Ghosts of Russia

Just in time for Halloween ... I enjoyed this piece about the ghost stories of Russia. The hauntings at the Kremlin are particularly interesting. It's not mentioned here, but I heard a story once about Vladimir Lenin's ghost being seen in the Kremlin shortly after his death. However, there were conflicting reports, with some saying that the ghost was seen while he was in fact still alive and on his deathbed. Interesting stuff, nonetheless ...

Hot for Words

Here's a nice piece about my favorite internet guru, Marina Orlova. I don't know if it's her or if I'm just really into words (likely the former), but I can't get enough of this site.

Hot Russian Lady Makes Internet-Goers “Hot for Words”
Meet Marina Orlova. Maybe you know this beautiful Russian woman already. If you don’t, you’re missing one of the hottest internet sensations around.

Marina, a professional philologist and etymologist (in English, that basically means a person who likes words), is the brains behind the popular Web site known as HotForWords.com and its corresponding YouTube channel. On the site, Marina posts short videos explaining the meaning and origins behind some of the most common English language words as well as some less common (but still interesting) ones. Her tagline for each of the videos – in which she often appears scantily clad and makes flirtatious glances at the viewing audience – is “Intelligence is Sexy.”

Read the rest of the story here ...

Big Man with Fists of Fury to Fight Little Man with Heart of Gold

This is interesting ... what do you suppose are the chances that the little guy actually defeats the big guy? I think it from the look of it, the big guy could eat the little guy and still have room for dessert.

Russian Giant & Hayemaker to Clash in Nuremberg Knuckle-Buster

Expect a battle in Nuremberg,Germany on Saturday, November 7, when Nikolay Valuaev the “Russian Giant”,clashes with British fighter David “Hayemaker” Haye in the WBA heavyweight title bout.

Tall Task
Standing at 7 feet 2 inches, Valuaev has a huge height and reach advantage over his opponents. The advantage is something that the 6 foot 3 inch Haye has taken into consideration.

“I'm going to have to fight better than I've fought before. I'm going to have to take a shot better than I've ever done before. I'm going to have to hit harder. My reflexes have got to be faster. I've got to be able to cover more distance, be quicker on my feet than I've ever been," Haye said in a recent interview with The Guardian newspaper.

Respects His Rival
But Nikolay Valuaev will not be taking this fight for granted.

When asked to comment about the upcoming fight, by Russian boxing site Sportbox.ru, Valuaev said, “I treat Haye very seriously, like I do with all my other rivals. It would be stupid of me to treat him differently.”

Read the full story here ...

Russia Takes Nuclear Aim at Mars

Russia is looking into the nuclear option to put a man on Mars. This article notes that it will be expensive. I'm no economist, but I think they're probably in a better position financially to take on such a project than the U.S. or any other country.

Russia Looks to Go Nuclear in Race to Mars

The chief of Russia’s space agency has proposed the construction of a nuclear-powered spaceship in order to take people to Mars and other planets.

The expensive and technologically challenging project is projected to take about 12 years to prepare, according to Anatoly Perminov, who posted remarks about the proposed ship on the Russian space agency’s Web site.

Read the rest here ...

Star City - Russia's Space Capital

I though this was an interesting piece about Russia's famed "Star City." Funny that it is so well-known, yet hardly anyone has ever seen it. I wonder if there would be more enthusiasm for the Russian space program if they opened it up for more people to tour and see ...

It was once the place where Yuri Gargarin rocketed into the sky to become the first man to orbit the earth. Today, it is where countless astronauts and cosmonauts prepare for space travel inside mockups of the International Space Station.

It is Star City, a community of space researchers hidden in the woods northeast of Moscow. And despite its status as Russia’s home base during the historic space race and the multitude of advanced aeronautic research still conducted there, few people have ever had the chance to visit the famed town.

Read the rest here ... Includes a link to a Star City photo gallery from the BBC.

Anna Semenovich - Hot Russian Lady

Here's a little gem. I think I vaguely recall hearing about this girl from her days as an ice skater. If you look up info about her it's still touted as her major accomplishment. Yet just about every online image of her is a shot she took as a model. There are few photos of her actually skating. Oh well, still a hottie.

