Nearly 90 Houses for Flood Victims Commissioned in Russia’s Khabarovsk Territory

KHABAROVSK, September 1 (RIA Novosti) - About 90 residential buildings have been commissioned for flood victims in the Khabarovsk territory, according to the regional authorities.

"Today, all around the [Khabarovsk] territory, we are finishing the construction of houses for flood victims. We have already begun to resettle citizens in a number of localities. We intend to fully complete this process until the end of September," the governor of the region Vyacheslav Shport was quoted as saying.

Four apartment buildings and 55 individual houses have been commissioned in Khabarovsk, 28 individual houses in the village of Nizhnie Khalby, and two apartment buildings in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

As stated on the website of the regional government, four three-storey apartment buildings have been commissioned in Khabarovsk, 242 families have moved in. The buildings have all necessary infrastructure: kindergarten, school, public transport stops and others.

In late July 2013, southern regions in Russia’s Far East and northeastern China were hit by floods caused by steady rains. In August-September of 2013, Russia’s Amur, Jewish Autonomous and Khabarovsky regions were devastated by major floods. More than a hundred thousand people have been affected and tens of thousands evacuated.

Meteorologists said that the floods affecting the Amur and Magadan regions, the Jewish Autonomous Region, the Primorye Territory, and the Siberian republic of Yakutia had been the worst to hit the area in 120 years.

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Greatest Russian Inventions

200 years ago people still did not have electricity, good vehicles, television, mobile phones, Internet and other things we cannot do without today.

Some of the most significant inventions were made by Russians, and here they are…

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Gleb Kotelnikov is an inventot of a back pack parachute. In a theater he noticed a woman with a folded piece of cloth that after simple manipulations turned into an unfolded kerchief. This is how an operational principle of a parachute came to Gleb’s mind. Some other ideas of Gleb were never realized.

N. D. Zelinskiy invented a carbon filter mask to protect people from poisonous gases used by the enemy at the time of WWI. Absorbent carbon successfully neutralized all of them.

Z. L. N. Gobyato – inventor of a mortar. He invented it in the field conditions of the Russo-Japanese war 1904-1905. It represented a light 47 mm naval gun on the wheels shooting with handmade pole mines at a particular angle and high trajectory.

I. F. Alexandrovskiy – inventor of a mobile mine (torpedo) and the first mechanically driven submarine for the Russian fleet.

V. G. Fedorov is a creator of the world first rifle. He started to make it before WWI in 1913. In 1916 it started to be used for combat actions.

A.S. Popov – radio inventor. He showed his redioreceiver in May, 1895 at the meeting of the physical and chemical committee in Saint Petersburg. unfortunately, he didn’t patent it and the Noble prize for radio invention was given to G. Marconi.

G. G. Ignatyev was the first to make a system of simultaneous telephony and telegraphy with a single cable.

V. K. Zvorykin – inventor of television and telecasting on an electrical basis. It was him who designed an iconoscope, a kinescope, basic color television. However he made most of his inventions in the USA where he had emigrated in 1919.

A. M. Ponyatov is an inventor of a videotape recorder. Just as Zvorykin he emigrated in the years of the civil war and continued his work in the USA. In 1956 Ampex company under his direction presented the world first commercial videotape recorder.

I. A. Timchenko made the first cinecamera in the world. It was used to show movies on a white sheet in 1893 in Odessa, Ukraine.

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Party In a Russian Star Wars Fan Club

People love “Star Wars” all around the world. Russia is not an exception. These are some pictures from a party arranged in a Star Wars fan club somewhere in Russia.

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Palm Tree Made From Plastic Bottles

Some creativity may give another, new life to things we don’t need anymore, like empty plastic bottle. With this in mind one Russian family made a nice palm tree for their yard.

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Russia’s Foton-M Satellite Landing Scheduled for September 1 – Space Agency

MOSCOW, September 1 (RIA Novosti) – The landing of Russia’s Foton-M biosatellite with geckos, fruit flies, silkworm eggs, mushrooms and seeds of higher plants on board is appointed for the Knowledge Day, September 1, in the Orenburg region, Russia’s Federal Space Agency Roscosmos told RIA Novosti.

