Category: Russia

Viktor Bout and RIA Interview… (01/03/11)

RIA Novosti was able to interview Viktor Bout. The suspected Russian arms dealer who was extradited from Thailand to the United States in mid-November. As Bout is kept in a New York detention center so only lawyers and officials from the Russian Consulate can visit him. RIA Novosti correspondent Dmitry Gornostayev was given an oportunity to get a list of questions to Bout and received answers via Russian Vice Consul Alexander Otchainov…

The text of the interview is below: (Click “More” below the article to see the whole interview.)

Q: Viktor, when did you realize that you would be extradited to the United States from Thailand and the extradition is irreversible?

A: This occurred on November 16, 17:30 local time. I was taken out of my cell on the pretext of being transferred to a new cell. I saw many police cars in the jail’s yard, though cars never drove in there earlier. I saw many DEA [U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration] officers in jackets with badges. That’s when I got it that my extradition will happen now.

The Thais brought me to the airport and changed my clothes in a separate room. Then I was handed over to U.S. agents.

Q: In September you had a similar situation when you were nearly transferred to the United States. What was the difference between these two situations?

A: In September the jail chief refused to extradite me without a warrant. A scandal triggered by the fact that an aide to the Thai prime minister had visited me unfolded in the Thai parliament. The scandal drew public attention to my case and my lawyers managed to prove that extradition was illegal at the time, which the Prosecutor’s Office also announced then.

Continue reading “Viktor Bout and RIA Interview… (01/03/11)”

Russia Christmas is Here Soon in 2011…

Russia Christmas is here soon for 2011. On January 7th 2011. Orthodox Christmas will happen. I was sipping my cup of coffee this morning and thinking about that very happening and happening’s…

It has always been strange to me that the country (Russia) literally shuts down this time of the year. Everyone in Russia is on a break. Now some work (Sveta has to spend a few days working at her IBM Servers  in Gazprombank.) and some play but the play is by far the predominant. You still have to have cops, border patrols, food and etc to function. But the government, major corporations, many markets and most stores are simply closed from basically the first of January to around the 11th of January…

Now we are not done yet: The 14th of January is the Orthodox New Year. Yes another New Year holiday. Russians love their holidays and January is a month of holidays for them…

So for half a month. Russia just does very little. I love it and enjoy the down time. Sveta always says to make sure that we stock up on groceries, because everything is closed. We have found a real problem with bread. The bakers are closed. So we have found little shops that bake their own bread and enjoy fresh home made. You have to be fast though because, all Russians know the spots also and will beat us to the bread. Yesterday, I found one last loaf left in our favorite little store. We grabbed it as three more people came in looking for bread… (That was good bread! Yummy…)

We have a saying in the Western world, that I apply to Russia: “When in Rome do as the Romans do!” other words, It is polite, and possibly also beneficial, to follow the customs of a society when one is a visitor to that society…

Also it means grab the bread if you find it first…

You will not hear me argue… 🙂

Windows to Russia!

Ice and Wind Just Too Much…

This is why Moscow area is having issues. The ice and heavy winds are just too much for the infrastructure. Ice Storms are not that common here, from what I understand. Snow is very common but ice storms are not…

These are not tiny little telephone poles. These are some big towers. I see them all over the Moscow area and we use to live near some. They are fun to walk under. Well they use to be, but now I may not walk under them in an ice storm… 🙂

Windows to Russia!

“Bunker 42” Museum in Moscow…

I love videos and information like this…

“Bunker 42” museum in Moscow. is a place that Sveta and I have to go see. It brings back memories of the old days. OK, so maybe not memories that we want to live again, but memories that molded a future of the world…

It seems that RT has an abundance of bomb shelter stories. One in particular that I had posted (Link), took off like an explosion… (No pun intended)

I have long studied the Moscow Metro and seen the bomb blast doors on all the stations. Now that is one huge bomb shelter.

The biggest shelter in the world is the Moscow Metro system,” said Victor Baranov. “Each station is constructed as a bunker and it can save lives of people who are inside in the time of a nuclear strike.” (Link)

If you watch the video you will see another huge bomb shelter. This shelter is a museum and it really looks exciting. Believe me, you will know if we get to go see it…

Windows to Russia!

Medvedev Quote – Number 1

“We need a single technological chain to implement national projects throughout the entire power vertical, from the government and federal bodies of power to the municipalities.”

Medvedev

Since someone likes Putin quotes. I just had to have Medvedev quotes! Hope that is OK?

WB

{Guest Post – Links added by admin}

Windows to Russia!

Russia Orders Halt to Tu-154B Flights After Fire

{Guest Post – Links added by Admin} MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s transport oversight agency on Sunday ordered the country’s airlines to stop using Tu-154B planes until the cause of a passenger jet fire and explosion that killed three people is determined.

