Year: 2009

Not all car news is bad in the world and Russia has had her share of car industry collapse. Now Volkswagen who has not laid off even a single employee in Russia has been spending money like crazy and they aim it all at the future of car sales in Russia…

Despite the market slump, WV remains the biggest foreign investor in the Russian car industry with a 6% market share. €570 million has been injected into the Kaluga plant since 2006. Investment kept flowing even during the worst of the credit crunch – with almost one hundred million euro more to be ploughed-in next year.

VW has garnered Putin’s attention (who is a staunch classic Soviet automobile supporter) and recently Putin paid a visit to the new plant in Kaluga: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described the plant as an “industrial city”. He said the smart management which created it gives inspiration that Russian car markers can steer their way out of the crisis.

Volkswagen says that they are number 3 in the Russia car market and that just is not good enough for them…

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The Panama-flagged Piruit bulk freighter with 11 (eleven) Russian sailors on board has been stranded since it ran ground in April of 2009, while trying to cross the Panama Canal. The Russian sailors on board have received no wages (owed around $300,000 in wages) since, and are reportedly running low on food and water supplies.

“The court ordered for the Piruit vessel to be impounded,” Pyotr Osichansky told RIA Novosti. “If the owner [registered in the British Virgin Islands] does not pay the wage arrears, the ship will be put up for auction. The money gained from its sale will be used to cover the debts.” (Links)

Seems that sailors all over the world have a really terrible job at times. Lately Russian sailors seems to really have a terrible time with stranded ships. These poor guys can not leave the ships unless the country they are stranded at lets them cross the border.

Talk about being caught between a “rock and a hard place”…

Another article from RIA about the issue Oct. 3rd, 2009 (Link)

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Hey everyone it is time for that exciting visa run to good ole Ukraine! So on Thursday of this week, October 22nd, 2009 Svet and I are going to take a train ride to Kiev and get my visa on Friday. If all goes well we should be back by train Sunday morning the 25th of October.

This link is to past visa runs and they will give information to those that want to know a little more about getting a visa to Russia from Ukraine.

Ukraine Visa Trips and Such

So if you notice that the site is quiet for a few days, you will know why…

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Russian scientists told RIA Novosti about new ways of producing electricity. This is a really neat video and if it can be perfected then it really will change the way we transport ourselves in this world. They say it is very feasible…

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Gazprom sighed in relief as a major blockade has been overcome in the development of the Northern gas pipeline called Nord Stream that travels across the Baltic Sea:

Denmark moved on Tuesday to provide Russian gas giant Gazprom with the go-ahead to lay a controversial pipeline through Danish waters in the Baltic Sea. The approval came after several months of heavy diplomatic activity between Denmark and Russia, including a personal phone call from the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen.

Looks like Another obstacle has been removed and from what I hear Sweden is real close to approval also.

We will keep an eye on it and you will be able to get updates on Windows to Russia as they develop…

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Armenia may import Russian gas at $180 per 1,000 cu m in 2010:
Armenia is expected to import Russian natural gas at $180 per 1,000 cubic meters from April 2010 instead of the projected $200 following a preliminary agreement, Armenian gas pipeline operator ArmRosgazprom said on Tuesday.

Swine flu on the rise in Russia’s Far East:
The Khabarovsk Territory in Russia’s Far East has had 35 new human cases of swine flu infection confirmed in the past week, bringing the total up to 56 since May, a local health official said.

Medvedev arrives in Serbia for energy talks:
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived in Belgrade on Tuesday to discuss energy cooperation including the South Stream gas pipeline with his Serbian counterpart, Boris Tadic.

Moscow supermarket massacre cop ‘had robbed store several times’:
A Russian police officer who went on a shooting spree in a Moscow supermarket in April had robbed the store several times before the incident, a popular tabloid quoted the supermarket administrator as saying.

Volkswagen launches full-cycle production in Russia’s Kaluga:
Volkswagen’s subsidiary in Russia is launching full-cycle production of cars in the city of Kaluga southwest of Moscow, the German automaker said in a statement Tuesday.

