Dima's recruitment

by Paul E. Richardson

This hilarious YouTube satire video by the Perm KVN group gives a bit of background on the recent Russian election, and how Medevedev was recruited for his role. The dubbing is superbly done. (All in Russian)

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Driving Down Russia's Spine is the full account of the epic, 6,000-kilometer trans-Russia road trip dubbed The Spine of Russia. Intertwines fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia.

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On This Day

Notable events on this day in Russian history

1556: Ivan the Terrible decrees an explicit connection between landholding and military service. Anyone who possessed an estate had to provide a fully equipped, mounted man-at-arms for every 400 acres of arable land, with an additional horse for distant campaigns

1862: Petersburg State Conservatory named for Rimsky-Korsakov founded

1945: US ends Lend-Lease program to the Soviet Union.

1970: Soviet Luna 16 space probe landed on the moon and collected samples of lunar soil. It was the first robotic probe to land on the Moon and return a sample to Earth (four days later). American manned craft had already landed on the moon and brought back samples.

1993: Azerbaijan's parliament voted to rejoin the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).