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20 May, 2012  // This year, the museum insomnia covered the whole Russia - from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok. People were standing in lines for over an hour to see specially prepared exhibitions. In Moscow the event involved about half a million people. According to surveys, one in ten Russians spent this night at the museum. For the first time sixteen Moscow theaters opened their doors at night too.

14 May, 2012  // May 24-31 Fort Carson in Colorado will be the place of the first joint military exercises of Russia and the United States. The program includes planning and conducting of tactical airborne operation, reconnaissance of terrorist camp, raid actions, and evacuation by helicopter. 22 officers and soldiers will come from the Russian side for two weeks.

10 May, 2012  // President Putin will not attend the summit of G8 on May 18-19 at the U.S. Camp David. Instead, Russia will be represented by Prime Minister Medvedev. Before the inauguration, it was expected to be Putin's first foreign visit. The Kremlin says that the president has to continue to form the government. Or may be Putin just don't want to answer the questions about suppression of protests?

4 May, 2012  // On Thursday evening the police stopped a car for inspection near the stationary post, located on the outskirts of Makhachkala. At the time when the vehicle stopped, an unknown detonated an explosive device planted in the car. After the police, rescuers, and civilians gathered near the site, a second car, parked nearby, exploded. As a result 12 people were killed; more than 100 people were injured.

30 April, 2012  // According to a study of the Higher School of Economics Russia in the minds of foreigners is still mainly associated with Russian doll (matrioshka), caviar, and vodka. Foreign tourist does not consider Russia as a country of unfriendly people. More than a third of respondents agreed that Russia has high prices for substandard services.

28 April, 2012  // Russia is back on the world grain market. However, after the embargo in 2010 it was unable to fully restore its reputation. On April 25, the export of grain was 24.3 million tons (1.5 M tones more than the previous record set in 2008-2009). The main buyers are the countries of North Africa (Egypt, 6.8 M tons) and the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, 2 M tons). This year, Turkey with 2.5 M tons and EU countries with 2.1 M tons became large buyers too.

23 April, 2012  // According to recent polls about 30% of Russians prefer to travel within the country. The high cost of air and railway tickets is one of the main problems, along with a low level of service. At the same time more and more tourists are traveling by car. Also it should be noted that domestic tourism in Russia is not so widely advertised, as travel abroad.

17 April, 2012  // In 2011, Russia ranked third in the world in military spending - $72 billion (9.3% increase compared to 2010). The first and second places of the list are occupied by the United States ($711 billion) and China ($143 billion). It would be better to allocate more funds for health care and education than spend more and more money on tanks and rockets.

12 April, 2012  // Today Russia is celebrating the Day of Cosmonautics for the 50th time. The decree on the celebration was signed a few days before the anniversary of the first manned flight into space. April 7, 2011 at a special plenary session of the UN General Assembly a resolution was adopted officially proclaiming April 12 the International Day of manned space flight.

10 April, 2012  // According to the latest data on the implementation of the START treaty, Russia has 1492 (1537 half a year ago) deployed nuclear warheads, and the United States - 1737 (1800). Thus, in six months Russia destroyed 45 warheads, and the U.S. - 63. The main carriers of nuclear warheads are intercontinental ballistic missiles, heavy bombers, and ballistic missiles on submarines.

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