Free Republic

A new Stalin statue will be erected in Russia’s third-largest city of Novosibirsk next spring as the legacy of the Soviet dictator continues to divide society. Contemporary attitudes are split in Russia toward the historical role of Stalin, who is responsible for the deaths and suffering of millions of Soviet citizens during his rule from 1924 until his death in 1953. Polls show Russians view him as a “remarkable” figure and the younger population is unaware of Stalin-era purges, while President Vladimir Putin has dismissed attacks on Stalin as a ploy to demonize Russia. A Novosibirsk action group voted Saturday...

The deliveries promised in the deal depend on supplies from two natural gas deposits located in Siberia – the Chayanda oil and gas condensate field in Yakutia and the Kovykta gas condensate field in the Irkutsk Region. The two together have natural gas reserves of 4.1 trillion cubic meters, but neither has yet been developed. ...“a propaganda spin to justify the $70 billion price tag the state has splurged on” for construction of a pipeline to China. “Usually, the costs for similar state funded projects always overstretch the initial price tag,” ... Industry insiders say Gazprom doesn’t have the technology...

BUNGUR, Russia -- Pitted roads, intermittent electricity and water supplies, dilapidated housing, nonexistent health care -- the complaints heard in this village of 600 people near the city of Novokuznetsk are not unusual for rural Russian communities. But these villagers' approach to getting the government's attention to their woes just might be. Locals in Bungur have launched an initiative to rename their village Syria -- reasoning that if Moscow has a few tens of millions of dollars to invest in the Middle Eastern country, it might be able to spare a little investment for a Syria closer to home. "We...

Scientists are analyzing the perfectly preserved remains of a prehistoric horse in a bid to clone the now-extinct animal. Recently discovered in permafrost in the Siberian region of Yakutia, the skin, hair, hooves and tail of the carcass are all preserved. The remains are estimated to be 30,000 to 40,000 years old. Experts believe that the foal was about 2 months old when it died. Semyon Grigoryev, head of the Mammoth Museum in the regional capital of Yakutsk, was surprised to see the perfect state of the find. He noted it's the best-preserved ancient foal found to date. The Siberian...

The frozen carcass of the dark-brown baby horse is from an extinct species is up to 40,000 years old, and the animal was perfectly preserved in the Siberian permafrost in the Batagai crater in Yakutia, the coldest region in Russia. Leading researcher of the laboratory of Mammoth Museum Dr Semyon Grigoriev said: 'Fortunately, the animal's muscle tissues were undamaged and well preserved, so we managed to get samples of this unique find for biotechnology research.' South Korean cloning expert Professor Hwang Woo Suk, currently in Yakutsk, told The Siberian Times that a joint bid is underway to find a living...

Russia has made 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of arable land available to foreign investors – and while that could be boon for Beijing as it struggles with limited supplies of soybeans in its trade war with the US, analysts are concerned about the quality of the plots available. Valery Dubrovskiy, director of investment for the Far East Investment and Export Agency, a non-profit organisation, said on Tuesday that several Chinese companies had already expressed an interest in the deal. With the China-US trade war showing no signs of abating, and after Beijing slapped 25 per cent tariffs on...

© North-Eastern Federal University ==================================================================== A three-month-old horse that lived up to 40,000 years ago has been discovered in the mysterious Batagai depression in Russia’s Yakutia region, nicknamed the ‘Gateway to the Underworld.’ The North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk published the first photo of the “unique” discovery, which was made together with scientists from Kindai University in Japan along with a crew from Fuji TV. The horse was unearthed in perfect condition with its mane, tail and hair well preserved, as it was trapped in the permafrost for 30,000-40,000 years, scientists say. The discovery can help scientists to learn...

Russian investigators have detained four people as part of a criminal investigation into Sunday's deadly fire at a shopping mall in the Siberian city of Kemerovo. At least 64 people were killed when a fire swept through the upper floors of the Winter Cherry mall, which housed a cinema complex and children’s play area. Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into death through negligence, fire safety violations and the provision of services in violation of safety requirements.

An ancient mouth harp belonging to the Huns that dates back to around 1,700 years ago has been unearthed in Siberia - and it is still capable of making music. Also known as a jaw or 'Jew's harp', the reed is placed in the performer's mouth and plucked with the finger to produce the note. The instrument - 4 inches in length - was made by a craftsman from the ribs of a cow or horse and dates from the time the nomadic Huns controlled southern Siberia 1,580 to 1,740 years ago.

Federal Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin said on Tuesday that the students who carried out attacks in January at high schools in Perm, Chelyabinsk, and Ulan-Ude had frequented “sadistic” websites “that propagate school violence,” including a website dedicated to the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in the United States that killed 15 people, including the two shooters: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Speaking at an agency board meeting, Bastrykin also discussed the existence of “suicide websites” dedicated to Russian teenagers who have killed themselves. According to the chief investigator, 40 juveniles in the Moscow region alone committed suicide after finding...

