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 KidBurg, a recreational center aimed at introducing children to the world of various professions opened at St. Petersburg’s Grand Canyon shopping center on Prospect Engelsa last week.
KidBurg, also advertised as children’s city of professions, is the first working model of adult society scaled down for Russian children. In KidBurg one can find a hospital, post-office, airport, bank, police station and more. There are also TV and radio studios, newspaper office, a theater and an art school, a supermarket, a fitness center and a number of other venues found in any modern city.
KidBurg will give children a taste of what life is like as an adult. As every child enters the city, they are given a passport and up to 50 “profi” — the city’s currency. |
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JUST SAY NO
DMITRY LOVETSKY / AP
Opposition activists protest against vote rigging in parliamentary elections outside Gostiny Dvor, Sunday. Some protesters held posters depicting Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and others signs reading ‘Your election is a farce.’ Protests continued Monday and Tuesday. |
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St. Petersburg shipbuilding plant Baltiisky Zavod, which reached the point of bankruptcy, was promised both money and orders, as well as a new development strategy last week.
Baltiisky Zavod is to receive an order for the construction of parts for two troop- and helicopter-carrying Mistral ships and at least three icebreakers. This was announced at a meeting with plant employees and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who came in support of the plant Friday last week.
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Olympic figure skating champ Yevgeny Plushenko announced his resignation from the political party A Just Russia.
“I’m seceding from A Just Russia. I’m not joining another party, I’ll be an independent, at least for a while,” Plushenko said at a press conference last week.
Plushenko said that while a member of A Just Russia, he couldn’t find his way as a politician. “I can’t combine political activity with serious sports,” Plushenko said, Interfax reported.
Plushenko said that A Just Russia wasn’t going through its best times. “I don’t see a future with A Just Russia. We are going in different directions.”
The figure skater said that many party members were leaving the “sinking ship. |
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 Police detained dozens who peacefully protested against widespread violations in the State Duma elections. These violations increased the percentage of votes for United Russia, while cutting down on their rivals’ results. |
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MOSCOW — United Russia won enough seats to usher government-sponsored bills through the State Duma, but the decline in popular support for the ruling party as revealed by Sunday’s elections will likely have consequences that reach beyond law making.
Led by President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the party will occupy 238 seats in the new Duma, while a bill requires at least 226 votes to pass. |
All photos from issue.
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 MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday dismissed claims of massive vote-rigging in Sunday’s elections by declaring that the State Duma elections were democratic.
“United Russia got as many votes as it had — not more and not less — and in that sense the elections were absolutely fair and just,” Medvedev told supporters in a meeting at his Gorky residence, according to a Kremlin transcript. |
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MOSCOW — At least 5,000 protesters vented their frustration with the State Duma vote on Monday evening in central Moscow at one of the biggest liberal opposition rallies in recent years. |
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The State Duma elections held on Sunday were anything but legal and fair, declared independent observers, members of parties opposing the United Russia party and media representatives at an Election Night reception, held in St. Petersburg immediately after polling stations closed.
The parliamentary election results were not surprising and fulfilled the predictions sociologists made foreseeing a decline in United Russia authority and a rise in control held by the Communist party, according to Roman Mogilevsky, research advisor from the Agency for Social Information. |
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 MOSCOW — The global economic downturn hasn’t hit Russians’ purchasing power significantly, with this year’s spending on gifts and entertainment during the New Year’s holidays expected to grow 11 percent from 2010, while most Europeans plan to cut their holiday expenditures, a survey said Monday. |
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MOSCOW — While Russia’s expected accession to the World Trade Organization in 2012 could be used in a brewing struggle between Gazprom and the European Union, the move is unlikely to have a big impact on the country’s domestic gas industry or export revenues. |
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MOSCOW — The European Union and the Russian government announced the settlement Thursday of a long-running dispute about how airlines are charged for flights over Siberia.
“From Jan. 1, 2014, any charges EU airlines have to pay for flying over Russian territory will be cost-related and transparent. They will not discriminate between airlines,” the EU said in an e-mailed statement. |
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 For 10 years, Golos has been educating voters, analyzing electoral legislation, and monitoring elections at various levels, but only a few experts and journalists had ever heard of the organization.
But since late November, Golos, Russia’s sole independent elections observer organization, has been in the headlines of the world’s news agencies. |
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The State Duma elections this time around were actually quite interesting, despite a sluggish start in which campaigning from all parties lacked vigor and went largely unnoticed by the public. |
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 According to the organizers of the German Film Festival, taking place for the eighth time in St. Petersburg, from Dec. 8 though 11, German cinema differs from other European cinema as “German film directors prefer to blaze their own trails without looking back at their forerunners or contemporaries for ideas.”
Festival organizers said that Germany is currently witnessing an increase in filmmaking. |
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 An international music fest is taking to the stage in Tallinn, named this year’s capital of culture, Dec. 10 and 11. One of its aims is to strengthen cultural ties between Russia and Europe by inviting well-known Russian musicians to perform. |
 Alexandra Kachko is involved in art, but not the usual kind. Her political artworks are seen not in galleries, but on the walls of St. Petersburg buildings and have become familiar to residents since her stencil and cut-out paper graffiti first appeared last year. |
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A Taste of Italy
According to Webster’s Italian dictionary, the word “famiglia” can translate as either family or home, both of which spring to mind upon entering the restaurant. |
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 MOSCOW — “Drawings From the Gulag” bears witness to some of the most horrific events to take place in Soviet prison camps, scenes that no camera was ever allowed to capture.
Almost 240 pages cover to cover, the book begins with a terse biography of author and illustrator Danzig Baldaev, a former warden at Leningrad’s infamous Kresty prison. |
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Issues Archive