The Nikolayevsky railway connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg was the first large-scale railroad in Russia. Pre-revolutionary card. Source: Lori/Legion-Media

2. The construction of the railway stations in Moscow and St. Petersburg started concurrently in 1844. The place where the Moskovsky Railway Station in St. Petersburg is situated today was the periphery of the city in those days. The initial design of the railway station included two symmetrical buildings: a customs office and a residential building. The latter was later abandoned.

Znamenskaya area. Old postcard Source: Lori/Legion-Media

In Moscow the station was also built in a wasteland in the outskirts of the city. The New Field Artillery Yard, with a factory and storehouses for cannons and shells, was situated there from the late 17th century until 1812, when Moscow was set on fire during Napoleon’s occupation of the city.

The place where the Moskovsky Railway Station in St. Petersburg is situated today was the periphery of the city in those days. Source: Press photo

3. Konstantin Ton did not supervise the whole process of the construction of the stations. The building of the Nikolayevsky railway was headed by Count Kleinmichel, the chief of communications and public buildings. He suspended Ton from his position of railway stations inspector after having an argument with him on construction issues. Ton’s post was then taken up by Rudolf Żelaziewicz.

One of the favorite architects of Tsar Nicholas I, Konstantin Ton built the first railway station in Russia in Tsarskoye Selo and the two terminuses of the Nikolayevsky railroad from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Source: Press photo

4. The designs for the two railway stations were identical. These were two Neo-Renaissance-styled buildings with two-storied towers in the middle and large Palladian windows. The Moscow building was finished first, in 1849. The railway station was initially named Sankt-Peterburgsky Station and it was renamed the Nikolayevsky Station after the tsar’s death in 1855. In Soviet times the station was renamed the Leningradsky Railway Station.

The railway station was initially named Sankt-Peterburgsky Station and it was renamed the Nikolayevsky Station after the tsar’s death in 1855. In Soviet times the station was renamed the Leningradsky Railway Station. Source: Chernov/RIA Novosti

5. The first railway stations in the two cities resembled each other both externally and in their interior decoration. The ground floors contained spacious halls, rooms for passengers and special imperial apartments, while the upstairs floors were set aside for railway workers’ official housing. The interiors of the stations were remarkably exquisite, with oak parquet floors and marble stoves. The first head of the Moskovsky Railway Station in St. Petersburg was Nicholas Miklouho, the father of the renowned traveler and ethnographer Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay.

The building of the Nikolayevsky railway was headed by Count Kleinmichel, the chief of communications and public buildings. Source: Press photo

6. The first train departed from St. Petersburg for Moscow on August 19, 1851, carrying Nicholas I, his family and two battalions of guards. The emperor was afraid of crossing rail bridges and crossed them on foot. The trip took 19 hours.

The railway connecting two capitals was the first double track railroad in Russia. At that time, it was the longest in the world, totaling 400 miles (645 kilometers). The railway was built to the design of engineers Pavel Melnikov and Nikolay Kraft.

The emperor was afraid of crossing rail bridges and crossed them on foot. The trip took 19 hours. Source: Press photo

7. Three months after the first journey, rail traffic between the two cities became regular. Since tickets were expensive, passengers who could not afford compartment tickets traveled in freight cars or on open flatbeds. Buying a ticket was a multistep process. It was necessary to file a special request and to present a passport, information from which was copied into a special book. A remark was then made in the document stating “no obstacles to departure,” and only after that it was possible to buy a ticket. Awaiting a special call, potential passengers sat in waiting rooms, women separately from men.

Three months after the first journey in 1851, rail traffic between the two cities became regular. Source: Press photo

First published in Russian by Kultura.RF

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Peter the Great was a man of seemingly limitless interests. During his lifetime, Peter learned the arts of shipbuilding, navigation and watchmaking; he took drawing and engraving lessons; he studied how to make paper; he mastered carpentry, masonry and gardening. He also attended the anatomical theater where he studied the ins and outs of the human body and practiced surgery. Occasionally, to relax, he even practiced dentistry, removing  unhealthy teeth. Sometimes he would get carried away and pull out the healthy ones as well!

While in Holland studying shipbuilding, Peter became infatuated with ice skating and found a way to modernize ice skates. Initially, skates were tied to ordinary shoes with ropes and belts, but Peter invented skates that had the blades already attached to the soles.

There was one craft that Peter could not master, however. Once, as he was trying to weave sandals, he cried out: "There is no craft more difficult than sandal weaving."

Wars: 10 wars from the mid-16th to early 19th centuries

The history of Russian-Swedish hostility began in the 12th century. The Novgorod Republic and Sweden battled for control of the Eastern Baltic. The Orekhovetsky Peace Treaty was signed in 1323, bringing Karelia under Novgorod’s zone of influence, and Finland under Sweden's.

This was only the beginning of centuries-long conflict. In 1377, Sweden gained control of Western Karelia (Esterbotten), which had been a dependency of Novgorod. After 1478, when the Novgorod Republic became part of the Russian state, struggle with the Swedes for the Eastern Baltic escalated to a new level.

Dennis Martin Artist. The Battle of Poltava in 1726 / Source: Wikipedia.org

In 1495, Ivan III went to war against Sweden for Western Karelia once again, with varying degrees of success in battles. Finally, in March 1497, the warring sides signed the First Novgorod Truce, which was to last for six years. It confirmed the borders as they existed in 1323, as well as the principle of free trade between Sweden and Russia. In March 1510, the truce was extended for another 60 years.

The tradition of fighting wars against Sweden for the Baltic would continue under other Russian tsars, including Ivan IV, Fyodor I, and Alexis I.

Peter the Great made fundamental changes to the balance of power in Russo-Swedish relations. After the Russian victory in the Northern War (1700-1721), Sweden lost not only territory that was ceded to Russia, but also land on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea. Sweden only held on to Wismar and a small part of Pomerania. In addition, after defeat in the Northern War, the “Age of Freedom” began in Sweden, a period of the weakening of the king's power and increasing importance of the Parliament.

In an effort to regain the lands it lost during the Northern War, Sweden repeatedly came into conflict with the Russian Empire (Russo-Swedish War of 1741-1743, Russo-Swedish War of 1788-1790, and Russo-Swedish War of 1808-1809), but according to the terms of the Treaty of Fredrikshamn, concluded in September 1809, Sweden ceded the Åland Islands, Finland and Lapland up to the Torne and Muonio Rivers. Sweden had lost more than one third of its territory, and no longer held the status of a great power.

Turkey

Wars: 12 wars in 241 years. On average, there were Russo-Turkish wars every 19 years.

From the late 16th until the early 20th centuries, bloody wars were constantly fought between the Ottoman and Russian Empires. The “bones of contention” were control of the Northern Black Sea areas and the North Caucasus, and, later, control of the South Caucasus, with the right of navigation in the Black Sea and its straits, as well as for the rights of Christians in the Ottoman Empire.

The defeat of Shipka Peak, Bulgarian War of Independence / Source: Wikipedia.org

During World War I, which resulted in the demise of the Ottoman Empire, the Russian Empire also considered the possibility of capturing Constantinople. Ironically, the Soviet Union played a direct role in the establishment of the Turkish Republic. The centuries-old feud had turned into economic and military support for Turkey’s first president, Kemal Ataturk.

Poland

Wars: 10 wars from 1018 to 1939

Relations between Russia and Poland have always been strained, primarily due to the proximity of the two states and constant territorial disputes. During all major European conflicts, there have always been revisions of the Russian-Polish border. The most serious confrontation between Russia and Poland started at the beginning of the 17th century, with the Time of Troubles and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. By the end of the 18th century, four wars had been fought between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which ended in the second partition of Poland.

The Poles surrender the Moscow Kremlin to Prince Pozharsky in 1612 / Source: Wikipedia.org

In 1815, the eastern part of Poland became part of the Russian Empire, but confrontation between the Poles and Russians did not stop. Two Polish uprisings in the 19th century (1830, 1863) led Russia to reduce Polish freedoms. In 1832, the Polish Sejm was abolished and the Polish Army was disbanded. In 1864, restrictions were imposed on the use of the Polish language and the movement of Polish men. Unsurprisingly, animosity against Russian rule only increased in Poland.

After the 1917 Russian Revolution, the Poles gained their cherished independence at the end of the Soviet-Polish War of 1919-1921. But less than 20 years later, in 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland, and retained control until 1989.

The history of wars

Among other countries with a history of fighting wars with Russia is Germany. The two countries have fought three major wars, two of them being World Wars.

The Russian Empire fought wars against France numerous times, including the War of the Third Coalition (1805), the War of the Fourth Coalition (1806-1807), the War of 1812, and the Crimean War (1854-1856). Russia and the Soviet Union also fought four wars against Japan, and three times participated in military conflicts with China.

Battle of Borodino / Source: Wikipedia.org

In general, the history of Russia is a history of persistent war. Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin wrote, “Soloviev has counted 200 wars and invasions from 1240 to 1462 (222 years). From the 14th to the 20th centuries (525 years), Sukhotin has counted 329 years of war. Russia has been fighting wars for two-thirds of its life.”

A similar notion was expressed by General Alexey Kuropatkin. In 1900, he wrote in his memorandum to Nicholas II, “Over the past 200 years, Russia has been at war for 128 years and had only 72 years of peace. Of the 128 war years, we fought defensive wars for five years and we were engaged in wars of conquest for 123 years.”

First published in Russian by Russkaya Semyorka.

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The word khorovod comes from the old Russian words for “moving around the sun.” This ancient dance was originally a part of a pagan ceremony worshipping Yaril, the mighty sun god. For this reason, the songs and dances were slow, a way of honoring the god and offering repentance. At the same time, the movements were festive, praising Yaril’s greatness.

2. It acquired its name after the ritual lost its meaning

The name khorovod came into use in the 16th century, long after Russia became Christian. According to legend and tradition, Prince Vladimir baptized the Slavic peoples of Rus’ in 988. By this time, the khovorod was already no longer considered a pagan rite, but a form of entertainment for young people and a way for them to meet potential partners.

In the explanatory dictionary written by the great 19th century Russian lexicographer Vladimir Dal, the khovorod is described as a gathering of a group of young people with singing and dancing.

3. There are many different names for this dance

This beloved folk dance has been known by many names, including: posolon’, karagod, yanok, krug (circle), ulitsa (street).

The concept of the dance itself has expanded, and its forms have acquired numerous meanings that have been described in terms of folklore, ethnography, art and conversation. In the broadest sense, khovorod references the peasant concept of the street: to go along a street is to go along khorovod; to not leave someone on the street is to not leave them alone in khorovod. Another broad usage indicates different types of spring and summer activities for young people.

4. It was a way of showing status

Traditionally a khorovod began like this: young women stopped in the middle of the street and started to sing and dance. Gradually, young men would come up to them, usually with musical instruments such as harmonicas, violins, and tambourines, to attract the attention of the young ladies they fancy.

On holidays and market days, girls would lead the khorovod round the squares. Often a young man would dance in the middle of the circle with a shawl. At the end of the dance, he would offer this gift to the young lady he liked the most.  

5. It differs from region to region

The khorovod had its own traditions and nuances in different regions of Russia. In the north, it was more restrained and featured a great deal of decorum. In the central regions, khorovod dances were characterized by their sense of fun and light-heartedness; the folk songs that were sung to accompany them were complex. These khorovod dances are marked by clapping, stomping and fast and energetic movements. In the south of Russia, the dances are unrestrained and bold, and performed by many dancers. They often feature wild movements and intricate patterns.

Source: YouTube/ Русская музыка

6. The khorovod requires a boss

The dance must be organized by a khorovodnitsa, who is usually the happiest and liveliest woman in the group. The khorovodnitsa, who is a little bit older than most of the dancers, is in charge of the fun. She stands at the head of the dance, sings and comes up with new dance moves and patterns.

