Support The Moscow Times!
Contribute today

Articles by Justin Varilek

Q&A: Esther Dyson Matches Her Expectations to Russia's Opportunities

Investor Esther Dyson got in on the ground floor of giants like Yandex and IBS Group and helped other local technology leaders find their role models and...

Will Smith Slaps Man for Trying to Kiss Him

Love can take over, overwhelm the senses and cause a person to act unceremoniously.

Nationwide Hunt Begins for Business Angels

This week’s $75 million injection into classifieds advertising site Avito.ru is further proof of the investment attractiveness of Russian startups, which...

E-Commerce Prospering as New Regulations Come Online

Despite 80 percent growth in domestic electronic payment transactions to 125 billion rubles ($4.2 billion) in 2011, the industry is jostling to maneuver...

Technology in Business Undervalued but Promising

Only 54 percent of Russian and Eastern European executives responsible for information technology believe that investments in technology facilitate...

Skolkovo's MIT Seeks to Stop Brain Drain

"I'm probably not going to move back for a couple of decades," said Yekaterina Paramonova, a third-year undergraduate majoring in nuclear science...

Wine Culture Takes Root

Finding good wine at a reasonable price in Russia is like finding a needle in a haystack, while limited growth in demand, new alcohol consumption...

Observation Wheel Could Tower Over Moscow

While $300 million has been pledged by investors, the design completed and a construction firm selected, the creation of what could be the world's largest...

$27Bln IT Sector Could Help End Traffic Jams

Charging ahead at breakneck speed, Russia's IT industry grossed $26.9 billion in turnover this year, growing 20 percent over last year, according to the...

Dutchman, 23, Rowing Across Atlantic for Orphans

There are few things more challenging than scaling Mt. Everest or flying into space. A 23-year-old Dutchman who has lived most of his life in Russia...

$2.7Bln Book Market Also Hit by the Crisis

Against a backdrop of two years of declining book sales in Russia, 250 publishing companies and literature unions from 20 countries have assembled...

Apple Co-Founder Gives Innovation Pep Talk

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak visited Moscow on Tuesday for the fourth annual Innovation Convention to inspire a room overflowing with young, aspiring...

Qiwi Teams With Visa for Card

Electronic payments using a Qiwi account have gone global now, thanks to a project announced by the local terminal provider and Visa — called Qiwi...

Sberbank's Data Center Is the Biggest In Europe

During an opening ceremony Saturday, Sberbank flaunted the 16,500-square-meter data center Yuzhny Port — the largest of its kind in Europe, demonstrating...

U.S. Ambassador Touts War Veterans, Dad

Move over stuffed turkey. The U.S. Thanksgiving favorite was replaced by butorbrody transfigured with turkey and cranberry to act as the unlikely symbol...

New Site Rents Apartments to Tourists

With the number of tourists growing at 11 percent per year, web site RentHome.ru aims to lock in its position in the tourism industry by linking...

Mariinsky Theater Complex to Cost $629M

St. Petersburg is making its own response of sorts to the reopening of Moscow's Bolshoi Theater by launching a cultural complex, set for fall 2012. Part...

Housing Prices to Rise as City Shifts Priorities

Mayor Sergei Sobyanin's emphasis on developing infrastructure rather than the housing market could lead to significant price increases for residential...

Nanotech Enthusiasm Peaks

In nanotechnology, size matters. But federal funding for the high-tech field has tapered off in Russia, flattening out at $1.88 billion per year through...

Nanotech to Play Big Role in Modernization Plans

President Dmitry Medvedev's modernization committee will review the status of the nanotechnology sector during its meeting on Wednesday.

Fairmont to Renovate the Hotel Pekin

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, known for iconic accommodations such as The Plaza in New York, said it will restore Moscow's historic Hotel Pekin. It has signed...

Transparency Sees Progress and Issues With Rosatom's Purchasing

The purchasing practices of state nuclear corporation Rosatom leave something to be desired, according to the local chapter of Transparency International...

Police Cut Short PETA Strip Stunt

Two American animal rights protesters were detained at the World Trade Center while attempting to strip down to bikinis on a cold October day in central...

Kudrin Publishes Manifesto

Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin systematically laid out the potential pitfalls of Russia's economic policy and described his own 5-point plan...

Watchdog Could Ban Transdnestr Cognac

On the heels of Kremlin statements against the extended rule of Igor Smirnov — leader of the breakaway Moldovan republic of Transdnestr — Russia's...

Wooden Homes Rely on Tradition and Technology

The classic Russian izba, or log house, is holding its own in the post-Soviet construction boom, with nearly 40 percent of single-family houses being made...

Young Entrepreneur Up for Global Award

A business plan to create rehabilitation devices for cerebral palsy sufferers, created by Perm's Denis Kashin, won first place at a ceremony at Skolkovo...

Q&A: Experience, Energy and Instinct in Film and Games


Springing from her desk, Blanche Neumann, the petite managing director of Moscow-based Fetish Film, leaps forward from her desk and frenetically engages...

Secure Data a Key Element of Financial Center Ambition

An iris scanner and biometric hand reader might not be the first things that come to mind when considering the requirements for fulfilling Moscow's...

Dozens of Volunteers Look for Missing Woman

Volunteers took to the streets to look for a missing student, combing streets, distributing posters and questioning taxi drivers on the whereabouts of...