Wow! As you can imagine the news media of all sorts as well as regular people in blogs and forums are talking about our Olympic bid’s success. The win’s Pros and Cons arguments seem even more heated than before the vote: new infrastructure vs environmental worries, higher salaries vs high inflation, pride and recognition vs prospects of weaker foreign policy, ability vs inability to complete construction on time, international spotlight vs corruption - you name it, its been talked about. Whose shares went up? What will happen to people who live in and around the areas of constructions? What will happen to the “Olympic” money? Will the Olympics be profitable? Will it become’s Putin’s project for the upcoming years (after he leaves office next year after second term as President)? Both optimists and pessimists know all the answers, and they are completely opposite :) The truth, as always, lays somewhere in between. But everybody agrees - making this Olympics a success is a big exam for Russia.

I’ll try to avoid covering the arguments about all this questions as right now all of it is just speculations and personal views, and will stick to the facts.

So, how did Russia react to Sochi’s win? Mostly with shock and cheer! A lot of people, even the one’s who really wanted the win, did not believe in it. I’ve read that Russian betting offices lost over 10 million rubles (~$390 000). Betting is not that popular in Russia, but the point is they burned on this. A lot of people feel pride (so do I :)), and most are lost in guesses on how and how much this will change Russia’s South, and people’s lives.

July 5th (because of the time difference, it was 5th in Sochi when results were announced in Guatemala) will very likely become an official holiday in Sochi, this idea is already being proposed by Sochi’s mayor, Viktor Kolodyazhny. Russian businesses celebrated this victory with enthusiasm and introducing “olympic” sales. For example Russia’s biggest online store ozon.ru introduced 20% off almost all items for purchases on July 5th ans 6th, several travel agencies introduced lower rates to Sochi for those who’ll order next 10 days, “Ural airlines” introduced special “Olympic” rate for people going to Sochi for it’s development — from construction workers and engineers to sportsmen and their trainers, etc.

Anyways, I’ll keep an eye on the developments and keep you posted ;)

The information in this article is still in effect, however according to recent news reports the registration of foreigners will not be required in the near future, as the point of new migrations law is not registration of foreigners, but monitoring of how many foreigners are in Russia at any given time.

One of the biggest pains about traveling to Russia for foreigners is a required registration in the city of stay within three business days of arrival. When you stay in the hotels, most hotels will take care of it for you, but if you come to visit (and stay with) your friends and family, you have to get registered.

Read on for the registration procedure guide. Read the rest of this entry »

According to the article published in «Rossiyskaya Gazeta» newspaper, the police in Russian resort cities will patrol streets and beaches on bicycles, patrol boat, and light flying vehicle (whatever that is) during summer season.

The police force will increase by 20% on the resorts to counter average 18% crime hike during summer tourism season. Increased security measures in trains, airports, seaports and surrounding buildings, mandatory emergency police button in all big hotels and spas, more road police posts are among other ways making people’s travel and stay safer. Every bus with children will be escorted by police car. Video surveillance and direct phones to police will be installed in places with large number of people.

«Kinotavr» is Russia’s biggest open film festival. It takes place in Sochi annually, this year its 18th time.

The opening ceremony took place evening June 3rd. There are fourteen moves in the competition program; they’ve been selected from over 100 films. Most of the participating movies are Russian (only one foreign move is Ukrainian), you can find the complete list of the titles at the official website’s program page.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Sibir” Airlines (S7 Airlines) stopped cheap tickets sales for flights from Moscow to Sochi. During last month tickets were sold for $12 (300rub; not including airport fees) if tickets are puchased 30 days in advance, and for $35 (900rub) if puchased 14 days in advance. Now both of these prices are canceled, and the ticket price is $84 plus $28 of airport fees.

This was an experimental action by S7 (these prices were also introduced to two other cities), and after analyzing the results “Sibir” will make a decision on weather to continue similar actions.

Real Estate Krasnodar reports on Carrefour’s plans in Russia.