7. There are different dance moves

There are two types of khorovod: ornamental and ‘play.’ If the khorovod has no clearly defined format, then the participants move around in a circle and intertwine, making chains of dancers. This is called the ornamental khorovod. Usually the artistry in these dances is associated with motifs of Russian nature. The link between folk art and the life of the people and their songs and dances forms the base of the various dance patterns for this khorovod. Intricate dances where people weave in and out of each other are inspired by Russian lace patterns, wood carvings or paintings. Artisans such as lace makers are also inspired by the khovorod in creating their designs.

‘Play’ khorovod dances must be accompanied by songs. In these dances, there are actors and a plot. The performers portray characters through facial expressions, dances and gestures. Often the characters are animals or birds, and the dancers portray them by imitatating their movements and habits.

8. The dance creates unity

Over the course of the centuries, one aspect of the khovorod has remained the same — its promotion of unity and friendship. Participants hold each other’s hands, sometimes only by the little finger, and move one behind the other in a strict interval. In this moment, people become one group moving towards a common goal, be it to pray or just to have fun. 

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He most often travels in a Mercedes-Maybach S600 Pullman limousine. The Federal Security Service (FSS) register lists 11 such vehicles in the presidential pool. All the cars are operated by a special FSS unit – the GON, or special-purpose garage. The unit was established in 1921, when the Council of People's Commissars issued an order to allocate several cars to serve Lenin's family.

The presidential limousines must include an armored salon, an emergency run system (which gives the car the ability to move for at least 18 miles at a speed of 50 miles per hour, even if all four tires have been shot out), as well as an air quality control system and other amenities.

Automobile of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. / Source: Sergey Guneev/RIA Novosti

Candidates for the position of presidential driver are put through an extensive battery of psychological tests and training in driving under extreme conditions. The process to become one of the president’s drivers is long. Candidates must first work for a number of years in the FSS operational division followed by several years as a driver of one of the presidential escort vehicles. After that, candidates can compete to drive for the president or the prime minister. The process takes between seven and 15 years on average.

There are more than 10 presidential drivers, and even after attaining this position, they have to continue training. At least once a week, each driver must go through a training session. Mandatory training exercises include shooting while driving and driving on a training simulator that simulates ice, a water barrier and an explosion.

Traveling by air

In October 2012, the Kremlin’s Taynitsky garden was equipped with a helipad for Putin, who flies exclusively on Russian Mi-8 helicopters. Putin was not the first president to land on a helipad in the Kremlin; President Boris Yeltsin’s helicopters landed on Ivanovo Square, but it was determined that the vibrations made by the helicopters could damage the Kremlin’s historic buildings, so the helipad was moved.

There is an entire flight group under the auspices of the Presidential Affairs Administration. The group provides transportation to the president, prime minister, foreign minister, speaker of the State Duma, other top officials and the Russian Patriarch. The journalists of the Kremlin and the prime minister's pools, members of their delegations, employees of the press service and protocol officers are also transported by the group.  

Tu-214 special purpose aircraft. / Source: RIA Novosti

The fleet incudes Il-96-300 and Tu-214 planes. Soon, these will be supplemented with a pair of Sukhoi Superjet 100s. The group also maintains a special plane equipped with special communications systems that allow the president to negotiate and manage the nuclear forces of Russia in an encrypted mode. The unit is based at the Vnukovo-2 airport.

Since 1996, the main presidential plane has been a much-modified version of the Il-96 passenger plane. While in flight, the head of state can contact any agency or institution. He can also conduct international calls or conference calls. Additionally, the plane includes the capabilities necessary for the president to act as the Supreme Commander of the armed forces, although so far this has not been necessary.

Russian President Vladimir Putin answers questions from journalists on board the President’s plan. / Source: Vladimir Rodionov/TASS

Under the sea

For traveling by water, the assets of the Presidential Affairs Administration include two boats, three ships, seven boats and one sailing catamaran. When Putin inspected the sunken Byzantine ship at the bottom of the Black Sea, he traveled by bathyscaphe, but this vessel belonged to the Russian Geographical Society.

Russian President Vladimir Putin submerges 83 meters under water on board a bathyscaphe near Sevastopol to see a sunken ancient vessel, August 2015./ Source: Aleksey Nikolskiy/RIA Novosti

Not a populist

NTV journalist Vadim Takmenev once asked while riding with Putin if the president was aware of the immense traffic jams caused by the presidential motorcade. "I apologize. I am sorry. But what can I do, I need to work. How else can I move around?" Putin replied. Takmenev suggested he might follow the example of French President Francois Hollande, whose motorcade stopped at traffic lights on the way to his inauguration. "He is a good man. But I do not do populism," Putin replied.

First published in Russian by Lenta.ru

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Simply by its location, this yellow building with its snow-white columns and sculpted chariots links the modern cosmopolitan city with the Golden Age, when in its audience chamber the great poet Alexander Pushkin weaved “betwixt the chair legs” and novelist Nikolai Gogol prepared for the production of his “The Government Inspector.” Rossi’s design for the theater was finished in 1832 and it was named in honor of Empress Alexandra Fedorovna, wife of Emperor Nicholas I.

On the orders of Peter’s daughter

The story of the Alexandrinsky began almost 100 years earlier, however. The theater was established by Empress Elizabeth Petrovna on Aug. 30, 1756. Her order to create the theater reads as follows: “We henceforth have commanded the establishment of a Russian tragic and comic theater, for which we give the Golovkinsky stone house, which is on the Vasilievsky Island near to the Cadet House. And thereof we command that actors and actresses are recruited: actors studying singing and those from Yaroslav in the cadet corps who will be needed for this, and in addition actors from other people not in service; also, a good number of actresses. The direction of this Russian theater will be led for us by the brigadier Alexander Sumarokov.”

Lithography of 1840s. / Source: Press photo

The date of the decree now is considered the birthdate of Russian theater. The first theaters built following the order were the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg and the Malyi Theater in Moscow.

A matter of state importance

Once it was established, Russian theater was like a magnet, bringing in the greatest minds of the time. At the time the Alexandrinsky was founded, poet and playwright Alexander Sumarokov laid the foundations for Russian drama and legitimized writing as a profession.

The next generation saw works by Empress Catherine II on the stage, demonstrating that art was a matter of state importance. She also made court theater accessible to the people of the city. During this era, Denis Fonvizin wrote plays for the stage in St. Petersburg, as did Ivan Krylov.

Since its foundation, Russian theater had a European bent, but also it developed its own style. Nikolai Gogol, Mikhail Lermontov, Ivan Turgenev and Alexei Tolstoy were major influences on the creation of Russian theater as its own genre.

Tradition by another name

At the end of the 19th century, the Alexandrinsky, like other imperial theaters, was rocked by the abolition of their monopoly to put on stage shows in St Petersburg and Moscow. A number of privately owned theaters subsequently appeared in the two cities. The Alexandrinsky, however, managed to preserve its unique position due to its reputation as a center of artistic power: Chekhov wrote for the theater, and is also produced plays by artists famous across Europe, including Leon Bakst, Alexander Golovin and Konstantin Korovin.

A scene from the "Masquerade" play by M. Lermontov (director V. Meyerhold, 1938). / Source: Press photo

The last director of the theater during the imperial period was Vladimir Telyakovsky, who did much to establish the art of theater direction in Russia. He wrote about his first meeting with the pioneering director Vsevolod Meyerhold in his diary on Nov. 18, 1907. “Meyerhold was assaulted by the public and the press, and this bitter resentment towards him convinced me that there must be something special and therefore quite interesting in him.”

Telyakovsky’s invitation to direct at the Alexandrinsky was one of the most important moments for the theater and the director. Telyakovsky’s 1917 production of Lermontov’s “Masquerade,” which became a symbol of the upheavals that took place during the time of the Russian Revolution, remained in the theater’s repertoire for 30 years.

The theater after reconstruction, Aug. 30, 2006. / Source: Press photo

During the Soviet era, the Alexandrinsky became known as a place with strong directors. Sergei Radlov, Nikolai Akimov and Georgii Tovstonogov all worked there. The theater underwent a massive restoration in the mid-2000s, and has now returned to its former glory. The innovative space of its New Stage is now in the hands of directors Valery Fokin and Andrey Moguchii, who work to re-conceptualize the theater’s past and create new traditions.

1. Pompeya

This new wave electropop band was founded in Moscow, but all the members of the group now live in Los Angeles. Pompeya first appeared on the Russian music scene in 2007 and was associated primarily with hipster culture. Today, the group is targeting a Western audience and is working to achieve better sound quality for its sunny, laid-back music. The group has played concerts all over the world, including in Europe and North and South America.

The group has played concerts all over the world, including in Europe and North and South America. Source: YouTube

2. Tesla Boy

This electropop band is working with the British Nu-Disco label Mullet Records. They have shared a stage with Placebo and Hurts and have appeared in the pages of Q Magazine. Their album “The Universe Made of Darkness” has topped the Russian iTunes charts. They sing mostly about love, and use synthesizers to compose their songs. Tesla Boy has been invited to participate in several major music festivals in the U.S. and Canada. All the band members have diplomas in music.

This electropop band is working with the British Nu-Disco label Mullet Records. They have shared a stage with Placebo and Hurts and have appeared in the pages of Q Magazine. Source: YouTube

3. Little Big

The videos of this trash rave band from St. Petersburg have garnered millions and millions of views on YouTube. The band’s shocking style mocks Russian culture and emphasizes the grotesque. Its lead singers are comedian-artist Ilya Prusikin and Olimpiya Ivlyeva, who is a little person. The band once performed a joint concert with the South African rant-rave group Die Antwoord. You can catch Little Big on tour around Russia through the end of 2016.

The band’s shocking style mocks Russian culture and emphasizes the grotesque. Source: YouTube

4. On-the-go

This indie-pop band frequently performs in London, and they are often mistaken for a British group. They have been compared to Alt-J and Woodkid and have performed with Hurts and Keane. On-the-go has released four albums marked by a sound that can be described as “Russian melancholy.” The band began as a rock group in the city of Tolyatti in southwestern Russia, but eventually they moved into a smoother sound.

On-the-go has released four albums marked by a sound that can be described as “Russian melancholy.” Source: YouTube

5. Jack Wood

This garage-rock band from Tomsk can claim a number of unique achievements. In 2015, it became the first Russian band to perform at the UK’s Glastonbury Festival. Additionally, one of their songs is included in the soundtrack for the popular American TV series “House of cards” TV series. They also have performed with the Recounters and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Although the band emulates the style of Jack White — dressing in black and playing dark blues — members claim the group is named after their late dog. 

One of their songs is included in the soundtrack for the popular American TV series “House of cards” TV series. Source: YouTube

6. Therr Maitz

Anton Belyaev, this band’s front man, hails from the city of Khabarovsk in the Russian Far East. His fans include legions of young Russian girls and he is a frequent guest on Russian TV shows. The band spent nearly 10 years living in Japan before recently returning to Russia. They have performed with 30 Seconds to Mars as well as at the Russian international music festival Maxidrom.

The band spent nearly 10 years living in Japan before recently returning to Russia. Source: YouTube

7. Motorama

This group calls their style twee pop or post-punk. Their music is dark and gloomy, yet refined. The primary subjects of their songs are relationships — or the lack thereof. Motorama, which was founded in 2005 in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, has released four studio albums and has many fans around the world. The group is currently at work on a new album with the French label Talitres and has concerts planned around France and Belgium.

This group calls their style twee pop or post-punk. Their music is dark and gloomy, yet refined. Source: YouTube

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Pyotr Zakovorot: fencing

Archive photo Archive photo

The 1900 Paris Olympic Games are now considered to have been a complete failure. The second time the modern international competition had been held, they coincided with the World Exhibition and received much less attention than the great scientific and technological achievements presented at the fair. Furthermore, sport at that time was rarely professional, and, of course, there was no commercial advertising to promote it.

It is not surprising that all five athletes from Tsarist Russia who participated in the games were military officers and that their athletic specialities came from their profession: three of them competed in fencing, and two participated in harness racing, riding on horseback while pulling a cart.

