Windows to Russia

In the Soviet era it seems that towns were built for specific purposes. Example is this town called Ermolino, which is 80 kilometers away from Moscow. Is a town built only for blind people.

It was an ambitious project, the city for 40,000 people, where the blind would have their own recreational, educational and rehabilitation centers, is now just a few dozen houses and a factory with one fifth of its initial workforce. The collapse of the Soviet Empire was a death sentence to this town and many others like it, all over the former Soviet Union.

Like many towns in Russia it is slowly becoming a ghost town and one day will be totally empty…

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

The Russian market still talks of dollars and cents to the world and here is proof that is true. Looks Like Burger Kings Wants to Get in Russia?: The U.S. fast food giant has been focusing on putting the necessary infrastructure in place over the past several months in Moscow and other major Russian cities. Seems that Moscow may have some competition coming for McDonald’s and believe me McDonald’s has no competition in Russia! Have it your way Russia…

So while Burger King is getting ready to make McDonald’s life in Russia more complicated. Lets see what some really bad guys wanted to do: Bombers Had Tickets To Moscow: The suspected insurgents were found with explosives strapped to them, hand grenades and train tickets to Moscow. They started a gun fight and all three men were killed during the exchange of gun fire. Now that was three really bad men.

It seems to me that this survey is actually fairly accurate. Russians want their own way – survey: The majority of Russians want a unique way of life, and want it to be protected from alien ideas, a recent study has revealed. Other words they want the Western world to keep their ideas and attitudes away from Russia. Russian people have lost the trust for the Western world and the Western world have only themselves to blame…

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

I always have found it strange that candy and food manufacturers also produce pet foods. It makes sense in a way but since I was a director of food service for many many years. The thought that the same food humans eat, being produced by pet food manufacturers, seemed to put a funny feeling down my spine…

Global company Mars is to produce pet food in Russia’s Volga city of Ulyanovsk, the region’s governor Sergei Morozov told RIA Novosti.

“Today Mars launched its first production line turning out pet food in the Ulyanovsk Region,” Morozov said, adding that total investment in the project was over 1.5 billion rubles (around $47 million) which would generate around $9.5 million in taxes for the local budget. (Link)

Lets see what else the company Mars makes. They make the Mars bar one of the most popular candy bars in the world. Yummy! They are good… But does pet food go with a candy bar? I thought chocolate was bad for dogs?

Next we have something we all know and love – M and M’s. Some people think that the M and M guys are pets though, so maybe that is a connection?

Oh – I love this rice and used it extensively in food service. It is a high quality product and virtually fool proof – add red beans, crushed red pepper and what a meal! They make Uncle Ben’s if you did not know…

Does this look like Pet food?

Hey we found pet food and what hungry kitty would pass up real rabbit kitty chow? They make Whiskas cat food if you did not know…

And just for the dogs we have Pedigree! I know our dog loves this brand and there is no chocolate in it…

Kidding aside – The company also makes many many more items they have a line up that includes snacks, drinks, pets and foods!

Did you know that Mars had 7 of the top 20 candy bars in the world? Too find out about Mars company follow this link… (Link)

I am glad that Mars trusts Russia enough to continue their growth here. More companies need to follow their path and they will find out that Russia is a fantastic market for growth!

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Over $300 mln needed to repair Siberian dam after accident:
Russia’s energy ministry has requested $9.6 billion rubles ($303 million) from the 2010 budget to repair a South Siberian hydropower plant hit by a deadly accident on August 17.

Over 80 children hospitalized with food poisoning in Ukraine:
The number of children hospitalized with food poisoning in Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea has risen to 83.

Armed men attempt to seize offices of Ukrainian brandy factory:
A group of unknown assailants have attempted to seized the office of Ukraine’s largest brandy producer.

Many dead after NATO air-strike hits fuel tankers in Afghanistan:
Up to 90 people died in north Afghanistan when two fuel tankers exploded after they were hit by a NATO air-strike,the governor of the Kunduz province said on Friday.

Richard Sakwa: The main challenge is to find an appropriate model of ‘the international’ in Russian domestic politics:
RIA Novosti interview with Richard Sakwa, Professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent, Associate Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House.

Body parts of missing Siberian dam accident victims found:
Body parts believed to belong to the last two missing victims of August’s deadly accident at a South Siberian hydro-power plant have been found, a source at a local medical center said on Friday.

North Korea enters ‘final phase of uranium enrichment’:
North Korea has begun the final stage of uranium enrichment, a method of producing nuclear weapons.

Sharapova advances to 3rd round of U.S. Open:
Russia’s Maria Sharapova has advanced to the third round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York after defeating on Thursday Christina McHale of the United States.

Russian cab driver admits spying for Georgia:
A Russian cab driver admitted spying for Georgia during his trial at a Supreme Court in Russia’s southern republic of North Ossetia, a source in the court said on Thursday.

Lack of threat from Russia stumps NATO:
The lack of a genuine threat from Russia makes it far harder for NATO to decide on its polices than during the Cold War, a Moscow-based analyst said on Thursday.

