Author Archives: admin

Visitor registration: now easier then before

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The information in this article is still in effect, however according to recent news reports the registration of foreigners will not be required in the near future, as the point of new migrations law is not registration of foreigners, but monitoring of how many foreigners are in Russia at any given time.

Migration Card for entrance to Russia One of the biggest pains about traveling to Russia for foreigners is a required registration in the city of stay within three business days of arrival. When you stay in the hotels, most hotels will take care of it for you, but if you come to visit (and stay with) your friends and family, you have to get registered.

Read on for the registration procedure guide. Continue reading →

Increased security measures for the summer season

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According to the article published in «Rossiyskaya Gazeta» newspaper, the police in Russian resort cities will patrol streets and beaches on bicycles, patrol boat, and light flying vehicle (whatever that is) during summer season.

The police force will increase by 20% on the resorts to counter average 18% crime hike during summer tourism season. Increased security measures in trains, airports, seaports and surrounding buildings, mandatory emergency police button in all big hotels and spas, more road police posts are among other ways making people’s travel and stay safer. Every bus with children will be escorted by police car. Video surveillance and direct phones to police will be installed in places with large number of people.

Artificial Island in Sochi

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Investment agreement about the construction of tourist recreation complex in the Black Sea was signed by the Krasnodar Kray administration with St.-Petersburg based “M-Industry” construction company during XI Saint-Petersburg International Economic Forum couple of weeks ago.

The artificial island, named Federation Island, will have residential area, hotels, restaurants, malls, year-round yacht parking, various sea attractions – aquarium, oceanarium, and many other. Planned location is Khosta district – my home area. No dates are set yet.

Sounds good? Not to me, and for so many reasons I don’t know where to start. And, unlike developments in Adler (in the planned “Olympics” area), which will improve district’s infrastructure and people’s lives, this one will improve nothing. I want more information on this, but right now I don’t see how it possibly can be a good idea.

“Kinotavr” film festival open in Sochi!

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Kinotavr logo«Kinotavr» is Russia’s biggest open film festival. It takes place in Sochi annually, this year its 18th time.

The opening ceremony took place evening June 3rd. There are fourteen moves in the competition program; they’ve been selected from over 100 films. Most of the participating movies are Russian (only one foreign move is Ukrainian), you can find the complete list of the titles at the official website’s program page.

Kinotavr old logo Zimny teatr during Kinotavr open russian film festival Dolph Lundgren at the Kinotavr festival in Sochi, Russia Kinotavr film festival prize

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Water in Sochi is warm enough to swim in !!

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Sea water in Russia’s Black Sea cities has warmed up enough to swim in. In Gelendzhyk area it is already 20 degrees C (68 F), and in Sochi it will reach 20C in the next couple of days. 18 degrees C is a good temperature to start swimming season.

Growing up in Sochi we’d always compete who will start swimming season earliest. My record was somewhere in March, at 11 degrees C 🙂

ETIRC will help convert Sochi’s public transport to hydrogen fuel

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Based in Netherlands, European Technology and Investment Research Center (ETIRC) will help convert all Sochi’s busses to use hydrogen fuel. Contract with all the details will be signed by the end of this month, reports Max Media Group. The Dutch specialists will provide the technology to convert diesel and gasoline powered engines to use hydrogen fuel, and will build reservoirs and fuel stations around the city.

Maria Sharapova Backs Sochi 2014 Olympic Bid

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International tennis star Maria Sharapova has thrown her support behind Sochi’s bid for the 2014 Olympic Winter games.

The 20 year-old has won both Wimbledon and the US Open, and was the first Russian player to top the WTA rankings.

“I lived [in Sochi] for five years” Sharapova told GamesBids.com in an exclusive interview from Los Angeles, “Sochi is an amazing city and I don’t think a lot of people realize it will be such an incredible experience.

Sharapova said her love of tennis began when she was four years old in Sochi.

“I actually left there to go to America because I couldn’t develop my tennis skills because in winter time there wasn’t a lot of facilities.

She hopes that the Winter Olympics will leave a legacy of sports facilities for young athletes so they won’t have to leave their country and city to train for their chosen sport as she was forced to do.

“It’s a beautiful city and I’m so proud of it. I always tell my friends in America I want to take you there, I want to show you where I grew up.”

The rest of this article is at GamesBids.com »

Sea transport will connect Sochi and Anapa

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Fast sea ships will be operating between Sochi and Anapa, smaller Black Sea resort in Russia. These ships can reach speeds of 70 km/hr (44 mi/hr) and will operate during summer-fall seasons. The will also make stops in other sea-side cities.

