Life in Russia

[Jaak]

[Ravenlocke]

Chay Bowes

A Russian state medical clinic. There are literally hundreds of these across Russia providing free healthcare.

How does it compare to where you are?

https://x.com/BowesChay/status/2012502483130593417

[Ravenlocke]

RussiaNews 🇷🇺

🚨⚡️ Lighting of the Rostral Columns in St. Petersburg

🇷🇺🕯️ 83 years since the breaking of the Leningrad blockade!

The city’s famous Rostral Columns blaze in honor of Leningrad’s civilians, defenders, and soldiers who broke the siege.

-: A historic epic of resilience proving that the will of the people is stronger than death and hunger.

https://x.com/mog_russEN/status/2012997418590314993

[sdv]

Posted by Ravenlocke (here)
Chay Bowes

A Russian state medical clinic. There are literally hundreds of these across Russia providing free healthcare.

How does it compare to where you are?

https://x.com/BowesChay/status/2012502483130593417

My country has what you call state medical clinics. We call them primary health care clinics, funded and run by the government. To register at a clinic, you have to be a citizen/permanent resident and your income has to be below a certain amount (above that and you have to buy private health insurance but most companies include that in their renumeration package, or at least a contribution*). Everything is absolutely free: annual or 6-monthly checkups; chronic care medication; pregnancy and infant care; any tests or procedures required at a district or regional hospital and transport to and from those medical centres; cancer medication ... everything, absolutely free. Venezuala ... same system. The Chavez revolution gave poor people health care for the first time, for free.

* If you have permanent employment and medical aid/insurance is in the package of benefits, you can't choose which medical aid/insurance company you want to use. The company does a deal with one medical aid/insurance company and pays the contributions. The employees' contribution is deducted from their salary. Most people want to work for companies who offer this because they get medical aid/insurance for about half the price and they do not have to worry about missing a payment and being denied medical cover.

[Ravenlocke]

Orthodox Christian

☦️🇷🇺🕊️Today is Epiphany (The Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ) according to the Old Calendar, and here is a clip from the film "The Holy Archipelago" about the Solovetsky Monastery in the Arkhangelsk Oblast in Northern Russia 🇷🇺

https://x.com/orthodox_33ad/status/2013079438657741150

https://x.com/ussrlife/status/2013187429432258939

[Ravenlocke]

senore_amore

🇷🇺 ❄️ 🥶 Yesterday's Epiphany blessing of the ice hole on Russky Island near Vladivostok, and ice hole bathing

https://x.com/SenoreAmore/status/2013211587776037218

https://x.com/SenoreAmore/status/2013212780539646417

https://x.com/SenoreAmore/status/2013212973527925144

[Ravenlocke]

ТАСС

Translated from Russian
TASS special correspondent on the ISS, Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergei Kudy-Sverchkov showed the northern lights over Scandinavia and Russia:
https://vk.cc/cTxn4b

Video: Sergei Kudy-Sverchkov/TASS

https://x.com/tass_agency/status/2013117273909649456

[Ravenlocke]

Fr. Daniel☦️

The genocide of Orthodox Christians in Atheist Soviet Russia is perhaps the single greatest Christian persecution in Human history.

What crimes did the Bolsheviks commit during the ‘Russian Revolution?

They nailed him to the floor of the church. He remained alive for a long time. Red-hot ramrods were slowly driven into his body until one pierced his heart… This is how Bishop Sylvester (Olshevsky) of Omsk died in February 1920.

Bishop Tikhon (Nikanorov) of Voronezh was crucified on the Royal Doors of the iconostasis.

Bishop Andronik of Perm was buried alive in a pit which he had been forced to dig himself.

Bishop Hermogenes of Tobolsk was tied to a ship’s wheel and drowned.

Bishop Seraphim (Chichagov) was carried on a stretcher to be executed at the Butovo firing range, as the nearly 90-year-old elder could no longer walk.

Grand Duchess Elizabeth & the nun Barbara were thrown alive into a deep mineshaft in Alapaevsk.

Bishop Benjamin of Petrograd, along with several laymen, was shot after a show trial based on false charges related to the confiscation of church valuables.

