Brian McDonald
@27khv
Irish. Long time Russia-based journalist. Interested in facts and objectivity. Not interested in ideology or wishful thinking.
In Russia's Dagestan, an eagle tried to take down a blogger’s FPV drone after mistaking it for prey. The drone survived... and the video is quite spectacular.
Protest in Vladivostok today to demand the cancellation of the new “utilization fee” on imported vehicles. Signs read “They get Mercedes, we get [Lada] Zhiguli.” People argue the move will skyrocket car prices and make foreign cars unaffordable in the Far East.
RBK reports that for the first time in three years, EU countries have become the top choice for Russians buying property abroad, accounting for 41% of all deals in 2025... up from 30% last year. Top picks: France, Cyprus, Spain, Slovenia, and Portugal.
Reuters reports that seven EU countries (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Croatia, Romania, Portugal, and Hungary) have increased imports of Russian energy in value terms compared with 2024.
Imagine the plot twist: Melania Trump, once dismissed as a decorative bystander, brokers peace with Putin and walks off with the Nobel.
NOW - Melania Trump says she's having direct back-channel meetings and calls with Putin.
Moscow still flying banners for the summer festival, long after the leaves have turned. You start to think it’s not forgetfulness but gallows humour.
Russian banking giant Sber says building Europe's fastest high-speed rail line from Moscow–St Petersburg will add up $125 billion to Russia’s GDP over 20 years. Construction on the mammoth project started early this year and it's expected to open in April 2028.
In Russia’s Far East, on Sakhalin Island, this lone dog stood its ground against a whole family of bears. Alone.
Russian astronomers at IKI RAS have released video of a massive solar flare erupting beyond the Sun’s edge. No threat to Earth, but the footage is stunning.
Judging by Putin and Aliyev’s embrace in Dushanbe, the bitter rift in Russia–Azerbaijan ties is definitely over.
Say what you will about Trump, but compared with Obama’s pre-emptive Nobel in 2009, he at least has a couple of actual peace processes on his CV. By that metric, he’s entitled to feel aggrieved.
BREAKING NEWS The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2025 #NobelPeacePrize to Maria Corina Machado for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to…
A new statue of a female teacher in Dzerzhinsky, near Moscow, has stirred controversy online. Some call it “too erotic,” complaining about her “bare legs,” while others joke the sculpted teacher looks like she’d stepped out of an XXX phone chat.
How could anyone believe Kanye West’s playing an outdoor gig in Moscow in December, when the air itself can take the skin off your face? Not to mention that the American music legend is banned from Russia... for lavishing praise on Adolf Hitler.
Kanye West is coming to Moscow on December 8. The contract for almost 100 million rubles was signed in mid-September. The concert is expected to take place at Luzhniki Stadium: at least 45,000 people are expected to attend Kanye's 90-minute performance.
MK reports that Russians’ incomes will keep rising in 2025... but more slowly than before. Analysts expect a 3–4% increase next year, down from 8.4% in 2024. Economists warn that slower wage growth could dampen consumer demand and force the government to step in with more fiscal…
Has Estonia really made “enormous progress?” The average net salary (adjusted for living costs) is the equivalent of $2,552, barely ahead of Belarus at $2,414 (IMF, 2024). That’s hardly the miracle case study Brussels likes to sell.
Estonia has fully embraced the EU programme & made enormous progress. In that sense it’s v qualified But if you spent any time there - and I lived there almost a year & interviewed everyone including Lenard Meri - you’ll know they hate Russia with a passion. It’s bc of Stalin…
The virtues Mr Mikhelson praises (defiance, rigidity, a sense of looming peril) might serve well in a general’s tent or a defense ministry, but in diplomacy that spirit doesn’t douse flames... it fans them.
Such mostly anonymous criticism of Kaja Kallas shows that she is the right person to lead European diplomacy in an era of major tectonic shifts — unafraid of losing her backbone or her sense of existential threat.
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