"The program of scientific experiments has been completed. The State Commission decided to land Foton-M at 13.18 (9:18 GMT) on September 1 in the Orenburg region," according to the statement.

The biological mission of the Foton-M satellite included eight experiments. The experiments involving five geckos were to monitor their reproductive activity in space. The mission was also to study the effect of weightlessness on plants and insects, and to conduct experiments on the growth of semiconductor crystals.

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Semi-dressed Captured Ukrainian Soldiers Forced to Jump

After the soldiers of Ukrainian army “Donbass” regiment were captured they were reportedly forced to jump and shout “Those who don’t jump are the protectors of their homeland, those who jump are the ….(censored)”. Semi dressed. Video is inside.

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No Signs of Russian Invasion in Ukraine’s Novoazovsk, Situation Peaceful – CNN

MOSCOW, August 31 (RIA Novosti) – The situation in Ukraine’s southeast border town of Novoazovsk is calm and there are no signs of Russian military forces, according to CNN.

For a town at the epicenter of what Kiev calls a direct military invasion on the part of Russia, “Novoazovsk could not feel more peaceful,” the CNN reported Saturday.

There are no signs of “marauding” Russian Army in the town, with locals being much more concerned with the Ukrainian military, according to CNN reporter.

“I heard rumors about some Russian tanks but no one could prove them either way. I’m more scared of the Ukrainian Army anyway. They come through here on motorbikes, with guns. Sometimes they are drunk,” a local resident said.

The militia forces seized the town from the Ukrainian forces on Wednesday and want to take Mariupol, a major port on the Sea of Azov.

“It’s a question of training, and my men are better trained than the Ukrainian forces,” an independence forces commander told CNN, underlining that the tanks the militia have been using are spoils of war and not Russia-issued.

Since April, Ukrainian authorities have been conducting a military operation against the independence supporters in eastern Ukraine who refused to recognize the legitimacy of new Ukrainian government.

The West has repeatedly accused Russia of building up forces on its border with eastern Ukraine and supplying independence supporters with weapons, a claim Moscow has rejected.

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EU Blindly Accepting Claims About Russian Troops in Ukraine - Russian Diplomat

BRUSSELS, August 31 (RIA Novosti) – The European Union is still trammeled by inertia of sanctions and blindly accepts unsubstantiated claims about the presence of Russian forces in Ukraine, Russia’s envoy to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said Sunday.

“The EU is still in captivity of sanctions inertia. I gather most leaders of the European countries lately publicly acknowledged, first, the ineffectiveness of sanctions, and secondly, that it's a dead end. But it seems that they haven’t thought of anything else anyway," the envoy said.

“Even worse that they took the statements delivered by the Ukrainian president in Brussels and stories which were spread by NATO representatives also here in Brussels without question and, in fact, blindly accepted unsubstantiated claims about the presence of Russian armed forces on the territory of Ukraine,” Chizhov added.

“Although the development of the Ukrainian crisis during recent months should have taught them to sort truth from fiction and reality from fantasies of Kiev and some of his patrons," the Russia diplomat added.

On Sunday night, European leaders requested the European Commission and the European External Action Service to present within a week a new set of sanctions against Russia, promising to impose them if the situation in Ukraine remains the same or worsens.

Relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated in regard to the situation in Ukraine. The West has repeatedly accused Russia of building up forces on its border with eastern Ukraine and supplying independence supporters with weapons, a claim Moscow has rejected.

In late July, the European Union and the United States proceeded from individual sanctions imposed on a number of people and companies to penalties on whole sectors of the Russian economy. In response, Russia limited food imports from countries that imposed sanctions on it, namely the US, the EU member states, Canada, Australia and Norway.