On January 23, days before Armando Iannucci's new comedy “The Death of Stalin" was due to premiere in Russia, the Culture Ministry revoked the film’s distribution license. Hours before, the movie was screened for a group state officials who roundly criticized it as a mockery of Soviet history. Human rights activists in Syktyvkar have filed a lawsuit challenging the Culture Ministry’s decision to revoke the distribution license... Why sue in Syktyvkar? The region was tightly integrated with the Soviet Gulag, meaning that nearly every family with local roots dating back a few generations suffered directly because of Stalinism. The activists...

Trucks thunder across the ice, overtaking just like this was a normal motorway - but it’s not. Oil tanker driver Vladimir Kirillin speeding across the ice with a 20 ton load on his journey to supplying outlying areas. Picture: The Siberian Times Would you risk it? Driving for long distances over frozen rivers, the ice between 80 centimetres and two metres thick? These roads are crucial to supplying remote villages and towns in some of the remotest Siberian regions. Our amazing video shows oil tanker driver Vladimir Kirillin speeding across the ice with a 20 ton load on his journey...

In today’s Russia it is not fashionable to delve too deeply into Gulag history, and 60-year-old Panikarov’s collection is one of just two museums devoted entirely to the Gulag in the whole country. Indeed, even Panikarov himself has a somewhat surprising view: “We should not have one-sided evaluations... “It was fashionable to say bad things about the USSR. Now it is again fashionable to insult Russia. We have sanctions against us. The west looks for negative things.” Panikarov’s views on the Gulag are part of a larger trend. With the Soviet victory in the second world war elevated to a...

Will no-one save Gustav Backmann’s unique Arctic fish freezer designed to maintain a temperature of between -12C to -14C all year round?The tunnels go deep inside the permafrost in Novy Port, a subterranean labyrinth that is a relic of a former age and a triumph of supreme German engineering in the most inhospitable conditions. In area, at 7,000 square metres, these tunnels and chambers cover a larger space than Donald Trump’s White House in Washington DC. They are all underground, hewn out of the solid frozen ground by labourers, like Backmann, forcibly exiled here deep in the Soviet era. Built...

Pike with primeval horns from River Irtysh puzzle experts: did rocket pollution lead to mutant fish?Fisherman Alexey, 25, pulled two fish from the river last autumn, but his bizarre catch is only disclosed now. He was puzzled as one pike weighing 12 kilograms had two horns, and the second - 7 kilograms - had four horns. Both fish were immediately nicknamed dragons by fellow anglers. Alexey ate the fish, despite warning of them being potentially poisonous, with no ill-effect. Alexey kept and dried the heads, preserving them in his garage. ‘I was impressed with the catch', said Alexey. 'One of...

In a review published in the journal Trends in Genetics on January 25, scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing discuss what we know about the genetics of ancient individuals from Eurasia (Europe and Western Asia) between 45,000-7,500 years ago. The authors summarized work that investigated the genomes of more than 20 ancients in the Eurasian family tree, including the 45,000-year-old Ust'-Ishim individual from Central Siberia... ..."But with the information from the several individuals available for ancient DNA sequencing we do have hints at interesting population structure, migration and interaction in East Asia." The researchers learned that in...

A Russian Orthodox bishop has advised the faithful not to vote for Vladimir Putin when he stands for re-election in March, a nearly unheard of occurrence in the loyal church. The angry statement marked the first time an acting bishop has spoken against supporting the current president. Bishop Yevtikhy Kurochkin of the epiphany cathedral in the Siberian city of Ishim wrote on his page on VK, Russia's most popular social network, that he could no longer follow his “desire to vote for Putin” following “blasphemous” remarks by the president. “'If the light that is in you is darkness, how great...

The senior doctor, named as Vladimir Naumov, has now been fired for his violent actions by the regional health ministry. Ms Dmitrieva, believed to be aged 20, went to the hospital so that her injuries could be registered, allowing her to make a complaint to police over the nightclub incident. She also wanted treatment for her wounds. Health chiefs rejected the doctor’s explanation that at the nightclub he had been defending a midwife who was attacked by a gang of women. Naumov said: “I couldn’t stand there and watch this massacre. “Any man would have tried to stop such a...

Three separate bloodbaths at Russian schools recently are all linked by the alleged teenage attackers 'worshipping' the perpetrators of the Columbine massacre in the U.S. 18 years ago. In the latest outrage on Friday, axe-wielding masked suspect Anton Bichivin, 16, wore a T-shirt linked to German band KMFDM as did sinister Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. The shirt was visible as the blood-drenched Russian was detained in the snow by military police, and in an ambulance as he was rushed to hospital. He and accomplice Alexander Rogalsky, 16, are believed to hold Nazi sympathies and gave themselves fascist...

More than 30 Russian athletes withdrew from a tournament in Siberia over the weekend after the unannounced arrival of anti-doping officials. Russia has a checkered history with the use of banned performance-enhancing drugs by its athletes, a legacy of the Soviet Union backed by historical evidence and testing records. The country’s team was banned last month from participating in the 2018 Winter Olympics over allegations of a state-run doping scheme at the 2014 Games in Sochi. A total of 36 Russian athletes suddenly dropped out from a regional athletics competition in the Siberian city of Irkutsk after Russian Anti-Doping Agency...