Windows to Russia

31/01/2008 16:26 MOSCOW, January 31 (RIA Novosti) – Suicide is the primary cause of violent deaths globally with over one million people taking their own lives annually, the head of Moscow’s social and forensic psychiatry center said Thursday.

Suicide is the world’s eighth leading cause of death. Globally, suicide takes more lives than murder and war put together, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report.

“Since 1950 the figure has grown 60% worldwide,” said Professor Boris Polozhy of the Moscow Serbsky Institute for Social and Forensic Psychiatry.

In Europe the country with the highest rate, among both men and women aged 25-64 years, is Lithuania, followed by Belarus, Russia and Latvia. The region with the lowest suicide rate is Latin America.

In Russia, the number of suicides has plunged 30% from 2001 to 2006, when a total of 42,855 Russians committed suicide. Currently, the overall rate is 30 deaths per 100,000, with over 22% of suicides committed by people aged 40-49. Almost six times as many Russian males commit suicide than females.

“The peak suicide rate in Russia was in 1995, and the figure is now falling,” Polozhy said.

Research also shows that the most vulnerable jobs are psychiatrists, musicians, lawyers, military personnel and insurance agents……(Click: read more for rest of News Items)

31/01/2008 15:32 MOSCOW, January 31 (RIA Novosti) – Soviet soldiers buried in the Hungarian village of Kiskorpad will not be removed after the land was sold to a private owner, a Russian embassy spokesman said citing local authorities on Thursday.

The cemetery was sold “through a misunderstanding” and “Hungarian lawyers are considering the issue and drafting proposals in accordance with Hungarian laws,” Irina Zvonova said.

“A move is out of question,” she added citing the village mayor.

In May 2007, the removal of a monument to Soviet soldiers in another ex-Soviet country Estonia led to clashes between protestors and local police, leaving one dead, over 150 injured and more than 1,000 arrested.

The human rights group Amnesty International condemned the situation in Estonia and called on its leadership to respect the rights of ethnic Russians.

31/01/2008 15:42 MOSCOW, January 31 (RIA Novosti) – The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe may refuse to monitor Russian presidential polls due to restrictions, a spokesman for the OSCE’s election-monitoring arm told a national daily.

In an interview with Moskovsky Komsomolets published on Thursday, Curtis Budden, a spokesman for the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), said that conditions set by Russia’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC), meant that his organization would be unable to perform its functions fully.

He said Moscow had given permission for monitors to enter Russia on February 28, which would not give them enough time to adequately prepare to observe the March 2 vote.

The ODIHR refused to monitor Russia’s parliamentary election on December 2 last year, citing visa delays and restrictions. The OSCE subsequently declared the polls not free and not fair.

Budden said the invitation the OSCE had received for the presidential polls “has serious restrictions both in terms of the number of observers and time they are allowed to observe.”

The head of the CEC, Vladimir Churov, said on Monday that 70 ODIHR observers had been invited to monitor the presidential election.

The ODIHR asked Russia on Tuesday to reconsider its quotas for the number of observers as well as the observers’ mandates. A Russian election official said the CEC was studying the OSCE’s request, and the election body’s deputy chairman, Stanislav Vavilov, said a reply would be provided soon.

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia will not allow foreign countries to influence its presidential election.

Speaking at a session of the country’s state security service, the FSB, Putin called for measures to deter “attempts to interfere in Russia’s domestic affairs.”

31/01/2008 14:53 MOSCOW, January 31 (RIA Novosti) – The state-run VTsIOM opinion center forecast on Thursday that Dmitry Medvedev, a first deputy prime minister and a presidential runner, will receive 74.8% of the vote in the March 2 elections.

Another three candidates have passed the registration procedures ahead of the polls in addition to Medvedev: Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, the ultra nationalist Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Andrei Bogdanov, the leader of the tiny pro-Western Democratic Party.

“This is about the number [President] Vladimir Putin received in 2004 [71%],” VTsIOM Director General Valery Fyodorov told a news conference. He added that 75% of Medvedev’s electorate were those who voted for Putin in 2004.

Publicly endorsed as his choice of successor by Putin, Medvedev enjoys high popularity ratings in the country and is the clear front-runner.

Fyodorov forecast that Zyuganov would receive 12.8% of votes, Zhirinovsky 11.5% and Bogdanov a mere 0.9%.

