July 18, 2024

A Regional Disparity


A Regional Disparity
A bomb shelter in Kaliningrad Oblast. Own work, Wikimedia Commons

Agentstvo, an independent Russian news publication, studied government procurement related to civil defense protective structures, and found that, since the beginning of Russia's War on Ukraine, Russian authorities, monopolistic companies, and public utilities have spent R3.45 billion (nearly $39 million) on all types of shelters. A third of the funds — R1.17 billion (nearly $13 million) — went to Moscow and the Moscow Oblast, which is ten times more than was spent on the same sorts of structures in Russian regions bordering Ukraine, where warnings about the threat of shelling or drone strikes have become daily occurrences.

In addition, Agentstvo’s analysis indicated that Russian authorities and companies became concerned about the condition of shelters only in 2023, when the Ukrainian armed forces began actively conducting drone strikes deep into the country, including in Moscow. In 2022, expenditures on protective structures amounted to only R464 million (nearly $5 million) and were almost no different from previous years. In 2023, spending rose nearly fivefold; R875 million (nearly $10 million) was spent in the first half of 2024.

Notably, in addition to Moscow and the Moscow region, large expenses were uncovered in Yakutia, the republic located more than 7,000 kilometers from the country's border with Ukraine. The third highest spending on civil defense protective structures was in the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, which has been repeatedly attacked by Ukrainian drones.

You Might Also Like

Small-Town Russia and the War
  • July 02, 2024

Small-Town Russia and the War

Sociologists spent a month living in small-town Russia to understand how Russians feel about the war in Ukraine.
Russia Readies for More War
  • July 07, 2024

Russia Readies for More War

Russian president Vladimir Putin says that the armed forces need to shore up in case of some explosive international developments.
Brothers by Blood, if Nothing Else
  • July 01, 2024

Brothers by Blood, if Nothing Else

The Independent journal People of Baikal profiled the Batrakov brothers: one who's stateside, the other on the front lines of Ukraine.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

The Samovar Murders
November 01, 2019

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

The Little Humpbacked Horse
November 03, 2014

The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

93 Untranslatable Russian Words
December 01, 2008

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

Life Stories
September 01, 2009

Life Stories

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955