Pyotr Zakovorot finished seventh in fencing and came closest of the Russian athletes to becoming champion. After the games, he taught fencing in several military schools in St. Petersburg, and after the Bolshevik Revolution, he trained Red Army personnel for combat.  Zakovorot taught several famous sportsmen, including Ivan Manaenko, the best Soviet fencer of the 1940s and ‘50s. Interestingly, Zakovorot himself won his last tournament in 1935, becoming champion of the Ukrainian SSR at the age of 64.

Ivan Poddubnyi: wrestling

Source: Archive photo

The famous wrestler Ivan Poddubny was never a professional sportsman. Before he found fame, the strongman worked as a labourer, a longshoreman and a circus artist. In the arena, he showed off his skill at weightlifting, and in the circus, he began to master traditional Russian wrestling and later Greco-Roman wrestling.\

Follow my leader: Why the sporting tastes of the country’s rulers matter

Poddubnyi gained notoriety as an athlete only at age 32, entering the world championship in classical wrestling in 1903. His first professional bout ended in defeat, when he lost to the Frenchman Raoul le Boucher, who slyly covered himself in olive oil, thus managing to delay the fight. In the end, le Boucher was declared the winner for his "beautiful and skillful evasion of powerful techniques." A year later, Poddubnyi managed to get his revenge on Boucher, and between 1905 and 1908 he held the world title in wrestling.

During his prime, Poddubnyi was the real headliner of any wrestling tournament. A true showman in the sport, he was the prototype for modern boxers and MMA fighters. After the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, he returned to the circus. Despite his abundant victories and state prizes, Poddubnyi spent his final years in poverty. In 1949, he died at the age of 79 in his hometown of Eisk (780 miles south of Moscow).

Nikolai Panin-Kolomenkin: figure skating

Source: Archive photo

The first Russian Olympic champion, Nikolai Kolomenkin, was never paid a kopeck of his prize money for bringing victory to his homeland. Furthermore, he was threatened with exile to Siberia for his participation in the London Games in 1908.

The sportsman went to England illegally, under the pseudonym of Panin. It was surprising that he was able to do this, after already having been named Russia’s best figure skater five times in a row. Legend has it that his performance in ‘Men’s special figures’ scared off the famous Swede Ulrich Salchow, and that the seven-time world champion withdrew from the event after seeing the figures Panin was going to perform.

After the Games, Panin's deception was discovered when it was revealed that the talented figure skater was, in fact, Nikolai Kolomenkin, a financial inspector in the Tsarskoselsky region. According to the federal statutes of the time, state officials were not allowed to take place in athletic competitions. Panin had to stop competing; however, his passion for the sport did not diminish. In 1910, he released a textbook on figure skating and, in 1914, he was a judge at the world championships in Stockholm.

In the USSR, he concentrated on coaching, not only in figure skating but also in shooting. His shooting skills came in use during World War II, as well, when he worked as an instructor for partisan groups.

Mikhail Sumarokhov-Elstone: tennis

Archive photo Archive photo Alexander Grinberf, MAMM/MDF

Tennis was one of the Russian aristocracy’s main pastimes in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The best Russian tennis player of the time was Count Mikhail Sumarokov-Elstone.

In 1910, the 16-year-old boy, much to everyone's surprise, won the Russian tennis championship. He retained the title until he went to war in 1914, even when well-known foreign masters competed in the Russian championships. For example, in 1913, Sumarokov-Elstone beat the Frenchman Maurice Germot, who won the silver medal in 1906; and he defeated the Englishman Charles Dixon, 1912 Olympic silver medalist.

7 interesting facts about Russian tennis

In 1913, the young count had an even more precarious match. Tsar Nikolai II, a great fan of tennis, wished to play against the talented player. “Sumarokov, the left-hander, won all of his sets. After tea, the king asked for a rematch. Sumarokov hit the ball such that it hit the Tsar on the leg, who thereafter fell and had to lie in bed for three days. The poor champion was in despair, although the fault was not with him of course, not at all,” the head of the court chancellery, Aleksander Mosolov, wrote about the events at the Livadia Palace in Crimea. Nikolai II himself wrote a little more briefly in his diary that evening: “It was a good game of tennis with Sumarokov.”

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"As dusk set in, Islamic State militants used motor vehicles packed with explosives and driven by suicide attackers to penetrate the Syrian army’s defense. At the cost of heavy losses they gained a foothold on the city’s outskirts," Konashenkov said.

How Russian sappers are demining Syrian Palmyra

The militants had massed up near Palmyra being quite certain that combat operations in Raqqa would not resume.

"The first two powerful attacks were beaten back by Syrian troops with support from Russia’s aerospace group. Russian planes dealt 64 air strikes against the militants’ groups, positions and advancing reserves," Konashenkov said.

Islamic State gangs seized Palmyra (240 kilometers away from Damascus) on Dec. 10. Homs Province Governor Talal al-Barazi said the Syrian troops had managed to evacuate 80 percent of residents before retreating.

The Syrian army had retaken Palmyra from terrorists on March 27 with Russian air support. Short while later Russian bomb disposal specialists helped clear the city and historical monuments of mines and unexploded ordnance.

Source: TASS

"The Syrian army has liberated five more quarters in eastern Aleppo over the past 24 hours," Konashenkov said. "The Syrian government is thus fully controlling 96 percent of Aleppo’s territory, while the total area in the eastern part of the city held by militants does not exceed 8.5 square kilometers," Konashenkov said.

Poles apart: Can the divisions between Russia and the West be bridged?

He recalled that the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Warring Parties had helped over 100,000 civilians, including 40,000 children, leave Aleppo’s eastern districts since the beginning of the Syrian army’s operation to recapture the city.

"All of them have been accommodated in the humanitarian centers and provided with hot meals and foodstuffs. More than 5,100 residents have returned to their homes in the liberated neighborhoods from the city’s western districts. The Russian Reconciliation Center has delivered 78 tons of humanitarian aid over the past 24 hours, including foodstuffs, drinking water, articles of daily necessity, medications, tents and warm clothing," Konashenkov noted.

Source: TASS

Double your success with double degrees at St. Petersburg Polytech

One new program launched by the Ministry of Education and Science and Rossotrudnichestvo is the United Graduate Day initiative. Begun in 2014, the initiative seeks to maintain ties between foreign and Russian graduates of Russian universities. Celebrations take place every year in November in Russia and at Russian cultural centers abroad. This year, Peoples' Friendship University, the Higher School of Economics and Moscow State University helped organize events in Moscow.

Rising numbers

According to the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, there are more than 1 million people from 160 countries who have graduated from Russian universities.

That number may soon increase dramatically. According to data from a study conducted this year by the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), the number of foreign students in Russian universities has tripled in the last decade: from 100,900 in the 2004-2005 academic year to 282,900 in the 2014-2015 academic year. The amount of revenue universities earned from foreign students increased as well — from $356 million in 2005 to $1.46 billion in 2015.

During the 2014-2015 academic year alone, the number of full-time foreign students grew by 17.2 percent in comparison with the previous year, while the number of students taking classes remotely increased by 6.1 percent, according to Gulnar Krasnova from the RANEPA Continuing Education Center of Economy. Krasnova said that in general there has been an approximate 9 percent annual growth in the number of full-time foreign students in Russian universities since 2003.

Traditionally, the universities with the highest number of foreign students are Peoples' Friendship University, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, the Crimean Federal University and Moscow State University.

More than half of the number of foreign students studying in Russia (53 percent) come from the former Soviet republics, but Russian universities have begun to attract students from further afield.

SPbPU named Russia’s top polytechnic for international students

Vladimir Zamolodchikov, rector of the Moscow Energy Institute, said that in 2012, the Russian Ministry of Education and Science began examining the internationalization of Russian universities, including their appeal for foreign students. "In 1946, there were two universities in Moscow that actively attracted foreign students: Moscow State University and the Moscow Power Engineering Institute," Zamolodchikov said.

Much has changed since then, although most Russian universities are still new to the concept of teaching foreign students. "At the time the USSR collapsed, all Russian universities practically lacked experience in attracting foreign students. A small number of universities had experience in teaching and interacting with them," said Krasnova of RANEPA. “The thing is that in the USSR, it was the Soviet Ministry of Higher and Middle Special Education that dealt with issues related to the selection and reception of foreign students. Later it was the USSR State Committee for People's Education. But the universities themselves did not participate in these processes. They were just responsible for training and educating the foreign students and maintaining contact with the graduates.”

Increased revenues

According to Krasnova, in 2014-2015 Russian universities received about 13.7 billion rubles ($215 million) from foreign students. Within the total budget of Russia universities this is an insignificant sum, but there are signs that it could increase significantly.

This year, the ValuePenguin.com personal finance consultancy web portal ranked Russia 15 out of 24 countries in its list of countries where it is cheapest to study abroad.

Additionally, the government is taking steps to open Russia education for foreign students. "Currently, the Russian state budget allots about 15,000 quotas annually for foreign students to study in Russia. Recently this indicator has increased by three times," said Zamolodchikov.

Read more: Russia to establish new university rankings in 2017>>>

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On Dec. 8 Yandex published a study (in Russian) of user inquiries in 2016, dividing them into categories. In the Events category the first two positions are occupied by September's parliamentary elections in Russia and by November's presidential elections in the U.S.

After the domestic and overseas elections, Russians were interested mostly in the swine flu. This year a large-scale flu epidemic hit Russia and the subtype A (H1N1), the so-called swine flu, was identified in most of the ill. However, the flu was not the only virus that interested Russians. The top 10 also included another virus – the Zika fever, which has spread to various parts of Latin America after an outbreak that began in Brazil in 2015

Trump, DiCaprio and Obodzinsky

Russians' attention to the U.S. elections also determined their most popular man of the year: U.S. president-elect Donald Trump. He is followed by the star of The Revenant, Leonardo DiCaprio. In third place, and less predictable, is Valery Obodzinsky, who was popular in the USSR in the 1970s. The outburst of interest in the Soviet singer was the result of a 2015 TV series called Eti Glaza Naprotiv, which is named after one of Obodzinsky's songs.

Feeling exposed? Why Russians cover up their webcams

The most popular woman among Russian internet users was TV star and socialite Ksenia Sobchak, or the "social lioness," as Russian showbiz publications call her. She is the daughter of former St. Petersburg mayor Anatoly Sobchak, in whose administration Russian President Vladimir Putin began his government career after leaving the KGB.

Second and third place went to TV hostess Olga Buzova and Soviet model Regina Zbarskaya, who was helped by Krasnaya Korolyeva, a TV series dedicated to her.

The U.S. elections also drew Russian internet users' attention to American women. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump's spouse Melania were also among the top 10 inquiries.

The new iPhone and a dancing millionaire

Among those subjects to feature in searches for the first time in 2016, first place went to the new iPhone 7. It was more popular than Moscow's new transportation system, the Moscow Central Ring train, as well as the Renault Kaptur, which recently appeared on the Russian market.

Roskomnadzor vs PornHub: Russians stand firm on their right to porn

"Internet events" for Russians also included the vote on the cities that should be depicted on the new 200 and 2,000 ruble notes and petitions on the change.org site. In the middle of the search ranking was the video of 50-year-old Italian millionaire Gianluca Vacchi happily dancing with his young model wife Giorgia Gabriele.

Among feature films, Russians were mostly interested in Hollywood blockbusters such as Suicide Squad and Deadpool. The only Russian film to feature near the top of the search ranking was The Crew, a remake of an eponymous Soviet cult disaster film. The most popular foreign TV series was Game of Thrones. According to Yandex, the TV series' upcoming season interested internet users even more than the U.S. elections or even the new iPhone.

Memes and Medvedev

Among internet memes, Russians were mostly puzzled by "Louboutins," a name Russians often use for footwear created by French designer Christian Louboutin. The shoes owe their internet popularity to a video made by the Russian band Leningrad, in which they play the leading role.

