Windows to Russia

Russia is splashing the news with how grain price is going to go, sky high and that we do not have enough! The drought is taking its toll and and and and and and…

As last time, Sveta and I have just traveled hundreds and hundreds of kilometers through Russia and found fields of grain as far as you can see. In fact the fields of grain are 10 times as plentiful as when I first started to travel Russia. In fact I have watched over the years, as Russia has re-plowed and reclaimed farm land that was left isolated after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In fact Sveta will tell you that I was amazed at how much grain there is and we even have pictures that show fields of sunflowers and they were on the small plantings this years, due to the excessive wheat fields planted. In fact I was amazed at all the brand new irrigation equipment that is in all the fields! This is all new farm equipment since I have been traveling Russia…

The grain silos are plum full and new silos are everywhere just to hold all the grain…

So as in the past I always wonder what and why governments lie like they do? Is it a lie or protectionism?

I guess since America is having a grain and corn issue this year due to drought, Russia must join the bandwagon…

Russia only has one good wheat harvest a year and this is Winter wheat 90% of the time. That crop has and is being brought in as we watched them doing it in the fields, with all those new John Deere’s I have been talking about…

As per Russian weather, Winter wheat fields will be prepped and reseeded according to the standard here and we will see another crop harvested next year. Once a year is about the best that you can do here with luck, as Summer is already ending and Fall is coming, blink a couple of times and snow will be falling again…

What with, up until recently Russia was bragging about 85 mn tonnes of grain this year and now a complete reversal of information has made itself available at the top of the list. It looks to me that Russia is trying to cover up a bumper crop this year and make some money out of it later in the year or early next year. Then I wondered that maybe they are smart and stashing the grain for Russians and upcoming issues that are positively in and on the horizon…

I think I would place my bets on Russia and her games right now, as per the real issue of corn and wheat – dead on arrival in America…

That is Russia…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: You should have seen the corn fields this year in Russia! I have never seen corn yet and this trip Sveta and I saw huge fields of corn and they were 7 feet tall at least! Huge ears of corn on the stalks. So corn can be grown in Russia and grown successfully! Sveta said, “Most likely just for animal feed!”

There is two parts to this world! One part is Western Empire driven and the other part is the rest of the world. The Western Empire is actually the smallest part of this wonderful world. I mean in a physical not financial sense…

Leaving the Western Empire Borders is the worst thing that happens to you as you expand your horizons. Crossing that Western border is sometimes akin to hell and unless you just appreciate the fact that you will be treated like a serf, then endure it once and don’t go back…

Once you cross a border like Turkey’s, Georgia’s, Russia’s and many many others! You will wonder to yourself, Why does the West treat their people so undignified? You will find that most of the world greets you with open arms and is very happy to have you grace their doorsteps, as you spend your money… 🙂

Something that you will find interesting as you travel the world! That the world is a pretty modern place and unless you just want to go to the Safari in Africa and live like the natives, you will find that cable TV is everywhere and your smartphone (Well a non US smartphone!) will work all over the world and sim cards are cheap for the country that you have entered. I got three junk cellphones from America that just ain’t worth crap in the rest of the world and the rest of the world is a whole lot bigger than America is…

Example of cellphone issue: I go to Ukraine and I travel there all the time. Sometimes I travel to Ukraine 8 times a year! I have a phone that I use just for Ukraine. It is a basic cellphone and I have a Ukraine sim card that I use in Ukraine. I can buy refill minutes in Ukraine on any corner in a city and originally, the phone, sim and 60 initial minutes cost me less than $20 American dollars. It is that simple to get a cell phone in another country. I take my Android Smartphone and use it for its GPS capacities and such…

I have found it cheaper to use a cell phone and sim bought in the country you visit, then to try to use your sim from home. Roaming is a killer and I have never not found a plan for a local sim, that does not allow you to call home cheap…

But that is a small issue in life and I just expounded on it because so many people worry about cell phones, before they worry about how they are going to be molested at an airport leaving America. It is when they are being molested, that they wonder what the hell it is all about and when you cross a border like Russia’s. You will really wonder why America is treating you the way they do…

I have people who try to insult me with statements like, “You don’t like the way America is leave and don’t come back!”

My answer to the pathetic attempts at trying to prove a point, “I did leave and I will not come back and I have found a whole world that makes America look like a prison country for its citizens!” or at the very least, “The American government wants you so uncomfortable with the though of leaving, that you do not want to leave the country!”

Why would I go back when life is freer and cheaper to sustain in the rest of the world? Why would I desire to go back when most people in the world care much more about the moral and abstain abilities of life, than the materialism’s of life as the West is prone to?

So sorry! I have left the country and have found a world of wonderment that can only be described with your own eyes. For what you have been fed by propaganda is so far from the truth, that it is not even funny! This encompasses everything that you are being spoon fed by main stream media!

