Windows to Russia

Murdered Russian priest received death threats:
A Russian Orthodox priest who carried out missionary work among immigrants from ex-Soviet republics received over a dozen death threats before his murder on Thursday, a Russian paper said.

New outfits for the Russian army: bulletproof clothes and boots:
This exhibition of modern army equipment in Moscow features fire-resistant clothes for tank crew, grenade-proof boots and vitamin bars for special forces.

Youth group vows to get “Putin’s granny” out of psychiatric clinic:
Activists from Nashi – a pro-Kremlin political youth movement – have stepped up their efforts to help Natalia Karpova, an 83-year old ardent admirer of Vladimir Putin, out of a mental institution.

Russia-Germany: strategic partners in Europe and Asia:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has met with his German counterpart, Guido Westerwelle, who is on his first official visit to Moscow.

Clearing a path for Nord Stream:
A risky underwater operation underway in the Gulf of Finland is aimed at clearing the sea bed of old mines from past wars, in order to free the path for the Nord Stream pipeline, carrying gas from Russia to Europe.

Tips on bilateral ties from Putin:
While Vladimir Putin and Yulia Timoshenko have been discussing future collaboration on gas issues, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has been meeting his Georgian counterpart Mikhail Saakashvili in Kiev.

Teenage Georgian prisoners: smugglers or political pawns?:
Four Georgian teenagers caught at the South Ossetian border with explosives and grenades have made it to the center of a growing international row, and now could be exchanged in return for South Ossetian detainees.

Prime Ministers put on smiles to fend off new gas dispute:
This New Year’s Eve will not be clouded by gas cuts, says an optimistic Vladimir Putin after meeting with Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Timoshenko in Yalta on Thursday.

A-ha back in Russia to say goodbye:
Norway’s all-time bestselling band A-ha is returning to Russia, with two gigs in St.Petersburg and Moscow. The legends of synthpop will promote their latest album “Foot of the Mountain” and farewell to their fans.

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I did an article on these guys before we left for Israel and I never got to find out who won. I found this video of the last round and after watching this video and other videos on the fight…

I would have to say – Haye ran away the whole time and Valuev chased him all over the ring. (The Judges say Haye won?)

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I had a controversial article that upset a few people not long ago. I was not exactly showing love for a Ukraine government that seemed to be playing games with the Ukraine people for political malice… (WHO update report below)

Pandemic (H1N1) 2009, Ukraine – update 2

17 November 2009 — Preliminary tests reveal no significant changes in the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus based on investigations of samples taken from patients in Ukraine. Analysis are being performed by two WHO influenza collaborating centers as part of the global influenza surveillance network.

Preliminary genetic sequencing shows that the virus is similar to the virus used for production of the pandemic influenza vaccine, reconfirming the vaccine’s efficiency at this time.

Additional questions about the pandemic virus circulating in Ukraine will be answered as more data is available.

WHO commends the government of Ukraine for its open sharing of samples to inform global monitoring of the virus for signs of change.

A total of 34 samples were analyzed independently by the WHO Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Influenza, Mill Hill in London, UK, and the WHO Collaborating Center for the Surveillance, Epidemiology and Control of Influenza in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Based upon the initial findings from the WHO, it does not appear that anything medically unusual is happening in the Ukraine other than an outbreak of pandemic H1N1.

Of course there is reports of serious blackened lungs in autopsies. That sounds like we now need to be looking at a serious tuberculosis outbreak in Ukraine.

Tymoshenko has constantly blamed her political rivals for hindering her efforts to stop the flu! While the Ukraine president blames Tymoshenko for not doing anything about the situation.

“There is a saying in Ukraine: The active idiot is better than the lazy philosopher. And it now looks like people will vote for Tymoshenko simply because she is taking action on this flu issue, which has completely dominated public discussion,” said political analyst Volodymyr Tsybulko. “No one much cares that Tymoshenko was the one who created the issue she is acting upon.”

It is rather obvious now that the panic surrounding the swine-flu, the ‘mysterious’ pneumonia, and other deaths caused by a ‘mysterious’ flu in Ukraine is nothing more than simple pre-election propaganda.

Looks like the political presidential battle in Ukraine has taken on a new level of disgusting habits…

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We have lots of pictures and things to tell. The visit was very fruitful and out friends in Israel – Chelita and Misha, made the trip a fantastic joy. Chelita can cook delicious food and she made sure that we never got hungry!

Svet and I had a long flight home from Israel and we just woke up from a 12 hour sleep. We were worn out…

So as I get everything caught back upon and get all pictures on the computer, I will then start posting again. Probably by tonight…

It was sure nice getting back to “home sweet home” Russia!

