Grimness prevails, it seems, as the Boeing 737-800 of Aeroflot begins its landing manoeuvre. The tarmac is still wet from a previous downpour, although it's no longer raining. But the dense layer of clouds, low over the airport, suggests that there will soon be another change in weather. Welcome to ...
It must have been a tremendous blow, the explosion that occurred around 6450 BC in the south of Kamchatka, creating Kurile Lake. Even for Kamchatka, where they are quite accustomed to volcanic eruptions, this explosion had an unprecedented force. Volcanologists rank it among the top ten worldwide over the past... 25 million years.
Ever smaller becomes the Grassy Point Lodge down there, like a miniature house amidst the lush greenery, while the MI 8 of Vityaz Aero ascends above the helipad. It's half past three in the afternoon, we've bid farewell to our lodging of the past three nights and are now setting off in a wide arc on our flight northward over the Kurile Lake. In the distance, we recognize ...
What a mess. An unpaved road full of potholes, knee-high weeds, dilapidated barracks, rusty debris, a gate not worthy of the name... This is not exactly the environment where you would expect to find a high-tech company. And yet, this is the place where …
The dirtiest city in all of Russia. That was the verdict when the distant Petropavlovsk received high visit from Moscow in 2010. A painful realization, considering the central government had allocated 3.5 billion roubles to finance the construction of new earthquake-resistant homes. So, what had happened with that money? …