Priest Peter Skipetrov was shot in the face in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Archbishop Nikon Rozhdestvesnky (accused of ‘antisemitism’) was stabbed & maimed to death outside of his monastery (Trinity Sergius Lavra), his body was disfigured beyond recognition. The Bolsheviks also beheaded him.

Metropolitan Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky) of Kiev was dragged outside the walls of the Kiev Lavra, shot, and bayoneted while he gave his blessing to his executioners.

The elderly ascetic, Bishop John (Pommer) of Latvia, was tied to a door torn from its hinges, laid on a workbench, brutally tortured, and then set on fire while still alive.

Bishop Thaddeus of Tver was drowned in human waste.

Father Alexey Merkuryev of the Urals was murdered in front of his congregation, daughter, and son.

Bishop Theophan of Solikamsk was stripped, his hair braided, a pole threaded through it, & he was slowly lowered into an icy hole in the Kama River. His body became encased in ice. But the hierarch was still alive - and then he was drowned.

Some priests and laymen had their hands tied behind their backs, their eyes blindfolded, and were ordered to walk across the ice until they fell into a hole. The torturers mockingly called them ‘divers.’

The holy prisoners of the Solovki labor camp had their beards and mustaches ripped out and were starved to death…

No number of pages or tears can recount all that our land endured so recently - just yesterday. This is only a drop in the ocean of blood shed by the Holy New Martyrs, whose memory we commemorate each year.

Hundreds of thousands of priests and millions of laypeople were killed and torn apart for their faithfulness to Christ. More than 2,000 have been canonized as confessors and martyrs - and how many more are known only to God?

And this was not some mere political struggle. It was hell itself unleashed. Only demons devoid of all conscience could torture people in such ways.

The scale, ferocity, and mercilessness of Soviet persecution of the Church is encapsulated in a single figure: out of 80,000 churches and monasteries at the beginning of the 20th century, by 1939, barely a hundred parishes remained across the vast Russian land. Not a single monastery. Not a single seminary. Not a single bishop at liberty. Just a scattered handful of monks.

https://x.com/Fragbaza/status/2014966792444355035

[Ravenlocke]

Russia 🇷🇺

🗺 #OTD in 1820 one of last the greatest discoveries was made by Russian explorers.

Faddey #Bellingshausen & Mikhail #Lazarev approached the shores of #Antarctica and rounded its ice sheet, greeting the penguins 🐧

👉 #RussianDidItFirst

https://x.com/Russia/status/2016518805263110203

[Johnnycomelately]

Story is, some Russian lads are disrespectful of their restaurent of choice, and of their sweet young lady server. So, then, they get hammered by the boss MOM! of that lass, who emerges from the kitchen.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=kXQYyF7bFsw

[Ravenlocke]

Neznakomaya❤🇷🇺

Jan 28
The Chegem Gorge in Kabardino-Balkaria is a narrow canyon where a highway is literally squeezed between steep cliffs & a river. In the narrowest places, the width of the gorge does not exceed 25-30 meters & the rocks rise 200-300 meters above the head. The road to the waterfalls.

https://x.com/TomatkaP/status/2016539930101477531

[Ravenlocke]

Neznakomaya❤🇷🇺

🇷🇺 Scientists of the Tomsk Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, together with the Scientific Research Center BAS of the Tomsk region, have developed a new compact internal combustion engine for drones.

Its production is planned to be launched in the Tomsk region. In less than a year, a domestic rotary piston engine with a volume of 300 cubic cm and a power of 26 kW (36 hp) was created, designed for unmanned and aircraft platforms weighing up to 300 kg.


https://x.com/TomatkaP/status/2016530080655143258

The prototype was successfully assembled and launched at the end of 2025. Denis Melikov, Director of the NPC BAS of the Tomsk Region, stressed that the region is planning a transition to a full production cycle of domestic components for drones, from microelectronics to engines,

and body elements. In Russia today, there is a shortage of engines for UAVs with a capacity of 20-30 kW. The new engine is characterized by low weight and dimensions, high specific power, simple design, low vibration and the ability to run on gasoline.

https://x.com/TomatkaP/status/2016530088867631376

[Ravenlocke]

Russia 🇷🇺

Jan 24
🥳 Happy birthday to Yuri #Bashmet – Russian conductor & the world’s most renowned violist.