So pack your bags and step out of the border of the West! It only hurts for a second and then you can enjoy what the world is really like…

“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart.” by Helen Keller…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: I like to joke that Americans rate success as to how many TV’s you have and one per room is a goal in life. I have learned that “no TV’s” is a very rich man indeed…

Never enough time to get everything done! That is my thinking’s this morning over a cup of coffee…

The Russian consulate in Kiev, Ukraine has changed all the rules to get a visa for Russia. I know only what the website says and you can see everything right here on my article: http://windowstorussia.com/to-enter-the-russian-federation-a-foreign-citizen-needs-a-visa.html

I will have an update when I get back or while I am in Kiev. I plan on doing a lot of work there and was told that I would be there from 7 to 20 work days before I get my visa. I will be doing an article on exactly what I went through, for getting a Russian visa is an experience every time you do it due to changes in visa rules and regulations…

I made my appointment and have gotten all my resources together and on Monday, the 30th of July – we will see what happens…

I have my train ticket (one way) and my hotel reservation (three nights) and any more than that, I can not be sure when I will be back? So I will extend my hotel or rent a room in Kiev and buy my return train ticket when I know that I will be going home again…

Now that I have it settled as to internet connections in virtually all parts of the world, I will be doing all my normal online stuff and should be able to keep up on things…

I know that as soon as I get back to Russia, I will be ready to go to the village again and Sveta and I have most of October and maybe some of September before planned for vacation time. At least three weeks in Tunisia is on the chalk board as I write this and a trip North is definable in my plans of to do things…

But one thing at a time and right now going through the motions and getting a multi-entry year long visa to Russia is the important thing…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

This information only pertains to going to Ukraine and getting a visa, it also only pertains to the consulate in Kiev.

Citizens of countries who have bilateral or multilateral visa agreements with the Russian Federation may be exempted from visa requirements.

Foreign nationals, residing in Ukraine permanently or having permission for continuous stay for a period more than 90 days may apply to the Consulate. Permanent or temporary Residence Permit in Ukraine, Working Permit, long-term Ukrainian visa or registration with a local Ministry of Interior may serve as such permission. Citizens of some countries are exempted from this provision in conformity with the reciprocity principle.

Effective February 1, 2012, all foreign nationals applying for a Russian visa to the Russian Consulate in Kiev (as well as other Russian Consulates in Ukraine), should complete an electronic visa application form (EVA) posted at: HTTP://EVISA.KDMID.RU

Having completed the EVA in Russian or English, it should be printed out and submitted to the Consulate on the appointment day. Application form must be signed personally by the applicant.

From February 1, 2012 the Consulate accepts visa applications by appointment only. To make an appointment an applicant may:

Impotant! Please, be informed that due to technical reasons from July, 16 till August, 12 applicants are encouraged to make appointment requests by phone from 10:00 am to 13:00 pm only. E-mail requests will not be entertained during this period! Meanwhile, ordinary requests will still be possible.

1. Call (044) 286-45-04 from 10.00 am to 13.00 pm (visa officers speak English)
2. Send an e-mail to visakiev@inbox.ru (in Russian or English)
3. Visit the Consulate in person at office hours.
Full name, citizenship, contact phone number and number of applicants (for families or groups) should be specified. If you send an appointment request by e-mail a desired date of submission should be indicated.

Without an appointment, but during submission hours only, we accept:
1. Members of foreign diplomatic missions and recognized international organizations accredited in Ukraine, holders of diplomatic and official passports.
2. Foreigners who need to enter the Russian Federation for emergency treatment or in case of serious illness or death of a close relative.

WORKING HOURS
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
DOCUMENTS SUBMISSION	09.30 – 12.30	09.30 – 12.30		09.30 – 12.30	09.30 – 12.00
VISA COLLECTION	15.00 – 16.00	15.00 – 16.00	12.00 – 13.00	15.00 – 16.00	12.00 – 13.00
PHONE CONSULTATION	10.00 – 13.00	10.00 – 13.00	10.00 – 13.00	10.00 – 13.00	10.00 – 13.00

GENERAL INFORMATION

Required Documents:

Regardless of the category of visa foreign citizens need to submit the following documents to the Consulate (located at 8 Kutuzova street, Kiev):

• 1) Passport
• 2) The completed and printed out electronic visa application form
• 3) One photo sized 3,5 x 4,5 cm
• 4) Health Insurance
• 5) Visa fee
• 6) Visa Support Document depending on the visa category.
• 7)  Copies

Visa processing normally takes 3 business days (urgent processing) or 7 business days (normal processing). Documents submission date is excluded from this term. Term of processing in some cases may be extended up to 20 business days. Citizens of some countries (Australia, Canada, Italy, Netherlands, USA, Turkmenistan, France), staying in Ukraine temporarily (with allowed period of stay not exceeding 90 days) are subject to longer processing term. Visa processing starts only after a complete package of documents is submitted to the Consulate and a visa fee is paid.

