What is Russia Up To This February 17th, 2009?

What is Russia up to?

That is a good question: It seems that Russia is signing all kinds of deals with people all over the world. Lets see what they have signed…

Jets for the Arabs, missiles for the Chinese, Kyrgyz government removing a USA air force base, NATO gets a supply route, Bolivia gets Energy contracts and so on and so on! Medvedev stays busy as a bee meeting people from all over the world.

So while Russia is signing up new friends, there is lots of other stuff going on also. Like in sports…

Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva broke the world indoors record twice in a single day at a Pole Vault Stars meeting in Ukraine’s Donetsk on Sunday, first clearing 4.97 meters and then 5.0 meters.

That is impressive and Russia should be very proud of her. So while Yelena is setting world records the folks back home are remembering Afghanistan…

On February 14, 1989, the last Soviet armored personnel carrier left Kabul. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), a NATO-led security and development mission in Afghanistan, is facing the same problems 20 years later.

That is a real mess and now Russia seems to be giving a helping hand to NATO…

The first American non-military cargo to Afghanistan is being put together in Riga, Latvia. The Russian Foreign Ministry says that the freight will be sent to Afghanistan through the Russian territory shortly.

Talking about helping hands, maybe we need to feel sorry for the billionaires in Russia..

Mikhail Prokhorov, the president of Onexim Group, has been ranked by Russia’s Finans magazine as the richest of the Russian super-rich, with an estimated wealth of $14.1 billion in 2008.

I remember when that would have not even made the list. I think that he will get by though. So while the rich are not as rich as they use to be. The poor camels are stuck at a new border…

Two dozens Russian camels bound for Bulgaria, have been stopped on their way again – this time on the border between Moldova and Romania. One animal has already died en route.

Those poor camels, will someone please give them a break. Talking about breaks look like Medvedev is breaking things…

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed decrees to replace four governors and named their replacements, the Kremlin said on Monday. Out with the old and in with the new.

So as Medvedev is breaking some hearts a very sad weekend has happened in Moscow…

Heavy snowfalls in Moscow and the surrounding Moscow Region caused more than 6,000 traffic accidents over the weekend, which resulted in 24 deaths, local traffic police said on Monday.

That is sad and should not happen. We will not talk about Russian drivers right now. What we will talk about is Lenin…

The mausoleum at Red Square, where the embalmed corpse of Vladimir Lenin is housed, will be closed for two months for maintenance works on Monday.

So it seems that he will be getting some spring cleaning. Now lets go to Ukraine, we can not ever do a “What is Russia up to” with out mentioning Ukraine…

Over half of Ukrainians consider the terms of a recent gas deal with Russia were acceptable, Ukraine’s UNIAN news agency said on Monday citing a poll organized by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).

well that is enough and that is just the tip of the iceberg for what Russia is up to. As you can see Russia stays busy and you never know from one week to the next who and what they are going to be messing with…

Have a nice week!

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.