The display of military hardware on Victory Day is not meant to signal threat to anyone
The planned display of military hardware on Victory Day is not meant to signal threat to anyone. President Putin told this to the press after the Russian forces carried out the final rehearsal for the Red Square parade on 9 May. For the first time in 18 years, heavy ordnance will rumble past, including artillery pieces, tanks, and Topol mobile intercontinental ballistic missile systems. The sky will be darkened by Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bombers that are again patrolling the world’s oceans. Mr Putin told officials Russia does not plan aggression, but, it needs strong defence forces.
5 May 2008
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=26648&cid=48&p=05.05.2008 (in English)
Memorial rally to be held in St Petersburg
Russian World War II re-enactors in St Petersburg
World War II veterans, survivors of the 900-day siege of Leningrad, former inmates of Nazi death camps, and young Petersburgers shall take part in a memorial rally today commemorating the “Road of Life”, which from September 1941 until March 1943 connected the besieged city with the mainland, bringing in much needed food, arms, and fuel and taking out the wounded, old people, women, and children.
6 May 2008
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=26657&cid=48&p=06.05.2008 (in English)
Russia offers help to Myanmar
With the death toll in the Myanmar cyclone now exceeding 15,000, Russia offered relief supplies to the cyclone-battered nation. In a telegram to Tan Shveh, the head of the country’s military junta, on Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin, on behalf of all Russians, expressed heartfelt condolences to the families of the dead and wishes of quick recovery to the survivors. Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar Friday night, killing more than 10,000 people in one south-western city alone and leaving behind large-scale devastation in several areas of Yangon and the Irrawady delta. The military-run Myanmar government declared a state of emergency in five affected areas that are home to 24 million people, nearly half of all those living in this South Asian nation.
6 May 2008
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=26693&cid=48&p=06.05.2008 (in English)
President Putin said that the Russian government shall give top priority to the support of veterans
Russian veterans of the 2nd Great Patriotic War hand out St George ribbons
The Russian government shall give top priority to the support of veterans. President Putin said this at an award ceremony in the Kremlin to grant the honorary title of the City of Military Valour to Polyarny, Luga, Rostov-on-Don, Tuapse, and Voronezh. He said that such help is Russia’s debt to those who were killed while defending their Motherland. Mr Putin said that he had already signed a decree on additional social support for Second World War veterans and invalids. He has also given a prestigious Zhukov bonus to a large group of military officials and scientists for the development of the state-of-the-art weapons and military hardware. Today is Mr Putin’s last day in the post of Russian president. Dmitri Medvedev, who was elected President of Russia in March this year, shall take office on 7 May.
6 May 2008
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=26701&cid=48&p=06.05.2008 (in English)
7 May is the Day of Radio
7 May is the Day of Radio. The Voice of Russia radio company marks its professional holiday together with its employee-veterans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. It is a long-standing tradition in the Voice of Russia to congratulate its war veterans in the run up to Victory Day on 9 May. The Voice of Russia veterans displayed heroism not only in the years of the war, Andrei Davidenko, the company’s First Deputy Chairman said, in peace-time they also put much effort into the development of radio broadcasting. No wonder that the Day of Radio became a national holiday in 1945. In such a way, the state underlined the role of radio in the cultural and political life of society and its contribution to the victory over Nazism.
7 May 2008
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=26718&cid=48&p=07.05.2008 (in English)
Reunions and ceremonies around Russia mark 63 years since Allied Victory over Nazi Germany
American World War II Red Army re-enactors (“197th Guards Division” from Florida)
Reunions and ceremonies around Russia mark 63 years since the Allied Victory over Nazi Germany on 9 May 1945. Veterans are getting apartments, cars, and memorial plaques. Military history enthusiasts are organising re-enactments and motorised visits to former battlefields.
7 May 2008
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=26763&cid=48&p=07.05.2008 (in English)
Russia to help rebuild destroyed Orthodox holy places in the Serbian province of Kosovo
Destroyed school in Kosovo
The Foreign Ministry circulated a statement in Moscow on Tuesday to point out that Russia would take part in rebuilding destroyed Orthodox holy places in the Serbian province of Kosovo. Over 150 unique Orthodox cathedrals, monasteries, and convents have been destroyed or otherwise damaged in Kosovo since the year 2000, including those on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Russia will allocate funds and will also send architects, engineers, and art historians to Kosovo for the reconstruction and restoration of the holy places.
7 May 2008
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=26725&cid=48&p=07.05.2008 (in English)
Editor’s Note:
Well, I have sport and culture shorts, so, this series covers society. There is more to Russia than just our religion, important as that is.