Another top position was occupied by "Peskov's red pants" (that is, Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, who was photographed at a car wash wearing bright red pants and Ugg boots). There was also Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's infamous comment to Crimean pensioners that "there's no money, but you hang in there," as well as the proposal to rename Americano coffee “Russiano,” an idea that Medvedev took a liking to.

Explaining the ranking's methodology, Yandex says that although the number of searches corresponds to people's interest in a particular subject, it does not help determine the most interesting subjects. The list of popular subjects has not changed for many years: Users are usually interested in traffic jams and the weather. The selected subjects of the year are issues in which interest has drastically increased in 2016, meaning this ranking is essentially based on “outbursts” of curiosity.

Read more: Microsoft sued by Kaspersky Lab for unfair competition>>>

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Presented on Dec. 9 in London, the report, prepared by the WADA independent commission headed by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, contains some truly staggering figures. According to the findings of the commission, between 2012 and 2014, over 1,000 Russian athletes were involved in manipulation of positive samples.

Furthermore, the report asserts, they were acting not single-handedly but with the support of Russian officials and secret services, reiterating the earlier accusation that Russia had been running a state-sponsored program to cover up doping.

4 years of sample-swapping

Samples were allegedly swapped starting from the 2012 London Olympics at all major tournaments, including the 2013 World Athletics Championship in Moscow. Violations were found during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi too: The WADA commission, according to McLaren, found that 95 of the sample bottles collected from Russian athletes at the Sochi Olympics had been tampered with, and 21 sample bottles with marks and scratches from the 2014 Paralympic Games.

What the latest report on doping means for Russia

In London, McLaren laid out in detail the conclusions reached in the first part of his report, which was published on July 18 in Toronto. It was then that he first announced that during the Sochi Olympics the Russian Sports Ministry, with support of the secret services, had systematically swapped dirty urine samples for clean ones.

McLaren's independent commission arrived at that conclusion on the basis of examining 11 Russian samples that were stored in Lausanne. On all those sample bottles, WADA officers found signs that they had been tampered with.

McLaren based his first report on the facts that had been made public by the former head of the Moscow anti-doping agency, Grigory Rodchenkov, in an interview he gave to The New York Times in May. It was several days after the publication of that interview that WADA set up a group to investigate Russia's alleged doping violations and appointed McLaren to head it.

After McLaren presented part one of his report, WADA called for Russia to be banned from the Rio Olympics. The International Olympic Committee, however, decided not to resort to such extreme measures.

Yet later the International Paralympic Committee ruled differently and banned the whole Russian Paralympic team from the games in Rio. For their part, Russian officials insisted that McLaren's report lacked specific “evidence.”

Nothing new to add?

Similar criticism was made of part two of McLaren's report. "There is no evidence" – was the most common phrase used by Russian politicians and sports officials in the first hours after the presentation of McLaren's report, ignoring the tampered bottles and the testimony of Rodchenkov.

"In his speech, McLaren did not say anything new about doping in Russia. He speaks of 'thousands of athletes', of some letters and witnesses," head of the State Duma committee for physical culture and sport Mikhail Degtyarev wrote on Twitter.

Sports Ministry advises investigation of facts stated in McLaren report

Russia's irritation is understandable given that Moscow hoped that this time round McLaren would not be quite as harsh as in the first report. All the more so since in the four months since the publication of the first part of the report a lot has been done to save the reputation of Russian sport.

The anti-crisis measures were carried out by a dedicated anti-doping commission headed by an honorary IOC member from Russia, 81-year-old Vitaly Smirnov. It has successfully lobbied for making inducement to doping a criminal offense in Russia and removing the Sports Ministry from the list of the founders of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, RUSADA.

Not long before the presentation of McLaren's report in London, Vitaly Smirnov, who is considered to be the most respected and influential sports officials in Russia, said that McLaren was satisfied with the work being carried out by the Russians.

"This year, Russia has started to reformat its anti-doping system. It is stupid if somebody does not want to notice our steps," said Sergei Kushchenko, a representative of the anti-doping commission.

For his part, McLaren assured journalists that all the conclusions made in his report were based on material evidence rather than oral testimony. At the same time, he did not disclose the names of those implicated in doping, saying that all the information had been handed over to WADA and the relevant sports federations.

In addition, WADA has launched a website where one can study the independent commission's findings. Athletes' names there have been replaced with digital codes.

Read more: Former Olympic fencing champion becomes Russia’s new sports minister>>>

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Rosneft had demanded to recover more than 3 billion rubles ($48.7 mln) from RBK.

The lawsuit was prompted by an article posted on the RBK’s website in April and titled: "Sechin requests government to protect Rosneft from BP." The article said that Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin was requesting the government to limit the rights of the buyers of the company’s shares slated for sale, fearing that BP might gain a blocking stake during privatization of Rosneft’s 19.5 percent share package.

Judge Ubusha Boldunov ordered RBK to remove the article, refute the report and compensate for the legal costs.

How opposition media survive in Russia

The RBK media holding plans to appeal against the decision, its lawyer Alexei Melnikov told TASS. "We will challenge the decision, of course, but the compensation sum already inspires optimism," he said.

"The biggest recovered sum under a defamation lawsuit in Russia is 30 million rubles under the lawsuit of Alfa Bank to Kommersant and we are glad that today this record was not broken," Melnikov said.

The representatives of the media holding and the authors of the article said that the satisfaction of the lawsuit in full would deal a heavy blow to the freedom of mass media and drive the journalists to bankruptcy.

Source: TASS

Joe Dunthorne

Welsh writer and poet, Joe Dunthorne became famous after his debut novel Submarine which was shortlisted for Best First Book at the 2009 Commonwealth Writers Prize and was made into a film by Richard Ellef Ayoade. In 2010 Joe released a collection of poems and another novel - Wild Abandon.

Before we boarded the train in Moscow, we were taken to visit the Cosmos exhibition. There we saw Yuri Gagarin’s spacecraft, Vostok 1, its paint burned black from re-entry. We saw space food, borscht in a tube. We admired the silky tracksuit of Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space. And we stared at the tiny capsule – about the size of a two-door car – in which three cosmonauts had lain side-by-side on tiny beds for the journey back to earth. In this context, our cabins on the Trans-Siberian railway looked positively luxurious.

Gazing out the train window, we watched the big city give way to suburbs, then to industry, villages and finally to silver birch forests, ghostly in the moonlight. The train’s first stop was Kazan, 500 miles to the east. I spoke to a local journalist, Felix Sandalov, about the Russian love affair with space, and also with science fiction. He took me to a bookshop in a rundown mall, its shelves standing in the corridor between a wig shop and a nail bar. Among the precarious piles of book, we found a beautiful, pocket-sized anthology of science fiction called Музы в век звездолетов: Muses in the Age of the Spacecrafts. It was published in Moscow in 1969, just as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took their first steps on the moon. I asked Felix if it was normal that most of the stories in the book were not by Russians, but by British and American writers, and he explained that, “during the Soviet times, one of the rare ways to learn something about western society was to read science fiction. Soviet publishers were allowed to publish foreign science fiction because it was seen to criticize western society. But for readers, it was the only way to know what was happening in the west, albeit through the blurry lens of fiction.”

Joe Dunthorne during a performance in Kazan. Source: Max Avdeev

Inside the book, an E.M Forster short story – "Celestial Omnibus" – told the tale of a little middle-class boy in Surbiton, an unglamorous suburb of London, who found a portal to heaven in the alley behind his house. It was interesting to think that Surbiton – to me, the very archetype of bland British suburbia – might have been thrillingly exotic to Russian readers. Conversely, I remembered that, when I was 16 in South Wales, my favorite item of clothing was a bright red zip-up top with CCCP on the front and, on the back, the hammer and sickle. Communism seemed glamorous and magical. And I wasn’t the only one. Lots of young Welsh men walked round wearing CCCP t-shirts, excited by the idea of a country we knew almost nothing about.

“These science fiction anthologies were hugely popular,” Felix told me. “They sold out massive print runs within a month. People organized clubs where they could discuss and swap books.”

Science fiction is still popular in Russia now. Felix told me that readers particularly like time travel, stories of Russians going forward or backward in time to change the course of history. “Maybe a Cossack from the eighteenth century finds a portal and travels forward in time to kill Hitler. Maybe a team of Spetsnaz, the Russian special forces, go back in time to kill Nelson and ruin the process of British colonization. In most bookshops, you can find four or five shelves with just this kind of story.”

A lift in Krasnoyarsk / Max Avdeev

The next day, on the train, we foreigners stayed glued to our windows, hypnotized by the bleak and beautiful landscape that spooled past – the snow, the birches – like seeing the world in negative. Coming from a small island, we talked a lot about the scale of Russia. Not just the roads or the buildings or the statues, but the feeling that it’s a country so big that it’s on a planetary scale. It’s a country that makes you aware that we all share a small planet. While we were amazed by the seemingly endless landscape, some of our fellow Russian travelers were less excited.

As we passed through the forests, Max Adeev, a talented young Russiam photographer, posted on his Instagram: “There is nothing more boring than traveling through Russia by train. The same view and landscape for days.” For us, it was precisely that sameness which we found astonishing. We loved the nothingness, the taiga, the tundra, landscapes with no equivalent in Britain.

Our journey ended in the small village of Ovsyanka on the Yenisei river in eastern Siberia. This was our moon landing. The landscape was completely monochrome but for the brightly colored buckets of the boys collecting water from the river. Friendly huskies padded behind us through the pristine, snow-muffled streets. Moscow felt a world away, though it had only been two weeks. We stood on the banks of the river, watching it flow north to the Arctic and south to Mongolia. Even though this was our final destination, I think we all felt we wanted to keep traveling, put a boat on the water and let it carry us towards the roof of the earth.

Late that night, squeezed together in a cabin on the train, drinking vodka from a teapot, we wrote a song about what we’d seen. It was called "Silver Birches" and the only lyric was a rising refrain: silver, silver, silver, silver birch. What some people might have found repetitive, to us felt transcendent. Or maybe that was just the vodka. Either way, the trip had brought us all together. Just like the scientists on the simulated mission to Mars, we had thrived in our psychosocial experiment. Even my sloppy acoustic guitar playing had not spoiled things. As the train blasted into the darkness, Konstantin Milchin, our resident academic, reminded me of Gagarin’s last words before Vostok 1 took off. “Poyekhali!” he yelled. Let’s go!

VIDEO: A British poet’s trans-Siberian odyssey

Libraries are seeking new approaches to remain relevant in their communities. They are transforming from a storage place for books into cultural spaces for lectures, conversations and master classes.

The N. A. Nekrasov Central Universal Scientific Library, or simply the Nekrasovka, has decided to go to the modern reader, literally speaking. The Nekrasovka has created a mobile point in the Oceania shopping and entertainment center. Just imagine: besides boutiques, entertainment, a movie theater and cafes, the crowded shopping mall will now have an island for tranquility and reading books, and moreover, its services are free.

At #БиблиотекавТРЦ (#LibrarySEC) you borrow and return books from the library's main collection, as well as access the Biblio LitRes online reading service. The mobile point also has rare books from independent publishers that can be found only in a limited number of bookshops. The library has something for everyone, including children books and board games.

Mobile libraries now available in Moscow railway stations

"We have the opportunity to show the public that libraries have historical and modern books, and not just printed books but also electronic ones, plus board games and other things," she adds.

Visitors to the mall are happy about the initiative. "The books are almost all new and recent editions. There are obviously the classics, as well as textbooks and much more. First I thought it was some sort of store. Then I asked and it turned out to be a library! Yes-yes, it's a mobile branch of a library in a shopping center! If you've come to watch a movie or something, you can borrow a book from the library, read it for a month and then when you go back to buy groceries, you can return it," wrote triplex35 in his blog.

Privalova believes it is a great advantage that the interests of the shopping center and the library coincide. "This shopping and entertainment center is trying to attract people not only to make purchases but also to relax, visit a master class, etc."