A package of documents for visa should be submitted by the applicant in person or by his/her legal representative. A permission to submit an application by the third person (a power of attorney should be attached) may be granted when an applicant schedules an appointment. Yet if the papers are submitted by the third person, the interview of any foreign citizen may be solely appointed by the Consul.

Having submitted the papers and paid the visa fees, an applicant gets the receipt that specifies the visa issue date. The receipt must be submitted on the specified date of visa issue. When an applicant collects a visa, he/she should check that it contains correct personal data, such as: name and surname in Latin script, validity term, passport number, date of birth, sex and number of entries. If any misprints occur, the visa should be returned in due term for correction
The Consulate is not responsible for any mistakes or incorrect information that an applicant has failed to inform the Consulate upon the visa collection!

MORE INFO
The visa may be extended only during the stay of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation, ordinary for a period not exceeding 10 days due to well-founded impossibility of leaving the country. The exceptions are training, working and temporary residence visa. Consulates outside the Russian Federation are not authorized to extend visas. If visa is expiring or a foreigners need to change the purpose of stay in the Russian Federation they should re-apply to the Consulate for a new visa, presenting a new set of documents. A new visa is issued subject to cancellation of previous visa if the latter still remains valid.

If a foreign citizen who is a holder of a valid Russian visa gets a new national passport and the previous is declared void, the visa may be restored in the new passport upon a written request of an applicant. A fee will be charged for the restoration of the visa.

Regardless of number of entries and validity of visa foreign citizens are permitted to stay on the territory of the Russian Federation for no more than 90 days within each period of 180 days. This provision does not apply to holders of working and student visas.
The Consulate may refuse an applicant a visa in the cases determined by the Russian Legislation. The disclosure of the reason for refusal may be withheld.
In case of refusal visa fee is not refundable.
The documents may not be submitted or accepted by mail.
Additional visa information on visa issues is provided by phone: (044) 286-45-04 at the fixed hours or by e-mail: visakiev@inbox.ru

Prior to calling or mailing us, please read carefully the above information. Prepare your query indicating your citizenship, scheduled dates of visiting Russia and purpose of entry.

Windows to Russia…

Another Russian child beaten by US foster parents:

Yet another child from Russia suffered from the hands of foster American parents. According to the local government, a week ago, a boy of eight escaped in the night from the house where he lived and knocked on the neighbors’ door. Later, the police found on the boy’s body the marks of heavy blows and opened a criminal case.

As reported on Wednesday in the consular department of the Russian Embassy in Washington, the boy’s name is Daniel Kruchina, born in the Russian city of Tula in 2003. He was adopted by Matthew and Amy Sweeney in 2006 who gave him their second name and the name of Daniel Alexander. The family lives in the town of Bristow in Virginia.According to local authorities, last Wednesday at about 1a.m. someone rang the doorbell of a local resident Ron Kramer. When Mr. Kramer opened the door, on his doorstep he found a little boy who asked him for shelter. Kramer called the police who collected the child and on examination found vivid marks from beatings on his body. The boy told the police officers that he was beaten regularly. In the morning Amy Sweeney told the police about the disappearance of her son. The police, however, did not return the child to her, and instead detained the parents themselves. Later they were charged with child abuse. They were subsequently released on bail of 20,000 dollars each pending court hearings. The boy is now under the care of local social services.
Читать далее
Source: Voice of Russia.

The education in Russia will remain free, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers Wednesday.

He said that the draft law to that effect had been generally approved.

The Russian government had been given one more week to improve the document before submitting it to the State Duma, lower house of parliament.

Medvedev stressed that the draft law is the most important of those which had been worked out by the government in recent years.

The law “On Education in the Russian Federation” is to replace two laws “On education” and “On higher and postgraduate education”, which were adopted in 1992 and 1996 respectively.

The draft law has been developed since 2009. Lawmakers took into consideration proposals and remarks made by Russian citizens. RIA, TASS

This is a big issue in Russia and for awhile it looked as if Sveta’s son would be the last of free education! In Russia you can go all the way to a doctors degree and it does not cost you a penny. Sveta’s son has gone to a very wonderful University and is working on his doctorate as I write this! It has not cost him a penny to go to school and he is a “Straight E Student” as we in the old days would say. He graduated recently in the first stage of his advanced degree and he got a red diploma and in Russia that is the best that you can do…

In Russia the honor system is based on the grade point averages. At least 4.75 out of 5.0 points required for the cum laude degree (“с отличием” (“s otlichiem”) in Russian or “red diploma”). The graduate has to receive a perfect grade on all final examinations. Usually less than 2% of all graduated students are able to accomplish this (depending on the university and year). In military schools, a “red diploma” may be accompanied by a gold medal (“summa cum laude”) for outstanding performance. Russian high schools also award a Gold Medal to the student who achieves a perfect score in all final examinations and in all other subjects not requiring a final exam. A Silver medal is awarded to high school students who have one or two grades of 4 (“хорошо” in Russian or “good”, being second highest grade) on their final exams or other subjects as listed in the high school diploma (“attestat o (polnom)srednem obrazovanii”).

