The Faces of Holy Russia. The first panel of the triptych “The Faces of Holiness”

I believe that the following photos need no commentary. Don’t you want to be united with such great Orthodox Christians in the same house? I do! What about you?

Each photo is credited with the name of the photographer. What follows is from the homepage of this website.

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Orthodoxy Foto is a project with the vocation to unite photographers in the task of testifying to the Truth and Beauty of Orthodoxy to the world by the means of Photo Art. Undoubtedly, in our opinion, photography, as an integral part of modern art, must serve that great purpose that any true art aspires to, basing itself on high Christian values.

“Christianity has formed a truly great culture of humanity that aims at unification with God, but, one that does not disrespectfully neglect Him and His Holy Will. It invariably affirms that works of art are alive only when they help a person find unity with God, though a constant cutting off of all pernicious passions from one’s soul and body, the main of which are arrogance, love of power, and the call of lustful flesh”. (Priest Mikhail Khodakov. Whether we return to God? Moscow, 1998).

This thought of Fr Mikhail Khodakov gives us a true criterion to define such an endeavour as Orthodox Photo. In our opinion, Orthodox Photography is an art that makes us think over Eternity and Death. Hence, it makes us think over the sense of Life, arousing sympathy and aversion towards injustice, giving us peace of mind, silence, and bright joy through the contemplation of the Beauty and Harmony of God’s creation…

It’s clear that the subject-matter of the photographs posted on the site can’t be limited to any formal boundaries, as God can’t be limited to any boundaries in His manifestation to the world…

“There is no God for those people who are looking for Him corporeally, because He is invisible, but, for those who think spiritually, He is everywhere, because He is over all. He is everywhere and nowhere at the same time, that is why He is close to those who fear Him, but, sinners are far from His salvation”. (St Simeon the New Theologian. Theological, Speculative, and Practical Chapters. Moscow, 1998).

Orthodoxy Foto

Aleksandr Shurlakov

http://photo.orthodoxy.ru/gallery/shurlakov/english/indexauto.htm (in English)

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Aleksandr Ainetdinov. Two Generations

Aleksandr Krasotkin. Baptism

Aleksandr Krasotkin. First Communion

Aleksandr Osokin. Unto Such as These Belong the Kingdom of Heaven

Alla Dobrsotskikh. Grandma’s Prayer

Deacon Dmitri Voznesensky. Perhaps, That’s the Way to be…

Fr Aleksandr Ivlev. Nursing Sister

Fr Nikolai Katalnikov. Spiritual Affinity

Irina Sharova. Needlework

Ivan Vasiliev. Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, Belaya Tserkov

Ivan Vasiliev. Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, Belaya Tserkov

Ivan Vasiliev. Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, Belaya Tserkov

Kaliningrad Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Blessing

Konstantin Khodakovsky. There’s a Bird! 

Pavel Bezrukov. You Must Be As a Child

Vitaly Tsypnyatov. Before the Mystery

Vitaly Tsypnyatov. Faith

Yelena Povyshova. Spas-na-Krovi, Yekaterinburg (the Church of Christ the Saviour on the Spilled Blood), a memorial to the tsar and his martyred family. Tsar-Martyr St Nikolai was the generous benefactor of the American Church; we owe him a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid in full. 

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Didn’t that just move you to tears? If not, you have a heart of stone.

It is time to come home.

Russian Historian is concerned about the Scale of the “Smear Campaign” Against Tsar Nikolai II

Tsar-Martyr St Nikolai Aleksandrovich the Passionbearer [1868-1918]. Generous benefactor and patron of the American Church.