Next year, the Nekrasovka plans to expand this pilot project and find other innovative ways to go beyond its walls. Currently, the library is working to improve its mobile location, especially logistics and event organization.

For more information visit official website of The N. A. Nekrasov Central Universal Scientific Library (in Russian) nekrasovka.ru/oceania.

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It would however take almost another century before Russia made an attempt to establish a presence in the Philippines. This initiative was taken by Peter Dobell, an Irish-born American trader, who had a deep interest in China, Siberia and the Russian Far East. 

Dobell, an intrepid traveller was living in Canton, China in the early 19th century when he met Ivan Fyodorovich Kruzenshtern, a Russian admiral who led the first Russian circumnavigation of the globe. The Irishman developed a friendship with the explorer and managed to get access to the Russian Far East.  

How a Russian spy outfoxed the British in 19th century Afghanistan

Dobell lived in Kamchatka and Siberia, before moving to St. Petersburg, where he became a naturalized Russian citizen, Russianizing his name to Petr Vasilievich Dobell. 

“In St. Petersburg, Dobell approached Tsar Alexander I with a proposal to establish a Russian consulate in Manila,” Rosa Carlos, a historian based in Manila told RBTH. “Dobell had already established a reputation as both a trader and a writer with his stories being published in the book ‘Sons of the Fatherland,’ which was about Siberia.” 

Alexander I was eager to have a Russian presence in Southeast Asia and allowed Dobell to approach the Spanish colonial government in Manila as a Russian representative.

“Launching an official Russian mission in Philippines was not an easy task as the Spanish colonial officials declined to recognize Russian diplomatic representation in Manila,” the Russian Embassy in Manila’s website says. “However a compromise was found and Peter Dobell was allowed to stay and act in Manila as an unofficial representative of the Russian government in the Philippine islands.”

Russian historical accounts suggest that the Spanish government insisted that foreign consuls were not allowed in colonies but promised to provide assistance to Dobell, as a subject of a “friendly power.”

Tough life in Manila 

“While Dobell was allowed to live in Manila, Spanish officials kept a strict vigil on his activities and always tried to thwart any trade initiatives he came up with,” says Carlos. “He grew increasingly frustrated with his time in the Philippines, and there wasn’t much he could achieve… The colonial officials saw him as some sort of spy who may have been trying to expand the Russian Empire even further.”

Bali through the eyes of a Moscow-born artist

Dobell’s misfortune was compounded by the fact that his property was vandalized and looted in Manila during general disturbances in the city.

It took decades before the mission would gain official recognition and properly function in Manila. The consulate was run mostly by French “free lance” consuls who were entrusted with looking after Russian interests in the Philippines. The mission continued to operate in the city until the 1917 revolution. 

Dobell would return to Russia after a short and troublesome stint in the Philippines.  He wrote several books about the Far East and Russia, including ‘Travels in Kamchatka and Siberia,’ ‘Seven Years in China (originally written in French)’ and ‘Russia as it is, and not as it has been represented.’  

“It’s unfortunate that he didn’t write much about his time as the Russian consul general in Manila, “ Carlos says. “But his writings on Russia, which are out of print, give those interested in the country a rare look at the country through the eyes of an outsider.”

The mission in Manila helped slowly build trade ties and goodwill between Russia and the Philippines until its closure in 1917. 

Carlos adds that the goodwill that was established between Tsarist Russia and the Philippines was one of the main reasons that the latter accepted Russian refugees who fled China in 1948. 

"If we introduce this solution throughout the city, it will require a tenfold increase in video surveillance expenses. The technology will cost several billion rubles, which is completely unacceptable for us," explained Yermolayev, though he did not give an exact figure. The department hopes to reduce the cost of recognizing faces several times over.

‘Obtaining recognition of even 60-70 percent of the images is extremely difficult’

However, there are problems not only with the price but also with the quality of the recognition technology itself.

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"City video surveillance cameras are dynamic: They move left-right, zoom in and zoom out. In such conditions obtaining recognition of even 60-70 percent of the images is extremely difficult. A 30-percent result is already cosmic," said Yermolayev, who explained that Moscow is trying to solve the problem with two methods.

"Firstly, we are looking for technologies that will help us obtain the best result for moving cameras. Secondly, we are studying ways in which we can change the parameters of the video cameras. They can be made more stationary. On the one hand this will narrow the surveillance, on the other it will help obtain more effective analysis of video streams," he said.

Several companies, including Russian ones, are participating in the experiments.

What are video surveillance systems needed for?

The facial recognition system can be used for criminals and missing persons. Moscow has 140,000 video surveillance cameras, 100,000 of which are located in building entrances. Only law-enforcement agents and city officials have access to the video archive. City residents can request a copy of a video if they were victims of an offense such as a car theft, a robbery or an assault.

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In the course of five days they have to call a hotline and ask for the video to be preserved in the archive. They will receive an inquiry number, with which they then go to the police. Law-enforcement agents are obliged to present the copy to the applicant or to his or her lawyer. It is possible to watch the "film" taken with city cameras in a special center at the VDNKh exhibition complex in north-eastern Moscow.

According to the department of information technologies, last year with the help of the cameras 1,700 offenses were uncovered and city residents made 8,000 requests to use material from the archive.

Intrusion into private life?

Ivan Begtin, director of the non-profit Informational Culture Organization, believes that the facial recognition system will start functioning in Moscow in the near future. In part, this is already the case.

"When there have been resonant incidents, the offenders have been caught in several hours thanks to the chain of cameras," said Begtin.

Mikhail Zyuzin, an IT expert at the Academy of Information Systems, believes the facial recognition system can increase the number of crimes solved but cautions that it could also be used for hostile purposes.

"If the system is broken into by third parties, they may receive an enormous quantity of information on a person: where they live, which places they go to, which routes they take. This is involvement in a citizen's private life," said Zyuzin.

First published in Russian by RBC

Read more: Russian teenagers open fire at police from house before killing themselves>>>

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"In January, we want to set a new air balloon flight duration record. We will fly a balloon from Rybinsk (a town in the Moscow region) around Jan. 15… At the end of the summer, I plan to set a new flight altitude record by flying a balloon 25 kilometers high into the stratosphere," Konyukhov said.

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The adventurer’s son Oskar Konyukhov elaborated that his father planned to set the altitude record by flying a hot air balloon in the Krasnoyarsk region or in Yakutia.

The current air balloon flight duration record is 50 hours 38 minutes, it was set by Michio Kanda of Japan on Feb. 1, 1997, who took off from Canada and landed in the U.S. Fyodor Konyukhov will have to continue flying for more than 51 hours in order to beat the record.

The current hot air balloon flight altitude record was set by India’s Vijaypat Singhania on Nov. 26, 2005, who flew his balloon at an altitude above 21,000 meters.

Source: TASS

In particular, the board approved the purchase of a 30 percent stake in the concession agreement regarding the Shorouk bloc in Egypt, as well as the acquisition of 15 percent of shares in a joint venture, created by IEOC Production B.V. and Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company, which is the operator of the project on the stage of its development.

Rosneft also has been given an option to acquire a 5 percent stake in the concession agreement and 2.5 percent of the joint venture before Dec. 31, 2017.

Russia sells $11 billion in Rosneft shares to Glencore and Qatar

The transfer of shares should take place within one year since the signing of the agreement, full payment should be made not later than May 31, 2018.

Earlier it was reported that the board of directors of Rosneft will consider an option to buy up to 35 percent in the concession agreement of the Shorouk gas fields in the offshore area of Egypt.

In late November, BP said that it plans to buy 10 percent in the concession agreement on Shorouk from Eni for $375 million.

Shorouk is part of Zohr, which is the largest gas field in Egypt.

According to Eni, which reported the discovery of the field in August 2015 its reserves may amount to 850 billion cubic meters.

Source: TASS

According to the WADA report, more than 1,000 Russian athletes participated in the doping system, including athletes who competed in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London and in the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

"It is unrealistic to do what we are accused of"

Commenting on the report, Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko, the former Russian Minister of Sport, said that Russia could not have influenced the results of the Sochi Olympics. "The Games were conducted by international sporting organizations – everything was under control," Mutko said, adding that it was “unrealistic” to manipulate athletes’ urine samples.

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Mutko did not rule out that there may have been individual cases of doping use by Russian athletes, but categorically denied the existence of any state-sponsored doping program in Russia. "We do not need any 'dodgy' victories," Mutko told the TASS news agency.

Vitaly Smirnov, the head of the independent public anti-doping commission set up following the publication of the first part of McLaren's report, also rejected the possibility of the existence of a doping program in Russia. Smirnov noted that the accusations were largely based on the testimony of Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory. Rodchenkov has said that he organized the manipulation of doping samples. He has since moved to the United States. Smirnov said that, given the circumstance, Rodchenkov’s testimony cannot be trusted.

Dim prospects for Russia

The consequences of the doping charges remain unclear. After the publication of the first part of the report, there was a serious possibility that all Russian athletes would be banned from competing in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero. In the end, however, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) left the decision as to whether individual athletes should participate in the Games up to the individual sports federations. Nearly 300 Russian athletes competed in 26 sports and the country came in fourth in the number of medals won.

Russia may not get off so easily now. The country may lose medals won in the Sochi Games and could even be banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Alexei Karpenko, an expert in sports law, told the newspaper Kommersant that Russia may lose the right to host international sporting events on its territory and see its national teams in some disciplines banned from competing in international events.

How to get your Fan ID for the 2017 Confederations Cup and 2018 World Cup

Andrei Smolensky, the head of the Sports Medicine Research Institute under the Russian State University of Physical Culture, Sport and Tourism, took a different view. According to Smolensky, McLaren's rhetoric "has become relatively softer" compared with what it was in the summer: McLaren said that Russia recently "had done many positive things" to combat doping.

"I don't think that the IOC will rule to strip Russia of competitions or ban it from the Olympics,” Smolensky told RBTH. “Some countries may decide to boycott competitions held on Russian territory. But that is politics, not sport."

Up to the IOC

Russian sports lawyer Artem Patsev noted that whatever decision will be made regarding Russian sport on the international stage will be made by larger organizations. "McLaren himself is saying: I am an independent figure, I have just analyzed the documents and arrived at my own conclusions. He does not even come up with any recommendations for the IOC or the international sporting federations. He just hands over his findings to them," Patsev told RBTH.

Patsev added that the IOC had a special commission that was investigating whether Russia was running a state-sponsored doping program. "Individual violations by individual athletes do not prove the existence of a doping system,” Patsev said. “It is the findings of the IOC commission that will determine whether Russia will be subjected to any international sanctions." According to the lawyer, it is the IOC commission rather than the McLaren report that will have the decisive say in the future of Russian sport in the international arena.

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Putin said Russia supports Nigeria’s efforts in fighting terrorism.

"The Russian president confirmed the readiness to build up cooperation in this sphere both on the bilateral and on a wider, international basis," the press service said. "Putin offered words of sympathy and support to families of the victims and wished soonest recovery to the injured."

Two explosions on the market in Nigeria’s village Madagali went off on Dec. 9. According to authorities, the attack was carried out by suicide bombers, who most likely belonged to the Boko Haram terrorist group, which is active in the country. The authorities said both suicide bombers were schoolgirls. The number of victims, according to the latest data, was 56 people.

Source: TASS

Poles apart: Can the divisions between Russia and the West be bridged?

"During the past night, with the active support from the Russian Aerospace Force, the Syrian governmental forces repelled all terrorist attacks on Palmyra. The attackers used vehicles with suicide bombers, armored vehicles and artillery."

The Russian aircraft delivered 64 strikes on positions, convoys and moving reserves of the militants.

"They destroyed 11 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, 31 vehicles carrying large-caliber automatic guns, more than 300 militants," the ministry said.

Earlier, the Al Arabiya TV channel said citing sources with the Syrian opposition said Islamic State had re-entered the ancient city of Palmyra on Saturday. The terrorists launched offensive from different directions, trying to capture oil wells in the Shaer and al-Maher fields. Fierce clashes were going ten kilometers in the south of the city, near a grain storage, it said.

