Moscow is a key economic and financial center of Russia, home to a significant concentration of office jobs. This is due to the concentration of headquarters of large companies, government agencies, financial institutions, and the IT sector.

In 2025, Moscow saw a record volume of office space commissioned – 704,000 square meters. This is the highest figure since 2015, when the volume was 720,000 square meters. In 2026, the announced volume of new projects exceeds 1 million square meters. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

Moscow is working

Tags: Moscow city

It took Stas Tolstnev over two years to film this beautiful video of Lake Baikal – a tectonic lake located on the border of Irkutsk Oblast and the Republic of Buryatia in the southern part of Eastern Siberia, covering an area of ​​31,722 square kilometers.

It is the deepest lake on the planet, the largest natural reservoir of fresh water, and the largest freshwater lake in Eurasia by area. The lake’s width ranges from 24 to 79 km. The bottom of Lake Baikal at its deepest point is 1,187 meters below sea level.

The origin of the name is usually explained by the Turkic “Baiköl”, meaning “rich lake,” as it is particularly rich in the rare salmon species caught here. Another theory says that the name derives from the Chinese “Běihǎi”, meaning “northern sea.” Baikal is especially beautiful in winter.

Tags: Buryat Republic · Irkutsk oblast

The Russian government plans to increase the tax burden on licensed bookmakers by 60 times, resulting in an annual revenue of 60 billion rubles. This budget plan includes a new 25% corporate profit tax and a 7% tax on the difference between accepted stakes and paid-out wins, referred to as Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR). International casino non GamStop operators typically set a standard for comparing these high domestic rates to worldwide industry averages.

Licensed Russian businesses now face these record-high taxes, along with a 2% increase in the national VAT rate to 22%. Market analysts who work for casino sites non GamStop and platforms offering online gambling without GamStop interference keep an eye on how these changes in local laws affect the provision of competitive betting odds across Eurasia. The government needs to standardise these increased rates to plan for the future financially in 2026.

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Yamal is a peninsula located in the north of Western Siberia, on the territory of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District. The landscapes of the peninsula are predominantly tundra with numerous lakes. The length of the peninsula is 700 km, the width is up to 240 km. The word “Yamal” is translated from Nenets as “edge of the earth”.

This part of Russia is underdeveloped in terms of population. The Nenets, the indigenous people of Yamal, engage in traditional activities such as large-scale reindeer herding, fishing, and hunting. According to the 2021 census, the total number of Nenets is approximately 35-36 thousand people. Yamal on Google Maps. Photos by: Andrei Kireev.

The northern lights and a typical Nenets tent made of untreated leather. The air temperature was minus 30 degrees Celsius.

the harsh life of reindeer herders

Tags: Tyumen oblast · Yamalo-Nenets okrug