(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – September 26, 2013) A state of emergency has been declared in Sochi as water and mudslides have blocked the Olympic resort’s newly built main roads, just as International Olympic Committee inspectors arrived for their final assessment ahead of the upcoming Winter Olympic Games. Many local residents could not travel to work Wednesday […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, August 21, 2013) The Russian government’s failure to maintain the infrastructure that existed at the end of Soviet times is one of the primary reasons why this year’s flooding in the Russian Far East has inflicted so much damage and suffering on the population there, according to Moscow experts. Many Moscow commentators […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Michael Bohm, Opinion Page Editor – August 2, 2013) Russians have had trouble shaking off one stereotype for centuries: razgildyaistvo, or negligence and carelessness. Razgildyaistvo, some say, is as Russian as long, cold winters a Russian institution of its own making. How accurate is this stereotype? Prominent historian and journalist Leonid Mlechin perhaps put […]
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(RIA Novosti – June 27, 2013) Most Russians polled by the Levada Center stated that they are not afraid of any abuse of power by the government, world wars or natural catastrophes. Most respondents are, however, worried about the country’s future. The poll conducted by the Levada Center shows that Russians do not fear mass repressions (76 percent), criminals (81 […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 26, 2013) Russian human rights commissioner Vladimir Lukin said that the tragedy in the psychiatric clinic in Ramensky village in the Moscow region’s Dmitrov district was a consequence of a number of issues in the sphere. “I share deep grief of all relatives and loved ones of the victims. Of course, possible criminal liability for what […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alexander Panov, Combined report, RBTH – March 19, 2013) A month after the meteorite crash near the city of Chelyabinsk created a stir both literally and figuratively Russian scientists have calculated its weight and age and determined its main components and origin. The initial weight of the celestial object that crashed […]
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MOSCOW, March 12 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will complete a plan for a program to protect itself against threats from space by the end of this year, Civil Defense and Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said on Tuesday. That comes a month after a meteorite entered the Earth’s atmosphere undetected by existing space-monitoring systems and slammed into Russia’s Urals on February […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – Februray 18, 2013) In light of the meteorite blast that sent shock waves through the Ural Mountains city of Chelyabinsk on Friday, leaving more than a thousand people injured, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev tasked his deputy, Dmitry Rogozin, with proposing ways to predict and prevent disasters from space. Rogozin plans to give […]
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MOSCOW, February 18 (RIA Novosti) – The meteorite which fell in Russia’s Urals on Friday is likely to be named Chebarkul after a lake where it fell in and the eponymous city on the lake’s shores, a leading scientist said on Monday. The fragments of the meteorite have been found by scientists in Lake Chebarkul, in the Chelyabinsk Region, late […]
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MOSCOW, November 11 (RIA Novosti) The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry will dispatch two airplanes’ worth of necessities to victims of the hurricane Sandy that ravaged the US East Coast. Two Il-76 cargo jets will depart for New York from Moscow’s Ramenskoye Airport on Monday, carrying more than 50 tons of humanitarian help between them, the ministry said on its […]
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For Russians, August is the cruelest month – Washington Times – August 23, 2012 – Marc Bennetts click here to read original article The Washington Times explains that August, or “Black August” has somehow been the month when some of the worst disasters in recent Russian memory have occurred: in 1991, the attempted coup by communist hard-liners opposed to Gorbachev […]
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