Today is the Day of Defender's of the Homeland in Russia and also in general it's Man's Day for Russians (Women's Day is 8th of March).

 

Spring has arrived?

With the lovely sunshine lately I was inspired to post a link to a lovely animated series called Masha and the Bear - маша и медведь. This one is called Spring Came.

Собака - лучший друг человека. A dog is a man's best friend

Some interesting news about British events periodically appear in Russian сhannel. Here is one of them about doggies.

The sky is falling!

Maybe you heard that meteorites hit Russia today! You can watch the Russian news, or the BBC in English below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21468116

Metro / Underground / Tube

A couple of nice videos about undergrounds! This theme may not seem so exciting, but Moscow’s underground is famous for its beautiful stations, while Glasgow’s is the third oldest in the world. My husband found this one about Glasgow from the BBC, which he says is particularly funny at 1:04 if you like stereotypes! :-/

Today is the Day of Russian Science

The best young Russian scientists received awards in the Kremlin.

 

Sochi 2014: One year countdown to Winter Olympics start

Taking place in the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi, organisers say that not only are preparations on track but that the event will introduce some important "firsts" to the country.

You can read about it on BBC here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21040625

or watch in Russian

 

Russian language No. 2 in Czech Republic

In Scotland Russian doesn't seem to be on the curriculum in secondary schools but in Czech Republic it has become the second most popular foreign language (after English of course).

Watch the report below:

First post on Russian music

Russia and other ex Soviet nations may not have world famous music like Britain and the USA but we do still have a reasonably vibrant music scene, and pop music scene too. One of the well established post Soviet period rock groups is Би-2, originally from Belarus. So, as an introduction to Russian rock, I'm posting a link to their website, and specifically to a comprehensive list of their music videos:


http://bdva.ru/filmographia.phtml


...and here's one of my favourites.

On this day in 1945 ...

A very significant day for the future of Europe. Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt met to discuss the divisions in Europe after the imminent defeat of Nazi Germany.  Ялтинская конференция.

You can read about it at Russia Today in English http://russiapedia.rt.com/on-this-day/february-4/ on their often interesting page 'on this day ...'

Or video on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAtEaL5I2pI

70th Anniversary of the battle of Stalingrad

2nd February 1943 saw the victory of the Soviet defenders of Stalingrad after over 5 months of fighting and the death of between 1.7 and 2 million people. Today there are commemorations and Putin will visit Volgograd (previously Stalingrad) for a military parade and laying of wreaths at the eternal flame. There are such 'eternal flames' in many cities of the ex soviet union.

You can watch the news here in Russian.

or from the BBC here

You can watch a film about the battle of Stalingrad Горячий снег (Hot snow).