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Putin Calls for Talks Inside Ukraine, Not Giving Statehood to Novorossiya - Spokesman

CHELYABINSK, August 31 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin in his Sunday’s interview called for inclusive negotiations inside Ukraine, not granting statehood to Novorossiya, the union of Donetsk and Luhansk republics in the east of the country, the Russian leader’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"The inclusive negotiations, which should determine the relationships [of Kiev] with eastern regions, that is, negotiations inside Ukraine on the internal Ukrainian order with respect for the interests of the country’s eastern regions, the interests of Novorossiya - the way, extent and mechanisms of this process. That’s what the president meant," Peskov said.

The Kremlin spokesperson added that giving some status to Novorossia was totally out of the question, which “becomes clear after reading the president’s statement.”

“The president, as a matter of fact, was referring to the need of the inclusive talks, the earliest beginning of which had been emphasized way back in documents and signed in various formats, including the document signed by foreign ministers in Berlin,” Peskov added.

Earlier in the day, Putin talked about Ukraine in an interview with Russia’s Channel One television channel. The president called on Kiev to start substantial talks on deescalating the crisis in Ukraine, cease hostilities and start infrastructure rehabilitation works in southeastern regions to prevent winter deaths.

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Impossible to Predict End of Crisis in Ukraine, Everything Depends on Kiev – Putin

KHABAROVSK, August 31 (RIA Novosti) – It is impossible to say when the Ukraine crisis may end as everything depends on the political will of current Kiev authorities, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Russia’s Channel One Sunday.

When asked whether it is possible to predict when the crisis in Ukraine will end, Putin said “No. It depends heavily on the political will of the current Ukrainian authorities.”

The overall situation is aggravated by the upcoming Ukrainian parliamentary elections, the president added.

“The country is facing parliamentary elections and all participants in the electoral race, which has already begun, want to show how cool they are. Everyone wants to show they are strongmen or strongwomen, and as the political struggle sharpens it is hard to expect anyone to seek a peaceful resolution and not a military one. But we nevertheless hope for the best,” Putin concluded.

Earlier this week, Petro Poroshenko dissolved the parliament and announced that Ukraine will hold early parliamentary elections on October 26.

Ukraine’s president had repeatedly stressed the necessity of forming a new parliament in the country, noting that the current composition of the Verkhovna Rada, the official name for Ukraine’s parliament, did not represent the interests of Ukrainian society.

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European Companies Might Find It Hard to Return to Russian Market - Putin

KHABAROVSK, August 31 (RIA Novosti) –European businessmen are disappointed with the decisions of their countries’ politicians made against Russia, as it will be hard for them to come back to the Russian market, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday.

“The danger for our traditional suppliers is that when one company or another is fixed on a market, in particular, we are talking about the Russian market, it is very hard, almost impossible to budge them. And I think that the European companies, not political circles, as we say in such cases, but namely the businessmen understand this. They are disappointed with the politics of their countries," Putin said.

Putin also told Russia’s Channel One television station that currently Russia’s manufacturers cannot entirely replace the goods that used to be imported from the West.

“That is why we are working with other foreign manufacturers from Latin America: Brazil, Argentina, Chile, with our eastern partners and Chinese producers. It was strange to hear that European colleagues ask them not to deliver products to Russia, to Russian market, because it is simply ridiculous, because it is hard to imagine that businessmen will not use this opportunity to come to our market,” the Russian leader added.

The European Union together with the United States imposed several rounds of economic sanctions, targeting Russia’s defense, energy and banking sectors.

Russia reacted by introducing a one-year ban on certain food imports from the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia and Norway. The list of banned products includes meat, fish, fruits, vegetables and dairy products.

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Putin Says Ukrainian Military Used Humanitarian Pause to Reorganize Forces

KHABAROVSK, August 31 (RIA Novosti) – The Ukrainian Army reorganized their forces during the ceasefire in humanitarian corridor granted by eastern self-defense militia to the trapped Ukrainian troops, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday.

“They [the Ukrainian military] used this pause, which was granted by eastern self-defense, to reorganize forces, bring more troops and attempt to break the entrapments by force and lead their troops out,” the president told Channel One Russia television station.

Such actions “create distrust and lead to extensive fatalities,” Putin added.

