In a statement, DCNS said: “The advance payment was received several weeks ago and work on the first ship is getting underway. The first ship will be delivered in 2014 and the second in 2015.”

As a part of the deal, Russia will then construct two additional Mistrals itself, after which it not only have four ships – it will presumably also have additional technical knowledge that it can either use to build more similar ships, or which will benefit its own domestic naval shipbuilding programme.

The Mistral is variously referred to as an amphibious assault ship or a helicopter carrier. As well as being able to carry up to 35 light (attack) helicopters or 16 heavy (carrier) helicopters, it is also capable of transporting up to 900 troops or 59 vehicles, including 13 tanks.

It’s purchase will go some way to filling a massive gap in the Russian Navy’s fleet which currently only has a single aircraft carrier – the Admiral Kuznetsov. An additional four Mistral ships will dramatically increase Russia’s ability to project force away from its own borders, particularly over the longer term if plans to introduce additional aircraft carriers by 2027 are realised.

For an excellent overview of Russia’s future plans for its navy, I recommend reading the Geopolitical and Conflict Report’s excellent Update on the Modernization of the Russian Navy.

You can find out more about the Mistral by checking out the RIA Novosti infographic below. Wikipedia also has a detailed overview of the Mistral.

France’s Mistral amphibious assault ship

17:12 06/11/2009 France’s Mistral amphibious assault ship will arrive on an official visit to St. Petersburg on November 23.
Russia is seeking to buy a Mistral-class helicopter carrier worth 400-500 million euros (around $600-$750 mln). >>

Other news of the day

Although Russia remains committed to its own domestic arms industry to both equip its own armed forces and to export arms abroad, it is increasingly active as a buyer on the international arms market. As well as the Mistral deal, it has also recently signed a $100 million deal with German company Rheinmetall to construct a military training facility and a further deal with Italian company Iveco to supply a number of Lynx light military vehicles, despite the fact that they are four times as expensive as Russian produced vehicles.

France begins work on Mistral warships for Russia is a post from: Siberian Light

According to the latest Comscore report, 50.8 million Russians have access to the internet through either a home or work connection. This means that, for the first time, Russia has more internet users than Germany, which falls back to second place with 50.1 million users. It also pulls further ahead of France and Britain (42.3 million and 37.2 million users respectively).

Experts are bullish for the prospects of further growth in the Russian internet industry, noting that a great deal of work is underway to extend the country’s broadband networks. And, when you consider that Russia’s population is almost twice that of the next largest European country, the prospects for growth seem impressive. From reports, though, it appears that the Russian internet model will be based largely on mobile internet access – of the 91 million Russian internet users that GP Bullhound predict for 2013, 71 million are likely to have 3G access.

Some analysts have noted concerns that, although Russia has a large number of internet users, they do not use the internet as much or as regularly as users elsewhere in Europe, a problem which may present difficulties for Russian companies seeking to turn a profit from Russian internet users.

The Comcast data presents a mixed picture here. Russian internet users are typically online for an average of 22.4 hours per month, which is well behind some countries with advanced online economies (for example, the internet addicts of the UK, who spend more than 35 hours a month online), but is only just behind the European average of 26.4 hours per month. In fact, Russian usage is higher than some countries that you would expect to spend a lot of time – Denmark, for example, where the average user spends just 22.2 hours a month online.

According to Alexa, when not searching the web using yandex.ru, google.ru or google.com, Russians spend most of their time on social networking sites, just like everyone else in Europe. The main difference, though, being that in Russia facebook.com is only the third most popular network, behind both vkontakte.ru and odnoklassniki.ru.

But it seems that, although starting from a low base because of the weaker Russian economy, the Russian online economy is following similar patterns to those in the rest of Europe and the United States. Earlier this month it was reported that Russian online advertising has grown by more than 50% and that, as a result, the industry is now larger than the Russian print advertising industry. In the third quarter of 2011, sales of online advertising in Russia were worth over $300 million – a figure which, if followed through over a twelve month period, would make it a billion dollar industry.

Further recommended reading – the Financial Times blog reports on the prospects for Russia’s biggest internet companies to grow their incomes, and Forbes reports on a press conference held by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales in which he noted that outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was the only world leader who truly understands the internet. Wales told reporters that:

“Unfortunately, Sarkozy’s view on the internet is that it must be controlled and regulated. And at the G8 meeting, President Medvedev was the only leader to say something sensible whatsoever. So I think the headline of the story should be that Jimmy Wales says that President Medvedev is the only world leader who actually understands the internet.”