Billionaire Russian Crime Boss Named to U.S. 10 Most Wanted

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation named a Russian billionaire crime boss last week to its 10 Most Wanted List.

Semion Mogilevich, who has been described as the most powerful and dangerous gangster in the world, is a wanted man in numerous countries, where he has laundered money to finance his various criminal enterprises. In the U.S., he is wanted for orchestrating a scheme that defrauded investors in a company that he controlled of more than $150 million.

But that’s just the beginning. The FBI says Mogilevich is believed to have been involved in weapons and drug trafficking, contract murders, extortion, and other crimes both inside and outside Russia. Most recently, authorities believe he has been able to manipulate energy markets, taking control of companies involved in natural gas disputes between Russia and Ukraine.

A Ukrainian national, Mogilevich has an economics degree from Lviv University in the Ukraine, which gave rise to his nickname, “the Brainy Don.” He holds several citizenships, including Russian, and is believed to be living in Moscow. He was arrested there in 2008 on tax fraud charges, but was later released.

A reward of $100,000 is being offered for information leading to his arrest.

Read the original story ...

Another Fun Photo ...

Not quite as cute as the ladies with animals photo gallery, but this is still interesting, nonetheless ...

Ladies with Animals. Classic.

Here's a fun photo gallery I found, featuring some mighty attractive young ladies along with their adorable animals. I don't think they bite. Neither do the animals. Enjoy.

Clinton Diplomatic Team Gets Drunk, Parties in Moscow

I spotted this gem while doing my daily news rounds. Say what you will about it, you can't deny it's hilarious.

When Hillary Clinton’s diplomatic team visited Moscow last week, they were there to assist the U.S. secretary of state in negotiating the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and other missile defense and international security issues.

But when the business ended, it was all pleasure for the American diplomats, who hit up Moscow’s nightlife, gulping down Russian beer and flirting with Russian ladies.

Read the rest of the story here ...

Millionaire Moves to Russia for a Woman

Saw this story about an Italian millionaire who gave up everything to be with the girl of his dreams. Pretty charming. The headline from the original article in Pravda reads "Italian Millionaire Moves to Godforsaken Village to be with Russian Woman." I wonder how the villagers feel about that.

Russia May Host 2018 World Cup

How exciting would this be? The World Cup in Russia ... I know I would turn out to see it ... even if it cost me an arm and a leg to travel back to Moscow.

Is Meghan McCain a Russian Bride?

This is kind of silly, but interesting at the same time. From HotRussianBrides.com ... is Meghan McCain a Russian bride? You be the judge ...

A Bottle of Vodka for a Mere $1.3 Million

Do you think you could drink a million dollars worth of vodka? In Russia, you could – and all the vodka would fit inside one bottle. Of course, you’d still have to pay for it.

A single bottle of Russo-Baltique Vodka, which was reportedly created to impress Russian royalty and various wealthy folks, sold last year with a price tag of $1.3 million U.S. dollars (or 1 million Euros).

While not the first bottle of booze to be marketed at such an outrageously high price, the Russo-Baltique bottle is apparently the first alcoholic beverage to be sold purely for the sake of its expensiveness. Previous high-priced alcohol bottles have been sold for the benefit of charities. But not this one.

Named for the Russian combat car-maker Russo Baltique, the vodka is contained in a bottle meant to resemble the headlights on the front of car – undoubtedly a very expensive car. Princess Regina Abdurazakova of Khazakhstan reportedly had a hand in the design. The very first bottle sold in late 2008 to Prince Albert of Monaco.
Three of the bottles of the stuff are also included in the newly manufactured Dartz Kombat T98 – a Russian-made armored vehicle that runs for a mere $1.5 million (or 1 million Euros.

Is it vodka worth the price? I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

Tattooed Russians

This almost makes me want to get a tattoo. Almost.

Hundreds in Moscow Mourn Russian Mafia Leader

One of the most notorious members of the Russian Mafia was buried in a prestigious Moscow cemetery on Tuesday after he succumbed last week to a wound from an assassin’s bullet.

