Nothman’s bowl to go overseas

On March 20, 2010, Ivan Mazepa’s birthday, the Ukrainian Museum in New York will launch the exhibit Ukraine–Sweden: At the Crossroads of History. Almost half of exhibits will be provided by six Swedish museums and three Swedish collectors. Because of wars and ruination Ukraine suffered in the past centuries, many Cossack-era items have been lost forever, whereas part of them are still being preserved in Sweden’s archival funds. Among other unique items Swedish side has agreed to provide a unique church bowl. After the Battle of Poltava it was buried under the ground on the battlefield by regimental priest Georg Nothman. Soon after the battle the reverend father was taken prisoner and served a ten-year sentence in Siberia. Upon his return to Ukraine he went to the Poltava battlefield, found the bowl, and went on foot to Sweden via Russia. Today this relic is being preserved in Stokholm’s Museum of Swedish Army (Armemuseum).

Russia and EU agree on Early Warning Mechanism

The European Union and Russia agreed on November 16th to establish an early warning mechanism to shield Europe from potential energy supply cuts and protect consumers in the event of a repeat of last year's Russia-Ukraine gas dispute. The agreement requires both sides to notify the other of any likely disruption to supplies of oil, natural gas or electricity and to work together to resolve the problem. Third parties would also be allowed to participate, the European Commission said. "An energy crisis like the one the EU suffered in January is harmful for supply, transit and consuming countries alike," EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said after signing the agreement with Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko. "We need to do everything necessary to make sure that such a situation never happens again," he said in a statement.
Concerns are growing that the dispute could be repeated this January, when Ukraine holds presidential elections. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said the country had struggled to pay its latest monthly gas bill to Russia.

Last winter, millions of EU citizens were left in the cold because of a gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine. Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine - a route that supplies a fifth of Europe's gas - were halted for more than two weeks in January due to a quarrel between Moscow and Kiev.

EurActiv with Reuters

Epidemy of influenza and acute respiratory viral infection in Ukraine (latest data)

According to the data of the Ukrainian Ministry of healthcare, as of 12 november 2009 the total number of cases of influenza and acute respiratory viral infection is 1 253558. Among them 65616 people have been hospitalized. There have been 239 casualties. 30 cases of A1/H1N1 virus have been confirmed.
The Government Ukraine along with the Ministry of healthcare of Ukraine and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine are taking measures to prevent the spreading of epidemy. Being forced to use masks in crouded places many have turned this ordinary protection mean into the real masterpiece. Look at the picture to make sure of it!

Firebursts in the night sky

MOSCOW (AP) - Huge explosions and flames ripped through a Russian military arsenal for hours, killing two firefighters and sending personnel fleeing to a bomb shelter to wait out the worst of the firestorm, officials said. The dozens who took refuge in the shelter Friday were at first feared trapped in the conflagration, but later emerged safe dispelling initial worries of a high death toll. But a subsequent report said 11 others were unaccounted for. Russian TV broadcast footage of orange flames and thick smoke clouds rising from the naval munitions facility in Ulyanovsk, a city 720 kilometers (430 miles) east of Moscow. Frequent explosions set off firebursts high in the night sky. The blasts broke apartment windows near the facility and set off car alarms miles (kilometers) away, residents told Russian media. The blasts and blaze erupted while ammunition was being destroyed at the facility, according to the Federal Security Service branch in the province. Artillery shells and other munitions were stored at the site. Two firefighters were killed and seven military personnel were injured, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said. Some 3,000 civilians were evacuated from nearby homes, Ulyanovsk provincial governor Sergei Morozov said.
News agency Associated Press

Ukrainian-Swedish exhibition will go to United States

In March 2010, The Ukrainian Museum plans to mount an important exhibition – Ukraine-Sweden: At the Crossroads of History (17th-18th Centuries). The exhibition was shown to widespread acclaim in 2008-2009 at the National Museum of Ukrainian History in Kyiv to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Swedish-Ukrainian alliance, the Battle of Poltava, and the death of Hetman Ivan Mazepa. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden attended the opening of the exhibition in Kyiv.
Ukraine-Sweden: At the Crossroads of History includes more than 100 priceless historical artifacts from Ukraine and Sweden, Ukraine's ally in the Battle of Poltava, one of the most critical events in Ukraine's history. The exhibition promises to be a poignant reminder of an event that, to this day, continues to irk Russia. It will also demonstrate to the American public and to younger Ukrainian Americans that the battle to preserve Ukraine's independence was already being fought, by Hetman Mazepa and his Cossacks, 300 years ago. Learn more about it at:
http://www.ukrainianmuseum.org/sponsorship_mazepa_e-sml.pdf

Ukraine flu epidemic slows

In the first two days of panic and hysteria, the main advisers and teachers of the people were politicians, including deputies, ministers, former ministers, but NOT DOCTORS. As soon as a doctor appeared on the TV screen, it turned out that politicians are better at talking. The apotheosis of panic was one presidential candidate’s declaration that Ukrainians are dying from lung plague. Another presidential candidate was loudly complaining that there is no oxoline ointment (a preventative drug produced in Ukraine), that the criminal pharmaceutical companies failed to import it. Unfortunately there is nobody to explain to the candidate that the effectiveness of this ointment is not proven, and it is imported by neither the United States, nor France, nor any other country. There are no doctors among presidential candidates, and it must be too expensive to keep a medical adviser on staff. Our lovely country of the rivers of milk and honey is still remains to be a country of bad roads and silly great talkers.

