownership. Mr. Illarionov, the former advisor to President Putin who now works the Western lecture circuit, recently compared Russia to these Mideast dictatorships at a conference I attended. Mr. Ilarianov also said many other bizarre things in his speech, but these will be addressed in a future post.
My good friend asked me how to make a Russian Easter Cake, the kind that I've been eating my whole life at my grandma's house, the kind that is sold in every grocery store across Russia in the two weeks before Easter. I personally find it extremely complicated and tedious to make, but on the other hand I consider ham and cheese eggs to be a fancy treat...
A Legal Non-Immigrant Worker's View of the Illegal Immigrant Protests
Yuri Mamchur
As crowds of illegal immigrants march through the streets of American cities, I look down at the protest from my Seattle office and wonder "Why don't I march with them?" Well, because I'm not illegal. In the last six years while visiting this country and starting my new job with Discovery Institute, I have paid the U.S. government nearly $20,000 in visa and application fees. I have spent 90% of the money I earned in the U.S.A. in this country, and I have volunteered for nearly 2,000 hours with local non-profits. My good friend Franklin Cudjoe, the head of the Ghana think tank Imani, was denied a visa three times, before he finally received one last year. However, Franklin never complained and always paid the non-refundable fees.
If you are a native born American, you probably have no idea what visas are or how difficult they are to get. The brief description of a non-immigrant visitor's visa into the U.S. is as follows: let's say you decide that you want to visit the U.S. for a conference, or to see a relative for a couple weeks (the visa Anton Verstakov, the news editor of Russia Today, obtained to speak here). You should apply for a B visa (B1 = Business visitor, B2 = tourist, B1/2 = business and pleasure). After filling out the forms and paying a $100 non-refundable, cash-only fee to the U.S. government, you get scheduled for a visa interview. A one year visitor's visa will cost $100 cash (in addition to the first hundred), a two-year visa is $200 cash. Don't forget to have your finger prints taken. If you don't pass the interview, you get rejected and go home, leaving the first $100 behind in Uncle Sam's hands. The embassy workers don't have to have a reason to reject you.
United Russia, President Putin's ruling party, is working on a bill to finally bury Lenin. According to United Russia spokesman Andrei Isaev, the bill should be written and passed now, and the burial should take place right after the presidential and parliamentary elections.
KPRF, the Russian Communist Party, have issued their own opinion on this bill. Half of the Russian population, they claim, doesn't like the idea of burying the body of the Communist leader. The reasons of the opposing factions are very different. Orthodox Christians see him as an Antichrist, and don't want his body to be given a Christian burial, while Communists and older people would rather have their leader available on display. According to the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, if United Russia and Putin bury Lenin now, they are in danger of losing their vote. If it's done after the elections, when the "desirable" replacements are elected, it won't matter.
Stalin used to lay next to Lenin's, but he was finally buried in 1961. President Boris Yeltsin vowed to bury Lenin in 1999, but it never happened. Lenin's body is a tough call -- it's been there forever, and some people don't want to bury him for sake of a scientific experiment; how long will Lenin's embalmed corpse last? The author of this article has seen the body few times through his life and finds the idea of a crazy Communist dictator mummified and still on display in the 21st century very disturbing.
Seattle, WA -- Aeroflot is the biggest Russian airline, dating back to the days of the Soviet Union when it used to be a state monopoly. Today things are different, and Aeroflot must compete in the Russian market and internationally as well. This is why Americans and foreigners residing in Oregon and Washington recently saw their favorite direct flight between Seattle-Moscow cancelled. This route will not re-open until Summer 2008.
Flights inside Russia are still done using old Russian jets like Ilyushin and Tupolev. The planes are loud, uncomfortable and they aren't allowed in European and American airports because of their noise levels. While noise levels are the official reason, the real one might be the issue of safety. Soviet-era planes simply aren't safe to fly. There are many stories you could hear from old-time American travelers who took flights to Russia on Soviet aircraft.
However, Aeoroflot's Seattle office commented on this article saying that "If you look close into Aeroflot's history, you'll be surprised to find that Aeroflot was and still is one of the safest airlines in the world (there are many other Russian airlines currently operating in Russia, please don't mix them up with Aeroflot)."