He brought viola to the forefront of modern concert life & inspired ~50 works written for him.

In 2014, he led and recorded the iconic music and soundscape of
@Sochi2014
Olympics 🔥❄️

https://x.com/Russia/status/2015089783387959686

[Ravenlocke]

Russia 🇷🇺

Jan 21
🇷🇺 #Moscow is an tourist cornucopia – endless options, even off the beaten path.

#ColdWar buffs must explore #Bunker42 – a declassified nuclear shelter & command center in the heart of the city.

☢️ In a true Fallout fashion, it also houses Russia's deepest restaurant. It's RAD!

https://x.com/Russia/status/2013925988338446521

[Ravenlocke]

Russia 🇷🇺
Jan 13
🚢 #OTD in 1940, the icebreaker Georgy #Sedov escaped after being trapped in the Arctic ice for 812 days!

🥶 Overcoming unbearable cold, fierce winds, and polar darkness, the crew covered 3'307 miles (6 124 km), never stopping their research, exploration, and even education.

https://x.com/Russia/status/2011105968877420941

[Ravenlocke]

MFA Russia 🇷🇺

🧭 January 29 marks the Discoverers’ Day in Russia

🧊 On this day in 1820, Russian naval officers Faddey Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev discovered #Antarctica – the sixth continent.

Find out more about this expedition: http://t.me/MFARussia/28162

https://x.com/mfa_russia/status/2016930966938284059

[Ewan]

Back to Yakutia...

24 Hours in the Coldest City on Earth Yakutsk –64°C (−83°F)

24 minutes, comfortably watched at 1.25x speed and for native English speakers you could go higher.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=D-WGGDRyf68

[rgray222]

Moscow sees heaviest snowfall in 200 years

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=qIUzRPNW9Gc

Moscow has seen the heaviest snowfall in more than 200 years, Russian state media reported as Eastern Europe was battered by severe weather and freezing temperatures.

The state-owned Russian news Agency TASS reported on January 29 that the first month of the year had seen the heaviest snowfall in the Russian capital in the last 203 years.

The meteorological observatory of Lomonosov Moscow State University told TASS: "The first month of 2026 proved to be cold and exceptionally snowy for the capital. The intense snowfall was driven by deep and expansive cyclones with sharp weather fronts passing over the Moscow Region."

Meteorologists said the problem had been exacerbated by freezing temperatures, which were 1.5C below normal for this time of year.



he average January temperature in Moscow is -6.2C.

With temperatures so low, there has been no thawing of ice or snow, meaning each new snowfall is just landing on the previous one.

Workers have been busy clearing roads by piling snow into snowbanks that can often be metres high.

Special snow dumping sites have also been created, where lorry loads of snow are dumped, and excavators create mountains of snow that reach as high as some buildings.

The freezing cold has also hit Russia's neighbours, including Ukraine.

Forecasters say Kyiv, which recently endured severe power shortages due to Russian strikes, will see a brutally cold stretch starting on Friday that is expected to last into next week. Temperatures in some areas will drop to minus 30C, the State Emergency Service said.

Russia has sought to deny Ukrainian civilians heat, light and running water over the course of the war, in a strategy that Ukrainian officials describe as “weaponising winter.”

On Thursday, United States President Donald Trump said he made a personal request to the Russian government to halt strikes on Kyiv for a week during the cold spell.

Trump said Vladimir Putin had agreed to his request, although there was some confusion as the Kremlin confirmed they would halt the strikes until February 1, which is just days away.

The weather is also expected to be worse in the first week of February.

Over the past week, Russia has struck Ukrainian energy assets in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa and northeastern Kharkiv.

It also hit the Kyiv region on January 28, killing two people and injuring four.

https://www.itv.com/news/2026-01-30/...recast-in-kyiv

[Bill Ryan]

Another story about the super-cold Yakutsk region, with a sad twist to the tale.