Now to some official numbers broadcasted recently by AFP news agency http://www.afp.com/

KIEV (AFP) - An epidemic of flu and acute respiratory disorders has slowed down in Ukraine, officials said Monday, as the World Health Organization warned of a possible second wave of infections. "In the last few days, the number of patients falling ill per day has fallen," Ukraine's deputy health minister, Vasyl Lazoryshynets, said at a news conference. The number of new cases peaked on November 4 when more than 127,000 cases were registered. By Sunday, only 32,000 new cases were registered, Lazoryshynets said. Almost one million Ukrainians have been affected by the epidemic since it started in mid-October. Around 49,000 have been hospitalised and 155 have died, Lazoryshynets said. Among these, 65 cases of swine flu have been officially registered and 14 people have died of the A(H1N1) virus, a health ministry official tracking the epidemic, Mikhailo Golubchikov, told journalists. A World Health Organization delegation has spent a week in Ukraine and on Monday met President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. A spokesman for the delegation confirmed the drop in new cases, but raised the possibility of a new wave of cases in the next few months. "At the moment, we can see it has slowed down, but we cannot say whether it has been overcome," Christian Lindmeier told AFP. "In general worldwide, we're thinking about three waves: one now, one in midwinter, in January and February, and one later," Lindmeier said. "In Ukraine, it's not clear how the virus will continue," he added.

On the first photo you can see activists of Yulia Tymoshenko's Bloc handing out protective masks during pre-election campaign in central Kiev on November 9, 2009. Tymoshenko refuted that the epidemic may influence the date of the presidential elections. Another photo shows Ukrainian Prime Minister wearing a face mask as she visits a regional hospital in Lutsk, about 400 km (247 miles) west of Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, Nov. 9, 2009.

Creator of "Kalashnikov" turns 90

MOSCOW - The designer of the Kalashnikov, sometimes called the world's most lethal weapon, was named a "Hero of Russia" on Tuesday by President Dmitry Medvedev who lauded him for creating "the brand every Russian is proud of". "In our country, such phenomena do not happen every day," Medvedev told Mikhail Kalashnikov after decorating him with a gold medal at a lavish Kremlin reception dedicated to the assault rifle's creator's 90th birthday. "I mean not only the Kalashnikov rifle but also the national brand created by you, which makes every Russian proud, makes him feel he is part of history and inspires him to work for the future.""Hero of Russia" is the nation's highest honorary title. Dressed in a general's parade uniform decorated with two Soviet-era "Hero of Socialist Labour" gold stars, a frail-looking Kalashnikov clinked champagne glasses with Medvedev. Created in 1947, the Kalashnikov, also known as the AK-47, is known for its reliability and simple design. It is officially in service in 55 countries and adorns several national emblems. But many of the world's estimated 100 million Kalashnikovs are also used as the weapon of choice by paramilitaries and rebels as well as gangsters and drug traffickers. Millions of counterfeit versions are thought to exist around the world and the rifle is so widespread that it is often said to have killed more people than any other weapon. "This is not my fault that this weapon is not used where it should," Kalashnikov, his voice trembling, said at the Kremlin ceremony. "This is the fault of politicians, not designers. I made it to defend the borders of the fatherland."As a sergeant in World War Two, Kalashnikov was badly injured and pulled from a burning tank. He never finished school or went to university. Kalashnikov said in his memoirs that while inventing the rifle he was driven by complaints from other wounded soldiers that the Nazi Germans' firearms were often better.Russians, many of whom still mourn the Soviet Union's sudden demise, often swell with pride at what they see as the Kalashnikov's superiority over its Cold War rival, the M-16, although more modern versions of the U.S.-made rifle have appeared since then."I am waiting to see who will make a better weapon, and I will be the first to shake his hand," an upbeat Kalashnikov said in a documentary on Russian television on Tuesday, which also marked 60 years of the rifle's service in the Russian army.In the West his invention would have made him a millionaire. In Russia, he lives in a modest Soviet-era apartment in the town of Izhevsk, east of Moscow. After meeting M-16 designer Eugene Stoner in the 1990s, Kalashnikov said his rich American colleague was flying his own plane, while the Russian could hardly afford a flight to Moscow. Medvedev recalled that Kalashnikov had once said that if such a weapon had been created abroad, "the state would have paid much better for this work". The president said: "But you must not regret that you served our country, and the love of the whole nation is the assessment of your work."

News agency REUTERS
http://ru.reuters.com/

If you want to learn more about this unique man and his creature click on follow two links.
Russian film about Mikhail Kalashnikov
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvi6jPFnOZ4
Film taken by Discovery Channel “TOP 10: Combat Rifles #1 AK47” (English language)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kOWI_QoR7I