It’s a view that might surprise some in the Russian political sphere, given the occasional high profile arrest of a Russian blogger. However, it’s worth noting that the most dynamic political sphere in Russia today seems to be online, so perhaps Jimmy Wales has the right idea…

Russia is Europe’s largest internet market is a post from: Siberian Light

All that really remains is to await their head to head match, which will probably decide who wins the title, and who is placed in which World Cup Group. More of that later, though. First, the match reports:

Spain 20 – 38 Russia

Russia were always the favourites to win this tie, but the margin of victory doesn’t tell the full story of what was a very close match in which the unfancied Spanish gave their all. Four minutes into the second half, Russia were ahead by a mere three points, the score 20-23, and they were by no means certain of victory.

Up until then, the two teams had been trading penalties and tries more or less evenly. Although Spain had opened the scoring with an early penalty, it was Russia who crossed the try line first, Victor Gres diving over after just eight minutes to soothe the Russian team’s early nerves. Russia must have thought that they would run away with the match when, just six minutes later, Igor Klyuchnikov broke the try line yet again. A quick conversion from fly-half Yury Kushnarev, and Russia were flying at 14:3.

But Spain showed real grit to put their first try on the board after just 18 minutes of play, and a penalty after 24 minutes brought them back within a point of Russia – 13:14.

Although another couple of penalties allowed Russia to pull away slightly – by just after half time their lead had been restored to a slightly more comfortable ten points – the Spanish demonstrated that they weren’t done yet as they powered over the line for their second try of the match. The conversion made the score 20:23 with just four minutes gone of the second half.

Spain continued to battle, but Russia’s endurance and greater experience showed in the end as they relentlessly ground away, their consistency allowing them to break the Spanish line twice in the last 20 minutes of the game to put the result beyond doubt. Russia’s final two tries came from fly half Kushnarev (who is proving himself to be one of the real stars of this Russian team) and Alexander Yanyushkina.

Portugal 10 – 16 Georgia

In possibly the most important match of the round, Portugal gave their all, but saw their hopes of an automatic qualification place for the RWC dashed by a very strong Georgian team.

Tries from Georgian scrum half Irakli Abuseridze and Portugal’s Australian fly-half Adrian Gardner (who you’ll remember also crossed the line in last week’s match against Russia) demonstrated that there was very little between the two teams early on. In fact, by the half, there were only three points between the two teams.

However, as in the Russia-Spain game, Georgia’s experience and the strength of their forwards told in the second half. Although Portugal put up an impressive fight, a penalty and drop goal allowed Georgia to ease away to a 16:10 victory.

Portugal will be gutted at the way that this tournament has turned out for them – in the four matches against top teams Russia and Georgia they have drawn one and lost three by margins of four points, four points and six points respectively. There has, in truth, been almost nothing to choose between the three teams and, had the luck gone with them, they could easily have been top of the table leaving Russia and Georgia to scrap it out for the second qualifying spot.

All of Portugal’s hopes now will rest on finishing third, which will put them through to a complex play off system against other, lower ranked, European teams. If they can secure third place, they should still have a good chance of getting to the World Cup.

Romania 67 – 5 Germany

Perhaps best to draw a veil over this game. Germany are sadly showing that they are outclassed at this level, and will probably welcome a drop back to the second division to regroup. Romania on the other hand, will have been pleased to have a confidence boosting workout ahead of next week’s trip to snowy Russia.

Where does this leave the teams?

[table id=4 /]

A quick look at the table shows that Russia and Georgia are now virtually out of reach of third placed Portugal. For Russia to be overhauled, they would need to lose all of their next three matches, including against wooden spoon favourites Germany. If we assume that Georgia and Russia have now cemented their qualification to RWC 2011, the only issues still in doubt are who out of Georgia and Russia will top the table, and whether Portugal or Romania will grab the third place spot, which offers a back door playoff route to the World Cup Finals.

The title will be decided by Russia and Georgia’s trip to Turkey in March (a neutral venue, because of the 2008 war between the two countries). Winner of the European Nations Cup will have the honour of playing in Pool B of the 2011 Rugby World Cup against Argentina, England, Scotland and another (not yet decided) qualifier. Runner up will be placed in Pool C, where they will face matches against Australia, Ireland, Italy and the United States.

