Windows to Russia

Here in Russia the rumors of Wal-Mart breaking into the Russian market always float around. But the truth is: Russia has a fantastic retail giant called Auchan. I have been a Auchan fan since moving to Russia. It has the feel of Wal-Mart back when Sam Walton was still alive. A company that put people first…

Privately held French big-box chain Auchan is growing fast in China, Russia, and elsewhere as it challenges Wal-Mart, Carrefour, and Tesco.

Quick, what’s France’s answer to Wal-Mart? Until now, it has been Paris-based Carrefour, the global No. 2 retail chain. But increasingly, another French retailer, Auchan, is giving both Carrefour and Wal-Mart a run for their money.

Over the past decade, Auchan (pronounced oh-shon) has expanded rapidly into China, Russia, and Eastern Europe. Based near the northern French city of Lille, the privately held company is now the world’s 14th-biggest retailer, with 1,200 stores in 12 countries and annual sales of $59 billion. (Link)

Just a few weeks ago Carrefour pulled out of Russia after a short try at going head to head with Auchan. Carrefour found that Auchan was a powerhouse in Russia just like they are finding the same in China. The picture above is from our collection of photos and believe me – This is what a Auchan looks like all the time when open.

Auchan reports that they have received a slight drop in sales but have maintained growth. This is a fact because Svet and I are avid Auchan fans. As of this writing I would say that Auchan has started a new growth period, because the stores are busier than I have ever seen them.

One thing that makes Auchan a favorite for me is that they have bought the home-improvement chain Leroy Merlin and I am here to tell you Leroy Merlin has it all for home improvement. Home Depot lovers would turn their heads and look twice.

What does Wal-Mart have in competition if they try to break into Russia? They might find the same thing that happened in Germany where Wal-Mart failed… (Russians like their Auchan)

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Georgia is really in a tissy over this one. South Ossetia caught 16 Georgians cutting lumber on their territory and the Russians have them in custody. Georgia is demanding immediate release of the woodcutters. Now what Tbilisi is not expressing very loudly is that they caused the problem.

As is known in this part of the world, Georgia regards the border with South Ossetia to be administrative only and considers any and all the natural resources of South Ossetia to be its own. The land in the frontier zone have many times been the reason for armed conflict situations.

So Georgia has been announcing that:

“Any Georgian has got the right to cross the border now as it had been before last August when the Akhalgori region was under control of the Georgian authorities and was part of the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region.” (Link)

This in effect caused a confusion to the woodcutters. They really think that they have a right to go to South Ossetia and cut all the wood they want.

Well maybe not – but it sounds good!

So Russia needs to let the guys go home and Georgia needs to quit playing games with South Ossetia – before someone gets hurt – again…

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Update:

16 detained Georgians chopped woods illegally:

This is an interesting video. It shows a Russian Military robot that is under development. In some ways it is very neat but in other it seems to be a little bit out dated. It seems I can remember some much more advanced models made by Japan.

Maybe that is because it is just a prototype. It seems to me that it has advanced technology on a weak frame and system.

It also seem top heavy with the armament. I think that they are on the right track and I would rather see one of these blown up than a human any day…

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

A Ukrainian deputy prime minister expressed confidence on Tuesday that there would be no new end-of-year dispute with Russia over gas supplies, but conceded that meeting monthly bills was not easy.

Remember these words as we approach the end of the year and lets really hope that Ukraine means it.

The deal is that Ukraine is in an election for her president time! (Funny how that makes things work better.)

I lay the odds that there will not be a problem this year with gas supplies to Europe…

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Svet and I had a good visa trip as I expressed in Part 1. We had gotten our visa in record time and the cost was almost cut in half. Svet and I looked at each other and said at the same time, “We could go home right now!” We laughed and decided to go to our hotel that we had reserved and regroup. This is where a bump in the road happened…

Svet and I went to the hotel and the hotel did not have our reservation. They also said that they had no rooms except for the most expensive rooms. Now I have been coming to this hotel for over three years now. I have watched a transformation of a good inexpensive hotel into a poor service expensive hotel. They have been remodeling rooms for years now and they have succeeded in removing all decent priced rooms from their roster. They simply want the high dollar people… (Keep in mind that I have literally been here every three months for three years and at some points have stayed a month at a time.)

I told Svet – lets go and search for a new hotel – And that is what we did.

Svet and I found a hotel called Tourist and it was next to a metro station. It cost the same as the other hotel’s economy rooms and all the rooms have been refurbished. It had a fantastic breakfast included in the room price. To say the least we were very happy with the new accommodations.

So Svet and I have found a new place to stay in Kiev and it very conveniently located to public transport of all types.

Now after that escapade with hotels. Svet and I needed something to do. So we just got on the metro and I just picked a station to get off and we were going to walk the city. I happened to pick a familiar station with out realizing it. It was the station that lead to the Cave Monastery.