Moscow, 28 May 2008 (Interfax):

Pyotr Multatuli, a well-known historian and author of four books about Nikolai II, expressed concern that some domestic and foreign circles smear the name of the last Russian emperor, Interfax-Religion reported. “Even today, the discrediting of the actions of Nikolai II is part of the propaganda war waged against Russia by some factions in the West. That is why the West, with the assistance of some home-grown story-tellers, circulates tons of slanderous pulp-fiction pretending to be new ‘biographies’ of Nicholas II”, he stated at a conference in Moscow. Mr Multatuli regrets that “the smear campaign against the name of Tsar Nikolai II is also spread in Russia. Today, although many historians, politicians, journalists, and public figures tell the truth about the personality of the last Russian tsar, public opinion is still full of deceitful myths about him”, he stated. According to Mr Multatuli, “certain elements in our country consciously support” these myths. “These circles do not want the Russian people to know the truth about their history. As we all know, it is impossible to manipulate a nation that knows its history. For this very reason, they created a wide-spread smear campaign in cinematography, television, and literature intended to defame, to slander, and to pervert Russian history”, he stated.

Mr Multatuli is a great-grandson of Ivan Kharitonov, the tsar’s cook, who was shot in the Ipatiev house together with the imperial family. He wished that we would “understand that discrediting the tsar’s name discredits the name of Russia and legalises the lawlessness that engulfed Russia in the 20th century”. He noted that Nikolai II was an example of “a moral politician”. According to Mr Multatuli, the tsar weighed his policies using morality as his benchmark and “wanted his subordinates to exercise the same judgement in their care for the destiny of their Motherland. Nikolai II cherished all the people of the enormous Russian Empire. The best proof of this is that the Russian population grew by 50 million people under his rule”, he stated. He also pointed out the fidelity of the tsar passion-bearer to Orthodoxy, whilst “Orthodox self-consciousness was absent in the Russian governing élite, who substituted various surrogates, such as whimsical mixtures of mysticism, occultism, freemasonry, socialism, and a search for ‘truth’ in esoteric religions”. Mr Multatuli stressed that during the reign of Nikolai II the Chinese Eastern Railway and the South Manchuria Railway were built, plans were laid for the electrification of the whole country, an oil pipeline from Baku to the Persian Gulf was planned, and the Belomor-Baltic Canal was designed. Major industrial zones in the Urals and the Far East were projected and the Baikal-Amur Railroad trunk-line was proposed. “The Bolsheviks realised these great plans afterwards and passed them off as their own ideas”, he added.

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=24682 (in Russian)

Editor’s Note:

All Orthodox Christians in America should have an icon of the tsar-martyr in their icon-corners. The tsar was generous to all Orthodox in America, not merely Russians. He laid the indispensable material foundation for our Church in America. Without his generosity, we would have had no faith to practise today. Our debt to this saint is incalculable. If your parish does not honour his feast-day on 17 July, it should. It is the least we can do to show our gratitude to the saint who did more than anyone else to ensure the survival of our Church on this continent.

O Holy Tsar-Martyr Nicholas the Innocent, pray for your American children!  

Fr Andrei Kuraev Believes that the Desire of Yushchenko to Subordinate the Ukrainian Church to the EP is Strange

Fr Deacon Andrei Kuraev (1963- ), professor at the MDA and popular preacher

Moscow, 27 May 2008 (Interfax):

Fr Deacon Andrei Kuraev, Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy, expressed bewilderment with the recent words of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko that the Ukraine “must move to make an agreement and seek unity with the Mother Church of the Ecumenical Patriarchate”. “In the days when the metropolitans of Kiev were appointed by Constantinople, it was an Orthodox centre of an Orthodox Empire, it was natural to depend on the Ecumenical  Patriarch, but, today it is a bit strange, to put it mildly”, he stated in an interview with Interfax-Religion. Fr Andrei confessed that he can only shrug his shoulders cynically and say, “How strange is the Ukraine’s fate as it faces again and again the same choice as it did in other centuries. Shall it be under Russia or shall it be under Poland and Turkey?” “Nowadays, increasingly, the Ukraine becomes a suburb of Poland in the political and economic sense, and in church affairs, we see this strange delusion to be subordinate to the Turkish Patriarch”, Fr Andrei said.

