Moscow market of illegal vodka is estimated to be 25%. Outside Moscow it is as high as 50%. Experts believe that a significant part of illegal vodka is produced during the so-called "fourth shift," meaning, by the official manufacturers at night time. The price of illegal vodka is significantly lower than the price of licensed vodka. The minimum price of legal vodka in Moscow is 75 rubles ($2.6), while outside Moscow it is only 60 rubles (less than $2)

18.11.2009
Russia is equipping its spaceport at Kourou, the Space Center of French Guiana. This week it sent there two Soyuz rockets. They will be launched into space in 2010 along with the Russian boosters Vega. At the moment, a new launch pad is being built in the Guiana Space Center for launching Russian spacecraft. Why is Russia so interested in developing its space program in Guiana with its horrible climate and sad fame of a former French colony for incorrigible offenders?

28.10.2009
Russia’s chief health inspector Gennady Onishchenko told journalists Wednesday that the number of officially registered swine flu cases in the country had increased to 1,896. Onishchenko also confirmed four deaths caused with the lethal A/H1N1 virus

23.10.2009
Gazprom's most ambitious political projects - Nord Stream (along the bottom of the Baltic Sea) and South Stream (across the Black Sea) - are worth billions of dollars. The first one of the projects is to be launched in September 2011, whereas the second one does not even have the final construction schedule: the works on the projects started in 2007. However, the second project has all chances to be realized first