Kyle and Svet
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Svet and I got “Places to go, People to See, Things to Do” in Israel. So from the 2nd of November 2009 to 18th of November 2009. Svet and I will be gone. We will still try to post a little bit and try to check on comments…

Boza has been left with a good friend who he really likes and will most likely not want to come home when we get back. 🙂 We also are going to leave frozen, snowy and very icy Moscow, Russia! You take off in subzero freezer and land in a smelt furnace. (That is how it feels when you are use to Northern temperatures…)

We will take lots of pictures and that way we can show you all what we did.

(Goof Off – that is what!)

So see you all when we come back…

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Ukraine Shuts Schools, Bans Public Events Over Flu:

KYIV (Reuters) — Ukraine has closed schools, banned all public events, and imposed restrictions on people’s movements around the country for a three-week period after confirming its first death from H1N1 swine flu.

“All educational institutions without exception…will be switched on to a three-week holiday period,” Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko announced. She indicated this period could be extended if it was deemed necessary.

“Apart from this, we will make the decision to cancel all mass meetings…for three weeks,” she said at an emergency government session.

“We will introduce a special system to stop unnecessary travel by people from one region to another,” she added.

Earlier, the Health Ministry confirmed that one of 30 deaths in Western Ukraine since mid-October that had been attributed to flu and pneumonia had been caused by the H1N1 strain, commonly known as swine flu.

“So far, not all the dead were tested [for H1N1],” a Health Ministry spokeswoman said. “However, tests on one dead [person] proved positive.”

“We are considering [imposing] a quarantine not only in the west, but also across the country because the virus is spreading very fast,” Health Minister Vasyl Knyazevych told a news conference, without giving details.

Glad I got in Ukraine and back out when I did a week ago. I may have been stuck for a while…

Think maybe this has to do more with control of people at election time than the flu?

Update: Seems that I hear that 11 have died from confirmed swine flu cases. That is eleven of the 30 or so reported deaths. Not eleven new deaths…

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I have ignored this long enough. I have waited to see if for some reason it gets called off like so many Heavyweight fights seem to have happen. As of right now it looks like this fight will happen.

Going to be held in Bern, Switzerland on November 7th, 2009 Russia’s Nikolay Valuev vs. Britain’s David Haye in a sanctioned Heavyweight match.

David Haye (22-1, 22 KOs) vs Valuev (50-1, 34 KOs)

My money is going to the Russian Giant – He has trained very hard and I really think he is ready for this fight…

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Hello,

I was drinking my morning cup of coffee and thinking back to the start of Windows to Russia! It was brought on by the fact that I have well exceeded 1600 posts and really did not realize that we had.

The road has been long and not always very fun…

When I first started this blog I had a very strong group against us that was anti Russian and Anti Windows to Russia! I was attacked by multiples of Russian hate blogs, forums and sites and that has never ended but almost has stopped. What has definitely ended is that they all realize that Svetlana and I are not going away.

So many Russian blogs and Russian websites looked down their noses at us and we ignored them and kept going. Now we sit and watch these Russian blogs and Russian websites disappear one by one or slow their posting to a trickle.

We believe in what we are doing and will always strive to do better. Windows to Russia is a constant evolving process that never stops and never rests. If you read this you will be one of thousands that do. That is what we am proud of and hope one day that you will be one of ten thousands reading every day!

It was even important enough to us to set the blogs back a year by changing domains. In fact the move was much more successful than we could have imagined and in less than a month we have started back on the road to new territory.

The domain is easy now – just remember www.windowstorussia.com

Were else can you go and find such a conglomeration of blogs with Russian facts, news, photos, videos and everyday life in Russia under one roof? (so to speak)

I mean one thing that I have said many times: “My goal is to change one persons attitude at a time, about Russia!”

I have the rest of my life here to do that. 🙂

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

PS: I want to thank all of our readers and hope that you spread the word and get new people wondering – What is going on in Russia?

As you all know I have followed this poor freighter from the beginning and now we seem to have at least a light at the end of the tunnel. It looks like the men can come home finally, that have been imprisoned (so to speak) on the vessel for a long time. Russia has lifted all restrictions on the vessel which is allowing it to port at Malta. (Which is the flag it sails under by the way!)

Tidbit of information:

MOSCOW, October 29 (Itar-Tass) -A group of Maltese experts of the Civil Defense Department who tested the Arctic Sea freight ship for radioactivity and presence of hazardous chemical particles have found nothing unusual, the Fairplay Maritime information provider reported with reference to a source in the Malta government.

Is this the end of the tale of a hijacked freighter called the “Arctic Sea”?

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.