British court issues arrest warrant for fugitive Russian tycoon:
A British court has issued an arrest warrant for businessman Yevgeny Chichvarkin, wanted in Russia on kidnapping and extortion charges, a spokeswoman for the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said on Thursday.

Body found in collapsed Moscow car park:
Rescuers have found a body among the debris of an underground multi-story car park in Moscow, which collapsed during construction work on Thursday morning, an investigator said.

Russian researchers to hunt for tsarist gold in Lake Baikal:
Russian researchers are planning to hunt for missing tsarist gold, lost in the winter of 1919-1920 during the Russian Civil War, as part of their final dive of East Siberia’s Lake Baikal on Thursday.

Russian international reserves up $6.6 bln in week:
Russia’s gold and foreign currency reserves increased by $6.6 billion, to $404.9 billion, in the week of August 21 – August 28, the Central Bank of Russia said.

Hey Everyone,

The Moscow mayor, reported to newspapers on Thursday, that they need to just banish snow from the capital.

“Why don’t we just keep this snow outside the Moscow city limits?” said the Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who has a fantastic record of controlling Moscow’s weather.

“For the surrounding area, this means more moisture and bigger harvests. And for Moscow this means less snow.” Luzhkov said, belaying that Moscow already relies on special cloud-seeding techniques to guarantee clear skies on key holidays and events.

Under Luzhkov’s proposal, the skies would be cleared whenever snow-laden clouds — a regular and natural feature of the Moscow winter cityscape — approached the sprawling Russian metropolis.

The mayor said preventing snowfall in Moscow would offer advantages to city residents, including significant cost savings since operations to clear snow from streets cost three times more than stopping snowfall altogether. (Link)

I remember well the first 100 posts and that seemed like a big deal. Actually it was a big deal because when you have a very new blog there is no traffic. So the incentive is not very strong to keep going…

But it is letters like this that make all 1500 posts worth the writing: (Information has been blanked for identity reasons.)

Hi there Kyle and Svet!

We love your blog!!

My name is *******. I am a **** & ********, ******* and *******. My wife and I are originally from ************, living in ************ since 1996. We are obsessed with Russian literature and cinema.

Last year, we had the opportunity to visit Russia. We were beyond impressed! It is a beautiful and wonderful country… and the Russian people are incredibly warm, smart and kind. We only had great experiences and we can’t wait to return!!!

Our trip started in St. Petersburg and we took a cruise down the Volga river to Mandrogi, Kizhi Island (truly magical!), Goritsy, Uglich, Yaroslavl and finally Moscow.

Thank you so much for your postings of everyday life in the city. We actually rented an apartment on Novy Arbat and lived there for about two weeks, feeling like Muscovites, and reading your blog we are reliving those wonderful memories.

Thank you once again!!

На здаровье!!
*****************

When we get an email like this it makes us realize that all the work involved in “Windows to Russia” is worth it. It makes us want to continue the forward progress of the “Windows to Russia” blog system of photos, videos and stories!

We get lots of wonderful letters like this and I picked the last one we got, to print. This letter was received last night…

Svet and I want to thank all our readers, we have thousands of daily readers and all of them are very important to us. Our readers come from all over the world.

So Thank You!

Svet and Kyle

Windows to Russia
comments always welcome.

What would you say if I told you that a Russian woman travels all over Russia alone and by bike. You would probably say, No Way!

Well, 70-year-old Yulia Mikhailyuk is such a woman and has been traveling for over 14 years by bike and recently the pensioner who is from the city of Tver, Russia has crossed a huge length of Russia on just a bicycle. She has covered 8,000 kilometers in three months.

Read the whole article from Russia Today: Link Here!

She has achieved the record as the oldest Russian cyclist in Russia and she plans on cycling around the world next year…

You also can watch a video about Yulia Mikhailyuk here: Russian Video: Yulia Mikhailyuk – 70 Years Old Bike Traveller From Russia

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Looks like Putin did a good job today in Poland. What with all the Western press putting the pressure on full blast about the start of WWII and Stalin!

SPIEGEL ONLINE

You gotta put credit due were it is due. Putin shows that he is one of the worlds best leaders everyday of his life…

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

I just posted an article about our fun this weekend! But I did not put all our fun in this article…

You have to read that article link above to understand what the time frames are for this article. But I will simply put it that it was about 11:00pm Sunday night and we had just watched a wonderful movie. Svet and I stopped at McDonald’s and had a bite to eat…

After we ate I decided to check the oil on our Volga and had the back tailgate and hood open. I was standing by the tailgate when this car with a single young man pulled up and he was showing all signs of distress. He asked to use a phone and Svet let him call from hers. He even got in our car.

I felt no danger from him but knew he was a danger to himself or someone. He was polite and could even speak a little English. Now this young man tried to call about three times on Svet’s phone and then ran to his car. He brought a purse and put it in the back of our station wagon and closed the tailgate. He then asked Svet if he could buy the phone?

We both said, No! He apologized and shook my hand and said thank you. When I held his hand and shook it, I felt the stress in him like a balloon ready to pop. He was showing classic signs of tremendous pressure and I knew he was ready to crack at any second.