Until the breakup of the Soviet Union, this was one of the common ways of transportation in Sochi. Because of the overloaded roads, and common visits of high-level international guests, I wish this was returned as in-town transportation, not just for long distance rides.

Sochi News Summary (Mar-Apr)

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  • Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov assured that security will be guaranteed in the event of Olympics in Sochi, replying to western newspapers’ comments about “explosive Caucasus region”. He said that 20 000 policemen, plus border guards, and special army units in the mountains will be ensure safety of the event. He also reminded about all the high-level events that are talking in Sochi, such as President’s Putin meetings with leaders of G8 and EurAsEC (EuroAsian Economic Community).
  • Virtual non-existence of Olympic objects in Krasnaya Polyana (Sochi), what head of the International Olympic Committee called “a minus”, American architects call “a plus”. Its better to make all projects to comply to all the requirements of the IOC, international sports federation, environmental groups, etc., then to modernize existing to comply to these requirements, which will definitely will be needed to be done for the Olympic Games.
  • Roger McCarthy, Co-President of the Vail Resorts’ Mountain Division, and Chief Operating Officer of Breckenridge – one of North America’s best winter resorts, will join Russian “Interros” company as Chief Operating Officer overseeing the development strategy of “Rosa Khutor” resort in Krasnaya Polyana.
  • Sailing Cup of Russia took place in Sochi this week.
  • High speed trains will begin operating in Russia by 2012, said the president of «Russian Railways» on his trip to Japan. Right now only two routes are planned: Moscow — St. Petersburg, and Moscow — Sochi, in case of the Olympics in Krasnaya Polyana. High speed trains are trains traveling with speeds over 250-300 km/hr.

Sochi’s head post office opens after reconstruction

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In addition to the renovations, internet club, and a new bank branch inside, new post office now includes new electronic waiting system. Now, instead waiting in line, customers will select service type they need, and a ticket will be printed out; when their number appears on the display, they can go to the operator. Nineteen operating windows are available, 17 for any type of service and two are specialised. Internet access is designed for six work places and is equipped with the broadband connection.

New ecological initiatives

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Ecology council “Sochi-2014” has approved additional ecological initiatives which will become part of Federal Targeted Program for Sochi.

Among approved initiatives are development of complex system for water supply and water drainage, creation of educational and scientific centers that are focused on ecology, development of program to use renewable energy sources, creation of rehabilitation center for wild animals, and development of a system for complex ecological monitoring. It also includes programs for total waste utilization and zero-carbon balance.

Program for waste utilization assumes complete utilization of solid domestic and biological waste in the whole city. For the realization of this program all current waste dumps will be closed and land restored. New plants will be built for ecological waste disposal and recycling.

Zero-carbon balance program will be realized by using energy saving technologies on all objects of the energy infrastructure, each of which will be modernized to be able to use renewable sources of energy. Quotas will be imposed on the amount of greenhouse gases produced.

Complex system of ecological monitoring will be created to monitor environment during construction of Olympic projects. It will include regular inspections of construction sites and satellite monitoring. Special attention will be focused on monitoring Sochi National Park and its surroundings.

Wow, Sochi’s going greener than ever 🙂 Exciting stuff…

“Hospitality and recreation industry” exhibition is taking place in Sochi

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Over 70 companies from Russia presented their services during «Hospitality and recreation industry» exhibition which is taking place in Sochi. Also, the Third Open Sochi Culinary Championship will be part of the exhibition, and will have prizes for “Young chef” (for students of culinary schools), “Perfect chef” (for professional chefs), and “Art-class” (for cooks and pastry-cooks).

International contest of educational institutions starting on Sochi

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International contest of A.S.Makarenko (Makarenko was great Russian teacher and writer) for educational institutions, which each year takes place in a different city, is starting in Sochi on April 1st, and will bring together student teams from 40 Russian regions. During the event, Russia’s biggest publishers will present new educational literature. Guest list includes famous Russian academicians, doctors, and professors. Also, official from Italian embassy in Russia, Emiliano Mettini, will talk about education experiences in Italy.

S7 Airlines cancels cheap tickets prices to Sochi

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“Sibir” Airlines (S7 Airlines) stopped cheap tickets sales for flights from Moscow to Sochi. During last month tickets were sold for $12 (300rub; not including airport fees) if tickets are puchased 30 days in advance, and for $35 (900rub) if puchased 14 days in advance. Now both of these prices are canceled, and the ticket price is $84 plus $28 of airport fees.

This was an experimental action by S7 (these prices were also introduced to two other cities), and after analyzing the results “Sibir” will make a decision on weather to continue similar actions.