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=24657 (in Russian)

Sociologists say that Churched Russians are 34 Percent of the Population, not 4 Percent

Moscow, 26 May 2008 (Interfax):

“Churched people” (those who actively lead a church life) are about 30 percent of the Russian population instead of 4 to 6 percent as common opinion alleges, claim Vyacheslav Lokosov and Yulia Sinelina, staff-members of the Institute for Socio-political Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ISPI-RAN). The researchers used methods of defining enchurchment worked out by sociologist Valentina Chesnokova in their article The Religious State of Contemporary Russian Society (Sociological Aspects), which we shall publish on the Interfax-Religion website. The methodology used posits five observed aspects of a “churched person”:

·         Attendance at services

·         Receiving confession, absolution, and communion

·         Reading the Bible

·         Private prayer

·         Observing the given Church fasts

According to their methodology and research data for 2006, about 10 percent of the people are churched and 24 per cent are half-churched in Russia. 14 percent of the population are novices in the faith, only starting to be churched. The researchers claim that over the last ten years, Orthodox believers in Russia started visiting churches, reading church prayers and the Bible more often, while the share of communicants has not changed significantly.

The conclusions of the researchers were based on data from surveys taken throughout Russia by the “Public Opinion” Foundation in 1992, 2000, and 2002, and also on the studies undertaken by ISPI-RAN covering 2004 and 2006. 

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=24643 (in Russian)

Russia May Allot 2 Million Dollars to Restore Holy Sites in Kosovo

Desecrated Icon from the Cathedral of the Mother of God “the Nourisher of Life” in Prizren 

Moscow, 26 May 2008 (Interfax):

The Russian government may allot about 2 million dollars (47.348 million roubles. 1.285 million euros. 1.011 million UK pounds) to restore Orthodox churches and monasteries in Kosovo. At present, the Foreign Ministry is only working on the possibility that Russia may participate in the restoration of holy sites in Kosovo shrines under the aegis of a UNESCO project, Interfax-Religion reported. “The Russian government should make a detailed study of our project first. If it is approved, a team of ranking officials from specialised ministries shall go to Kosovo. They shall determine precisely what sites Russia shall restore”, Grigori Orzhonikidze, executive secretary of the RF Commission of UNESCO Affairs, said in an article in the magazine Ogonyok (Flame) on Monday. 

According to Mr Orzhonikidze, only after this evaluation shall it be possible to determine the exact sum to be assigned from the state budget. Tentatively, estimates calculate the final cost at some 2 million dollars. “Then, Russian architects, engineers, and fine arts experts shall go to Kosovo. We shall act under the sponsorship of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention and the UN mission in Kosovo. By the way, some countries have already allotted funds for this project, for example, Greece and the USA”, Mr Orzhonikidze said.

Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the deputy head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, commented on the Russian plan and said that “it is a matter of honour to help suffering Orthodox Christians in Kosovo. No doubt, we also need to restore thousands of Russian churches. But, the churches in Kosovo are a different matter. We all remember how radicals in Kosovo disrespectfully destroyed crosses and cupolas, shot at the icons, burnt and blew up churches, in an attempt to wipe out the memory of the Serbian spiritual heritage”, he emphasised. According to Fr Vsevolod, Russia always helped Orthodox churches abroad, in the Holy Land, in Western Europe, in America, in the Balkans, “and for this, they thank us to this very day. Now, Kosovo especially needs our help”.

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=24641 (in Russian)

Editor’s Note:

Let me quote from the above article. According to Fr Vsevolod, Russia always helped Orthodox churches abroad, in the Holy Land, in Western Europe, in America, in the Balkans, “and for this, they thank us to this very day”. There have been some unfortunate comments posted on the OCANews.org website. It is time to set the record straight.

Most of the early churches in the US and Canada were built using funds from the tsar’s private funds. This was not state money; it came from his personal fortune. This built St Nicholas Cathedral in New York City, parish churches throughout the country (some of which are still in use), a seminary in Teaneck NJ (which had to close after the revolution due to lack of funds), and St Tikhon Monastery in South Canaan PA. In short, this was a substantial legacy that enabled the Metropolia to carry on despite the upset in Europe. If this aid was not given, the OCA would not exist today. Full stop.