U.S. says talks are intensive with Moscow on arms reduction pact:
The United States and Russia are currently in an active phase of drafting a new pact to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START 1).

Russia’s No.2 gas producer Novatek to raise output by 44%:
Russia’s largest independent gas producer Novatek will be able to increase its gas output by around 44% annually due to the upgrade of facilities at a major deposit, the company said on Monday.

Turkish oil pipeline project to involve three Russian companies:
Three Russian oil companies signed an agreement on Monday with Turkey’s Calik Enerji and Italy’s Eni on a pipeline project to pump Caspian oil to the Mediterranean via Turkey.

Russia’s largest carmaker AvtoVAZ could file for bankruptcy:
Russia’s largest car producer, AvtoVAZ, said on Monday it may have to file for bankruptcy due to losses and spiraling debts, but that production will not be halted.

Food cos. agree to restrict advertising aimed at under-12s in Russia:
The Russian branches of seven multinational food and soft drink companies signed a deal on Monday to restrict advertising aimed at children under 12 from 2010.

Russia pledges uninterrupted gas supplies to Europe:
Russia guarantees uninterrupted natural gas supplies to Europe, and will solve gas transit problems taking into account the interests of all parties, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.

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Not the best translation because it is machine translated but it gets the point across. Georgia wants Sassy out of office…

2009-10-16 18:39 Georgia Times

“Opposition continue consultations on power shift, to be precise – replacement of the President Saakashvili. There are different ways to reach the goal. Protest actions, dialog. But there is one more method – it would be good if the Parliament itself started procedure of Saakashvili’s impeachment”, said Karlo Kopaliani, MP [Strong Georgia fraction] – Mir channel.

The main argument for Saakashvili’s impeachment – the report of the EU fact-finding commission, which called the authorities of Georgia guilty of the August events. In the view of the opposition member, the conclusions are enough to initiate the impeachment.

According to Georgian legislation, to implement the procedure of the President’s impeachment the opposition must have no less than 50 signatures of MPs. In that case the Supreme and the Constitutional Courts will consider it.

Looks like the article that I had a few days ago might be really happening…

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NEW DELHI: India and Russia have agreed to develop and induct a new hypersonic version of their joint venture 290-kilometer-range BRAHMOS cruise missile by 2015.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed between the two sides last month, in which they agreed on the final parameters for the new version of the cruise missile, Defense Ministry sources said.

The new missile, they said, will be known as ‘BRAHMOS-2’ and will have a speed of over 6 Mach (around 6,000 kilometers per hour) with a striking-range of 290 kilometres.

The range of the missile will not be extended as the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), to which Russia is a signatory, does not allow it to help other countries to develop missiles with ranges above 300 kilometres, they said.

Under the agreement, the two sides have decided to retain the physical parameters of the missile so that after the induction of the missiles there is no need to replace the launchers and other ground infrastructure for using new missiles.

The missiles will be “picked and put” in the old launchers for usage by armed forces in the two countries, the sources added.

BRAHMOS is the only operational supersonic cruise missile with a speed of 2.8 Mach and is three-and-a-half times faster than the American Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The missile has already been inducted into the Navy and the Indian Army, and the IAF is also working on integrating it on its front line air superiority fighter SU-30MKI.

A number of Naval ships have been armed with the BRAHMOS and the under-construction Talwar Class frigates in Russia will also have it as their main weapon.

Till now the Army has raised one regiment of the BrahMos and is expected to induct two more regiments of an upgraded version of the missile by the end of the current fiscal.

The rumor is that Russia’s internal version will have a much extended range beyond the 290km limit imposed by international restrictions….

