Apparently the contractor who was hired to install surveillance cameras in Moscow decided to cut a few corners and provide police with recorded images instead of installing some of the cameras. I wonder how long the system was in place before the police discovered they had beeen conned?

Police have learned that CCTV cameras all across Moscow streamed prerecorded pictures, while the company servicing them received more than a million dollars in payments.

The company, StroyMontageService, has been accused of security fraud. Police have detained its director, Dmitry Kudryavtsev, who denies all charges saying the scandal is an attempt by his rivals to squeeze him out of the market. (Russia Today)

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A taxi ride through Moscow’s crowded streets can be a thrill ride even in the protective environment of a limousine. It’s hard to imagine navigating Moscow on a motorcycle? Believe it or not, Muscovites are resorting the the 2 wheeler’s smaller footprint to get around the snarled mess on Moscow’s streets. A new moto-taxi service will wisk you through the space between cars, and a new bike based emergency service has been proposed. Next? Perhaps someone will find a way to use motorcyles in the winter.

This spring, 24-year-old biker Maxim Nochovny founded the city’s first motorbike taxi service, Moto-Taxi, whose slogan is: “Only planes are faster than us.” He aims to run the service from April to October.

Passengers sit pillion with the driver and must wear a helmet and gloves. If they order a taxi to the airport, an extra bike can carry their suitcase.

More than half of those killed in car accidents never even reach a hospital. “In Russia, by the time the ambulance arrives, there isn’t anyone to save,” Minin said.

In a new proposal,  trained paramedics on motorbikes who would patrol accident-prone areas with lifesaving equipment such as defibrillators.

Traffic jams can be fatal for victims of traffic accidents. A study by the World Health Organization found that the victims survive in 90 percent of cases where they receive qualified help within nine minutes of a road accident. But the survival rate percentage plummets to 15 percent if help arrives within 19 minutes. (The Moscow Times)

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Russia’s government is facing two growing problems with political dissent and disaffected youth. Factions within the government are planning a Machiavellian solution. Arm brainwash and train he disaffected youth to be a militia and let them deal with dissent.

In its latest plan to counteract the country’s political opposition, the movement intends to bring together some 100,000 disaffected youths over three years, arm them with handguns, and let them loose across Russia as a supplement to more traditional law enforcement.

The Gazeta.ru online newspaper reported on the new initiative, and spoke with the project’s leader, Sergei Bokhan.

According to the publication, Nashi intends to create an All-Russian Association of Militias (VAD) before December 2009, with branches in a large number of Russian regions.  The group will build on the Volunteer Youth Militias (DMD) created by Nashi in 2005 to counteract protests staged by the opposition.

“We find kids, who are practically living on the streets,” Bokhan said, “who don’t know how to occupy themselves, and who don’t have money or interests.  We provide them with gyms, teach them combatant and competitive sports.  We work with the at-risk group, who would potentially break a bottle over someone’s head, or throw rocks through windows.” (The Other Russia)

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Frankly, I can’t imagine going across town with $10,000 in cash, let alone carrying that much into Russia. If you have reason to in the future, be prepared to explain why you are being so foolish and hope you’re allowed to keep your cash.

Those entering the country with more than the equivalent of $10,000 in cash, traveller’s cheques, bonds and the like would be required not only to provide a written declaration for the money but also provide an explanation of intended use and recipient as well as documents confirming its source, according to the amendment. Currently, travellers are only required to declare the money at customs.

“Publication of the corresponding federal law will bring Russian currency-control laws in line with international legislation and identify cases of cash being brought into Russian territory for the purposes of financing terrorism and laundering money from criminal sources,” said a statement published on the Federal Customs Service web site. (Moscow News)

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Russia telecom industry has warned that none otehr than Skype is a serious threat to national security. The mostly free service is very popular with an increasingly connected Russian population, driving profits from old school telephone use down. Sounds more like whining from a faltering monopoly to me.

At a meeting of the lobby this week, telecom executives portrayed the most popular VoIP programs like Skype and Icq as encroaching foreign entities that the government must control.

“Without government restrictions, IP telephony causes certain concerns about security,” the lobby’s press release said. “Most of the service operators working in Russia, such as Skype and Icq, are foreign. It is therefore necessary to protect the native companies in this sector and so forth.” (Reuters)

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In contrast to growing disdain for beauty contests in the west, they thrive in Russia.  I’m told that they are even more popular among women than men.

Yulia Obraztsova, 25, was crowned Miss Moscow 2009 on July 15. She is expected to compete in the upcoming Russian Beauty Pageant.

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Rumor has it that Vladimir Putin does not have a sense of humor. It’s hard to say if this proves that to be true. Cetainly it does prove someone who wants to impress Putin believes it.

An artist in the south-western city of Voronezh was arrested and questioned by police over a photo-collage of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wearing a dress.  Alexander Shchednov, who is also an opposition activist, was detained on June 11th as he tried to hang collages of Putin and President Dmitri Medvedev in front of the Voronezh town hall. (The Other Russia)

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