Hundreds of mourners, including numerous members of various Russian underworld groups, were present for the funeral of Vyacheslav “Yaponchik” Ivankov at Moscow’s Vagankovo cemetery.

At the request of his family, media were not allowed to attend the ceremony. However, an unprecedented number of police were present.

Ivankov was described as a leading figure in Russian organized crime, who was well-connected to the Russian business and political worlds. For a time, he also lived in the United States, where he served nearly a decade in prison for extortion. In 2004, he was deported back to Russia and put on trial for a 1992 double murder. A jury acquitted him in 2005.

His nickname, Yaponchik, translates to “Little Japanese” – a reference to his short stature and his interest in martial arts. He was thought to have achieved the rank of “thief within the law,” meaning he was a chief member of the Russian Mafia.
In July of this year, he was shot by a sniper while leaving a Moscow restaurant. He died on Oct. 9 from complications from the gunshot wound.

Moscow Underground - The city you never knew ...

Here's one I found while browsing around ...


Construction of Underground City Proposed for Moscow
The director of Moscow’s city development plan has mentioned the possibility of constructing an underground “twin city” to help alleviate traffic problems in the Russian capital.
Architect Sergey Tkachenko, who heads Moscow’s Genplan project for urban redevelopment, recently said that he and others involved in Genplan have been working on long-term plans to build the underground city. The city will feature underground roads, which will allow cars to pass through the city very quickly as well as alleviate traffic jams that currently plague Moscow. Tkachenko also said the underground city will be pedestrian-friendly.
However, not everyone is enthusiastic about the idea. Some worry that the underground construction would be dangerous, given that Moscow sits at the junction of three geological platforms. It is thought that the building of underground tunnels could potentially trigger cave-ins and other destructive activity.
Plans for the underground portion of Genplan are in the distant future. In the meantime, Moscow is constructing underground warehouses and parking lots.
Source: http://newsfromrussia.com/russia/economics/01-10-2009/109618-moscow-0

Russian Chess Hottie

If anybody in my high school chess club had looked this hot, I would have done that instead of playing football. Seriously, where are all the good-looking chess girls? Usually there are no girls in chess. Usually it's just those nerdy guys with glasses so thick they could probably deflect bullets ...

I'm not sure how I feel about this ...

St. Petersburg plans to build this magnificent edifice, but not everyone is happy about it. They've struggled to keep up with Moscow economically, so in that sense I guess it's a good way to attract business. Mostly people seem to be angry that it will mess up the skyline of historic buildings. What do YOU think?

Sir Elton Wants to Adopt a Ukrainian Baby

I know this blog is about Russia and not the Ukraine, but being that the Ukraine and Russia are so closely tied, I felt that I had to comment on this story.

If you haven't heard, Sir Elton John is looking to adopt a 15-month-old Ukrainian boy. The trouble is the kid's parents aren't too thrilled with the idea.

The deal is that the boy, who is HIV positive, has been taken out of his parents' custody and placed in an orphanage. His parents, both of whom are also HIV positive, lost custody of their boy and their other child for various reasons (the mother is an alcoholic and the father is reportedly a drug addict who served eight years in prison for murder). Enter Sir Elton and his homosexual partner, David Furnish, who say they fell in love with the young boy after visiting him in an orphanage last month.

Despite their desire to raise the boy as their own, Sir Elton and Furnish were denied their request to return with the boy to England. Ukrainian officials cited a number of technical reasons for forbidding the adoption, most notably that Ukrainian law prohibits adoption by homosexual couples. Add onto this the fact that the boy's mother hopes to eventually regain custody of her son. Though the father reportedly will allow Sir Elton to take the boy as long as the father can live with him in England.

Maybe I'm wrong, but the whole thing seems wrong on so many levels. What right does Elton John have to take a young boy away from his natural parents? Just because he's a rich foreigner, what extra right does that give him?

UFO's are storming Russia

I found this little gem earlier today while browsing Russian news.



It seems that UFO's have been descending on the town of Kamnsk-Uralsky in droves as of late. Of all the places in Russia that the aliens could choose to go, I wonder what interests them about this place in particular.

Russia

There are many interesting things that happen in Russia - all of which I will highlight on this blog.