View Related News:

PTI

Brahmand.com

It took us awhile but we got the paper work taken care of and we now run LPG (Propane) in our Volga wagon. It had propane that ran OK when we bought it, but to get paperwork done I had to remove the part of the system that dealt with propane. The Russian government did not like the paperwork that came with the car about propane. It was not official enough…

So I removed the LPG system one slow and careful step at a time. I wanted to be able to put it back if we were allowed. I then stored all the pieces in a box. After the Russian government was happy that the car was OK and properly set up on benzine (Gasoline). We got our tags…

Now I had the choice to leave propane off or put it back on and start the tedious process of getting the paperwork changed to a dual fuel car. My choice was to go dual fuel – What other choice is there? 🙂

**Lets regress a minute: Why would I care about propane? The biggest reason is the cost. Propane runs about 11 to 12 rubles a liter in Moscow. So 92 octane gasoline runs about 22 to 24 rubles. Half the cost! Several other factors are: cleaner burning fuel and higher octane.**

I did a lot of studying on removal and reinstalling the propane systems on a car. I had some issue before I removed the system that I wanted to fix. Propane should run as well as gasoline if properly installed and should produce as much horsepower due to timing adjustments. Propane also will get nearly the same fuel mileage as gasoline. In our case the original system was not installed correctly so we did not have the above conditions in our favor.

I spent a whole day installing the system back onto our Volga wagon. I replaced everything according to specs and instructions. I installed a electronic timing adjuster that fits under the dash for manual adjustment of the spark timing. (Now the car will run on 76 octane and up to 98 octane, with no pinging)

After checking to see if there were any leaks anywhere, we went to fill up the propane tank at the nearest station. We crossed our fingers and switched to propane – After a few adjustments in airflow we had the sweetest running Volga wagon you ever did hear. 🙂

It really does run as strong now as gasoline and has virtually no bad smell from the tail pipe. It does exactly the same mileage as gasoline and that combined with a 60 liter propane tank, means we can go about 600 km before filling up. Add to that the 55 liter gasoline tank and we can travel over a 1000 km before filling up.

The engine can be switched from one fuel to the other by a simple manual switch that is also mounted under the dash next to my ignition key…

Svet loves our dual fuel Volga wagon!

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Three new stations and wheelchair access in Moscow metro:
Three new metro stations are scheduled to open in Moscow in 2011. They will have access for wheelchairs.

Militant killed in shootout in Chechnya:
A militant has been killed in a shootout in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, a police source said on Friday.

Missing Russian tourists in China out of danger:
The seven Russian tourists reported missing in China’s mountainous northwestern region are out of danger, an unidentified Chinese security official said on Friday.

Russian monetary base up $2 bln in week to $152 bln:
The Central Bank said on Friday that Russia’s narrowly defined money supply (M1) was 4.47 trillion rubles ($152 billion at the current exchange rate) as of October 12, up 58.7 billion rubles ($2 billion) in the week since October.

Four new swine flu cases reported in Russia:
Another four people have been confirmed as having the H1N1 virus in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russian consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said on Friday.

Russian suspected of brutally killing 3-year-old crying nephew:
A Russian man is suspected of brutally killing his 3-year-old nephew in the town of Reutov near Moscow, investigators said on Friday.

Drunk driver crashes into police officer in Siberia:
The driver of a Lada car in Siberia has been charged with drunk driving after crashing into a policeman standing at the side of the road, Krasnoyarsk Territory police said on Friday.

Sultan of Brunei to meet with Russian PM Putin in Moscow:
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will meet for talks with the sultan of Brunei, who is currently on an official visit to Moscow, the government press service said.

Russia’s Medvedev to attend CSTO military drills in Kazakhstan:
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev along with other leaders of the CSTO member states will attend on Friday the final stage of a post-Soviet rapid reaction force exercise in Kazakhstan.

French hypermarket chain Carrefour leaves Russian market:
The French hypermarket chain, Carrefour, the world’s second largest retailer, has pulled out of Russia, the company said on Thursday.

Russia concerned by U.S. missile shield talks with non-NATO states:
Russia is concerned by U.S. missile defense talks with countries outside NATO, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday.

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