Windows to Russia

Russian nuclear Arsenal total 3,906 warheads:
The Defense Ministry has revealed that Russian armed forces have 3,906 nuclear warheads and 811 delivery systems at the moment.

Russia strengthens India’s defenses with nuclear subs:
India has become the sixth country in the world to build a nuclear-powered submarine capable of firing ballistic missiles. Moscow played a key role in the construction of the current sub, and has agreed to lease another.

Take a bus trip – put your life at stake:
After a series of minibus crashes, taking a ride in Moscow is becoming a game of Russian roulette. The authorities are blaming bad driving, but the operators say it is because they cannot get qualified staff.

Ukraine, Georgia’s accession to NATO “hypothetical”:
Ukraine and Georgia are not ready to become NATO members, and their accession at the moment is only “hypothetical”, the new NATO Secretary General said.

South Ossetian village shelled in another Georgian violation:
The South Ossetian Ministry of Defense says the village of Otrev, near the South Ossetian capital Tskhinval, was shelled on Monday evening.

Rising NPL’s cast pall over banking sector:
Russia’s Central Bank says the level of non performing loans in the banking sector reached 4.5% in the first half. But many it’s likely to get worse as the Russian economy approaches the anniversary of the crisis.

Jack Sparrow to rescue Russian children?:
“Pirates of the Caribbean” star, Hollywood beau Johnny Depp, has reportedly agreed to star in a Russian film aimed at children.

Man busted for wearing too much underwear:
Belarus’ customs have caught an unlucky smuggler, who tried to cross the border from Ukraine wearing 16 pairs of briefs.

Russian bikers on a ride to South Ossetian capital:
Moscow’s bikers have set off on a peace drive to mark the first anniversary of the war in South Ossetia. They will link Moscow and Tskhinval covering, over 6,000 kilometers.

Octogenarian man of muscle:
For most 80-year-olds, their athletic days are over. But one grandfather in the Russian republic of Dagestan is making a name for himself as a record-breaking strong-man.

Kokoity Wants Unity With Russia:
A year after Russia and Georgia fought a war over South Ossetia, the leader of the rebel enclave said he wanted to unite his people with Russia and called on the Kremlin to deploy more troops and weapons.

New Raid Worries Market Vendors:
Police said Monday that they had interrupted a major smuggling operation at the Sevastopol market in southern Moscow, raising concerns among foreign merchants that many legitimate import businesses would be caught up in a crackdown on counterfeiting.

Sberbank grants Transneft $382.6 million loan:
Russia’s state savings bank Sberbank has issued a 11.9 billion ruble ($382.6 million) loan to oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, the bank said Monday.

Russia to tighten border controls amid Chinese plague outbreak:
Russia will tighten its borders following an outbreak of pneumonic plague in the Chinese Qinghai Province, Russia’s Chief State Health Inspector Gennady Onishchenko said on Monday.

Around 50 journalists killed worldwide in 2009:
At least 46 journalists have been killed in 21 countries since the beginning of 2009, the International News Safety Institute (INSI) report said.

Patriarch Kirill urges Ukrainian priests to accept everyone:
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, on a 10-day visit to Ukraine, has called on Orthodox priests to accept everyone with love.

Russian Communist Party to protest U.S. stance on S.Ossetia:
Russia’s Communist Party will hold protests outside the U.S. embassy in Moscow on Friday to mark Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia, Party leader Gennady Zyuganov said.

Putin got to play around in a deep diving submarine. He took advantage of the occasion to inspect potentially valuable gas crystals at the bottom of Lake Baikal.

“I haven’t seen anything like that in my whole life. This is a very special feeling,” Putin told reporters upon emerging, looking pale and a bit dizzy after spending more than 4 1/2 hours underwater. Asked if he planned to travel in space after his supersonic flight and deep-sea dive, Putin, dressed in blue overalls, said, “No, there is enough work here on earth.”

Scientists estimate that Baikal hydrates contain over 1 trillion cubic meters of gas, an amount comparable with the world’s largest discovered gas fields.

How come he gets to do all the neat stuff in life anyway?

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Hey World,

I would like to ask a question of the Western Press. Why does the Western Press not say a word about this contract killing in Moscow, Russia?

(Link to video of killing)

MOSCOW, July 31 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow police are conducting a manhunt for the killer of a top manager at one of Russia’s largest defense firms, Almaz-Antei, a law enforcement source told RIA Novosti on Friday.

Fact is that if it was a journalist or Human Rights Activist murdered the Western Press would be all over it like a fly on stink. But since it is not important to the World of journalism called the Western Press, they could care less. (Anyone say double standards?)

Russia has had it all over their news just like any other murder that happens. They have had videos and all the trimmings.

My big beef about this is that there are huge double standards. A contract killing is a contract killing no matter who dies. If a journalist is killed and everyone goes bananas then where is the banana cases over this killing?

Oh – I forget only report when it hurts Russia…

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Hello,

It seems that Australia is upset with Russia. It seems that Russia buys 70% of all exported Kangaroo meat produced by Australia and Russia is citing a sanitation issue that has not been solved by the Australian government. So Russia will stop importation of Kangaroo meat as of August 1st 2009.

It seems that Russia’s ban on kangaroo meat imports will destroy certain rural communities in Australia, and will lead to a possible dangerous rise in kangaroo populations. According to farming lobby groups in Australia.

Australia’s Weekly Times stated on Friday as saying kangaroo harvesting and exporting would become non-functioning without the Russian market.

Did you know that Russians eat Kangaroo?
Did you know that Russia buys 70% of all Kangaroo meat produced by Australia?

We do now!

