Free Republic

When you’re a Russian retiree living on a limited income, it’s bad enough trying to contend with skyrocketing prices for staples like eggs, potatoes, or butter. Now add to the list of worries: a swooning ruble hitting lows not seen in years. “I see these prices, my eyes get wide,” said one retired history teacher who lives in St. Petersburg and tries to get by on a 19,100-ruble ($187) monthly pension. “What's going on? Prices are rising for absolutely everything.” “Polite words fail me, of course” the 72-year-old woman told RFE/RL’s Russian Service. She asked for her name not to...

In Siberia's Novosibirsk, Russia's third-largest city, a major hot-water main burst, sending cascades of steaming water rushing through frozen streets and cutting off heating to scores of buildings -- and thousands of people -- amid Arctic temperatures. In the Pacific port of Vladivostok, some 3,000 people were left in the bitter cold after an above-ground heating pipeline ruptured, spewing similar volumes of steaming water. And nine hours to the west, in a string of Moscow suburbs, more than 150,000 people shivered -- and complained vociferously -- when another municipal heating pipe broke down, with engineers rushing to dig up the...