I have to say that Russian have a fantastic opportunity to get a free education and many take full advantage of it. Most Russians that I deal with are very well educated and have a masters degree at the very least. A bachelors degree is considered worthless and futile, so most of the time I am talking to PHD people as I travel Russia by train all the time. Big difference in this area between Russia and America in education…

I am glad that Medvedev changed his stance on this issue and it looks like they listened to the people of Russia over this issue…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

We drank lots of goats milk this trip to our Russian Village. The Goat lady as I call her could not help herself and she picked and ate all of our cherries. She was almost caught in the act and to make life better, she gave us goats milk to calm the cherry theft escapade…

You have to understand that village life in Russia is a life of theft and it also is a life of necessities. If those cherries had sat much longer they would be wasted anyway and worthless for a food source. That is a terrible thing. but also so is having your cherries stolen…

In a Russian village life is a theft…

An old house is falling down and no one has lived there for many many years. Steal the boards that are good and fix up your place that is falling down also. Need some more apples for that apple jelly? The old neighbor place has three trees and no one ever picks them! Help yourself…

Sveta missed her cherries and I have to say that the cherry trees that we have are the sweetest cherries that I have ever had, but the goats milk kinda free made up for it. We drank a liter a day…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

http://windowstorussia.com/the-underline-of-russia-is-pointing-at-increase-in-food-production.html

It is a John Deere world in Russia and I find it amazing as Americans talk down about investment in Russia, a lot of American companies are silently expanding into the Russian market and billions are being spent to produce quality products, under a labor reduced situation as it is in China and other countries in the East…

John Deere is not the only company and our path to the village now is strewn with all kinds of new buildings and Western companies, pouring money into this worthless Russia, as you are told…

What you see above is an example of what I see in Russia with John Deere. The fields are green in Russia and so are the tractors… 🙂 (Sign says: Engineering and Technology Center)

I have talked many times, the fields in Russia have been re-plowed and replanted in quadruple folded times! I see thousands and thousands of old fields brought back into production. I see irrigation systems everywhere now. I see a huge resurgence in Russian farming…

Putin and Medvedev both expressed the desire for Russia to become the wheat king in the world and from what I see they are on their way to getting that done. Farming has become the back bone of Russia again and a country has to have its strength in farming to be a country of respect. Food is the real bottom line. A country reliant upon other countries for food is a slave country…

So Russia is producing chickens now and shipping chickens overseas. Russia ships tons of wheat all over the world. Russia is starting to increase her herds of cattle… (Why I saw my first corn fields in Russia and they were stalks 6 to 7 feet tall and were beautifully cared for! Ears of corn as big as your forearm…)

This is all being done silently and expediently by Americans that have jumped the wagon of a sinking ship in America and have actually understood that Russia is a open book, that can be utilized to fulfill the dreams that no longer can be experienced in America, due to a bureaucracy that has destroyed the American dream…

The chicken farm near our village has grown 10 times in size in two years. It is as modern as they come! Now while I do not appreciate modern chicken farming in anyway! I know that this chicken farm employs a whole bunch of men and the standard of living in the villages has risen tremendously because of a thriving chicken business…

Want to be a real farmer again? Come to Russia, the fields are endless and the need is endless also…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

As you know I am a strong advocate against excessive government. The TSA is excessive government in a nutshell…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Dear President Vladimir Putin,

First of all congratulations for being elected as President of Russia.

This is a historical period for Russia and critical for World Peace.

My brief introduction is Brigadier Nadir Mir (Retired) from Pakistani Army. Now I am a writer, geopolitician and working for world peace. Some of my articles have been published in Pravda ru and Windows to Russia. In my book ‘Gwadar on the Global Chessboard’ I have urged the need for Russian cooperation at Gwadar. I am a strong believer of Russian – Pakistani friendship. Your dynamic and strong leadership is required by both Russia and the world. Your peaceful geopolitical efforts are restoring world balance. The people of the planet yearn for peace and prosperity and look up to you as a world leader.

In Pakistan, we seek very close relations with Russia. Your visit to Pakistan is being eagerly awaited and I would like to work for Russian – Pakistani friendship.

In the end I pray for your good health and prosperity for Russia.

With best wishes and highest regards

Brigadier Nadir Mir

Soldier to Scholar

Nadirmir13@gmail.com

Mobile number: XXXXXXXXXXX