A spokesman for the agency, Sergei Romanchev, said airlines must obey the order. The state news agency RIA Novosti said there are 14 Tu-154Bs in service in Russia.

The Tu-154B is one variant of the Tu-154 model, which has been in service since the early 1970s and has been in wide use on Russian internal flights and extensively in other countries, including Iran and former Soviet republics.

No cause has been determined for Saturday’s fire, which also injured 43 people. The fire began as the plane carrying 124 people taxied for takeoff at the airport in Surgut in western Siberia, about 2,100 kilometers (1,350 miles) east of Moscow. Frightened passengers clawed their way through the smoke-filled cabin and most managed to escape before the explosion.

Investigators have found the plane’s flight recorders and taken fuel samples and documents from the regional airline, Kogalymavia, that used the plane.

The Tu-154, similar to the Boeing 727, has three engines mounted on the rear of the plane. The mid-range plane is noted for its ability to operate on gravel and unpaved airfields. However, noise regulations eventually stopped Tu-154s from flying to most of Europe. Russian flag carrier Aeroflot took the plane out of service in December 2009.

There have been more than 30 fatal incidents involving Tu-154s over their long history, but many of them were attributed to pilot error, poor maintenance or irresponsible operation.

In December, a Tu-154 operated by Russia’s Dagestan Airlines, made an emergency landing in Moscow after two of its three engines failed. The third engine cut out just before the landing and the plane skidded off the snowy runway at Domodedovo Airport, killing two people.

Also Sunday, the Kogalymavia announced that it would pay the affected passengers in Saturday’s accident 20,000 rubles ($650) each in compensation.

Added by JimN

{Guest Post – Links and read more added by Admin}

Windows to Russia!

Not Just Lines are Breaking – But Whole Power Towers are Going Down…

Heavy snowfalls and strong winds have cut electricity supply to over 88 populated areas outside Moscow. Reported by the Moscow United Electric Grid Company (MOESK). There is some rough stuff going on here…

Windows to Russia!

Putin a Little Bit Grouchy Before New Years…

Putin had a meeting just before New Years. It involved the governor of the Moscow Region, Boris Gromov, Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko and the head of the Moscow United Electric Company Nikolay Shvets...

“You promised that by 6pm today electricity would be back on. It is 6 now,” Putin said. “35 villages, 4,000 people are still without power.”

”I have an idea: you go to these villages and celebrate the New Year together with these people!” Putin suggested.

As a result, all three officials spent their New Year visiting villages left without electricity.

I think that works better than firing them… 🙂

Windows to Russia!

Medvedev and Putin Collide in Front of the Country…

The Western Press is a strange creature. It likes to make a big deal out of somethings to do with Russia but ignore other things completely. It is all based on what progresses their agendas the best. The Western Press has gone totally bananas over the Khodorkovsk case, but has remained totally silent over the fact that Medvedev and Putin had a major clash on national television…

The Russians are talking about this clash and the Rumors are flying. For once it is a real and in your face happening. It was strange that the only major outside news that grabbed it was. (http://www.china.org.cn/world/2010-12/29/content_21640953.htm)…

So we here on Windows to Russia will just say that “maybe” there is a conflict in the works, within the Kremlin walls…

You have never heard me say this before, but I will tell you what the people are talking about on the street of Moscow…

This is not hidden and squelched. It is all over the place here. So where is the Western Press? They can not shut up about the Khodorkovsk case and make up lies about the situation around that case. But when presented with real in your face facts, they look the other way. Strange because they do not even have to lie about it…

Medvedev and Putin collided and clashed in front of the people of Russia…

Windows to Russia!

Presidents New Year Speech… (for 2011)

New year's address to the nation.Citizens of Russia, Very soon, as the Kremlin tower chimes strike twelve, 2010 will pass into history, and with it the first decade of the 21st century. As we see the old year out, we remember its joyful and sad moments, and hope that next year will be good and successful for all of us and for our country. We will build a modern Russia together, a strong, open and friendly country.

We have a rich and ancient history, and we are rightly proud of it. At the same time Russia is a young country: in the coming year it will be only twenty years old. That is no great age for a country, but the children born in the new Russia have already grown up. The way we live in the second decade of this century will depend on them, too.

Everything we do, we do for our children, to make sure that they are healthy and successful, and the country they live in is safe, prosperous and happy, a country that respects its elders, cherishes its multiethnic traditions, and is committed to achieving new goals. I am confident that is our future.

[pullquote]”Everything we do, we do for our children, to make sure that they are healthy and successful, and the country they live in is safe, prosperous and happy.”[/pullquote]

Dear friends,

The New Year’s holiday has its own unique atmosphere. This holiday is filled with a special warmth and sincerity. The New Year will begin in just a few moments. Let us congratulate each other and wish each other love and happiness in the coming year. Let all our dreams come true.

Happy New Year 2011!

Windows to Russia!