He said thank you again before he left. As he started his car, Svet walked to the front of our car and I turned and looked at the young man. He showed me a weapon in his open palm no finger on trigger and he was shaking his head as if to say (A bad thing is going to happen real soon) …

Like I said he was not ill willed toward us. Then he gunned the engine and tore out of there.

I was at that point after he left, I reopened opened the tailgate and looked through the purse. The purse belonged to a young lady and her passport was in the purse. I immediately told Svet to call the police and tell them what happened. I told Svet that he was on his way to either kill this girl or kill himself….

The police finally came and we turned the purse over to them. We tried to explain what happened and like us they had a rough time believing that it happened. It makes no sense if you look at it in a black and white context. But…

I understood what took placed and only because I felt the situation as it unfolded. I heard the car that the young man was driving, as it tore around the parking lot corner. It had an angry sound and it abruptly stopped behind our car. I felt the tension even before he got out of the car. The young man obviously just had a bad falling out with this young lady. He somehow ended up with her purse as the fight ended. He stopped wanting to call her on a phone. She did not answer. He gave us the purse to give us information on who it was he was upset with. He showed me the gun to let me know what he was about to do! As I said, he was not ill toward us and it was more of a son and father second. When dad knows his son has lost it over a girl and you realize you can not stop what is about to unfold… (I hope that his few minutes talking to Svet and I, took the edge off of his anger…)

I just hope that the police got to her in time! (She was single and had a two year old child.)

We will most likely never know what happened…

How was your weekend? Ours was interesting!

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome

We needed some of these muffler people to fix our car this weekend…

Hey Everyone,

Svet and I had a very interesting weekend. Grab your self a cup of coffee and lets talk about what the weekend was like.

As you know we have purchased a Volga to replace the one that was stolen several months ago. So we are still trying to get everything done and make our new Volga legal for the Russian roads. Saturday was supposed to be the big day to get the tags, but things never happen like they should.

We had to get a new muffler put on the Volga and for this American it should be a easy thing to do. You just go to a shop that works on exhaust, they install a new muffler and then you are on your way with about an hour delay. Nope it will not happen that way when you are in Russia!

We finally found a shop in our new home area and they looked at it and said, “Yup you need a muffler – Just go get one and we will put it on….?”

I said, “We have to go get a muffler so you can put it on?” Notice I was questioning the validity of such a statement… (In Russia they do not get parts – You always get parts for them to put on.)

So we spent 4 hours finding a parts store that cared enough to get off their rears or even look up and help us get a muffler. Took the muffler back to who said he would put it on and found that he was too busy drinking tea for an hour with his buddies to install a muffler. (Urrrgh)

Svet and I went back to the car and found the battery dead as a door nail! So we walked to the parts store and got a new battery. I put the new battery in and filed some information away in my head that not all was perfect with the charging system but it was Ok for now.

Svet found that the guy was still just too busy to make any money by putting on a muffler and we left upset. As we drove away with the Volga sounding like a farm tractor, Svet saw another little sign that pointed down a side road and mentioned that there was a service center that way.

We turned and wallah wallah bing bang – we found a little shade tree mechanic spot that had several young men working. They were very happy to help and charged half of what the other place would have charged. (Yippy)

All in all it took 12 hours to get a muffler put on and Svet and I were happy that we were able to even get it done at all. Now remember we never even got to the tag department…

The next day (Sunday) Svet and I met the Americans (Dennis and Darrell) that I have talked about who for three weeks have been running around Russia. They have had the time of their life and we wanted to spend a last day with them before they went back home on Monday.

I watched the charging system on the Volga die slowly on Sunday but I knew that she would be Ok for that day. We took Dennis and Darrell to the Moscow river and took an excursion for three hours on the river. This is a fantastic way to spend the day. There are hundreds of large boats that will hold hundreds of people at a time and it travels slowly from one side of Moscow to the other and it gives you a view of Moscow that you normally do not see.

After that we said goodbye to them and wished them well. They had the time of their life in Russia and will be back in a few years. Dennis comes every two years and this year he was able to bring his oldest son. Dennis has plans to retire and live in Russia for the rest of his life. I hope he can do that! It is worth it…

Svet and I then pushed our luck and took Sammy the Volga to an international short movie festival. The one thing about Moscow is that there is always something to do…

The movies were fantastic and it was 10:00pm before we started home. That is when the charging system gave out. The head lights were to much and it looked like the regulator or alternator just said goodbye. (Another story is what happened on the way home from the movies!) We got it home and parked as she just started to miss fire from low battery. (Thank goodness!)

Of course this meant that I would wake up on Monday with another whole wonderful thing to do. At least this time I could replace the alternator and regulator. I spent Monday trying to find the parts and installing a new alternator. Svet’s son (Misha) was the one who finally found the parts and drove them over to us. That was a huge help and I was much appreciating his help.

Sammy the Volga is one happy Volga with her new parts and runs like a top now….

How was your weekend?

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.