There’s a place not far from Moscow known as the city of brides. The Wayfarer starts by observing the city and looking how a textile mill works. Then he finds himself in the model agency where he easily wins girls’ hearts. So, if there are so many wannabe brides here, why shouldn’t the Wayfarer try to find a bride for himself? Take a look at the difficult choice of the Wayfarer in the city of Ivanovo.

Share This

A new 10 year deal means Europeans can thaw frozen buildings after the transmission of natural gas through Ukraine begins again. While both Russia and Ukraine have been eager to blame one another fro the crisis, they’ve also done the right thing in making a deal. Shame on them for using gas as a political weapon, and shame on Europe for becoming so reliant upon them. Hopefully all will learn from this experience.

Officials at the signing ceremony in Moscow said gas would start flowing again soon across Ukraine to Europe, but the European Union said it would not consider the crisis over until its monitors register gas arriving at the bloc’s borders.

Under the deal, Ukraine will buy Russian gas at a 20 percent discount to European market prices in 2009, while Kiev agreed to retain preferential transit fees for Russia this year before both sides switch to a market-based price formula from 2010.

“Gazprom received an order to start deliveries through all routes indicated by our Ukrainian partners and in full volumes,” Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told a joint news conference with his Ukrainian counterpart, Yulia Tymoshenko. (Moscow Times)

Share This

Since the first pipe in the Baltic Pipeline system that passes through Belarus was completed, Russia and Belarus have disagreed over terms, compensation and more. The second pipe in the system will be a bit longer, completely bypassing Belarus.

Transneft proposed the construction of a second line of the Baltic Pipeline System in January 2007, after Russia and Belarus experienced a disagreement over oil deliveries. Belarus imposed transit duties on crude oil, and Russia closed the Druzhba pipeline in response, only to reopen it later. The Russian government approved the second line in May 2007. Transneft transports 93 percent of the oil produced in Russia. The state owns 78.1 percent of the company. (Kommersant)

Share This

Syndicated from tightwadtecnica.com with permission:

I assume you have heard the term, ‘cut off his nose to spite his face’? Well it looks like in searching for economic relief in Russian courts the Win monopoly, gangsters that many paint them as, has run against some professionals. Namely, Putin. –

This is what has happened to Microsoft in Russia, and it all started with a school teacher. Back in 2007, Aleksandr Ponosov, the headmaster of a village school in Sepych, in the Perm region of Russia, was arrested for running unlicensed copies of Microsoft software on his school’s computers.

It has been reported that no less than Vladimir Putin himself intervened to get the charges thrown out; had he not, Posonov was facing up to five years in jail.

Pirated software is a major global problem which costs Microsoft millions of dollars, and Russia has played its part in that problem, but what followed the Posonov scandal could surely not have been foreseen in Redmond.

Rather than pay massive licensing costs to legitimise the country’s Microsoft software, then deputy prime minister (now President) Dmitry Medvedev decided on an altogether more radical route - to use Open Source, Linux-based software in all Russia’s schools.

Given the sheer scale of the country and the amount of planning, training and resources required, it is a massive enterprise.

Indeed, Medvedev has set Russia on the path to a much wider use of Open Source software: He intends it to be used across the board in the public sector and has set a completion date for the project of 2010.

So lets see, 143m people. Open Source percolating from the bottom up with cover from legalities by the biggest ‘Roof’ of all — the Russian government. Once its in the schools, regional and national governments will be next. By a stroke of irony, Russia might become the first major country where the populace is a major consumer of FOSS. Whether Microsoft? Well it can’t do them well to have a country that openly touts they don’t need their products. That kind of mindset could spread you know?

More at Red Devil’s blog.

Today in Russian History

Share This