Russia are probably the favourites to finish second, which would certainly set up an intriguing Russia vs United States match. However, the cynic in me also notes that Pool C is the easier of the two groups and asks, would Georgia prefer to finish second in order to qualify for the easier group. Georgia are a nation on the cusp of making a big breakthrough on the world stage. I think that they could easily beat the United States, and could give a demoralised Italian side a very good run for their money.

European Nations Cup Rugby: Russia and Georgia march on is a post from: Siberian Light

So, ever mindful of the benefits of a nice bit of propaganda, two days later on 2 May the Soviets sent two different soldiers and a photographer up to the roof to do it properly.

The two men in the picture above are Meliton Kantaria (holding the red flag) and Mikhail Yegorov (less glamorously holding up Kantaria). Both were chosen for political reasons – Kantaria because he, like Stalin, was a Georgian, and Yegorov because he was a Russian, and represented the glorious motherland.

The now iconic photograph was taken by Yevgeny Khaldei, a Ukrainian war photographer who had been planning the shot he saw as his ‘Iwo Jima’ throughout the German advance on Berlin. In fact, he was so determined to get the perfect shot that, unable to find a good enough Soviet flag, he used a red tablecloth instead. The hammer and sickle was painstakingly sewn on by Khaldei and his uncle, back in Moscow.

Khaldei continued to work as a photographer for many years – mainly for Soviet news agency TASS – until anti-semitism forced him into retirement.

Khaldei died in 1997, aged 80. Despite taking one of the most famous pictures in world history, he never saw a penny in royalties.

Hammer and sickle over the Reichstag, 1945 is a post from: Siberian Light

Last Saturday Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel visited Moscow. Her visit corresponded with International Woman Day which is celebrated on the 8th of March. More importantly, though, Merkel was the first foreign leader to meet not only the current President, but also with President-elect Dmitry Medvedev. Thus, her visit was divided into two parts � formal part and informal one.

Putin met Merkel in his residence in Novo-Ogarevo and reviewed the results of collaboration between Russia and Germany:

�I hope it is not the last meeting with Frau Chancellor, but it is our last meeting while I am President. Our cooperation has been very good. For last 6 years goods turnover has increased 3.5 times and reached 50 billion dollars�.

Frau Chancellor agreed with him and said that it was necessary to look in future for more intensive cooperation between Russia and Germany. Moreover Putin and Merkel also held two-way negotiations and discussed questions of economic cooperation and current world problems.

Russia & Germany: what awaits us?

Some of the results of these negotiations reported during a press-conference, which was organized for German and Russian journalists.

Russia�s President stated that Russia would provide energy for Europe, and to ensure a more reliable supply, Russia will begin construction of gas-pipe with collaboration of Germany. This pipe will run along the bottom of the Baltic Sea and will provide a permanent supply of gas for European consumers. Also Putin promised to continue cooperation with Berlin to settle the situation about Iran, Afganistan and Middle East.

Merkel agreed with Putin, but added that, when it comes to diplomatic problems, each country has its own point of vew. The difference between both leaders� points of view became clear when the press began to ask questions. For example, Putin called NATO�s expansion as not efficient and even harmful. He said: �I have the impression that the NATO block wants to replace the UN. It forces Ukraine to enter, but people there don�t want it�. On the contrary, Merkel considered that NATO is open to everybody, and had only function was defence against terrorism and other global chanllenges.

The Russian President also called the proclamation of Kosovo�s independence a precedent which would have consequences not only in Europe, but in many regions of the world. Merkel replied that Kosovo was a unique case.

At end of the press-conference Merkel said that she would be glad to work with the new Russian President – Dmitry Medevev – and she hoped that cooperation between Russia and Germany would be as intensive as it was with Putin.

Putin resumed the press-conference with the provocative statement:

�I see that some people are waiting for me to leave the post. They think that with another person as the President, things will be much easier. Medvedev doesn�t have the label of KGB person, but he is the same Russian nationalist (in good sense) as me. He is real patriot of his country and will be active in defending Russians� interest in world politics�

In my opinion Putin with his statement gave another opportunity for world society to discuss who is the boss in the duet � Putin or Medvedev? But one thing now is clear: other political leaders can�t be relaxed with Russia�s new president. Russia will continue to defend its interests in the international arena.

Merkel doesn't say goodbye to Putin is a post from: Siberian Light