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Russian news, notes and thoughts
Latest news / 
3 May, 2013 // Russia has significantly increased the price for transportation of the U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station. The cost will be 71 million U.S. dollars, the previous price - $ 63 million. Nowadays, Russia is the only country in the world sending people to orbit and back. It is unlikely that Russia's monopoly will last a long time, private companies in the U.S. already deliver cargo to the ISS, manned private space ships - the next step.
20 April, 2013 // Recently we have received a lot of comments about the plans of Sochi authorities to catch and kill a lot of stray animals. According to administration, the tender didn't take place because no bids were received. The authorities also reported that in the nearby village a shelter for stray animals will be opened soon. More info about the issue.
6 April, 2013 // The Office of General Public Prosecutor of Russia presented a site dedicated to statistics of criminality in the country. And despite the fact that there is no full trust to such statistics, it is still possible to get some idea of crime in present Russia. In 2012, about 42% of crimes were committed by men aged 30-49 years. About 65% of the offenders had no regular source of income (at least officially). About 40% of the criminals of both sexes didn't even graduate from school. More info
30 March, 2013 // Life expectancy in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union has not changed significantly, but has grown up in the countries of the Eastern and Central Europe, former satellites of the USSR. In Russia, men life expectancy at birth was 63 years in the early 1990s, then declined to 58 in 2000, and in 2009 it rose to 62. For women, life expectancy in the same periods was, respectively, 74, 72 and 74 years.
22 March, 2013 // March 23, Kremlin for the first time will take part in the environmental campaign "Earth Hour" - light will be extinguished for one hour in the official residence of the President of Russia. According to the World Wildlife Fund, 70 cities in Russia and about 20 million people are going to take part in the campaign. The action takes place in Russia for the fifth time.
13 March, 2013 // The Bank of Russia has presented a hundred-ruble banknote design, dedicated to the Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014. It will be issued 100 days before the start of the Games - in October 2013. The image on the banknote for the first time in history is oriented vertically: on the one side it shows snowboarder hovering over Sochi, and on the other - the Olympic Stadium and the Firebird.
4 March, 2013 // Before the end of 2013, the Russian Defense Ministry is going to stop giving cigarettes to conscript soldiers. Today the norm is 10 cigarettes a day for all conscripts, cadets and students of military schools who don't have officer ranks. Instead, soldiers can choose: 700 grams of sugar a month, 600 grams of lollipop or the same amount of condensed milk in tubes. The tradition of tobacco rations in the Russian army originated about 100 years ago.
28 February, 2013 // The Federal Migration Service announced the results of its estimates of illegal migrants living in Russia. According to them, about 3.3 million of foreigners exceeded the period of legal stay in the country (three months). Most of them are from Uzbekistan (about 900,000), Ukraine (more than 500,000), Tajikistan (400,000). According to estimates of the service, there are 10.2 million foreign nationals living in Russia today.
23 February, 2013 // The visit of the Russian delegation to Cuba was extremely productive - especially for Cubans. Russia forgave the Cuban debt in the amount of $ 35 billion - the sum Cuba owed to the Soviet Union. The amount of the Cuban debt write-off is the most generous in the modern history of Russia. In total, the Russian forgiven debt all over the world is about $ 138 billion now.
15 February, 2013 // Powerful explosion has happened in the sky over Chelyabinsk today morning. According to the officials, it was the result of a meteor rain. About 500 people sought medical attention mostly injured by fragments of broken glass. A bright flash was seen over the entire region, including Ekaterinburg and Tyumen. You can find more info in our blog post about Chelyabinsk meteorite explosion.
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