Now this is a cool monastery and I remembered that they had a great place to eat there. So we walked to the monastery and moseyed around for a few hours. We found the cafe that is run by the monastery and enjoyed a good home cooked meal. Svet and I also visited a WWII park near the monastery and got to see about a dozen weddings. Seems that everyone wanted to get married that day.

As we ended our day and trip in Kiev we got to see thousands and thousands of people marching in the streets. (We heard later it was 200,000 thousand.) After asking what was happening, we found out that Yulia Tymoshenko the Ukraine Prime Minister was speaking downtown Kiev that day. (We will tell you that she has a lot of supporters who talk very very highly of her.)

We had a blast in Kiev…

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Lapsha is Russian for noodles. Traditionally, the noodles are cooked right before adding them to the soup. This is a delicious soup that has more variations then you could count. Everyone has a secrete recipe that is handed down from Grandma. My recipe comes from my collection and this soup was used at many of my banquet functions in America. So lets make a wonderful soup that will warm any cold winter night…

Ingredients:

Whole chicken (try to use fresh not frozen – I like straight from the local market)
1 big onion
1 quart / liter of water per pound of chicken
salt
2 to 3 celery stalks (or root will do in a pinch – just use half the amount)

Noodle Ingredients:
5 egg yolks
10 table-spoons of cold water
salt
plain flour

Lets Make the Broth:

Boil the chicken and celery until done with the whole uncut onion (after onion is peeled of course) in a large sauce pan on medium heat. (It is done when chicken starts to fall apart)

After finished cooking, remove chicken and onion and celery. (I like to strain the broth)

Leave broth in sauce pan and remove bones and skin from chicken.

Put only the meat back into the saucepan with the broth. (Do not put skin, onion or celery back in broth. I also do not put any meat back in except the white meat.)

Lets Prepare the Noodles:

Mix yolks and water and salt to taste in a mixing bowl. (fork whipping is fine)

Then in mixing bowl add flour till the pastry will be not sticky and will be stretchable.

Continue to knead dough for at least 10 minutes.

Then roll it out like pie dough thickness into a circle shape and leave standing for 10 minutes.

After standing for 10 minute powder the top with flour and roll the circle up into a long tube. (Other words it looks like a skinny carrot)

Slice the rolled up dough into thin slices no more than one eighth of an inch thick and leave sitting for 10-15 min.

Prepare another sauce pan with water boiling (Three liters is enough water.) and add the noodles to the boiling water for no more than two minutes (2 min)

Also start reheating on low to medium heat the chicken broth that you made.

Then strain the noodles out of the water and add them to the chicken broth.

Cook till noodles will be finished and the broth seems to be thickening. Takes anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 minutes.

Notes:

The idea is to create a clear type broth and not have any veggies showing. The center stage of this recipe is the Lapsha noodles…

I also use carrots and garlic – just remember to remove them after cooking. If recipe seems large just cut all proportions equally and result will be the same.

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Russian cities. Novy Urengoi:
Novy Urengoy is a town in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District in west Siberia with a population of some 118.378 It was founded in 1975 after the discovery of the Urengoy natural gas field, one of the largest in Russia.

Russia, India, China set to forge energy ties:
The foreign ministers of Russia, India and China agreed on Tuesday to enhance energy cooperation.

Two sailors found dead on Russian cargo ship in South Africa:
A Russian and a Ukrainian sailor have been found dead in South Africa on a cargo ship run by a St. Petersburg-based firm, a Russian online edition said on Tuesday.

Russia reports first swine flu deaths:
Two women diagnosed with swine flu have died in eastern Siberia’s Chita, the regional governor’s press service said on Tuesday.

Russian missile cruiser to depart on visit to Singapore:
The missile cruiser Varyag, the flagship of Russia’s Pacific Fleet, will sail on Tuesday on a month-long tour-of-duty, which will include a visit to Singapore.

Medvedev urges Russian defense industry to create superior weapons:
The Russian president said on Monday that the country’s defense industry must ensure the effective modernization of the military and provide it with state-of-the-art weapons.

Russian Opel rolls off the line as Magna-Sberbank deal awaits sign off:
The first Russian produced Opel has come out of the Avtotor Kaliningrad plant, ahead of the finalization of the GM-Sberbank-Magna deal for the Russian Canadian joint venture to buy into GM’s German arm.

EU read Tagliavini’s report:
It includes many-sided relations with the countries of the region, as well as issues of conflict settlement, he specified.

EU Lifts Uzbek Sanctions Despite Rights Concerns:
The European Union has lifted sanctions on Uzbekistan, despite concerns about human rights in the former Soviet republic.

South Ossetia Detains 16 Georgians:
Georgia’s rebel South Ossetia region has said it had detained 16 Georgian citizens for illegally crossing its de facto border, causing concern in Tbilisi and among European cease-fire monitors.

