Year: 2011

The UN International Court of Justice has refused to entertain Georgia’s action against Russia over the events in South Ossetia in August 2008, says the RIA-Novosti news agency in a report from The Hague. The court has ruled that the case is beyond its competence. Read More >>>
Source: Voice of Russia.

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Just what Sveta and I have waited for. Now Sveta can travel to Turkey visa free. It was just officially announced that Russians will be able to travel to Turkey visa-free as of the 16th of April, 2011…

This is according to the Russian Foreign Ministry. It seems that a new Russian-Turkish agreement is due to come into force this month…

So we add another country to the list of visa free for Russians… 🙂

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Russia has raised social pensions in Russia by 10% as of today (April/01/2011).  They will now be reconfigured  once a year in Russia, rather than every two years, as it was in the past. The amendment to the pension law was approved by Russia’s parliament and signed into law by the Russian President on the 29^th of March, 2011. Some more than 4 million Russians are entitled to social pensions…

Rough figures that vary where you live in Russia: The average social pension in Russia by the end of 2009 was 4,176 robules. The labor pension in Russia was increase by around 1,113 roubles to 5,749 roubles during 2010, and the average old-age pension in Russia will be expected to reach 6,091 roubles by 2011…

That equates into around $200 per month to survive on, in Russia…

That may not seem like much but when I came to Russia 5 years ago they were getting about $100 per month so it is better…

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Everywhere I go in Russia. I see a Soviet past that is missed by more than just a few people..

That is what I was thinking this morning over coffee. That thought came from when Sveta and I the other night visited some friends. It was a typical visit to a Russian and that means more food, drinks and desserts than you could consume. If you don’t eat it is an insult to the host. Now contrary to popular belief Sveta and I never (repeat never) have any problems with not drinking alcohol. In fact if we do not drink alcohol, then I have found that everyone else will not drink either and life is just as good or better because of it… (But you better drink hot tea and you better have an appetite!)

During this visit I was pleasantly surprised. I had remarked about a photo hanging on the wall. That triggered the past thinking and out came the photo albums from the Soviet era. Spanning the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s. The photos went from the Crimea to Siberia in a tale of a families life…

The interesting things that came out of all these pictures are:

The people in the Soviet Union during the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s looked just we did in America. From hair styles, clothing and material items. I had to laugh at the polyester suits in the 70’s and the poofed women’s hair in the 80’s. The transistor radios, bell bottom jeans and so on and so on…

Remember these people were not some rich elite type people. They were simple people that lived the same life that we did in America. They worked in kitchens all their life as cooks. They may have had a lack of just a few items like cars and such, but their life was no less endowed in substance than mine or yours in America…

Another interesting thing that came out of these pictures is that everyone was happy, content and free from restraints to pursue happiness…

Sveta tells me all the time of when she was a young adult and traveled the Soviet Union by thumb (hitching free rides). She said that life was unbelievably free and fantastic. You never had to worry about if you would eat or sleep because every village was full of people that were glad to have you for the night. Sveta has talked of her travels in territories of Russia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine plus others as a young wondering adult…

As I saw in America, time and time again the longing for the quieter times of the past. I also see people in Russia that look back on the Soviet Times as the “good ol’ days…”

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Gorby 80: Mikhail Gorbachev’s 80th birthday gala in London… (In London?)

The star-studded charity concert at Royal Albert Hall for the last leader of the Soviet Union – Gorby! Given for his 80th birthday, where guests included Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lech Walesa, Kevin Spacey, Sharon Stone and many many more famous…

Gorbachev, the so-called “architect of perestroika and glasnost in Russia,” is still worshiped by some Russians for bringing freedom and democracy to the country, while many others consider him a weak politician, who ruined the Soviet empire…

His controversial image in Russia could be one of the reasons why the main celebrations of his birthday, which was on March 2, are taking place in the West, where he is seen as a symbol of the liberalization of Soviet life and the ending of the Cold War…

I found this very interesting to see the political maneuvers by the West associated with this event. I mean they (West) went all out for their friend who was an intricate part in destroying the Soviet Union…

In fact look carefully at the hoopla that was associated with his birthday. You would think he was a monarch of England…

As I have said in the past and will say again in the future. Gorbachev was “bought and paid for” by the West and they are still buying and still paying even to this day…

This article will give a few basic insights to Gorby:  Coffee and Russia and Undertow Intentions to her Society…

So Happy Birthday to Gorby…

The West appreciates all you have done…

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Moscow police have said they will not allow radical opposition leader Eduard Limonov to stage a banned anti-Kremlin rally on Triumfalnaya Square on Thursday.