Fyodorov said that a survey conducted among a sample of 1,600 in 46 Russian regions last weekend showed that 63.5 % of respondents would vote for Medvedev, 5.3% for Zyuganov, 5.5% for Zhirinovsky and 0.4% for Bogdanov.

Zyuganov said he would take part in the TV debates.

Fyodorov also said that voter turnout on March 2 would be around 70.7%.

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Hello,

I was drinking my second cup of coffee & I was thinking about the Moscow Metro. So I did a little home work on the Metro.
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Moscow Metro (Russian: Московский метрополитен), which spans almost the entire Russian capital, is one of the world’s most heavily used metro systems. It is well known for the ornate design of many of its stations, which contain beautiful examples of socialist realist art.In total, the Moscow Metro has 292.9 km of route length, 12 lines and 176 stations; on a normal weekday it carries over 7 million passengers. Passenger traffic is considerably lower on weekends bringing the average daily passenger traffic during the year to 6.8 million passengers per day. The Moscow Metro is a state-owned enterprise.
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The Moscow Metro is opens at about 5:30am until 1:00am the next day. The cost to ride the Metro is currently: (Jan, 2008) ; 1 ride is 19 rubles (78 US cents).

I think that the Moscow Metro is fabulous and this is the first of three articles that I am going to do on the Metro.

Lastest Statistics from Metro Site! Link…

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

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Hello,

I was drinking my morning cup of coffee & thinking about the Snow!

I have just finished walking the dog (Boza) & it is snowing very heavy outside. The weather is wonderful, the air is fresh and clean. All the roads and ground is covered with a new coat of white. Just like a fresh paint job.

Boza likes the snow, He sticks his head under the snow & looks for treasures! The picture to the right ====> If you look closely you will see a treasure popping up out of the snow by Boza’s nose…

How about you, Do you like the snow? (I Do)

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

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RBC, 29.01.2008, Moscow 11:55:28.Foreign car sales surged 61 percent to 1.65m cars in Russia in 2007 compared to a year earlier, Russian Economy Minister Elvira Nabiullina said during the official signing of an agreement for the construction of a PSA Peugeot Citroen plant in Kaluga today. The Minister noted that total sales of both Russian and foreign cars (including those assembled in Russia) were expected to reach 4m in 2011. The ministry has already signed 23 agreements with car producers, and investments under these agreements total $5.2bn, Nabiullina stated, adding that total corporate investment in the automobile industry was projected to reach $6.5bn.

RBC, 29.01.2008, Moscow 11:41:59.Russia’s central Election Commission (CEC) has received an official notice from presidential candidate Dmitry Medvedev on his refusal to participate in televised debates prior to the upcoming election, CEC’s press office told RBC today. Meanwhile, another candidate Gennady Zyuganov has not yet filed a similar notice despite speculations on the matter in various media resources. Andrei Bogdanov is poised to participate in the debates…..(Click: read more for rest of the news!)

RBC, 29.01.2008, Moscow 10:41:05.About 30 minutes into this morning’s special dollar trading session for today deals, the low on deals stood at 24.30 RUB/USD, which is RUB 0.30, or 1.2 percent, lower than the official rate set by the Bank of Russia for January 29. The ruble’s noticeable advance against the dollar on the domestic market can be attributed to the euro’s considerable appreciation against the US currency on international exchanges. The euro is now trading at nearly USD 1.4760, up from around USD 1.4660 at the same time at the previous session. Consequently, the euro has gained almost 0.7 percent against the dollar on the global market since then.

RBC, 29.01.2008, Moscow 09:28:14.The owners of the Euroset group of companies do not intend to sell their stakes in the Russian mobile handset retailer and are not currently discussing any borrowings from the public market, the company’s Chairman of the Board of Directors Yevgeny Chichvarkin told journalists. Meanwhile, the group’s President Alexei Chuykin added that any reports of a possible sale of their stakes in Euroset by the current owners were pure rumors that had been circulating for a fairly long time. Chuykin asserted that the company’s business was under no threat whatsoever at the moment, and thus selling stakes in the company would have been senseless. This follows reports citing Euroset executives that the owners were in a position to transfer up to 25 percent in the group to a third-party investor either through a sale and purchase transaction or an IPO. While denying the feasibility of an IPO in the near term due to extreme instability on stock exchanges, Chichvarkin nevertheless did not rule out such a possibility completely in the foreseeable future.