Palmyra, the UNESCO World Heritage site, was retaken from terrorists on March 27 with the support of Russian air force’s strikes. Later on, Russian field engineers cleared the city and its nearby ancient monuments from mines.

Read more: NATO chief: We do not want to isolate Russia

Source: TASS

Russia sells $11 billion in Rosneft shares to Glencore and Qatar

"A company of Rosneft group (Petrocas Energy group) and a company of Demiroren Group (Total Oil Turkiye A.) signed a contract for the deliveries of diesel to Turkey," Rosneft said. "The document was signed pursuant to the Heads of Terms on cooperation and supply of petroleum products, reached by the parties within the World Energy Congress in Istanbul (Turkey) in Oct. 2016."

"The contract envisages the annual delivery of up to 550 thousand t of diesel, produced at Rosneft refineries. The first delivery will be carried out in Jan. 2017. Demiroren aims to use the products to be purchased for supplying its retail stations in Turkey."

"In Dec. 2014, Rosneft acquired 49% stake in Petrocas Energy, which owns and operates oil products terminal in Poti, Georgia, and is specialized in transportation, retail distribution and international trading of oil products.

"Demiroren Holding is a diversified group of companies that has leadership in different business areas in Turkey. Demir·ren Group owns and operates a network of more than 1100 fuel and autogas sations of such brands as Total, Moil and MILANGAZ, as well as multiple oil product terminals in Turkey."

Read more: NATO chief: We do not want to isolate Russia

Source: TASS

On Dec. 13, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Iranian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi are expected to participate in the Commission’s wrap-up meeting.

Russia sells $11 billion in Rosneft shares to Glencore and Qatar

During the 13th meeting of the Permanent Commission, the parties will discuss bilateral cooperation in energy, nuclear energy in particular, oil and gas production, transport, the exploration of outer space, machine building, medical industry as well as the financial and banking sector. The meeting agenda also includes inter-regional cooperation, tourism, environmental protection and other spheres of bilateral cooperation.

Representatives of various ministries, governmental bodies, leading corporations and companies, including Roscosmos, Rostec, Gazprom, Zarubezhneft, Lukoil and Tatneft, will take part in expert groups’ meetings. The meeting’s participants are expected to sign a package of documents on bilateral economic cooperation.

The Russian-Iranian business forum will open on December 13 in Tehran’s Olympic Hotel. The forum participants will discuss development of trade, economic, investment cooperation, support for the Russian and the Iranian businesses at the state levels, development of industrial and technical cooperation between Russia and Iran, cooperation in various spheres.

Read more: NATO chief: We do not want to isolate Russia

Source: TASS

According to the TV channel, Tokyo has been holding final consultations with Russia on this matter.

Lack of trust casts shadow over Putin-Abe summit - former Russian envoy

Over 50,000 Russians visit Japan each year with a similar number of Japanese citizens visiting Russia. As the TV channel says, Japan’s government expects that boosting humanitarian exchanges will help promote mutual understanding between the two nations and allow to advance peace treaty talks.

On Saturday, Japan’s Asahi daily reported that mutual easing of visa requirements between the two countries could involve multiple visas, their duration could be extended from three to five years.

In March 2014, Japan, together with Western countries, imposed sanctions on Russia over the situation in Ukraine, particularly suspending consultations on easing visa rules.

Russia’s president is scheduled to visit Japan on December 15-16. Vladimir Putin will spend the first day of the visit in the city of Nagato, Yamaguchi Prefecture, while on December 16 he will head to the country’s capital of Tokyo.

Source: TASS

"I think that by March 31, it will be somewhere around minus 200,000 barrels per day," he said, adding that after that Russia will be able to reduce production by 300,000 barrels per day.

-

The Syrian government forces has not confirmed the information so far. Earlier in the day, reinforcements have been relocated to repel Islamic State’s attack from the south. On Friday, terrorists seized seven military checkpoints near the city, killing 27 Syrian soldiers.

Islamic State has accumulated considerable forces outside Palmyra, which are fighting to capture oil wells in the Shaer and al-Maher fields.

Palmyra, the UNESCO World Heritage site, was retaken from terrorists on March 27 with the support of Russian air force’s strikes. Later on, Russian field engineers cleared the city and its nearby ancient monuments from mines.

"The collapse of 2014, when oil prices have fallen by more than 3 times and reached the lowest point of $28 per barrel in January 2016, has severely restricted the investment attractiveness of oil projects. Annual investment in the global oil sector fell almost twice," he said.

Ministers from countries members of OPEC and the countries outside of the organization meet in Vienna to discuss stabilization of the oil market. The meeting is attended by 12 non-OPEC countries.

Novak told reporters earlier that he sees no risks of agreement’s failure and that Russia will abide by its commitments to reduce oil production by the 300,000 barrels per day.

-

"Only in the first half of the day, from eastern districts have escaped more than 20 thousand civilians, and 1,217 militants have laid arms," he said.

The Russian center for reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria organized escape for civilians from Aleppo’s eastern districts to safe parts of the city. The Russian center has organized the escape of about 50,000 civilians within recent two days, the spokesman said.

"The flats were built under the order of the Russian president on rehabilitation of people, deported for their nationality," Crimea’s head Sergei Aksenov said after the official ceremony. "All the flats are given to families for free."

The Russian presidential order on rehabilitation of the Armenian, Bulgarian, Greek, Crimean Tatars and German peoples and on the state support for their revival and development is dated April, 2014, following Crimea’s reunion with Russia.

Head of the Crimean committee on inter-ethnic relations Zaur Smirnov told TASS, out of the 10 billion rubles ($153 million) for program, more than the third part of the money will be spent for construction or buying of housing. Since 2014, he continued, 400 families of the rehabilitated peoples have received flats. The local government has bought 131 flats and houses, which will be given to the repatriates, the official added.

About 7,000 rehabilitated families in Crimea are on the line for new flats or houses.

"We shall fulfil our obligations by 2020," the official continued. "Everybody will receive housing."

The local authorities also build kindergartens, schools and social infrastructures. "Before the yearend, a school for 1,200 pupils in Simferopol will be ready," the republic’s head said. "There, lessons will be also in the Crimean-Tatar language."

It would be a "school of four presidents," he said, as since 1992 all Ukrainian presidents, from Leonid Kravchuk to Viktor Yanukovich, had promised to have it. "But only our president, Vladimir Putin, has managed to make it true, as he pays special attention to these questions."

"The school will begin working from September 1 (beginning of academic year), of course, and now they are working on the pedagogical staff, education plans, and so forth."

In 1941-1944, more than 300,000 Crimean Tatars, Armenians, Bulgarians, Greeks and Germans were deported from Crimea.

Classics revisited

Alexander Pushkin – Yevgeny Onegin

(translated by Anthony Briggs, Pushkin Press, Feb 2016)

A young man inherits an estate in the country, where a shy, book-loving local girl, Tatyana, falls in love with him. Alexander Pushkin’s 1820s verse novel crams life, death, laughter, literature and tempestuous romance into what the poet jokingly calls “a hash of chapters set in rhyme.” Rebranding the book as Yevgeny Onegin (rather than the more familiar, but less accurate Eugene) is a bold move. Translator Anthony Briggs signals a willingness to take Anglophone readers out of their comfort zones; in the intro, he passionately debates the relative merits of various types of rhyme and, in the poem, he comes up with some crackers (“reveal a”/“Lyudmila,” “Yevgeny/shady”). The resulting version of Onegin’s adventures keeps Pushkin’s seemingly effortless poetics at center stage.

Mikhail Lermontov – A Hero of Our Time

(translated by Elizabeth Allen, Northwestern World Classics, Aug, 2016)

We see him flirting, fighting or seducing beautiful women, pacing morosely or whistling a march: Grigory Pechorin, changeable, aimlessly arrogant, cynical, oblivious, self-destructive, is Onegin’s prose counterpart. Mikhail Lermontov’s Byronic, amoral antihero caused such hostile reactions in 1840 that the author defended Pechorin as “a portrait composed of the vices of our entire generation in full flower.” Translator Elizabeth Allen defines the novel as “post-Romantic”: a deliberately fragmented, inconclusive, but resonant series of tales by multiple narrators, which shows “how disorienting it can be to live in a transitional time at the dusk of an era.”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky – The Adolescent

(translated by Dora O’Brien, Alma Classics, June 2016)

Dora O’Brien’s new translation of Dostoyevsky’s tortuous 1875 tome, about a teenage philosophizer who wants to get rich, has moments of lightness. The rebellious young narrator, Arkady, sounds like a cross between Sartre, Salinger and Charles Dickens. O’Brien even starts one chapter with the classic Monty Python catchphrase: “Now for something completely different.”

Gems rediscovered

Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin – The History of a Town

(translated by I.P Foote, Apollo in the UK, Head of Zeus in the U.S. Sept. 2016)

A beautiful new edition of I.P. Foote’s English translation resurrects this absurdist 1870s chronicle of tyranny and corruption in a fictional town called Glupov (Stupidville) at a moment when it seems shockingly relevant. Foote, who died in 2011, called Saltykov “the most penetrating satirist Russia has ever produced”; the town’s confused inhabitants suffer under a succession of violent and irrational rulers, described by a deliberately unreliable chronicler, with many episodes prefiguring Soviet rule and beyond. In a chapter called “The Worship of Mammon” Saltykov describes how the Glupovites (“people like any other people”) put their hopes in a more reasonable future: “And they are still waiting to this day.”

Anton Chekhov – The Kiss and Other Stories

(translated by Hugh Aplin, Alma Classics, June 2016)

Chekhov is better known among English-speakers as a playwright, so new editions of his engaging stories are always welcome. The title tale in this little volume is typically introspective, centering on the effect of an unexpected kiss on an awkward military captain. As ever, the narrative’s power lies in telling details: “the scent of poplar, lilac and roses” in the night air or the “chill as of mint drops” next to his mouth. There are well-known works here too, like the wistful seaside love story Lady with the Little Dog and the painful evocation of asylum life, Ward Six.

Yevgeny Zamyatin – The Sign and Other Stories

(translated by John Dewey, Brimstone Press, Dec. 2015)

Zamyatin’s dystopian novel We set the standard for 20th-century speculative fiction. Some of his equally bold, but far less famous stories have been translated by John Dewey and collected into a handy little book. The satirical tales of the Lenin-like “Theta,” a creature born of murderous bureaucracy with ink for blood, come closest to the sci-fi horrors of We. The jewel of the collection is the evocative short story A Fisher of Men, a modernist portrait of passion and madness in wartime London.

Travels and fantasies: from Odessa to outer space

Teffi – Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea

(translated by Robert Chandler, Elizabeth Chandler, Anne-Marie Jackson and Irina Steinberg, Pushkin Press, May 2016)

“The sun will be shining, you’ll be beside the sea”: a mysterious impresario from Odessa tempts the satirist Teffi to leave autumnal Moscow, bound for Ukraine. This first English translation brings us Teffi’s beautiful account of her 1918 flight from Bolshevik Russia. Through characteristically witty, exuberant observations runs a sense of loss, of people, of pre-Revolutionary realities and places, of “seeing my own land slip softly, slowly away from me.”

Isaac Babel – Odessa Stories

(translated by Boris Dralyuk, Pushkin Press, Oct. 2016)

Isaac Babel was another Soviet genius. His vibrant tales of early 20th-century Jewish life in seaside Odessa, the loves and deaths of gangsters and gravediggers, sailors and schoolboys, are compelling mini-masterpieces. Boris Dralyuk might be Babel’s ideal translator: “The language of Odessa … was in the air all around me as I was growing up,” Dralyuk explains in an introduction peppered with Yiddish to help set the scene.

Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction

(edited by Yvonne Howell, Russian Life Books, Nov., 2015)

This crowdfunded volume of extraordinary sci-fi, from late tsarist times to the fall of the Soviet Union, is another revelation. Who knew cosmonautic pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky had penned a short story in 1893 where he imagined what it would be like to wake up on the moon? How could symbolist poet Valery Bryusov predict, in 1908, that modern humans would develop “a special instinct for communicating with machines,” their lives so mechanized they suffer from muscular atrophy? A century of fantasies reflect the world as it was, might be and – sometimes chillingly – as it already is.

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Read more: Unwrapping Christmas in Russian literature

"We have announced our obligations, and we shall confirm them," he said, adding non-cartel countries may cut the output by 600,000 barrels a day.

OPEC member countries will hold talks with Russia and other non-OPEC states in Vienna on joining the agreement on cutting oil output. OPEC expects from non-cartel countries they cut production by 600,000 barrels a day.

The meeting will feature 10-11 non-OPEC countries. Novak told journalists on Dec. 9 that he expects an agreement to be signed after the meeting.

As I entered the noiseless customs room in St. Petersburg’s airport three years ago, my first encounter with a Russian border guard in the motherland communicated much the same impression. No words were exchanged between us as I tentatively slipped my passport through the window slit. Anxiously watching the female customs officer’s eyes glance back and forth, hearing only the odd tap of the keyboard, it was with great relief that the gate was unlocked, allowing me to continue my first adventure in Russia.

Making sense of Noah’s Ark: Life in a Moscow university dormitory

Indeed, my first few days in Russia validated the impression of Russians propagated by TV shows such as Orange is the New Black. The streets were paved with stony-faced strangers and service with a smile was an alien concept in Russian corner-shops. But I soon discovered that such surface observations did not paint the full picture.

Having lived in Moscow for a year and having forged many friendships that I hope to be long-lasting, initially it frustrated me greatly seeing such a popular online show perpetuate this unfair stereotype of Russian people. However, as the seasons progress in Orange is the New Black, Red is seen in a more authentic light as the personification of the Rodina Mat (Mother Russia): strong, fiercely loyal, caring and a mother to all those she holds dear. This is the image of Russian people that I have grown to admire and respect.

Never mix your drinks

After my first few days in St. Petersburg acclimatizing to the directness and brutal bluntness of the Russians I encountered in shops and at tourist attractions, it was a delight to stumble across a side-street bar whose owner gave my friends and I the warmest of welcomes. Intrigued by the fact that we had decided to study Russians as beginners at university, this lady encouraged us to order our drinks in the best Russian we could conjure and helped us along the way. Whereas ticket sellers on the metro have no time for slowly conjugated sentences, this lady even rewarded our efforts with free limoncello.

Soviet grandma Nina knows an Italian when she sees one

It was in this bar in St. Petersburg where I discovered the concept of vodka and a mixer is, like myself, foreign. Making my best effort to decline my nouns, I confidently asked for a glass of vodka and coke. Initially the bartender appeared very confused and I worried that I had just spoken complete gibberish. Then from beneath the bar appeared a bottle of Russian Standard (my go-to vodka) and a bottle of Coca-Cola. Dumbfounded, the bartender pointed to the glass and asked whether I wanted both in the glass together. Da, konechno. The concoction I received was not so much coke with a shot of vodka, but vodka with a shot of coke. Of course, I wasn’t complaining.

It’s not just in a dingy bar in St. Petersburg where you will find Russians who are curiously interested in people learning their mother tongue. The highlight of my week when living in Moscow was attending language exchanges, of which there are plenty. Imagine the scene: at least 10 different languages being spoken in a Moscow bar and Russians eager to practice their language skills, but also to lend a helping hand to those trying to master the complexities of their native language.

Friendship is in the cards

Although these exchanges were always a bit of a gamble regarding who you were going to meet and whether you would have anything interesting to say, there was one night where I was dealt a lucky hand. Playing a card game in Russian, the name of which I forget, I met two people who would remain friends throughout the year and beyond, Marcel and Nastya. Over the course of the year, we shared some great moments, from Nastya introducing me to an authentic Uzbek restaurant to Marcel making sure I experienced all of Moscow’s parades and fireworks displays. What struck me most, however, was the genuine generosity and kindness extended to me from people like Nastya and Marcel from day one, and I can honestly say that this is far less common in the UK.

A ride on the wild side: A madcap adventure by taxi in St. Petersburg

Life as a foreigner in Russia can be difficult. You learn quickly not to take rudeness or bluntness in shops personally. Experiences such as queuing to pay for accommodation, renewing your visa and losing your passport for a month or any other bureaucratic process is only positive insofar as it is character-building. Regardless of these painstaking activities unique to the Russian experience, overall my impression of the people I met is a positive one of fierce friendship and unwavering kindness.

Grace Dickinson, a Cambridge graduate born in Durham, is currently working as a School Liaison Officer. She taught English while learning Russian at Moscow State University and explored Russian culture while working as a writer in St. Petersburg in 2014-2015.

Send your entries for this blog to x-patfiles@rbth.com

Read more: Dill, dill, everywhere, and not a bite to eat>>>

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WADA on Dec. 9 published the second part of the McLaren-led independent commission's report devoted to doping in Russian sports. To a large extent the content of the report had been presented by the former director of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov.

"The Sports Ministry is closely studying the report’s contents in order to formulate a constructive attitude. At the same time the Sports Ministry officially declares there are no government-run programs for supporting doping in sports and it will continue to fight against doping from position of zero tolerance," the news release says.

McLaren: Doping samples of 12 Russian 2014 Olympic medalists falsified

"The Russian authorities concerned are looking into all facts mentioned in the first part of the McLaren report. The Russian Sports Ministry will advise the authorities in question to thoroughly investigate the circumstances contained in the second part," the ministry said in a news release.

On June 18, 2016 the Investigative Committee launched a criminal case against Rodchenkov, charging him with abuse of office. Further investigation unearthed evidence that Rodchenkov might have been not just as a rank-and-file culprit, but the mastermind and organizer of doping abuse schemes in Russian sports. At the end of November the Investigative Committee said it had dispatched a request to the United States for obtaining Rodchenkov’s testimonies. The IC has already questioned more than 60 athletes involved in the case.

Source: TASS

Russian President Vladimir Putin made the announcement during a meeting with Rosneft chief Igor Sechin, reports the Kremlin press service.  

The agreement came as a complete surprise to market players. While the Chinese and Indian investors had been considered as potential buyers, they insisted on participation in the management of the company as a condition of the purchase.

Russia President Vladimir Putin meets with Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin at the Moscow Kremlin, Dec. 7, 2016. / Source: Alexei Druzhinin/RIA Novosti

Moreover, Rosneft itself was only willing to make a buy-back agreement for its shares. Former Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev, who was arrested in November 2016 on grounds of extorting a $2 million bribe from Rosneft, was against such a scheme.

"This large-scale deal demonstrates the presence of great interest among international investors in Russia's oil and gas assets. It also bears witness to the investment attractiveness of the Russian capital market in general and to the strategic interest shown in it by large international investors," explained Dmitry Bedenkov, director of the analytical department at Moscow investment company Russ-Invest.

New shareholders

After the deal is concluded, the government will be left with 50 percent plus three shares in Rosneft. Meanwhile, the company's principal European partner, BP, will have 19.5 percent and Qatar Investment Authority and Glencore will have 9.75 percent each. The remaining shares are traded on the stock exchange.

"In the current situation Rosneft's management was practically able to do the impossible: attract foreign investment, something that no one had been doing for a while. And most importantly, it respected all the special conditions," said Alexei Kalachev, an expert analyst at Moscow investment company Finam Holding, adding that the deal is valued at a price that is essentially what was demanded.

Why did Russia’s economy minister ask Rosneft for a $2-million bribe?

The shares were sold for approximately 200 million euros lower than the market price, but at the same time it was possible to respect all the minimal cost indicators that were fixed earlier, said Daniil Kirikov, partner at business consultancy Kirikov Group. Furthermore, Rosneft will acquire a portfolio of shareholders who will not interfere with the company's management.

The choice of buyers is perfect for the company's leadership, according to Konstantin Bushuyev, director of the analytical department at Russian brokerage firm Otkrytie Broker. In his view, Glencore already has experience in working with Russian oil suppliers and is interested in the growth of Rosneft's production, while Qatar's sovereign fund has always been a large portfolio investor that does not lay claims to controlling the companies it buys.

"Unlike them, Chinese and Indian investors try to become part of the management when buying assets of a company. For Rosneft's leadership such an agreement would probably have been less favorable," said Bushuyev.

Influence on the market

Thanks to this deal, the Russian budget will be drafted with a deficit of three percent of GDP. Otherwise the deficit would have had to be increased.

"The purchase of Russian assets by a foreign investor is always good news. And in this case, the deal involves Western money, which is particularly remarkable given the current sanctions," said Georgy Vaschenko, director of operations on the Russian capital market at Moscow investment company Freedom Finance.

As Daniil Kirikov explained, just a year ago the Kremlin intended to sell the assets for 500 billion rubles ($7.9 billion). Moreover, as an additional bonus the consortium was able to offer the Russian side a five-year oil purchase agreement. Therefore, the contract's overall value may now be $20 billion.

The team included Russian writer Alisa Ganieva, literary critic Konstantin Milchin, sound artist Francesca Panetta, Gruff Rhys, the leader of the psychedelic rock band Super Furry Animals, Andrew Dickson, a writer, critic, and expert on Shakespeare, as well as the aforementioned Joe Dunthorne. 

Dunthorne’s muses during the trip were not just Soviet space memoirs but also the “world’s saddest fox,” which the group saw in Novosibirsk. Dunthorne wrote a poem, “Anthony,” in honor of the fox. 

The latter wrote an essay about the whole trip, which you'll be able to read soon at rbth.com 

The trip was initiated by the British Council. In December they will launch a multimedia-project devoted to the journey, made with the assistance of all the travelers, plus cameraman Arseniy Khachaturian and prominent Russian photographer Max Avdeev.  

At the Dec. 7 meeting in the Belgian capital, the NATO leadership and foreign ministers signed 42 documents aimed at expanding cooperation in various fields, including cybersecurity and counteracting “hybrid” threats.

Developing an effective strategy to deal with Moscow's foreign policy was among the key issues discussed at the summit.

NATO's position

"Russia is our biggest neighbor, Russia is here to stay and there is no way we want to or should try to isolate Russia," Stoltenberg said following the meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission at the level of Foreign Ministers. "We need to engage with Russia in many different ways not only as NATO, but on the level of different NATO allies as well," he said.

Russia ready to hold Russia-NATO council meeting

Stoltenberg believes, however, that the sanctions against Russia should be prolonged. According to him, four additional battalions, each comprising 800 to 1,200 troops, will be deployed in the Baltic states and Poland for the purpose of defending Europe and NATO member nations. Additionally, the U.S. has decided to quadruple the funding of its military presence in Europe.

The NATO chief noted that the alliance does not see any security threats coming from Russia, but that it is worried by the fact that Russia is building up its military forces in the west of the country.

“We do not want confrontation, we want to alleviate the tensions,” Stoltenberg said (in Russian) in an interview with the Russian business daily Kommersant when asked if NATO perceived Russia as its primary threat.

Russia's position

According to Alexander Grushko, Russia's permanent representative to NATO, Moscow has not witnessed any changes in NATO's position, nor any desire by the alliance to revise its relations with Russia.

Putin explains why Russia worries about NATO enlargement

“The situation continues to deteriorate; in particular, new small headquarters are being set up, and there is constant talk of the need to increase NATO's Black Sea presence. In the final analysis, all this contradicts Europe's actual security needs,” Grushko told Russian journalists in Brussels after the summit, as reported (in Russian) by the TASS news agency.

According to the diplomat, the NATO leadership's “dual approach,” which combines dialogue with a policy of deterrence, is imposing a new cold war on Russia.

“It is obvious today that NATO links its future to defending itself from a major enemy. This is prompting the alliance to stir up the Russian threat,” said Grushko. “However, it is absolutely clear that Russia does not harbor any aggressive plans with regard to NATO, this would be on the wrong side of common sense.”

