English Russia » ukraine

The Russian Hummer – BRDM2 on Streets of Ukraine

spanic — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 05:48:08 +0000

Some guy in Ukraine bought himself this BRDM-2 for “hunting” as he says. What’s a BRDM-2? It is an amphibious armored vehicle used by Russia and former Soviet Union which was a replacement for the previous BRDM-1 armored vehicle model.

Some specs:

Weight 7.7 tonnes

Crew 4 (driver, co-driver, commander, gunner)

Engine GAZ-41 gasoline V-8
140 hp (104 kW) at 3400 rpm

Speed 100 km/h (road)
10 km/h (water)

GAZ MM 1942 Reconstructed

Odessa, Kiev – Viewed From The Sky

spanic — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:16:15 +0000

Odessa is a city on the Black Sea coast of Ukraine, the administrative center of the Odessa area and the historic center of New Russia. It also has the largest port in Ukraine and was awarded with the “Hero City” status during soviet union. There are about one million people living in the city according to a 2009 census.

Luzanovki Beaches

Hippodrome – Horse Racing

Train Station

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Cathedral Square

Private docks, hotel odessa

Old Center

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Arkadia

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Houses on Shevchenko prospect

Shevchenko Park

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Stadium

More beaches…

And more…

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Otrada Beach

Location…

Real Christmas Toys

spanic — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:01:43 +0000

During this period of the year a lot of shops start selling Christmas toys but most of them are mass produced in enormous factories and cannot be considered “real”. This article is about the real Christmas toys and where they are produced.

Klavdievskaya factory is one of the few factories that produced Christmas ornaments during the Soviet Union era. In total there were 3 factories in Ukraine and 1 in Moscow region. This factory was established in 1949 in Klavdiev near Kiev and was originally engaged in production of different lab glassware. It is only in the 50s that the factory was reorganized to produce Christmas ornaments.

In the old days the factory used to employ 600 people, now there are only 10. About 96% of what they make is exported to other countries (Germany, USA, Canada, France, Belgium… ), only 4% stay in Ukraine.

The most interesting thing about this factory is that all the Christmas ornaments are and always were produced manually. From outside and from the inside this place creates an impression of abandonment. It’s been like that since the corruption of the USSR. But recently it was sold to a new owner and things should go better from now on.

Let’s take a look at the production process:

Autumn in Kiev

spanic — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:29:04 +0000

This year’s autumn is supposed to be the warmest and the driest one in the past 10 years. Most of the pictures were taken between October 27th and the November 8th 2009 in Solomenski park, Kiev, Ukraine.

Summer…

Winter…

Color Photography from the Early 1900’s

spanic — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:20:10 +0000

The photographs of Russian photographer and chemist, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, show Russia just before World War I and the arrival of the revolution. From 1909-1912 and in 1915, Prokudin-Gorskii traveled across the Russian Empire, documenting the life of citizens, landscapes and the work of Russain people. His images were to be a photographic survey at that time. He traveled in a special train-car transformed into a dark room to process his color images, a technology that was just discovered in the early 1900’s. Prokudin-Gorskii left Russia in 1918, after the Russian Revolution had destroyed the Russian Empire he spent years documenting.

Church in the village of Shaidoma.

Peasant children, Russia. The young women offer berries to visitors.

Trans-Siberian Railway metal truss bridge on stone piers, over the Kama River near Perm, Ural Mountains Region.

Cotton textile mill interior with machines producing cotton thread, probably in Tashkent.

Man and camel loaded with packs.

Three yurts, man seated in doorway of yurt in foreground.

Altar side of the Dmitrievskii Cathedral, Vladimir.

Bashkir switchman.

Isfandiyar, Khan of the Russian protectorate of Khorezm (Khiva), full-length portrait, in uniform, seated on chair, outdoors.

Austrian prisoners of war near a barrack, near Kiappeselga.

Photographer posing with two others

Shuia River

In Little Russia (Ukraine)

Alim Khan, Emir of Bukhara, seated holding sword

Log buildings in the Ural Mountain Region

Corner tower of the Trinity Cathedral in the Solovetskii Monastery, Solovetski Islands

Boy standing by wooden gatepost

Work at the Bakalskii mine

Bashkir’s yard, Ekhia

Rafts on the Peter the Great Canal. City of Shlisselburg, Russia.

City of Cherdyn

Old church of Saint Nicholas the Wonder Worker, Nyrob

Church in Vetluga settlement

Andrei Petrov Kalganov. Former master in the plant. Seventy-two years old, has worked at the plant for fifty-five years. He was fortunate to present bread and salt to His Imperial Majesty, the Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II, Zlatoust

Dvinsk, Roman Catholic church

Mills in Ialutorovsk district of Tobolsk Province

Molding shop at the Kasli plant

On the Karolitskhali River, self portrait of photographer Prokudin-Gorskii in suit and hat, seated on rock beside the Karolitskhali River, with mountains in background

Assumption Cathedral in the Goritskii Monastery, near Pereiaslavl-Zalesskii

Chapel on Olga hill, Russia

Garden of the M.P.S. (Ministry of Communication and Transportation) and Saint Paul sluice, Deviatiny, Russia.

Pinkhus Karlinskii, eighty-four years. Sixty-six years of service. Supervisor of Chernigov floodgate, Russia.

Crew of the steamship “Sheksna” of the M.P.S. (Ministry of Communication and Transportation), Russia.

Sawmill, Oka River, Several men standing near a sawmill.

Church of the Resurrection in the Grove (from the other side), Kostroma.

Dagestani types, Group of women posed outdoors.

Gallery in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, Rostov Velikii.

Construction of iron-concrete frames for the lock’s walls, Beloomut, Uniformed man posed in framework of lock.

Mosque in Vladikavkaz

General view of the Shakh-i Zindeh mosque (evening photo), Samarkand.

Shepherd posed near a hillside, Samarkand.

Georgian woman standing on a carpet, outside, near a tree.

Mugan, Settler’s family, Settlement of Grafovka.

Group of workers harvesting tea. Greek women, Chakva.

Dagestani types, Man and woman posed outdoors.

General view of the Likanskii palace from the Kura River.

Portion of entrance door on right side of Tillia-Kari, Samarkand.

On the Saimaa Lake.

Camel caravan carrying thorns for fodder, Golodnaia Steppe.

Melon vendor, Samarkand.

At work on the upper reaches of the Syr-Darya, Golodnaia Steppe, Four men on a horse-drawn cart, next to a cliff.

Migrant farmstead in the settlement of Nadezhdinsk with a group of peasants, Golodnaia Steppe.