The posters claimed that “foreign bishops wish to siphon funds from America”. What rot. Patriarch Aleksei has more money in his personal slush fund than there is in the OCA national budget, the budgets of its dioceses, and all its parish budgets combined. In fact, the Mother Church would be GLAD to help us financially. Look at the good trees! Moscow is sending money already to help Kosovo from MP sources. Look at the bad trees! The OCA still has not disbursed all the funds it collected for 9/11 victims.

All those who posted “foreign bishops wish to siphon funds from America” should hang their hands in shame. They are ingrates who refuse to recognise where the Church in this country came from. You should thank the Church of Russia for what it did. You should thank St Nikolai the Tsar-Martyr for what he did. If it were not for this, you would have no Church to worship in. Show some decency. Otherwise, you are the same as the Albanian vandals in Kosovo.     

Lull before the storm in Kosovo

The hundred days that followed Kosovo’s self-independence failed to bring peace to the war-ravaged Serbian province. Analysts forecast a worst-case scenario. Aleksandr Torshin, deputy speaker of Russia’s Federation Council, visited Kosovo as head of an observers’ mission from the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly. He was struck by an abundance of military equipment and people in military uniform. “Even in Chechnya, in the worst of times, I never saw such a mass of weaponry and equipment. It is hard to understand how these mixed troops are run. It seemed to me the province is divided into occupation zones, all those allocated to NATO countries”. The Russian parliamentarian was especially surprised by the appearance of German soldiers: “As I was leaving Mitrovica, my eye caught three German armoured personnel carriers with black crosses on their sides. The soldiers’ appearance was a shock to me. Their beards made them look like mujahedeen. It was a fantastic sight. This was the first time I had seen such Bundeswehr men”.

Political analyst Alexander Rahr said, “The hundred days of Kosovo’s declaration of independence will be given a low-key celebration in the European Union, if at all. Most likely, the date will be quietly skipped… because there is nothing to boast about. The European Union lacks a solid legal basis for recognising Kosovo”. The EU, he believes, is still split over the issue of Kosovo’s independence, which in one way or another feeds through to relations with Russia. “Those who expected some progress with Medvedev installed as president were wrong. Russia is firm in its stance. It refuses to recognise the independence of Kosovo and the legitimacy of moves by countries that did. The differences that plagued West-Russia relations while Kosovo was distancing itself from Serbia have not been healed. Now, a new issue tops the agenda, independence for Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transdnestria as a response to what took place in Kosovo”. According to Mr Rahr, some analysts believe that the situation in Kosovo is a lull before a devastating storm. “Anything can be expected”, he said. “Russia, naturally, predicts a conflict between the Serb and Muslim populations. Separatist movements across Europe may take cue from the Kosovo precedent and make their cases”.

28 May 2008

Kommersant

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080528/108726330.html (in English)

Each Ukrainian leader is playing their own Russia card

Yuliya Tymoshenko (1960- ), Ukrainian politician and prime minister

The president and prime minister of the Ukraine are promoting competitive energy strategies to develop their country. Viktor Yushchenko suggested a gas transport OPEC to deal with the transportation of energy bypassing Russia. Yulia Tymoshenko, on the other hand, plans to settle the gas dispute with Russia by promising Moscow to extend the agreement over the base for the Black Sea Fleet and stalling Ukraine’s NATO membership. As the Ukrainian president developed the idea, the Ukraine’s role in a gas transport OPEC working in the EU’s interest will make his country closer to the EU and improve Kiev’s standing in gas conflicts with Moscow. So, he argues, the president could pose as the author of a strategy guaranteeing a European future for Ukraine, and score points in the fight against Yulia Tymoshenko, who is also seeking to become the new head of state in 2009. 