What can Russia expect from NATO and the new U.S. president?

Following Donald Trump’s election as the next U.S. president, Russian society is under the impression that relations with the West might now improve. Some Russian experts, however, warn that it is too early to expect this.

“Russia should avoid what I call the Dostoyevsky pendulum: oscillating from utter despair to complete euphoria, which has grown particularly strong in the past month, following Trump's election and the results of the elections in several European countries,” Viktor Mizin, a professor at Moscow State Institute of International Relations and deputy director of the Institute for Strategic Assessments, told RBTH. “There is nothing for us to be holding our breath for.”

Valery Garbuzov, director of the Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies in Moscow, believes the future of Russian-NATO relations will become clear by February 2017.

S-400 missile systems put on combat duty in northwestern Russia

“It is not just Moscow that wishes for an improvement in the relationship with NATO but also a number of NATO member nations,” said Garbuzov. “We may expect both sides to engage in more productive work, especially if the NATO-Russia council convenes for a meeting at the end of 2016, which might identify further avenues of cooperation.”

Mizin believes the ruling political class in the Western countries has not changed its position and continues to perceive Russia as a problem, not an ally.

“The establishment will not let Trump seek rapprochement with Russia,” he said. “NATO will remain true to itself: It will continue with the past several years' policy of deterrence as applied to Moscow, and will keep making statements to the effect that the Kremlin is working to develop a 'hybrid war' strategy.”

Progress on avoiding military incidents

On the other hand, added Mizin, Russia and NATO do have an opportunity to prevent maritime and aerial incidents by agreeing on the use of transponders by military aircraft. The issue is currently being negotiated by the Russian representative to NATO and the alliance's deputy secretary general.

“The number of maritime and aerial incidents has been growing over the past few years,” said Mizin. “We all remember how Turkish fighters shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 bomber in late 2015. The main objective now is to prevent such tragedies happening in the future.”

Read more: Poles apart: Can the divisions between Russia and the West be bridged?>>>

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"Over the past 24 hours alone 21 sites have been cleared of mines, among them two schools, a power supply substation, a water cleaning facility, two mosques and other socially important facilities," he said.

Russian military personnel are pushing ahead with clearing regained areas of the city of explosive items.

"First and foremost, they handle mines, makeshift bombs and unexploded ordnance on the premises of crucial infrastructures and along the main roads," Rudskoy said.

Source: TASS

Read more: First Russian sappers arrive in Syria to demine Aleppo>>>

Should you happen to be in the Russian capital this month, don’t miss the Journey to Christmas festival — one of the highlights of Moscow’s holiday season. From Dec. 16 to Jan. 15, 42 locations around the city will offer concerts, street theater performances and master classes as well as food stalls and booths with gift ideas for everyone on your list.

Delicious Russia: Christmas goose

At Manezhnaya Square, just in front of the Kremlin, a giant cheese market will open, featuring Swiss-style raclette cheese, cheese balls with cranberry jam, bruschettas with cheese, ricotta with blueberry jelly, chocolate cheese and an enormous variety of cheesecakes.

Moscow restaurants are sponsoring 60 chalets, offering special holiday menus delicious culinary master classes: visitors will learn how to prepare alcohol-free gluhwein, kulebyaka with apple filling, honey sbiten with spices and uzvar made from dried fruit and that must-have of the New Year table — Olivier Salad. Kids can try to make dishes from their favorite fairytales: Fröken Bock’s vatrushkas or ancient Rus’ semolina porridge.

Children can also take part in dance parties, relay races, a book fair and robotics classes. The chance to play the musical instruments of ancient Rus’ — hand-rattles and spoons — should appeal to both kids and adults!

Candy and mandarins

Mandarins: the real New Year's taste for every Russian! / Vostock-Photo

Every Russian knows that there can be no New Year without mandarins. Each Saturday in December, visitors to Sokolniki Park can take part in a special mandarin celebration from 2 p.m.- 4 p.m. There will be funny contests, and the winners will receive mandarins (and candy).  Two robots in the form of Ded Moroz (the Russian Santa Claus) and Moydodyr (a character from a classic tale by Kornei Chukovsky) will award the prizes.

Don’t miss the train! It leaves from Fountain square.

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Red Square Christmas Market

A classic Christmas Market will be set up on Red Square from December until the end of February. The festival features 45 booths offering traditional winter treats from across the globe: blini with sour cream, Tula gingerbread, herbal tea, Belgian waffles, roasted chestnuts and more.

This is also the best place to shop for traditional Russian gifts. Samovars, matryoshkas, Orenburg and Pavlovskiy Posad shawls, Dymkovo toys and much more will be on sale. This market is a one-stop-shop: visitors can buy a Christmas tree, the decorations to put on it, and the gifts to put under it all in one place.

Visitors will be entertained by dancers, musicians, magicians and even Ded Moroz with Snegurochka (the Snow Maiden).

Find more info on Russian cuisine and delicious events in the Russian Kitchen!

Android Technics is the developer of the robot Fedor.

The chief executive confirmed that the robot could do the splits to demonstrate its technical capabilities. Moreover, it can stand on one leg, having vertically lifted the other. Our chassis allows doing this. However, as part of the tests, this technical possibility did our robot a service when it had to overcome an obstacle," the Android Technics CEO said.

Video by YouTube / TASS

The robot also has mobile fingers, he said.

"We can also mention the robot’s ability to screw in a light bulb as an example of our own scientific and technical potential, which we have developed beyond the requirements of the Rescuer project," he added.

Besides, the robot’s fine motor skills allow Fedor to insert the key in the lock, open the door of an apartment, switch on the light and drive a car.

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The robot Fedor has been developed under a technical assignment from Russia’s Emergencies’ Ministry. Originally, the robot was known under the notional name of Avatar but it has recently received is own name FEDOR, which stands for Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research.

The robot is set to become the sole passenger of Russia’s new spacecraft Federatsiya in 2021 during the spaceship’s first flight.

"The robot will be serially produced in a long-term perspective even in very large numbers but today what is required is to simplify the design and increase the robot’s service life. That is, it will be produced in a simplified form in the short-term perspective," the Android Technics chief executive said.

The robot’s final prototype has been developed using the maximum of existing technical possibilities - it incorporates the most advanced devices and components, the CEO said.

Ability for self-learning

The serial production of special-purpose androids can be organized in Magnitogorsk in the Urals where Android Technics is building its own production base for its needs on an area of 11,000 meters, he said.

Fedor will acquire the abilities for self-learning, Permyakov said.

"The self-learning procedure is not incorporated in the model, which is now being demonstrated. In the future, it will necessarily appear because self-learning is a major direction of the development of autonomous robotics," he said.

Currently, Fedor can already act on its own initiative within narrow scenarios, he said.

"For example, it can build a 3D map of premises for local navigation, identify an object or an obstacle and perform an action as part of a prescribed scenario - to take up an instrument, carry out an operation with it, for example, to take up the key and open the lock in the door," Permyakov said.

Source: TASS

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"Twelve winning athletes… from 44 examined samples had scratches and marks on the inside of the caps of their B sample bottles, indicating tampering," the report said.

Meanwhile, he said that the Independent Commission had access only to a small part of evidence regarding the doping abuse in Russia.

"The picture is clear, but it is not complete. We’ve only had access to a small fraction of the evidence possible to examine," McLaren said.

The Russian Olympians who refuse to return their medals and winnings

The Russian Olympic team finished the 2014 Olympics in Sochi in the first place of the medals standings with the overall result of 33 won medals (13 gold, 11 silver and 9 bronze medals).

The WADA Independent Commission and its chairman McLaren released its first report on July 18 on the results of its probe into the accusations of doping and manipulation of tests by Russian athletes and officials at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

According to the details, the commission claimed it had found evidence that Russia’s Sports Ministry and the Center for the Training of Russian National Teams and the Federal Security Service had covered up a doping program in Russian sports.

The report from WADA’s Commission stated in particular that the commission’s investigation registered a total of 643 cases of Disappearing Positive Test Results in Russia between 2012 and 2015 involving athletes from 30 sports.

Following the commission’s report, WADA recommended the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and all international sports federations ban Russian athletes from all international sports competitions, including Rio 2016.

Source: TASS

Pen-pal grandchildren

Today more than 5,000 old people around the country receive letters from so-called "grandsons" and "granddaughters” – and it was through such correspondence that Alexandra Kuzmicheva, who currently manages the foundation's social pages and site, first became involved with the organization.

It all began in 2006 when Moscow State University philology student Yelizaveta Oleskina went on a folklore expedition to Russia's northwest. Looking inside a rural nursing home, where she could hear many folk songs, Oleskina was shocked to see how useless and lonely the old people felt there. On her return she started organizing trips to the nursing homes, which led to the formation of a volunteer movement that in 2011 transformed into a foundation.

Yelizaveta Oleskina / Source: Alexander Kuvshinov

The volunteers quickly understood that first of all, they could help the old people by simply engaging them in human interaction. Afterwards, they began organizing concerts at the nursing homes, planning trips and tea parties. But since it was not always possible to visit the old folks, the volunteers launched one of the foundation's main projects – "Pen-pal grandchildren."

"She entered my heart. She replied to all my letters,” said Alexandra Kuzmicheva, recalling a grandmother whom she met after the correspondence. “She always wrote about the same thing, in the same manner: about the past, her daughters, her gratitude to the attendants. She was most appreciative about the fact that no one yelled at her. This moved me because she could only hear when people screamed at the top of their lungs."

Regions in disagreement

Obviously, material support is essential. The foundation collects gifts for the holidays, uses donations to buy medicine and basic commodities, organizes creative and craft workshops and repairs the premises.

Source: vk.com/starikamru

Oleskina, who is now the foundation's director, notes that the nursing homes' material support and their internal order depends to a great extent on the regions and their administrations.

"In some regions the grandparents can live in a facility with a pool and a health bar, in other neighboring regions, even in the best of homes, you'll be struck by a horrible odor, you'll see old people lying in their beds, staring indifferently at the ceiling."

Putting the human being at the center of the social system

But even the most difficult cases can be overcome. It is not by hearsay that the foundation's employees know how care and participation can help transform a sick, bedridden old person. That is why most of the donations – 3 million rubles ($47,000) monthly – go towards the salaries of specially trained attendants and recreation activity organizers.

Of course, the 1,500 nursing homes in Russia have their own staff. But often one attendant must take care of 20 or even 30 old people and cannot physically manage to give them the attention they need.

Members of the Starost v Radost charity visit a nursing home / Source: Kirill Kallinikov/RIA Novosti

Oleskina says that the problem is with Russia's modern social system, for which the focus is not the living human being, but rather the ward, the department, the norms. The attendants employed by the foundation have a concrete task: look after the old people, socialize with them, keep them autonomous for as long as possible or restore their ability to take care of themselves.

Waiting for a New Year's miracle

Today the foundation's biggest problem is the financial issue. Oleskina has high expectations for the New Year marathon, in which the foundation will try to find 10,000 people throughout Russia to make a certain monthly donation for the whole year. This will help the attendants continue their work and the foundation will be encouraged to realize new projects.

The foundation has already made agreements with certain regions about making care for the elderly a priority in 2017. This includes staff training, introducing minimal service standards and providing home assistance for those elderly people who are still capable of taking care of themselves. There are also plans to make interactivity with old people's relatives more intensive and prepare psychologists for each home the foundation works with.

"I never said that military activities have been stopped completely. I just said that they were halted yesterday for a specific period of time in order to provide civilians with an opportunity to leave," Lavrov said. "After these humanitarian pauses, military operations will go on until eastern Aleppo is liberated from militants."

"Everybody has understood it, our U.S. counterparts have understood it," the minister added.

On Dec. 8, Lavrov said that the Syrian army had halted military activities in eastern Aleppo to allow a group of civilians to leave the city.

Source: TASS

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