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Articles by Alex Chachkevitch

English and Credit Cards Altering Russians' Travel Plans

Svetlana Afonina got her first taste of independent travel five years ago when she mustered the courage for a weekend trip to Finland all by herself...

Meat-Free No Longer Bourgeois

When Ekanga Davova decided to become a vegetarian in 1993 in an effort to cleanse her body, it made her the odd one out in her social circle. Davova...

Don't Like My Driving? Look at My Gun

Tensions on Moscow roads have flared with a prominent blogger and an opposition activist reporting separate clashes with firearm-wielding motorists...

Bid to Ease Visa Rules Creates a New Hassle

While U.S. and Russian diplomats promised this week to ease visa rules, travelers on the ground have found that attempts to improve the process have...

Psychologists Are Happiest Workers

Digging though other people's emotional distress happens to be the most pleasurable job for Russians, while fixing computer trouble is the worst, according...

Rumblings of Political Activism Among Russia's Bikers

Leather. Hard rock. Disdain for traffic rules. Cruising on a highway. Wind in the face, and maybe the occasional beer belly. There are many associations...

Doubts Grow About Putin’s Front

Doubts are growing whether the All-Russia People's Front, created two months ago by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, will help United Russia win extra...

Chemical Castration Sought for Child Abusers

Two months after President Dmitry Medvedev called for the voluntary chemical castration of child molesters, a Just Russia deputy introduced a bill...

Investigators Call Putin's Ski Coach Over a Murder

St. Petersburg investigators plan to question Senator Leonid Tyagachyov, former head of the Russian Olympic Committee and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's...

Designer Eyes Plant Site in Ingushetia

Prominent fashion designer Valentin Yudashkin is looking at Ingushetia as a possible site for a large sewing factory, which could bring growth opportunities...

Kashin Is Cleared in Defamation Lawsuit

A Moscow court cleared Kommersant reporter Oleg Kashin in a much-watched defamation lawsuit, ruling that he was free to speculate about who might have...

13 Armenians Live Like Prisoners in Moscow Hotel

Valida Avanesyan has been a prisoner in the Hotel Yuzhny on Moscow's Leninsky Prospekt for over six months. She stays in a friend's room. When she...

Laser Beam Blinds 2nd Pilot in Days

The pilot of a passenger jet was temporarily blinded by a laser beam upon landing in Rostov-on-Don late Tuesday, in the second such incident in the...