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

As you know I have been following this story on the Arctic Sea for quite some time now. This poor ship has been through the ringer so to speak and there still is a captain and three crew members who are still on board, along with Russian investigators.

The Russian-crewed and Maltese-flagged cargo ship at the center of a mysterious hijacking case is currently being towed towards Malta and may be handed over on Tuesday, the ship’s Finnish owner said.

“The Arctic Sea might be there as soon as tomorrow, in the afternoon,” said Viktor Matveyev, director of Solchart, which holds 100% in the Maltese firm that owns the vessel.

Matveyev earlier said he would travel to Malta to discuss details of the vessel’s handover.

Matveyev said Malta’s maritime officials intended to examine the ship before deciding whether to allow it to enter the port of Valletta or not.

It has not sunk yet and just might be let into the Maltese port… (Remember I said might, because it has not happened yet!)

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Link to Arctic Sea Articles by Windows to Russia!

I am very proud of Svet. She has worked very hard on a blog named Russian Videos from Russia! This blog has now finally come into its own and has been recognized by Google as a major video source for Russian videos. It has reached the top of the list when it comes to the term Russian Video. (http://www.google.com/#q=Russian+Video&hl=en&sa=G&newwindow=1&fp=1&cad=b) Everything above her blog is either paid links or YouTube related links.

Svet has almost posted one video a day for a long time now. She has 500 videos and it looks like she loves the blog so much that we are going to see a lot more. Svet also has a weekend movie most every weekend that is usually an old soviet movie and is full length. These weekend movies take Svet a long time to do because many times she has to download, convert format and process her own movies.

Last full length movie that she posted was “Queen of the Gypsies“, a made in 1975, by Moldavian film director Emil Loteanu and in 1976 “Queen of the Gypsies” won the Golden Seashell at San Sebastián International Film Festival. I found the movie really wonderful and was entertainment that we all need to stop and watch. The actors made a believer out of the audience and will make a believer out of you that the life of a Gypsy is carefree and interesting…

I stay out of the blogs workings unless I have to help her and she has gotten to where she needs very little help anymore. So I am very very proud of my Sweetie… 🙂

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Hey everyone!

Svet and I had the most pleasant visa trip ever. It went like clock work and there were no bad surprises.

First of all – lets remember that I had a passport stolen last time and this trip finally cleared up all the loose ends from that trip. I now have a brand new passport from America and got back and forth across the borders with minimal hassle. (Due to having to show a total of three USA passports at one time to explain why this stamp was here and not there…)

The train trip to Kiev was really nice and peaceful. Left at 7pm Thursday night and got to Kiev at 7am Friday morning. Svet and I stopped at the McDonald’s near the Russian Consulate and had a good breakfast. When the Consulate opened we got right in and proceeded with business. This is where the good surprises happened!

I have been coming to this consulate for umpteen visas. I am always there by 9am and done by 10am with paperwork. The visas always take one or two days to process and $400 dollars.

Then surprise number one happened – When we presented our paperwork the lady that we always give the paperwork to said that will be $250 dollars. (Huh – I thought: What did she say?) I looked at Svet and we both kept our mouths shut. 🙂

Then surprise number two happened – The lady said you can pick the visa up between 11am and 12 noon! (Huh – I thought: What did she say? [As I looked at the clock and realized that was only an hour away] I looked at Svet and we both kept our mouths shut. 🙂

Svet and I walked to the cashier station and were told the very same instructions again. ($250 dollars and in one hour we can get the visa!) (Cooooool!)

To make a long story short – Svet and I waited around and at 11am we had my passport and visa in it to Russia. We just got to Ukraine and we were done with business!

So being good little travelers like Svet and I are we decided to do some sight seeing after checking into the hotel. That is where part two of this story begins tomorrow….

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Windows to Russia – Articles on Visas:

http://www.google.com/visa This is a Google Link to all our articles on visa there are some 50 articles…

http://www.windowstorussia.com/2009/10/visa-run-to-ukraine.html
http://www.windowstorussia.com/2009/10/in-russia-my-plans-neve
http://www.windowstorussia.com/2009/08/pickpocket-we-all-think-
http://www.windowstorussia.com/2009/08/pickpocket-we-all-think-
http://www.windowstorussia.com/2009/07/pickpocket-we-all-think-
http://www.windowstorussia.com/2009/07/pickpocket-we-all-think-
http://www.windowstorussia.com/2009/07/pickpocket-we-all-think-
http://www.windowstorussia.com/2009/07/windows-to-russia-back-
http://www.windowstorussia.com/2009/04/windows-to-russia-kiev-
http://www.windowstorussia.com/2009/04/getting-visa-to-russia-he
http://www.windowstorussia.com/2009/04/from-russia-kiev-ukraine

And on and on…