I have never in three years in Russia have seen Kangaroo meat for sale…

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Moscow police hunt killer of manager at Russian defense firm:
Moscow police are conducting a manhunt for the killer of a top manager at one of Russia’s largest defense firms, Almaz-Antei, a law enforcement source told RIA Novosti on Friday.

Russian monetary base down 0.6% in week to $130 bln:
Russia’s Central Bank said Friday the country’s narrowly defined money supply (M1) was 4 trillion 59.6 million rubles ($130 billion at the current exchange rate) as of July 27, down 0.6% in the week since July 20.

South Ossetia to make territorial claim on Georgian gorge:
South Ossetia intends to demand the return of its former territory, the Truso Gorge, which is currently a part of Georgia, the former Georgian republic’s president said on Friday.

Gazprom posts 40.8% net profit drop in 1H09 under RAS:
Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Friday its net profits calculated under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) decreased 40.8% year-on-year in January-June 2009 to 169 billion rubles ($5.3 billion).

Russia’s Norilsk Nickel posts net profit of $1.7 bln for Q2:
Russia’s Norilsk Nickel announced on Friday a net profit of 52.1 billion rubles ($1.65 billion) according to Russian Accounting Standards for the second quarter of this year.

Ukrainian diplomat expelled from Russia named:
One of the Ukrainian diplomats to be expelled by Russia as part of the tit-for-tat row has been named as Igor Berezkin, a source in the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry was cited by the UNIAN news agency as saying on Friday.

Russian energy minister to visit Iraq in early August:
Russia’s energy minister Sergei Shmatko said on Friday he would pay a visit to Iraq in early August to discuss oil and energy cooperation.

Russia’s Nerpa nuclear sub starts sea trials in Far East:
Russia’s Nerpa nuclear attack submarine, damaged in a fatal accident during tests in November last year, started on Friday the second stage of new sea trials, a source involved in the tests said.

Russia dismisses NATO membership suggestions:
Moscow dismissed on Thursday comments by a U.S. administration official suggesting that Russia could become a member of NATO.

This recipe is as easy and simple. The idea for showing this recipe came from a good reader of ours Blackseabrew. He was just in Ukraine and looks to me like he had some of these fantastic pancakes. So since Blackseabrew suggested it, I present – Syrniki or Curd Pancakes!

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup of well drained cottage cheese
1 large egg
2-3 tbs of sugar
1/2 cup flour

Mix:
Put all the ingredients in a medium size mixing bowl. Mix until the consistency is that of a bread dough and even lumpy in appearance. Add a pinch more flour if it seems to be to thin.

Make and Fry:
I use my fingers and dust them with flour. I pinch off a large spoonful size chunk of dough and roll in a ball. On a floured surface I flatten the ball into a flat pancake. Make sure that you flip dough and coat both sides with flour.

In a preheated (medium heat) non stick skillet with a layer of veggy oil in the bottom. Lay the pancakes one at a time into the oil. (Careful do not splash)

Fry until first side is golden brown (or even darker like we like them). Turn the pancake over and fry until the second side is golden brown.

Eat:
Syrniki taste great with sour cream, jam, jelly, preserves, molasses, sorghum, maple syrup and they are great just plain… Yummy!

Notes: They are best made with farmers cheese, goat cheese, Syrniki are many times made with a mixture of pot cheese (similar to cottage cheese but is drained longer and therefore has a slightly drier texture). Hense the need to drain cottage cheese very thoroughly in America.

(singular syrnik; in Russian, сырник[и])

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

Hey Everyone,

Yesterday I started a series of posts about the Visa trip that I just made to Ukraine. (Part 1) Today we will have Part 2 of that series. Today lets talk about what the first thing that you should do after having something stolen from you in Ukraine.

Being from America and even with my experience in Moscow, Russia. You call the police or as they say here in this part of the world – Militsiya! I reported the incident within 5 minutes of it happening and this started a whole day of total Stupidity! (With a capital S)

I reported it to the Metro Police at the station: That got about as far as give us 1000 hryvnia and we will try to help. (“Try” he said and 1000 hryvnia is way over a hundred dollars) The next was cops on the streets of Ukraine. They were the nicest and directed to a precinct to report such cases. (Never found the precinct though, but the street cops showed real concern and really it was not their jurisdiction.) I then tried the next metro station police and got the – This is not our problem look – Then I went to my hotel and got directions to another precinct – There I got the – get away because we are busy attitude – (I looked around and they were busy alright – eating donuts and cookies – sound familiar to us Americans) Then I called the American Embassy and talked to a nice gentleman about the situation – He directed me to another precinct and said that they can help me. (By the way The American Vice President, Joe Biden was in Ukraine. This caused me huge delays and issues trying to get things done. The Embassy was closed while he was there… ???) – I went to where the American Embassy directed me to the police – You guessed it – Do Not Bother Us, We Are Busy, How About Bribe Money? We Could Try With The Correct Incentive!

Since I am a anti-incentive sort of guy when it comes to my and Svet’s money. I gave up on trying to do the correct thing.

I decided to do it my way! 🙂 I realized that the Ukraine police would and could not solve any issues. I will say with all honesty that they (Ukraine Militsiya) make the Russian Militsiya look fantastic!

I proceeded back to the hotel get some rest and good food – then proceed at 6 am the next morning to tackle the issues one step at a time.

Part 3 is a continuation of what happened next when I go to the American Embassy in Ukraine…

PS: One important fact – When you are pick-pocketed you had something stolen not robbed. Report correctly because they get bent out of shape if reported wrong. Robbed is by weapon and stolen is like theft. (I myself felt robbed, stolen, violated, and insulted)

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.

I see a lot more upper military starting to step forward and express their opinions on what is happening in America.

Very good video from Russia Today!

Windows to Russia!
comments always welcome.