Limonov, who has faced off with fellow activists over the Strategy 31 cause, was denied approval even as Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, was given the go-ahead for a 3,000-strong rally on nearby Pushkinskaya Square.

Limonov said he would organize the rally regardless of City Hall’s rejection of his application to hold his alternative event.

“Given Limonov’s repeated calls in the mass media, police will have every right to detain Limonov and other provocateurs,” Moscow police spokesman Viktor Biryukov told reporters on Wednesday.

Limonov previously accused Alexeyeva of sucking up to the Kremlin by agreeing to its demands and betraying the cause of Strategy 31, a civic movement that emerged two years ago to defend Article 31 of Russia’s much-abused Constitution, which guarantees the right to public assembly.

But in a move that would probably have long-running implications, Alexeyeva and fellow human rights activist Lev Ponomarev declared an end to Strategy 31 earlier this week.

“I think it’s silly to call for free assembly at a rally that has been authorized,” Ponomarev wrote on his blog on the opposition website Grani.ru on Monday.

Opposition protests would still be held “on a regular basis,” he said.

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On April 12, 2011, Russia and the world will mark the 50th anniversary of the historic flight of Yury Gagarin, the first man in space.

Yury Gagarin was born March 9, 1934 in Klushino, a village in the Gzhatsk (now Gagarin) District of Russia’s Smolensk Region.

His parents, Alexei and Anna Gagarin, came from local peasant families and were themselves collective farmers. In 1941, Gagarin enrolled in Klushino Secondary school, but his studies were disrupted by the German invasion of the Soviet Union that same year. After the war, Gagarin and his family moved to Gzhatsk where he continued his studies.

After graduating from sixth grade, Gagarin enrolled at a vocational school in Lyubertsy near Moscow, and supplemented his studies with evening classes at a local school for young workers.

In 1951, Gagarin completed seventh grade at the evening school, and also graduated from the vocational school with an honors degree in mold-making  and foundry work. That same year, Gagarin enrolled at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, graduating in 1955. While still a student, Gagarin joined a local aviation club. After this, aviation became his life’s work.

In 1955, Gagarin was drafted into the Soviet Army. He was sent to study at the First Chkalov Air Force Pilots School named after Voroshilov in Orenburg. Gagarin graduated at the top of his class in 1957, and chose to serve with a Northern Fleet aviation unit in the Soviet Arctic.

In 1957, Gagarin married Valentina Goryacheva. They had two daughters, Yelena (born 1959) and Galina (born 1961).

On December 9, 1959, Gagarin submitted an application to join a squad of prospective cosmonauts. Gagarin underwent a rigorous medical examination at the Moscow-based Central Research Military Aviation Hospital. In early 1960, a special medical board pronounced Senior Lieutenant Gagarin fit for space missions. On March 3, 1960, Gagarin was included in the squad of prospective cosmonauts by an order of the commander of the Air Force, Chief Air Marshal Konstantin Vershinin, and started training on March 11 that same year.

On April 12, 1961, Gagarin performed the first manned space flight in history aboard the Vostok-1 spacecraft, orbiting Earth in 108 minutes and landing safely near Smelovka village in the Saratov Region’s Ternovsky District.

On April 14, 1961, Gagarin was declared a Hero of the Soviet Union, receiving the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal. Senior Lieutenant Gagarin was also promoted to major by order of the Soviet Defense Minister that same day.

In late April 1961, Gagarin left on his first trip abroad. Gagarin visited numerous countries around the world for two years. His foreign visits are sometimes called the “Peace Mission.” Kings and presidents, politicians and scientists, actors and musicians considered it an honor to meet the famous cosmonaut.

On May 23, 1961, Gagarin was appointed commander of the Soviet cosmonaut squad. In the fall of 1961, Gagarin enrolled at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy in order to complete his higher education.

From December 20, 1963 through March 1968, Gagarin was deputy director of the Cosmonaut Training Center. He was directly involved in training space crews and supervising a number of Vostok, Voskhod and Soyuz space missions.

