Russia's effort to promote a demographic revival may be working. Tatyana Golikova, Russia's minister of health and social development minister said Friday that 1.6 million babies were born in the country last year in 2007, the highest number of births since 1991. According to the McClatchy-Tribune news service, the birth total for 2007 was up by 122,750 from 2006. Last January, Russian legislators approved incentives to encourage Russians to have more children.

And maybe some good news for those of... more

You might remember that, last month, I told you about a special issue of American Express Publishing's Departures magazine, devoted solely to the luxuries of modern Moscow.

Moscow has had luxuries before. But under the Soviets, the baubles and beluga were pretty much limited to Communist Party favorites, and the luxuries might not have seemed terribly luxurious on Madison Avenue, Rodeo Drive or Avenue Georges V.

The clothiers, restaurateurs... more

President Vladimir Putin spent three hours in front of the television cameras on Thursday, taking and answering questions from citizens on a wide range of economic, social and political issues. According to the official Russian government Web site, Putin answered more than 60 questions during the show, which came from people in Vladivostok, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Voronezh region, Arkhangelsk region, six other regions and Kazakhstan. The government site doesn't yet have the transcript posted, but promises one will... more

I've written before about how central potatoes are to the Russian diet. But there's one kind of potato that everybody wants to avoid, and that's a political hot potato. Which is why so many people in Russia are steamed up now over inflation.

The price of just about everything in Russia right now is rising, and at a pretty good clip to boot. According to the Moscow Times, milk prices have risen 16.5% over the last year, while butter is up more than 20%, vegetable oil has risen 17.1% and the cost of meat is... more

Apologies, folks, I've got some catching up to do. Turns out, the Internet, wired or wireless, has not arrived in the great north woods. So several things that I had brought along on my laptop to post never made it off the hard drive. I guess somebody was trying to tell me that sometimes vacation should just be vacation.

First up is a story from The New York Times last week. It seems that... more

Sakhalin Island was hit by a strong earthquake on Thursday morning, killing two people and leaving two people dead and several dozen others injured. Reports on the quake differed on its magnitude, with some accounts putting the first shock at 6.4 and others at 6.6 or 6.8. Nevelsk, on the southwestern side of the island, was closest to the epicenter, but the quake was also felt in Kholmsk and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. According to the Itar-Tass... more

Russia's effort to stake a larger claim to the Arctic Ocean has sent shivers through international observers.

Last week, an expedition that included a nuclear-powered ice breaker and submersible vessels left Murmansk bound for the North Pole. Their mission: To prove that a large part of the Arctic is actually connected to Russia's far northern region and, hence, fair game for Russian oil and gas exploration.

On Thursday, the submersibles dove two miles... more

Want a measure of how far the Russian economy has come in recent years? Russians are putting money in their banks.

If you are an American of a certain age, that statement may seem to be a bit of a head-scratcher: Why wouldn't you put your money in a bank? Ask your grandmother, or anybody old enough to remember the Great Depression. When you don't have faith in your country's economy you don't put money in a bank.

But Russians are putting money in the bank now--in droves. According to a... more

Global warming was in the news this week in Russia. The Voice of America and several other news sources are reporting that a Russian naval expedition is headed to the North Pole to secure Russia's rights to oil and natural gas under the Arctic Ocean. The VOA says that while an icebreaker is now sailing ahead of the research ship, global warming is melting the Arctic ice, which would make it easier to drill for oil in the region. The Russians apparently want to prove that a... more

Only July 19, five more American adoption agencies were accredited to work in Russia. The decision by the Ministry of Education brings the total number of accredited American agencies to 12. Two agencies from France and one each from Spain and Israel have also been accredited. Let's hope that the MoE keeps working on this through the traditional August slow season and gets the rest of the waiting agencies their paperwork soon.

In political news, on... more