17 July 2015. Our Great Russian Motherland. The Yenisei River in the Sayano-Shushenskaya State Nature Biosphere Reserve

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The Sayano-Shushenskaya State Nature Biosphere Reserve is in a remote area of the West Sayan in the southern Krasnoyarsk Krai on the left bank of the Yenisei River in the area of influence of the Sayano-Shushenskoye Hydroelectric Dam Reservoir. At present, the Reserve is 3,904 square kilometres (1,507 square miles) in area, about 25 percent is Siberian Cedar forest. The Russian state has set aside another 6,904 square kilometres (2,666 square miles) as an addition to the Reserve in future; it’s banned all development in this region. That’d give it 10,808 square kilometres (4,173 square miles)… Yellowstone National Park is 8,983 square kilometres (3,463 square miles), thus, you could throw Yellowstone into this Reserve, with room to spare. In comparison, Long Island (including Brooklyn and Queens) is 3,629 square kilometres (1,401 square miles), roughly the size of the present preserve… the planned preserve area is a little under three times the size of Long Island. No small park by any measure, is it?

BMD

9 February 2015. It’s An Old School Russian Winter

“Winter SaniDay-2015” festival sledge slide in Mitino Park in Moscow (Mitino Raion. Northwestern Administrative Okrug. Federal City of Moscow. Central Federal District) RF, in February 2015.

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Troika competing in the first round of the Moscow Winter Russian Championship in Moscow (Federal City of Moscow. Central Federal District) RF.

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Rehabilitative and educational programme “On the Way with the Huskies” in Sokolniki Park in Moscow (Sokolniki Raion. Eastern Administrative Okrug. Federal City of Moscow. Central Federal District) RF.

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Dogs at the starting line of the “In the Land of the Sampo” in Petrozavodsk (Republic of Kareliya. Northwestern Federal District) RF, on 24 January 2015.

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A couple looks at images from Siberian photographers on an ice wall, during an exhibition part of the “Magic Ice of Siberia” International Competition of Snow Sculpture along the banks of the Yenisei River in Krasnoyarsk (Krasnoyarsk Krai. Siberian Federal District) RF, in January 2015. The ice sculpting competition, which was in its third year, saw teams from Russia and China competing against each other.

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A man fishes through a hole in the ice on frozen Abakan Bay of the Yenisei River in Krasnoyarsk (Krasnoyarsk Krai. Siberian Federal District) RF.

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Ded Moroz (Grandpa Frost) at the Semenkovo Architecture and Ethnography Museum (Vologda Oblast. Northwestern Federal District RF).

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A child stands next to lit polar bear figures in Tverskoi Boulevard in central Moscow (Tverskoi Raion. Central Administrative Okrug. Federal City of Moscow. Central Federal District) RF.

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A hardcore hockey fan at a KHL regular season match between KhK SKA St Petersburg and HK Slovan Bratislava in St Petersburg (Federal City of St Petersburg. Northwestern Federal District) RF.

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Children on the Anichkov Bridge after a snowfall in St Petersburg (Federal City of St Petersburg. Northwestern Federal District) RF.

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A young “walrus” prepares for a winter swim in Veliki Novgorod (Novgorod Oblast. Northwestern Federal District) RF.

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Elderly woman on a bench watches a religious procession in Stavropol (Stavropol Krai. North Caucasian Federal District) RF.

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A man rides a bicycle at a city park in Stavropol (Stavropol Krai. North Caucasian Federal District) RF, temperature -8 degrees (17.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

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A scientist stands on the edge of a newly formed crater on the Yamal Peninsula in northern Siberia (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Tyumen Oblast. Ural Federal District RF). A group of scientists went on an expedition initiated by the Russian Centre of Arctic Exploration to research the crater after pilots captured it on video in July 2014, which attracted the public’s attention. Participants descended about 16 metres (52.4 feet) to reach the frozen surface of the base of the crater, which was a lake at least 10 metres (32.8 feet) deep. Experts, including geologists and historians, haven’t yet decided about the funnel’s origin.

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Time to pack up your woollies and head on down to Russia… Sandals in the Caribbean isn’t for you. You’d rather hang with the frozen chosen in Yakutsk… different strokes for different folks…

BMD

18 April 2014. WTF! It HAS to be Russia…

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It’s just a typical April spring day in Krasnoyarsk (that’s in Siberia, for them not in the know). Yevgeni Kheisin, 50, a member of the Cryophil “walrus” club, sunbathes as he sits on an ice floe on the Yenisei River. Most of the stuff told about Siberia is bullshit, but some of its RIGHTEOUS… this pic proves it! There be plenty of “walruses” in the world… not only Russkies do it… Finns just out of the sauna do it! Polacks do it! Chinks in Manchuria do it! Scandihoovians do it! Balts do it! Even Yanks in Coney Island and Brits at Tooting Bec Lido in South London do it! WTF! It HAS to be Russia… you can’t understand it with your mind, you can only accept it for what it is…

BMD

2 February 2014. A Photo Essay. It’s Wintertime in Russia

It’s COLD in Norilsk (Krasnoyarsk Krai. Siberian Federal District) in the Far North… -46 (-50.8 Fahrenheit ) to be exact. She IS wearing her woolies, to be sure…

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Local “walruses” jump into the Yenisei River at a temperature of around -30 (-22 Fahrenheit) in Divnogorsk (Krasnoyarsk Krai. Siberian Federal District), south of Krasnoyarsk in Siberia

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Motocross in Moscow Oblast (Central Federal District)

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A child gives flowers to a war veteran during a parade on the 70th anniversary of Leningrad’s liberation from the fascist blockade on Nepokoryonnykh Prospekt (“Avenue of the Unconquered”… the Piskarovskoye Memorial Cemetery is on this street) in St Petersburg (Federal City of St Petersburg. Northwestern Federal District)

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Swans in the harbour in Baltiisk in Kaliningrad Oblast (Northwestern Federal District)

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A fisherman walks on the frozen Yenisei River in the village of Taiga (Kozulka Raion) at -20 (-4 Fahrenheit ), outside Krasnoyarsk

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A boy slides down a snow-covered hill in Tobolsk (Tyumen Oblast. Ural Federal District) in Siberia

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A cruise ship sails on Lake Baikal by the village of Listvyanka (Irkutsk Oblast. Siberian Federal District)

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The Kolyada rite in the village of Reshma (Kineshma Raion. Ivanovo Oblast. Central Federal District, 318 kilometres (197 miles) from Moscow)

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You think that YOU have it bad? Not only is it COLDER in Russia… everybody’s out and about! Pull out those valenki and pull on your ushanka and go join ’em! It’s wintertime in Russia! Pass the jug and have some fun…

BMD