Windows to Russia

BERLIN, November 18 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has returned six fourteenth-century stained glass windows that were among objects seized by Soviet troops during WWII to a church in Germany.

In 2002, Russia returned 111 stained glass windows to St. Mary’s Church, Marienkirche, in Frankfurt-upon-Oder. They had earlier been stored in the Hermitage museum in Russia’s St. Petersburg. Authorities later discovered that Moscow’s Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts had a further six panes from the church in their storehouse. (Link)

Hello,

Today is the 20th anniversary of the historic flight of Buran. What you may ask is a Buran?

The Buran spacecraft (Russian: Буран, “Snowstorm” or “Blizzard”), GRAU index 11F35 K1, was the only fully completed and operational space shuttle vehicle from the Soviet Buran program. With a design that borrowed heavily from the American Space Shuttle, the Buran completed one unmanned spaceflight in 1988 before cancellation of the Soviet shuttle program in 1993. The Buran was subsequently destroyed by a hangar collapse in 2002.

Like its American counterpart, the Buran, when in transit from its landing sites back to the launch complex, was transported on the back of a large jet aeroplane. It was piggy-backed on the Antonov An-225 Mriya aircraft, which was designed for this task and remains the largest aircraft in the world.

Several shuttles were produced, one of those, the OK-GLI was modified to fly with jet engines for aerodynamic testing. One painted mock shuttle (the former static test-article OK-TVA) is now a ride simulating space flight in Gorky Park, Moscow. The OK-GLI was sold by its owner NPO Energia, shipped to Sydney in Australia and subsequently displayed at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Shortly after, the new owner went bankrupt and the OK-GLI shuttle then went to Bahrain for a number of years while legal ownership status was in dispute. The Sydney/Bahrain (OK-GLI) shuttle was acquired by the German Technikmuseum Speyer in 2004, and has been transported to the museum, where it is exhibited to the general public.

Pavel Sharov from Cosmonauts News Magazine explains the advantages the Soviets had over their rivals in the U.S.

“The USSR surpassed the Americans in technology – U.S. shuttles can only be landed by humans, while the Buran lands automatically,” Sharov said.

Magomet Talboev was one of the pilots who test-flew the shuttle without going into orbit. He said the Soviet authorities had high hopes for the multi-billion dollar spacecraft.

“The Energia-Buran programme was started to get the capability to attack the United States, just like the shuttle was able to attack the USSR. We also wanted to take the Skylab space station from orbit. Buran was supposed to put it in its cargo bay and deliver it back to Earth for studies,” Tolboev said.

On May 12, 2002, a hangar housing a Buran 1.01 orbiter (the actual Buran that flew in 1988) collapsed due to poor maintenance in Kazakhstan. The collapse killed eight workers and destroyed the orbiter as well as a mock-up of an Energia booster rocket.

Buran technologies may make an unexpected return to the space industry as well.

Because NASA will soon retire its ageing space shuttle fleet, some American and Russian scientists are beginning to think of ways to revive the Buran programme.

It may be more economical than developing an entirely new spacecraft from scratch.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.
www.buran-energia.com.

Poster downtown Moscow!

Hello,

Bored? Well read this……

Geography: Russia is the largest country in the world, covering 17.1 million square kilometer. Extending nearly halfway around the northern hemisphere and covering much of eastern and north-eastern Europe as well as the whole of northern Asia, Russia has a maximum east-west extent, along the Arctic Circle, of some 7,700 kilometers and a north-south width of 2,011 to 2,976 kilometers. Russia has an enormous variety of landforms and landscapes. Arctic deserts lie in the extreme north, giving way southward to the tundra and then to the forest zones, which cover about half of the country and give it much of its character. South of the forest zone lies the wooded steppe and steppe, beyond which are small sections of semi-desert along the northern shore of the Caspian Sea. Much of the federation lies in latitudes where the winter cold is intense and there are many rivers, lakes, and swamps, which are freeze in winter.