On Thursday, self-defense forces of southeastern Ukraine announced that they surrounded Kiev’s forces outside the small town of Ilovaisk, located 22 miles away from Donetsk.

Putin urged the militia to open a humanitarian corridor to allow Ukrainian servicemen leave the area of military action and “reunite with their families.”

On Saturday, the commander of militia forces Semen Semenchenko announced the opening of a safety corridor, through which Ukrainian servicemen can leave the encirclement outside the town of Ilovaisk. The Ukrainian troops were told to disarm and leave through the humanitarian corridor without their military hardware.

Kiev authorities never gave a definite answer to the initiative but ordered their troops to break out. The first group of Ukrainian servicemen left the encirclement later on Saturday, according to Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.

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Events in Donetsk, Luhansk Result of Ukraine’s Political Situation – Putin

KHABAROVSK, August 31 (RIA Novosti) – The ongoing events in Donetsk and Luhansk are the result of dramatic developments of the internal political situation in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

According to the Russian leader, the acute situation in the country was discussed with the Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko during the meeting in Belarus’ capital Minsk.

"We talked about the urgent situation in Donetsk and Luhansk, of course, we discussed it. Naturally, Russia is looking for a termination of the bloodshed [in the south-east of Ukraine] as soon as possible,” Putin told Russia’s Channel One.

“I think what is happening [in the region] at the moment is a natural reaction of people, who live there and stand for their rights. They were not the first to take up arms, you know? And this is a result of dramatic developments of Ukraine’s internal political situation,” Russia’s head of state added.

The president also noted that it is necessary to respect the rights of these regions’ people.

“We need to respect their legal rights. Besides, who has the right to roll up artillery and rocket launchers to big or any other settlements and to shell the residential buildings, who has the right to expect that people will sit and wait until all of them are killed?" Putin said.

The military operation, launched by Kiev in mid-April to suppress independence supporters in Ukraine’s southeastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk has recently become extremely violent.

As the situation in Luhansk and Donetsk regions worsened, thousands of civilians found themselves trapped in the warring regions without electricity, food, medicine or drinking water.

Russia has repeatedly condemned the operation and urged Kiev to stop the bloodshed in the region, which has already claimed thousands of lives, and sent a humanitarian convoy to war-torn eastern Ukraine with about 2,000 tons of aid.

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NATO to Set Up Another 5 Military Bases in Eastern Europe

MOSCOW, August 31 (RIA Novosti) – NATO plans to set up five additional military bases in Eastern Europe, German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported.

Four thousand military will be deployed at the bases as part of rapid response units, the paper reported Saturday.

According to the paper, the move is aimed to ensure protection of the alliance’s member states from the supposed threat posed by Russia, as NATO considers Russian policy on Ukraine a violation of its sovereignty.

Earlier this week, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen stated that the alliance will for the first time deploy forces at its new Eastern European bases.

Russia said the expansion of NATO’s military presence in the region would threaten Euro-Atlantic stability and promised to respond to the alliance’s actions in order to defend its national security.

Following Crimea’s reunification with Russia in March 2014, NATO has been boosting its military presence close to Russia’s border. In particular, the block dispatched a number of warships to the Black Sea and reinforced air patrolling missions in the airspace of the Baltic nations. Additionally, in April Washington sent four airborne units to Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to support its NATO allies amid the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

The group of NATO ships in the Black Sea reached a record number of nine vessels in July, the most significant presence in recent decades. The group included the USS Vella Gulf (CG-72) cruiser, France’s Surcouf frigate, Greece’s Macitis corvette and Italy’s Elettra intelligence vessel, among others. Additionally, in July Bulgaria held the Breeze 2014 naval drills, involving the ships of the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 2.

Russia has repeatedly expressed concern over the increasing NATO military presence.

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On The Roads of North Ossetia

Traveling in North Ossetia is rather enjoyable mainly because of breathtaking views all around. We are going to join the blogger who calls himself “zavodfoto” to travel along the roads of the region.

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“Do not come close to the wolves!”

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