Americans are used to the convenience of USPS Express Mail, FedEx or UPS ready to ship anything safely to almost anywhere in the U.S. or around the world. Americans clearly take this amazing service for granted, so they will not understand the news story from a week ago, when a train-car attendant of the St Petersburg, Russia -- Sevastopol, Ukraine rail line was arrested, for smuggling hundreds of rare military medals through the border. The 49 year old woman was hiding the "treasures" under bags of clean sheets.
In Russia, if you decide to send something valuable, let's say a $20 bill to your nephew for Christmas -- it will never make it to the addressee, it will be stolen by the postal workers. If you send regular mail to another city in Russia, don't hope it will be there next day, or the day after. Sending packages with valuable items is an absolutely crazy idea. There are no FedEx and UPS locations even in the major cities like Moscow. This author had to FedEx a document once, and this task required a two hour drive through Moscow traffic to a distant location, where after showing your ID to several guards you arrive at the only FedEx office serving 15 million Muscovites. It's not exactly a convenient way to do business.
Introduction: The Washington Post had an opinion article last week on the conviction of the former Defense Minister of Moldova on corruption charges. E. Wayne Merry, a former assistant to President Clinton's Secretary of Defense William Cohen, argues that the charges against Valeriu Pasat are bogus and that a "friend of America" is being unjustly sentenced to prison and hard labor. Read the story below, and for the education of our readers, we have asked Michael Averko to provide some background on the tiny former Soviet republic of Moldova.
- The Editors
Moldova: The Most Overlooked of the European Former Soviet Republics By Michael Averko
Sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, the former Soviet republic of Moldova is often overlooked. Its tiny population (of about four and a half million), poverty (the poorest of the European former Soviet republics) and relative lack of natural resources doesn't make it as noteworthy as the much larger Ukraine and the considerably wealthier Baltic republics. Because of its perceived bad boy president (Alexander Lukashenko), Belarus is another European former Soviet republic receiving greater attention than Moldova.
Russians Embarassed by Shoddy Armed Forces Day Posters
Yuri Mamchur
February 23rd is a federal day off in Russia, which celebrates the Russian Army, Navy and Air Force. The city of Moscow made preparations at the very last moment, just like how everything else is done in Russia, and hired the design firm Moscow City Advertisement to do the posters. The huge billboards are very popular in Moscow along the highways and streets, and citizens usually read them. They aren't necessarily for advertisements only, sometimes the city delivers news to the citizens, or some social projects are announced through these billboards.
The billboard that you can see in the picture below, reads "Congratulations to the Warriors of Russia!" - so far so good. However, people who understand any military history were very upset and the posters had to be taken down overnight by emergency crews and replaced with the new generic ones. The reasons for their disappointment are quite comic. The ship in the poster glorifying the Russian fleet is the American battle ship USS Missouri. On September 2, 1945, the Japanese signed their capitulation on that ship and she has been parked in Pearl Harbor since then.
The jet fighter glorifying Russian military aviation was actually made in Russia, but this model is not used by the Russian forces, these are export versions sold to India (SU-30MK). And this particular jet crashed in 1999 during a military air show at Le Bourget, France.
Many Russians took the posters as an insult, and even though they were up for only one day before the holiday, it was enough to upset several people. Surely there were no malicious intentions on anyone's part, just a lazy job, an ignorant designer and poor supervision. Enjoy the posters:
Today there were two articles in the media which support my piece from several months ago about the injustice ordinary Russians endure on the nation's chaotic roads.
The first article is by the UK Telegraph and it is about the protests in Moscow that took place yesterday. The protesters were rallying against cars with "blue lights", special permits and "migalkas". These medieval priviledges (akin to peasants being required bow before noblemen) offend common Russian drivers, normal citizens and create unbelievable traffic jams.
The second article is about Oleg Shcherbinsky, the driver who was accused of killing one of the most popular Russian politicians in a car accident. Mikhail Yevdokimov, the very famous humorist who became a governor, was known as the "Schwarzenegger of Siberia". He was one of the few officials who actually managed to crack down on corruption in his state. It is believed that he was murdered by those who weren't that fond of his work. The accusations fell on a random driver, who happened to be at the scene of the crash.
The highlights of today's weather in Russia are the following: the interstate freeway between Moscow and Volgograd is blocked by 50 cars that are stuck in the cold. Some of them are completely covered with snow, and a few still have passengers inside. The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations is evacuating the drivers to the nearest towns, and is using heavy equipment to get to the other vehicles.