Climate: Owing to its vast size and the fact that most of Russian’s territory is far removed from any ocean, the climate throughout the country is extremely continental, with distinct periods of warm and cold weather. The continentality of Russia’s climate increases as one travels east, with average temperature differences between the warmest (July) and coldest (January) periods in Eastern Siberia, for example, varying as much as 65 degrees Celsius (117 degrees Fahrenheit). There is, however, much variation in climate based on latitude and physical geography. Temperatures for Moscow and St. Petersburg range from highs of 32 C in the summer to low – 25 C in winter

Population: Of a population of about 145.5 million, nearly 80% are concentrated in Western Russia. Moscow, the largest city in Europe, has a population of 11 million people, and St. Petersburg (former Leningrad) has 5 million inhabitants. Around two-thirds of the population now live in cities. The population size is currently on the decline. Pensioners constitute 23% of the population and the average family size is three people. The average life expectancy rate is much lower than that of other developed countries.

Language: Russian is the country’s official language. It uses the Cyrillic alphabet (rather than the Latin one used by most Western countries), and contains 33 letters. However, the 120 or so nationalities of the Commonwealth of Independent States speak about 48 other languages. Those of Slavic origin (i.e. Russians, Ukrainians and Belorussians) account for approximately 75% of the total population. In Moscow or St Petersburg it is not uncommon to find Russians who speak European languages, especially English.

Living Standards: The Soviet system provided accommodation with very low rents, free social services, subsidized vacations, assisted factory canteens, shops and sports facilities. Few of these remain. Prior to price liberalization, food, drink, cigarettes, public transport and utilities were also very cheap.

Today the recent reforms have forced a significant share of the population (especially pensioners) below the poverty line as inflation has outstripped increases in state benefits. There is a developing middle/commercial class involved in legitimate business. Only a very small proportion have become extremely wealthy, commonly known as ‘novye Russkie.’

Culture & Social Life: Theater, cinema, music and arts are important parts of Russian life; as with other countries funding has fallen for these, and private sponsorship is emerging. Features of Russian culture, which are at the highest of international standards, include the Bolshoi Theater, Pushkin Art Gallery in Moscow and Mariinsky (Kirov) Theater and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Russians also spend a considerable amount of their leisure time at the homes of friends and relatives – they place much importance on friendship and family. Consequently anniversaries and birthdays are celebrated with more gusto than expatriates may be used to at home.

Religion: Russian Orthodoxy is the main religion in Russian, followed to a lesser extent by Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism and Judaism. Religion has become more popular in Russia over the last few years as the Russian Orthodox Church has received official encouragement through the return of property confiscated during the Soviet period. The rebuilding of Christ the Saviour Cathedral (in Moscow) is symbolic of the restoration of the right to practice a religion in Russia, and this development has evoked much emotion amongst Russian (and foreign) people alike.

Ethnic diversity: The territory of Russia is home to more than 100 different ethnic groups representing a multiplicity of national histories and cultures and many distinct language groups, including Indo-European Slavic, Turkic, Finno-Ugric and others. The vast majority of the population – over four fifths – consists of ethnic Russians with another four percent consisting of Ukrainians and Belarussians.

International time: Moscow and St. Petersburg are three hours ahead of London time and eight hours ahead of New York time. Vladivostok is seven hours ahead of Moscow. Travel time to Moscow is about 3 hours and 35 minutes by air from London or Paris, 9 hours from New York, and 10 hours and 25 minutes from Tokyo.

Now that was exciting?

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

Hello,

I was just drinking my morning cup of coffee and trying to decide what to do. So I started to read the Moscow Times and realized that the ads in the paper were all about Christmas. Or better yet Russian Christmas with Father Frost and his Grand Daughter.Last year we ran several posts about the Russian Christmas time and Santa Clause. (Link) (Link) (Link) (Link) (Link)

Seems like I just read that Christmas (Western Version) is about 40 days away!

So we put this countdown to Christmas just so everyone can be reminded how soon Christmas is coming.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

Belarus Finance Minister Andrei Kharkovets signed the so-called currency capitulation in Moscow yesterday. Belarus gets a new intergovernmental loan of $2 billion for 2008 and 2009 by agreeing to pay for Russia’s oil and gas supplies in rubles starting from 2009. From now on, stability of Belarus economy will depend on Russia’s ruble stability and the country will have to amass ruble reserves.

http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?id=1059051

Hello,

I was looking at everything that Russia was up to this week and some of it is pretty good. I will say that Russia is not bored…..

First thing that came to mind was that Robert Gates from the USA came in to have a chit chat about missiles. He was not asked to come in the first place and the Kremlin put out the word that Gates was there to undermine the new Administration of Obama’s. So he was given the cold treatment and told that communication with the new administration will be considered later. After Gates was done he had an attitude and did the “USA Administration Criticize Russia Routine.”