RBC, 28.01.2008, Moscow 19:57:19.Tatneft’s balance-sheet profit increased 27 percent in 2007 from a year earlier, reaching RUB 64bn (approx. USD 2.62bn), the Tatarstan-based company said in a statement. Its sales revenue rose RUB 198bn (approx. USD 8.1bn), up 13.8 percent from 2006. According to earlier reports, the company’s RAS-based net profit grew 3.6 percent to some RUB 34.29bn (approx. USD 1.4bn) in the first nine months of 2007 compared to the same period in 2006.

RBC, 28.01.2008, Moscow 18:22:30.Inflation is expected to range between 5.8 percent and 7 percent in Russia in 2009, Andrei Klepach, head of the Russian Economy Ministry’s macroeconomic forecasting department, told journalists today. This is the revised estimate of social and economic development for 2009-2010, which was discussed during today’s meeting of Russia’s government commission for budget planning. Klepach noted that inflation was expected to reach 7.5-8.5 percent in 2008. Meanwhile, the ministry intends to cut inflation to 5-6 percent by 2010 by means of structural changes in the economy, anti-inflation measures, and stricter monetary policy . Klepach added that the forecast figure could change in the future, but the government was doing everything possible to curb inflation.

RBC, 28.01.2008, Moscow 17:45:14.Russian President Vladimir Putin has held a telephone conversation with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy today, the Russian leader’s press office reported. The two Presidents discussed a number of current issues of bilateral cooperation, including affairs in which third countries were involved. Putin also wished Sarkozy a happy birthday.

RBC, 28.01.2008, Moscow 16:27:56.Chairman of Russia’s Central Election Commission Vladimir Churov signed invitations to international observers during a press conference today. Among the observers invited to monitor Russia’s presidential election were Churov’s colleagues from Italy, the UK, Mongolia, Poland, and other states, including 70 officials from the OSCE. The number of observers invited to the presidential election remains the same as it was during the last parliamentary election.

RBC, 28.01.2008, Nizhny Novgorod 11:41:59.GAZ Group’s consolidated revenue increased 30 percent to RUB 154bn (approx. USD 6.3bn) in 2007, the Russian automotive giant’s press office reported. Sales on international markets including the CIS grew 40 percent to roughly RUB 10bn (approx. USD 409m).
Commercial passenger car sales rose 9.8 percent to 210,409 cars. GAZ Group attributes the increase to higher retail sales and real disposable incomes, as well as the implementation of national projects in the area of utilities and agriculture. GAZ’s consolidated revenue from sales of commercial passenger cars increased over 22 percent to RUB 49bn (approx. USD 2bn) in 2007. Heavy truck sales grew 47 percent to 15,773 vehicles, while bus sales increased 7.8 percent to 22,344 vehicles, with revenue in this segment rising by almost a quarter to RUB 19.1bn (approx. USD 782m).

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The forum doesn’t have fixed membership structure, however Algeria, Bolivia, Brunei, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Libya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad & Tobago, the UAE and Venezuela could be identified as current members. Turkmenistan, Bolivia, Indonesia, Libya and Oman have participated at different ministerial meetings. Norway has status of observer.

The charter of the new structure could be submitted at the forum’s seventh meeting in Moscow in June of 2008. Most of the charter that concerning membership, secretariat and financial provisions are almost a carbon-copy of OPEC’s charter.

GECF then could have more clout to control the gas market in the same way as OPEC does the oil market.

But experts do not believe that a gas OPEC will quickly become as influential as its oil counterpart, with opposition from the United States and the European Union.

The USA has vowed to fight against the GECF, because no one has invited them! 🙂

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

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Hello,

My Wife was coming home from work & she came upon a Accordion Player in the Lubyanka Metro Station. She stopped and recorded this video!

Hope you enjoy the video, The Moscow Metro is full of interesting people & is a world all its own!

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

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Hello,

The idea of this article came to me several days ago when I came at work and one of my colleagues played music on his computer. What it was – something good, what I knew before – but I could not recognize any words. Of course, that was not Russian or English words. I listened a little bit and realized – that was songs of Vladimir Vysotsky but his songs were translated on Hebrew!

Vysotsky wrote that there is a quatrain of Israel people are from here (Soviet Union). And people who came to Israel did not want to forget our culture. They kept “bard songs” and even translated the songs to Hebrew. I don’t know but after translation the song got something very special what take your heart and does not allow your heart back. That is at least my feeling about this translated songs. Maybe that’s my Jewish quarter, that talks to me about Eternity. Who knows…

Today is 25th of January: birthday of Vladimir Vysotsky. He would be 70 today, he died 27 years ago. He died but people still love his songs they translate and sing them on different languages (http://www.wysotsky.com/index.htm). Here is a link where you can get a lot of information about Vysotsky and his original songs: http://www.kulichki.com/vv/eng/.