Temperatures are supposed to rise to minus 5 F by the end of the weekend, though it will become humid and windy. The index with wind chill should stay at negative 35 or colder. It's not only people who are being hurt by the bitter cold. The roofs of the Turkish-manufactured French cars Renault Clio Symbol and the Renault Megane II are shrinking due to plummeting temperatures.
Last year over 16,000 brand new cars of these makes and models were sold in Russia. In the last few days many drivers came back to the dealership to learn why they have new "sunroofs" which had not been there before. Renault isn't commenting on the number of the incidents, but the drivers have been satisfied with the customer service which registers the damage and takes photos for further repairs. On Monday the French company will come up with an official press-release. It seems "General Winter" can do more than just stop Hitler and Napoleon.
Friday was expected to bring slightly warmer temperatures -- but also a bone-chilling east wind -- and the mercury was expected to rise toward minus 20 C (minus 4 F) over the weekend in Moscow...Channel One television, however, warned that Moscow temperatures could drop to minus 42 C (minus 43 F), a low last recorded in 1940...
Electric power use reached a 15-year high of 146,000 megawatts earlier this week, the electricity monopoly RAO Unified Energy Systems said Wednesday. Russian ministries raised their estimate of the death toll across the frozen country to more than 30 people. Temperatures in Siberia stayed at minus 81 F.
MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia has more in common with Nigeria these days than oil.
Following up on the politically charged jailing of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a wave of scam e-mails in the style of Nigeria's notorious spammers has appeared in in-boxes from Moscow to Kentucky.
But instead of impassioned pleas by dead African dictators' aides to move millions of dollars overseas, the appeals appear to come from the inner circle of the man who was once Russia's richest.
"Dear friend, I got your reliable contact from my husband's business diary," begins one letter from "Leila Khodorkovsky," claiming to be the billionaire's wife -- whose actual name is Inna. The letter requests assistance investing $45 million of the tycoon's money and promises compensation.
Rodina is amusing the public again. It offered to change the official Russian (Gregorian) calendar back to the Julian's style, so "the Russian Orthodox Christmas would be coming ahead of the New Year's eve". As I wrote before, the Julian calendar is 13 days apart from the Gregorian, which is used today, and the change was made in the last few centuries at different times in the different countries. Russia switched to it after the Communist Revolution in 1918.
Rodina finds no inconvenience and problems in putting the nation 13 days apart from the rest of the world, and in the reasoning of the change being "to preserve the logistics of the Orthodox Christmas". Maybe that's why Russians become more and more aggressive towards those who are not like them -- Russian and Orthodox. For example today three people were injured in a Russian Synagogue in Moscow, after a skinhead jumped into the building with a knife, yelled out that he was there "to kill them all", and started slicing people with a knife. As a result the citizens of America, Israel and Tajikistan were severely injured.
The war in Chechnya is dragging on after twelve years and 18 year old drafted soldiers are still dying on a daily basis; Russian pensioners are saving money by not buying toilet paper, and 80% of the population is barely making the living. But it's not the same in Moscow. The hot new trend of the season is "airbrushing". Blue lights and sirens are getting old, or are not important enough, and all the house-wives and kids of oil and gas executives are rushing into the offices of the new car painting shops.
"Salvador Dali is boring" -- says Konstantin, executive of one of the airbrushing companies -- "everyone wants his painting".
Airbrushing is getting to the point of not just plain showing off but of displaying your social status. In my opinion it goes along with the golden elevators that take cars to your apartment, outrageous and ridiculous. These pictures should speak for themselves. Enjoy!
The rise of the oligarchs was one of many grotesque results of Russia's transformation to capitalism - a shift managed so ineptly that many Russians ended up nostalgic for communism. The oligarchs, idiotically rich in a country that was largely poor, and given to parading their wealth in a manner that makes American hip-hoppers look like an especially reticent community of Amish farmers, could certainly have given any former Soviet citizen pause to wonder, as he queued for beetroot, what the proletarian revolution had been for. The oligarchs, not content with buying companies, villas, yachts, planes and the most beautiful of Russia's beautiful women, also bought power.
Please read the rest of this excellent piece by The Guardian here.
While things are going well for Putin in Japan, Moscow is having horrible weather: in the past 24 hours 5 inches of snow fell on the city, towards the evening it melts, towards the morning the slush freezes up, in the morning public transportation can't make it up the hill (too slippery), the largest traffic jam so far last night was 15 miles long on the freeway from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
Yesterday's events in 
Government will cover all funeral expenses, and... that's basically it. Unlike the 
