Ombudsman for Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal, the largest natural reservoir of fresh water on Earth, needs a personal ombudsman. Director of the Limnology Institute of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Mikhail Grachev has proposed to establish a post of the authorized environmental representative for the Baikal problems.

Going strong at 100

Alexander Kaptarenko from Siberia marked his 100th year jubilee playing table tennis. The oldest veteran in the sport played a round of tennis against a 75-year old rival as part of the celebration of his birthday in Siberia. Veteran Kaptarenko plans to travel to Stockholm to participate in the World Table Tennis tournament in the summer.

World Cancer Day: the disease can be prevented

The World Cancer Day is marked on February 4. According to the World Health Organization, 12 mln people are diagnosed with the disease annually, while 7,500 die of the illness. Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. It comprises about 100 various diseases which can affect any part of the body.

Scump of society

Winter is a harsh period for the homeless. Several people die from frostbite in Moscow daily, and in January, 700 people sought help at the city’s center for the homeless. The authorities of the Russian capital have  ppealed to the residents to call the Social Patrol Service hotline.

Cheating: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

An exhibition of cheat sheets in Yekaterinburg in the Ural Region is setting records. Students and schoolchildren visit the exhibition in order to exchange experience and to learn more about the novelties. School teachers and professors also want to be well informed on that score in order to successfully combat cheating.

Triplets in Novosibirsk Zoo

The Novosibirsk Zoo, which is known for its collection of the feline species, which is the biggest in the world, is celebrating the birth of the jaguar cub triplets. This is the first offspring of the jaguar family.

Aragonite dragon

One can see an aragonite dragon only in the city of Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains. The half-metre high mineral which looks like a mythical animal was found in a cave in South Kazakhstan. Russian geologists who found it thought the find symbolic and proposed to consider 2012 the year of the aragonite dragon.

Moroz City in Moscow

An ice town, “Moroz City”( Frost City), has appeared in the Sokolniki Park in Moscow. Young sculptors from all parts of Russia have built 13 ice buildings on the territory of 2,500 square metres.

Police dogs to patrol Russian subway

Police dogs will soon become a common sight in Russia, as they are to begin patrolling the country’s extensive underground stations.   The authorities of the Moscow Metro have allocated 330 million rubles, about 10 million dollars to strengthen the existing anti-terrorism measures in the subway.

Russians’ plans for New Year

Most Russians will see the New Year in at home with their relatives. The average cost of a New Year celebration per family is expected to be 250 dollars. This is according to a poll conducted by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center.

Pavel Astakhov: Russia with no orphans - such it will be

Despite the signing of agreements on cooperation in the field of adoption between Russia on the one hand and

Moscow Kremlin welcomes children for New Year performance

Some 5,000 children from across Russia have arrived in Moscow at the invitation of President Dmitry Medvedev to attend the national New Year party at the Kremlin Palace. This year the performance is dedicated to the 200th anniversary of Russia`s victory in the Patriotic War of 1812.

Russians’ vox populi on 2011

New Year Soviet-style

An exhibition which tells about the different ways in which Russians celebrated the New Year in the 20th century has opened in the Moscow State Historical Museum. The exhibition is called “Happy New Year, Dear Comrades!”, for it covers mainly the Soviet period, when people were officially addressed as “comrades”, not “ladies and gentlemen.

New Year tree number One

A giant fir tree has been set up on Moscow Kremlin’s Cathedral Square for New Year’s celebrations. It will take two days to adorn the fir tree with New Year decorations and garlands, which are traditionally in the colors of the Russian tricolor.

We must preserve the Arctic

In the autumn, the area of the Arctic covered by ice decreased, reaching its historical minimum, which opened up ice-free Northern Shipping route. In view of this, there has been a surge in plans to develop the Arctic, which included developing its oil and gas fields.

Siberian Hachiko

Animal lovers in Russia’s Siberian city of Yakutsk have rescued a stray dog, which stood guard to

Kim Philby – a legend of a man

In 2012, it will be 100 years since the birth of Kim Philby, a legendary Briton who worked for Soviet intelligence services.

Life without barriers

There’re 14 million handicapped people regarding their health in Russia out of which 650,000 are children. The all-Russian Decade of Invalids opened with the International Day of Invalids, which was celebrated in Russia for the first time in 1993.