Then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in a televised interview with French journalists broadcast Thursday that Moscow was willing to reconsider deploying Iskander missiles in its westernmost region of Kaliningrad if Washington did not place 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a missile-tracking radar in the Czech Republic.

Of course U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates had already expressed his rejection of the Russian suggestion that both countries scrap plans to place missile systems in Eastern Europe.

Medvedev then went on record for the umpteenth time: “The decision to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia is final and irrevocable, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev made clear in the interview with French Le Figaro. Russia has recognized two new international entities and those entities exist in terms of the international laws, Medvedev said, specifying that one doesn’t joke about things of this kind.”

Then South Ossetia will inform the European Parliament of the failure by EU observers to properly perform their duties in the buffer zone in neighboring Georgia, South Ossetia’s envoy to Russia said on Thursday. South Ossetia is tired of the lack luster attitude that the observers have toward Georgia and allow Georgia to get away with murder and kidnapping.

So now lets touch on the sad subject of the deaths aboard the Russian submarine: “The official report is that a crew member activated without permission a fire safety system on board the Russian nuclear submarine Nerpa, causing the deaths of 20 people, investigators said on Thursday.”

While we are in the open seas lets talk about the possibility that Russia is considering opening a base for its Black Sea Fleet in Abkhazia, a former fleet commander said on Thursday. This has been a idea floating around for the last few months and seems that it might be come a fact.

Then lets go locally and wonder why a 10 year old boy needs to put a cat in the washing machine: “A Muscovite couple called rescuers after hearing their pet inside the washing machine. They called the rescuers after discovering that the door would not open to release him, the spokesman said. The unfortunate cat was put in for a spin by the couple’s 10-year-old son. “

We step to the religious side for a minute: A mysterious man donned in all black and a mask left the Holy relics that were earlier stolen from the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow on the front enterence of the Monastery! Looks like God did some soul twisting on this one.

We end with a report from FBK Audit: World’s leading countries have already spent 9.2 trillion dollars on anti-crisis measures, FBK Audit and Consulting Company said. Great Britain takes the lead at this point as it spent 37 percent of its GDP on the crisis. The United States follows with 3.5 trillion dollars (25 percent of the GDP), Germany comes third with $893 billion (25 percent). The crisis has so far cost Russia $222 billion (13.9 percent of the GDP)

9.2 trillion dollars! Can you even imagine that much money?

That is what Russia has going on this week.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

Evander Holyfield, at the age of 46, will seek to win back a major heavyweight title when he fights Russian giant Nikolai Valuev for the WBA crown next month.

The fight will take place Dec. 20 in the Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland, arena management announced.

Holyfield has not fought since losing an unanimous decision to then-WBO champ Sultan Ibragimov a year ago. The fighter from Atlanta known as the “Real Deal” has a 49-9-2 career record and insists he wants to keep fighting until he regains the title again.

The 7-foot, 330-pound Valuev – once referred to as the ‘Beast from the East’ but now preferring ‘The Russian Giant’ – won a unanimous decision over Ruiz in August to claim the vacant WBA crown.

He told the Zurich tabloid Blick on Thursday that he was excited to face Holyfield.

“I’m taking this fight very seriously,” said the fighter with 49-1 record and 34 knockouts. “Holyfield is a strong opponent … Ten years ago I would not have dreamed of getting into the ring with this champion.”

The fight will be the biggest in Zurich since 1971, when Muhammad Ali knocked out Juergen Blin of Germany in the 7th round.

Link to Article:

I would like to go see this fight!

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

Hello,

I found an interesting report today while drinking my morning cup of coffee. The report was about people who wanted to get a Russian citizenship.

It said that up to 400,000 people receive Russian citizenship a year. It said From 2005 and up, Russian citizenship has been granted to some 400,000 people a year, and over 150,000 people annually receive temporary residence permits.

Also the same report states that since July 2008, approximately 7,000 Russians have returned to the country from former Soviet republics as part of a state-run resettlement program.

The report stated that sufficient funds for the relocation of 600,000 people will be allocated from the federal budget. As of now a total of 66,000 people have applied to relocate under this program and 36,000 of them have already submitted the necessary documents. Russians mainly return from Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Moldova and Kyrgyzstan.

People who decide to return to Russia under the resettlement program can choose between 12 Russian regions. The regions are in the country’s Far East, Siberia, Central Russia and the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.

Report is from the “Federal Migration Service of Russia!”