The “orange princess” is planning a counter-game in which the theme of Russian gas is the key. On Friday, while Yushchenko talked about a gas transportation OPEC at a summit in Kiev, the prime minister went to a CIS head of government meeting in Minsk and held talks with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, during which the sides agreed to drop intermediaries from their gas relationship and conclude contracts directly between Naftogaz and Gazprom. In Minsk, however, the Russian and Ukrainian heads of government discussed a wider range of issues. A source close to the Ukrainian prime minister reported that Ms Tymoshenko promised not to expedite the country’s NATO membership, extend the deal on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet beyond 2017, and allow Gazprom to run Ukrainian gas transport assets. In exchange, she asked Russia to support her candidacy in a 2009 presidential election, and keep gas prices for Ukraine relatively low. A source said the sides had agreed to “move in that direction”.  

It is not, however, a fact that the Kremlin is prepared to bet on the “orange princess”. “To trust Yulia Tymoshenko is the last thing that we should be doing”, said a source in the Russian presidential administration. Vasili Kiselyov, a deputy of Ukraine’s Supreme Rada (parliament), agreed. “Yulia Tymoshenko could offer Russia anything, including political preferences. It is a different matter that Tymoshenko has ample experience of pulling out of such unorthodox situations. At the right time, she will find a way not to honour her promises while at the same time keeping low gas prices for a time”.

26 May 2008

Vedomosti

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080526/108478584.html (in English)

Britain’s Spooks Clean up Their Act (Again)

Entrance to Thames House, MI5 Headquarters

Britain’s MI5 counterintelligence agency has again found itself in the epicentre of a hard-hitting scandal after one of its high-ranking officers was forced to resign after admitting that his wife was a prostitute who took part in a sadomasochistic orgy. The scandal is the latest in a series of flops, starting with the death of Princess Diana, which some people blamed on spooks allegedly punishing her for indecent behaviour and for too much hanging around with Arab merchants. Even though many experts said this lead was never proved, they still failed to provide any credible proof to the contrary either… All this comes at a time when the country’s spy hunters are still hurting from the November 2006 poisoning death of Alexander Litvinenko they tried so hard to blame on Russia… 

The intelligence officer, who cannot be named for security reasons, left the service last month after it transpired that his wife was one of the five call girls who took part in a notorious “Nazi-style orgy” with Max Mosley, the Formula One racing chief and the son of Britain’s onetime top pro-Nazi campaigner. The F1 boss’s five-hour sex session with the five call girls took place in an underground “torture chamber” in Chelsea, west London. It re-enacted a concentration camp scene in which he played the role of both guard and inmate. The session reportedly involved hookers dressed as German officers and camp inmates. It was secretly caught on video by one of the call girls, who used the name Mistress Abi. Sources said it was Abi’s husband who worked for MI5 and that she sold the story to the newspaper News of the World for an undisclosed sum. According to the paper, Mistress Abi wore a Luftwaffe uniform during the session and oversaw beatings of Mosley. In the video, Mosley can be seen standing naked as Abi ties him up with chains before ordering him to lie face down on the bed. 

The disclosure is a severe embarrassment to Jonathan Evans, director-general of MI5, but, some people imply that the MI5 officer in question was actually trying to make some cash by blackmailing the infamous neo-Nazi with the help of his kinky-minded wife. Well, it looks like after their bungled attempts to blackmail the Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoi into admitting his alleged involvement in Litvinenko’s poisoning death, Britain’s cloak and dagger heroes have been left to their own devices to earn money on the side with the help of call-girl wives and sex tapes… 

26 May 2008

David Brian

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=27508&cid=87&p=26.05.2008 (in English)

USA could repeat Soviet Mistakes with Poland

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (1954- )

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for increased cooperation and dialogue between the NATO military alliance and Russia in order to “appreciate each other’s fears and interests”. “There is a fundamental interest in intensifying NATO-Russian cooperation”, Ms Merkel said this week at NATO’s spring parliamentary assembly in Berlin. Talks on the US plans for a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe, a project bitterly opposed by Moscow, are “of the highest necessity”, the German chancellor added. 