You can read the full article on Real Estate Krasnodar blog »

«Dolmens are a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of three or more upright stones (megaliths) supporting a large flat horizontal capstone (table). Dolmens were usually covered with earth or smaller stones to form a barrow, though in many cases that covering has weathered away, leaving only the stone ’skeleton’ of the burial mound intact.»
- Wikipedia

The monuments date between the end of the 4th millennium and the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C. — that’s older that Pyramids of Egypt! Read the rest of this entry »

61% or Russians believe Sochi has better chances to win 2014 Olympics bid then its competitors, Salzburg and PyeongChang. 11% believe in Salzburg’s chances, and 5% in PyeongChang’s. This was revealed during most recent survey by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM). Same survey showed that 81% of Russians thinks that it is important that 2014 Olympics will take place in Sochi, 43% of which think its “very important”, and 38% think its “rather important”.

Last year’s survey showed that only 45% of Russians believed in Sochi’s chances.

«Narodnaya gazeta Sochi» reports that average monthly salary in Sochi in 2006 was 9270 rubles, which is around $350 US.

Average monthly salary in Russia in 2006 was 10736 rubles, around $405 US.

Russian Ministry of Transportation announced today new rules which are intended to improve air-travel safety in Russia. Igor Levitin, Russian minister of transportation, said that all Russian airline companies will have to replace all their Tu-134 and Tu-154 airplanes. Around 270 of these planes are operating in Russia today. It is expected that many of these planes will be replaces by new Sukhoi SuperJet 100 (formerly known as Russian Regional Jet or RRJ) which is expected to be approved for commercial use soon, and by regional Airbus jets. Among other rules is increased training time required for pilots and mandatory installation of training simulators in Russian Federation for any airplane that will be certified to fly in Russia.

Source: lenta.ru

This is great news. I’m 185 cm tall, and my legs simply don’t fit between my chair and the one in front on both of these planes, and I’m glad they’re finally doing something about it :)

Russian businessman Dmitry Shumkov, who is also a member of Association of Russian Lawyers and Russian Olympic Committe partner, has acquired 50% of French prestige skis manufacturer Skis Lacroix. Following this deal, Skis Lacroix promises to invest €300 million in building Russian factory to build mountain skis, and in hotel constructions in Sochi.

Source: Gazeta.ru

Ekaterinburg is located in Ural Mountains region and it is one of the biggest cities in Russia. It’s a magnet for investors, and if you one of them :), or if you will be traveling to this city in June-August, maybe you’ll be interested to know that you can purchase Ural Airlines tickets for Ekaterinburg - Sochi flights for June-August period for lower price. According to their press release price of one way ticket will be around US$150 if you buy it from February 1st to March 31st.

First case of bird flu this year was registered today in Russia. Bird flu virus H5N1 was found in dead birds in the city of Lobinsk and two villages near it in Krasnodar Krai.

Last year during global bird flu scare the virus was also found in Russia in Krasnodar Krai, as well as in some places in Siberia. No human deaths contaminations were reported last year in Krasnodar Krai. There was a lot of things done last year in Krasnodar Krai last year due to this scare. Vaccine was developed, plans were designed on how to react to cases oc bird flu, and farms personnel and local population was trained, and additional amounts of disposable suites and tools were purchased to destroy infected birds. So, hopefully all those efforts will help to minimize any impact this virus may have in the region.

Labinsk & Sochi on the map: Read the rest of this entry »

The Ukrainian government is looking into possibility of building a bridge between Ukrainian Crimea and Russian Krasnodar Krai (part of which is Sochi), reports Yuga.ru. Their logic is - Russia promotes Sochi, lets bring some of their visitors to Ukraine :) That sure makes sense… I always wondered why a bridge or a tunnel across Kerch (Kertch/Kerchensky) strait did not exist. Well, the money, I guess. But it always felt wrong (and it still does) that people have to drive around Asov Sea just to get to Crimea by land from south of Russia when it is so damn close. Today there is a ferry operating across Kerchensky and Tamansky peninsulas. However, it was reopened just a few years ago, before it wasn’t operating for 15 years.

Read the rest of this entry »

Russia officially joins Turkey’s Black Sea Harmony initiative to address new security challenges in region.
Actually this happened in the end of December, but I just found my bookmark today :)

Black Sea Harmony is a naval operation initiated by Turkey in March 2004 in accordance with UN Security Council Resolutions 1373, 1540 and 1566 aimed at deterring terrorism and asymmetric threats worldwide. (Wikipedia)

Ukraine has also announced last year that it is considering joining Black Sea Harmony, and the last i’ve read Ukraine’s participation process is in its final stage.