Adam Boreiko, a Pole who spoke fluent Russian, was a 50-year old adventure cyclist who had cycled solo across the Sahara, the High Atlas Mountains, and across India to the Himalaya. His latest trip was to traverse Yakutia in winter, this time braving the extreme cold.



Boreiko started his journey on January 25. On January 31 at 8 pm, he reached the small village of Khandyga, after cycling for nearly 10 hours. He then checked into a local hotel. He didn’t appear the following day, so that afternoon staff checked his room — and found him dead.

He'd written that he'd received the warmest hospitality from all the Siberian people he'd met along the way. One of his Instagram posts:

The first few days have been the most challenging: adaptation, and the equipment breaking down a bit. People along the way helped me through all the difficulties... I spent my first night in Tüngülü at a roadside bar and inn. The next day, in the village of Nuoragana, I was given food and tea at the school. I dried my things and rested a bit. I was asked to tell the children about my journey.

Here he is, a photo taken the night before he died. The only moral of the story (besides the exceptional Russian friendliness and hospitality) might be that you just don't mess with the extreme cold in Siberia.

[rgray222]

Russian comedian jailed for nearly six years over war veteran joke


Russian comedian Artemy Ostanin stands behind a glass wall in an enclosure for defendants during a court hearing after his March 2025 arrest over a stand‑up performance, in Moscow, Russia, February 4, 2026. Ostanin is suspected of inciting hatred and debasing human dignity following public denunciations alleging that he mocked

Summary

• Artemy Ostanin convicted of inciting hatred, fined 300,000 roubles
• Joke about Russian war veteran sparked outrage among nationalists, military bloggers
• Ostanin also convicted for offending Christians with joke about Jesus

MOSCOW, Feb 4 (Reuters) - A Russian stand-up comedian was convicted of inciting hatred and jailed for nearly six years on Wednesday over a joke he made about a legless war veteran, which triggered outrage among nationalists and military bloggers.

A Reuters reporter in court said that the comedian, Artemy Ostanin, had been handed a sentence of five years and nine months and a fine of 300,000 roubles ($3,908).

It was the latest in a series of rulings which have harshly punished people judged by the authorities to have spoken rudely or falsely about the Russian army at a time when it is fighting in Ukraine.

Ostanin was also convicted of offending the feelings of Christians with another off-colour joke he made about Jesus, which angered Orthodox nationalists.

His arrest and treatment were punishment enough for any offence he had caused, Ostanin said during his trial.

Russia passed sweeping censorship laws in 2022 shortly after it went to war in Ukraine. Pro-Kremlin figures and organisations have since publicly denounced people they deem to have broken those laws, and have reported them to the authorities.

Ostanin's problems began after he performed in front of a small audience in March last year and joked about how an impoverished war veteran who had lost his legs after being blown up by a mine, and was now forced to get around on a skateboard, had run over his foot while navigating a Moscow underpass.

Ostanin also referred to a wheelchair as a "stump carrier."

STRAIGHT-FACED ON PUNCHLINE

Ostanin was not a household name at the time and a video of the moment he told the joke's punchline showed a panel of four fellow comedians remaining straight-faced as the sound of several audience members laughing rang out.

But video of the joke was seized upon by war bloggers and nationalists on the Telegram social media app, causing it to go viral with critics accusing Ostanin of crossing a line by crassly mocking veterans who were risking their lives on the battlefield.

Sorok Sorokov, a powerful Orthodox nationalist group, said many Russians had not understood that times had changed and that the state should tighten its control over such performances to stem what it called a general decline in moral values.

"In recent years, comedians have often crossed red lines and made jokes about topics that are taboo in any normal society," said Georgy Soldatov, director of the group's human rights centre.

Frightened by the backlash against his performance, Ostanin tried to flee Russia in March last year but was arrested by police in neighbouring Belarus, a close ally of Russia, and returned to Moscow to face charges.

Asked by the judge on Wednesday whether he understood his sentence, Ostanin said: "To hell with your judicial practice. No, I don't."

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe...ke-2026-02-04/
https://meduza.io/en/feature/2026/02...russia-nothing