Word: russian
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...bridges, houses, factories and other structures are frequently rushed into service to meet deadlines without proper testing. But rarely does the practice have such tragic consequences. And yet it doesn't seem that any lesson was learned. Last December, a little more than a year after the Kursk disaster, Russian President Vladimir Putin commissioned another nuclear submarine, the Gepard. According to TIME's source, that vessel's floating capsule had never been tested either. --By Yuri Zarakhovich
Sakhalin is a one-way trip." That's what a Russian official once told me, alluding to Sakhalin's nefarious reputation as the penal colony of last resort, whose very name was said to make a man faint from fear. A chrysalis-shaped island at the entrance to the Sea of Okhotsk in the deepest reaches of the Russian Far East, Sakhalin's remoteness, fierce natural conditions and notoriety have made it one of Asia's most foreboding places to visit. But the isolated island is changing?albeit very slowly?from a once closed and alienated enclave into a travel...
...Arguably, the first traveler to willingly visit?and leave?the island was Russian writer Anton Chekhov, who came in 1890 to study life in the penal colony. After finishing his book The Island?a Journey to Sakhalin, Chekhov remarked, "I have seen Ceylon, and it is heaven, and now I have seen Sakhalin, and it is hell." Despite his stinging account, the people of Sakhalin have a lasting affection for the playwright and his introduction of the island to the world. His likeness vies with Lenin's on monuments throughout Sakhalin's capital, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk...
...Yuzhno, I boarded a 1960s Russian-built turboprop from Hakodate airport in Japan for the two-hour hop across the Sea of Okhotsk. The two nations are separated by a mere 43 kilometers of water, but the cultural gulf between them is immeasurable. Whereas Hakodate has a fastidious obsession with order and cleanliness, Sakhalin is rough and gritty, reflecting its history. Forgotten by successive Russian governments and weather-beaten by violent winter storms, Yuzhno is a mix of degraded Soviet architecture, dusty, potholed streets and makeshift stalls...
...still walk after the first?or second?bottle, try to get to Yuzhno's popular local brewery in the center of town. Higher-minded pursuits include the Sakhalin regional museum (housed in the Imperial Japanese Government Offices dating from when the Japanese controlled southern Sakhalin from 1905-45), the Russian Orthodox Church, the Chekhov Theater, street markets selling everything from wild berries to furs, and Gagarin Park, complete with mountain backdrop, a small train and a pristine lake...