The Bush administration said it wants to place missile interceptor silos in Poland and a tracking radar site in the Czech Republic to guard against possible missile threats from Iran and North Korea. The Czechs have already given their consent to accommodate the American tracking radar on its territory, but, the Poles are still locked in what look like protracted negotiations with Washington for a missile base in Poland. Mr Bush pledged in March to help modernise the Polish military, but, negotiations have since become bogged down over Polish demands to get a better deal. US officials say Polish expectations are inflated and warn Washington could place the missile interceptors elsewhere if the talks fail. 

The Polish defence minister said this week in Brussels that the United States should grant Poland the same level of aid to modernise its armed forces as it does to other key allies if it wants to site part of its missile defence shield there. “We count on the US treating us, in connection with the talks on the anti-missile shield, similar to the way it treats its strategic partners in other parts of the world”, Bogdan Klich said in the Belgian capital after a meeting of European Union defence ministers. Warsaw officials say the Polish public, which is largely sceptical about the US-proposed shield, would not accept a deal that failed to boost Polish defences in a tangible way. Poland withdrew from the then Soviet bloc in 1989 in the wake of its disintegration in the late 1980s, and it joined the NATO military alliance in 1999 and the European Union in 2004.

International affairs experts have pointed out that in its current haggling with Washington over the missile defence shield and the terms of its placement in the country, Polish behaviour seems reminiscent of its earlier dealings with Moscow when the then Soviet Union was expected to meet Polish requests for anything from industrial equipment to the latest types of military hardware. Some observers believe that Washington might follow the same pattern in its policy toward Warsaw these days. But, while the Poles may not be in a hurry to clinch a fast deal with Washington by any means, the United States holds a presidential election in November, and it is unclear if the country will push ahead with the missile defence project in Poland on Polish terms if a Democratic candidate replaces Mr Bush, a Republican. 

28 May 2008

Yuri Reshetnikov 

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=27628&cid=87&p=28.05.2008 (in English)

29 May 2008. Out and About…

Ukrainian economy suffers from its short-sighted policy towards Russia

Viktor Yanukovich (1950- ), Ukrainian parliamentary leader, opponent of Yushchenko’s Orange neo-Nazis

The Ukrainian economy suffers from the short-sighted policy pursued by the Orange leadership towards Russia. Former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, the leader of the Party of Regions, stated this at a meeting with ambassadors from the European Union in Kiev. According to Mr Yanukovich, the failure of the present government to sign an agreement on long-term supply of Russian gas to the Ukraine is one of the major flaws. The Party of Regions supports giving special status to relations between Ukraine and Russia. Concerning NATO membership for the Ukraine, Mr Yanukovich insisted that there be a referendum on the issue and on the country’s neutral status. The Party of Regions is the largest opposition faction in Ukraine’s parliament.

27 May 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=27586&cid=46&p=27.05.2008 (in English)

Ukrainian president remembers victims of 1932-33 “famine”

Viktor Yushchenko (1954- ), leader of the American-backed Orange faction

Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko, now on a visit to Ottawa, Canada, paid tribute to the victims of the so-called “Holodomyr” 1932-33 famine in Ukraine, in which some claim that seven to 10 million Ukrainians died. He described it as a deliberate act of genocide planned and executed by the totalitarian Stalinist regime. Critics dismiss the allegation as totally absurd since the famine affected in equal measure Ukrainians and ethnic Russians in left-bank Ukraine, as well as people living in other parts of the Soviet Union. The effort of the Orange leadership to redraw history is seen by many as an attempt to neutralise widespread opposition in the eastern Ukraine and the Crimea to the Orange government’s anti-Russian policy. 

27 May 2008

Editor’s Note:

The so-called “Holodomyr” is a Galician Uniate fable. It was ginned up in the North American Galician diaspora. What occurred were dislocations that were a result of collectivisation, which had effects all over Russia (the hardest-hit regions were in Central Asia, by the way, a fact unmentioned by Galician stalwarts). All suffered, unfortunately. It was not “genocide” directed towards Ukrainians. Discount all tales you hear of the “Holodomyr”, it is pure hot air and piffle. 