More translations,
http://www.geocities.com/akbaramuhammad/word/

And here I’ll give you to listen my favorite song of him. This song is from his “Mountain circle”. And we will listen to the song in Hebrew!

You want to know what the song is about. Find a language what you know and follow the link. Don’t forget to listen to the original Vysotsky’s song – just click on the note’s sign at page with translation.

Горная лирическая

Български Лирична песен за алпийската стена Анна Колчакова 1990
български Надежда Асен Сираков 1987
български Планинска лирична Асен Сираков 1989
čeština NadějeJana Moravcová 1988
English A Day Akbar Ali Muhammad
English So there, the tremor left my hands… Andrey Kneller
English To a summit Natalie Golightly 2000
English To the top George Tokarev 2001
English Well, now, my hands don’t shake at all… Alec Vagapov 1999
français Vers les cimes
français Vers les cimes Sarah Struve
בריתאל הפסגהאלכסנדר בלפר
עבריתצמרמורתיונתן גפן1990
italiano È cessato il tremito delle mani Silvana Aversa 1992
Nederlands Naar de top Hans Sleurink 1997
norsk Mot toppen Jørn Simen Øverli 1989
polski I oto znikło drżenie rąk… Paweł Orkisz 2005
polski Na szczyt
polski Ustąpił dreszcz… Jan Słowiński
svenska Mot toppen Ola & Carsten Palmær 1986
lietuvių Pradingo drebulys Irena
Aršauskienė 2001
español De las montañas lírica Illya Gendler 2007

Svet & Kyle

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NATO has proposed a summit meeting between heads of state and government of the alliance member states and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the NATO Bucharest summit scheduled in April, the NATO spokesman said Wednesday.

“I can confirm that the (NATO) secretary general, in his capacity as chair of the NATO-Russia Council, has written to the Russian Federation, suggesting that we hold a NATO-Russia Council in Bucharest at the level of heads of state and government,” James Appathurai told reporters at a regular briefing.

“The letter is addressed to President Putin,” he said.

The spokesman said it is up to Putin to decide whether such a summit meeting will take place. He said the letter has been received by Moscow.

All the 26 NATO allies believe in added value in such a meeting, said the spokesman.

The NATO-Russia summit would be the first of its kind if it becomes reality in the end.

Source:Xinhua
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I was right, I thought that NATO had issues with Russia! I just posted an article about Russia / NATO issues. I turn around and then find this all over the internet!

Lets hope that Putin is in a good mood and will decide to have this meeting.

Seems NATO might be getting a little bit intimidated by a possible Angry Bear!

Kyle

comments always welcome!

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Russia concerned over NATO military buildup around its borders

23/01/2008 15:42 MOSCOW, January 23 (RIA Novosti) – Russia is concerned over NATO’s expansion, which is aimed at building up its military potential around Russian borders rather than strengthening European security, the foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Russia has been unnerved by NATO’s eastward expansion and recent U.S. plans to deploy missile defense elements in Poland and the Czech Republic.

“We are certain that the geographical expansion of NATO cannot be justified by security concerns,” Sergei Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow.

“But it is clear that NATO is building up its military potential around our borders and its new members continue to increase their defense budgets,” he said.

Lavrov said NATO’s “open-door” policy has been inherited from the Cold War and can only antagonize relations with Russia.

“This policy cannot resolve any security problems,” the minister said.

NATO has signaled its backing for the recent bids by Russia’s former Soviet allies, Georgia and Ukraine, to join the alliance, a move that has infuriated Moscow.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the country would have to take “appropriate measures” if Ukraine were to join NATO.

An additional problem overshadowing cooperation between Russia and NATO is the bloc’s refusal to ratify an updated version of the Soviet-era Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE), aimed at regulating the deployment of non-nuclear weapons on the continent.

Russia imposed in December last year a unilateral moratorium on the arms reductions treaty, which the West regards as a cornerstone of Euro-Atlantic security, and said it would resume its participation in the treaty only after NATO countries ratify the document.
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Looks like NATO has it out for Russia! Not a very friendly way for NATO to do business with its members!

Could NATO be scared of the Russian Bear?

Kyle

comments always welcome.

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