Gagarin resumed flight training in 1963 and started training for the Soyuz-1 space mission in 1966. He was selected as Vladimir Komarov’s back-up man. Komarov was tragically killed during the reentry of the Soyuz-1 spacecraft in April 1967.

In 1968, Colonel Gagarin graduated from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy summa cum laude, attaining the status of “pilot-engineer-cosmonaut.”

Gagarin was active in social and political work as well. He was elected to the Sixth and Seventh Congresses of the U.S.S.R. Supreme Soviet (parliament), the 14th and 15th Congresses of the Central Committee of the Young Communist League (Komsomol), president of the Soviet-Cuban Friendship Society and honorary member of the Finland-Soviet Union Society.

In 1966, Gagarin became an honorary member of the International Academy of Astronautics.

Gagarin received numerous prestigious Soviet and international state awards, including the Order of Lenin, a number of Soviet medals, the orders of many foreign countries, the Golden Tsiolkovsky Medal from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) De La Vaulx Medal, gold medals and honorary diplomas from the International Association of Man in Space and the Italian Space and Astronautics Association, the Distinction Gold Medal and Honors Diploma of the Royal Aero Club of Sweden, the FAI Gold Medal and Diploma, the Gold Medal of the British Interplanetary Society, the Galaber Prize for Astronautics and others.

On March 27, 1968, Gagarin was killed in an air crash near Novosyolovo village in the Vladimir Region during a training flight. His ashes were interred in the Moscow Kremlin Wall.

The Soviet Government renamed the town of Gzhatsk in the Smolensk Region to Gagarin in honor of the fallen cosmonaut. The Air Force Academy in Monino outside Moscow was also named after Gagarin. The Gagarin Scholarship for cadets at Air Force schools was also established. Moreover, the FAI instituted the Gagarin Gold Medal. The Russian State Research and Cosmonaut Training Center, various academic establishments, streets and squares in many foreign cities are named after Gagarin.

Monuments to Gagarin have been built in Moscow, Gagarin, Star City outside Moscow and Sofia. Another monument has been unveiled near Smelovka village where Gagarin landed after his historic space flight. The Yury Gagarin Memorial House-Museum has been opened in Gagarin.

A crater on the moon, and an asteroid have also been named after Gagarin.

This information is based on open sources.

Unbelievable – we have followed this for what seems like years now. This is big news in Russia and I hope it helps the situation. It has been a long process and I know it means a huge change in how America handles adoptions with Russia. There are a lot of Russian children that are adopted by good families in America but there has been some terrible situations happen and several are in American courts right now. It seems the straw that broke the camels back was the Artyem case. (Artyem (Artem) Justin Hansen: Someone Did Not Want Him?) Tory Hansen never got in trouble for what she did and that pissed Russia off. Which led to this communication with America by Russia on getting rules set up for adoption by Americans…

The work over the Russian-American which outlines the rules of adopting Russian children by Americans is over. Russia also plans to conclude similar treaties with France, the UK, Ireland and some other countries.The work over the treaty was stirred by several scandalous cases when American foster parents mistreated their adopted Russian children. This work started in April 2010, when a delegation of the US Department of State came to Moscow to discuss this subject. The Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement, which was released at that time, said: “The new treaty must provide a good mechanism of monitoring the life of adopted children both by Russian and American bodies, in order to prevent cases of violence against adopted children.” From that time, adoption of Russian children by Americans was suspended until the introduction of the treaty. Not long before that, it had become known that the American couple Cravers had beaten their adopted Russian son Vanya Skorobogatov to death. The trial of Cravers is not yet over. The American prosecutor is demanding that the both foster parents must be executed…

Read More >>> Source: http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/30/48215824.html

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PS: These are just some of the Windows to Russia links on adoption issues…
Information on the Status of Russian / American Adoption Proceedings…
A Russian Adoption Abuse in America – Again…
Leschinsky Sisters not to Return to Foster Parents…
Russians Are Really beginning To Question American Adoptions…
Adoption Talks Between Russia and America Still Going On…
CNN On Artyem Saveliev!
Mother Woman in Adoption Scandal wanted To Adopt A Georgian Child Next!
One Little Boy Brings America to Her Knees! (Artyem)
Artyem (Artem) Justin Hansen: Someone Did Not Want Him?
American Parents Just Shipped Adopted Child Back To Russia Alone, With Note!