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=27534&cid=48&p=27.05.2008 (in English)

Russian Border Service is 90

Today, the Russian Border Service is 90-years-old. The Russian state border is the longest in the world, over 60,000 kilometres (37,282 miles). Daily, 200,000 servicemen in 11,000 border guard units, dozens of seagoing ships, patrol boats, and helicopters safeguard it. By the end of the year, only contract service personnel shall remain in the border troops. This coming autumn, the last conscript servicemen shall be discharged. By 2011, more sectors of the border shall be properly equipped, including those with Kazakhstan, the Ukraine, and the Baltic states. 

28 May 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=27598&cid=47&p=28.05.2008 (in English)

Russian Academy of Sciences to announce new academicians

Gerhard Schröder (1944- ), former German chancellor and candidate-member of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Today, the Russian Academy of Sciences will announce the list of new academicians and corresponding members. Among the candidates is the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder who was nominated for the academy’s membership by the department of social sciences. The 64-year-old ex-chancellor heads the shareholders’ committee of the North Stream AG gas pipeline project.

29 May 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=27666&cid=48&p=29.05.2008 (in English)

New state decoration introduced in Russia

Graf Pyotr Stolypin (1862-1911), Prime Minister (1906-11), outstanding statesman

A new state decoration, the Pyotr Stolypin Medal, was introduced in Russia. It will be awarded for special contributions to the realisation of long-term federal projects in industry, agriculture, science, culture, education, and healthcare. Graf Stolypin, an outstanding Russian politician of the early 20^th century, was famous for his reforms.

29 May 2008

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=27667&cid=48&p=29.05.2008 (in English)

Voice of Russia World Service

Russian international reserves up 7.3 billion USD since last week

Russia’s gold and foreign currency reserves increased by 7.3 billion USD (172.726 billion roubles. 4.684 billion euros. 3.704 billion UK pounds), to 548.1 billion USD (1.298 trillion roubles. 352.154 billion euros. 278.106 billion UK pounds), in the week of 16 May to 23 May, the Central Bank of Russia said Thursday.

29 May 2008

http://en.rian.ru/business/20080529/108756911.html (in English)

Prime Minister Putin to discuss Russia-EU relations at Paris talks

French President Nicolas Sarkozy (1955- ) (left) and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (1952- )

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will visit France on Thursday at the invitation of his French counterpart François Fillon, the Russian government press service said. During the two-day visit, Mr Putin will also meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. This will be his first foreign trip since his appointment as premier on 8 May. Russian and EU relations, including preparation for talks on a new EU-Russia partnership and cooperation pact will be a “very important issue” at the meeting. France is due to take over the EU presidency during the second half of this year. “As we have always regarded dialogue with France as a significant factor in rapprochement between Russia and the EU, special attention will be paid to the issues of Russia-EU cooperation during the period of France’s presidency”, the spokesman said.

The negotiations on the new partnership and cooperation pact are expected to be launched at a Russia-EU summit in Khanty-Mansiisk, Western Siberia, on 26-27 June. The old agreement expired in December 2007 and was extended for a further year. The EU foreign ministers on Monday approved a negotiating mandate for a new partnership agreement with Russia, after a decision by Poland and Lithuania to unblock the mandate. The parties will also discuss Russian-French cooperation in high-tech spheres such as space, nuclear power, aircraft and automotive production, as well as the participation of French companies in the construction of Olympic facilities in Sochi, which will host the 2014 Winter Olympics. Bilateral trade between the two countries has increased three-fold in the past five years, reaching 16.4 billion USD (388.421 billion roubles. 10.537 billion euros. 8.307 billion UK pounds) in 2007. Fuel and energy supplies make up 85% of Russia’s exports to France.

29 May 2008

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080529/108755883.html (in English)

RIA-Novosti