Educational hours on patriotism will be introduced in Russian schools
With the beginning of the new academic year, educational hours on patriotism will appear in Russian schools. The topic of these hours will be called "A Talk about Important Things". Such “lessons” will be dedicated to the values of Russian society enshrined in the national security strategy. The Ministry of Education indicated that such educational hours will be introduced in all schools, TASS reports.
"Price breakthrough" in Russian supermarkets
According to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service message on July 20, prices for popular non-food products in Russia have increased by 25-40% since the beginning of the year. Specifically: toilet soap prices rose by 39.9%, washing powders ― by 27.3%, toothpaste ― by 32.8%, shampoos ― by 31.1%, sanitary pads ― by 40.5%.
The publication Fontanka compared prices for the same goods in Finland and Russia. The calculation was made at the rate of 67 rubles per 1 euro (official on July 21).
Colgate toothpaste (100 ml) was sold at the Russian shop Lenta for 204,99 rubles, at finnish shop Prisma — for less than 100 rubles.
Palmolive soap (90 g) was sold in Lenta for 57,5 rubles, and in Prisma for 42,6 rubles.
As reasons for such a significant difference in prices between countries, Fontankaʼs experts named the complication and rise in the cost of logistics, the increase in exchange rates, the complication of international payments, and the inclusion of currency risks in prices by suppliers. Russian propagandists, meanwhile, Instead of the notion "price increase", use the notion "price breakthrough".
Lenfilm film studio could not switch to domestic equipment
One of the Russiaʼs largest film studios, Lenfilm, could not fulfill the instructions of the authorities and switch to domestic equipment for film production: itʼs just unavailable for now. The creation of Russian analogues will require many years and huge investments. RBC outletʼs sources in the film production market noted that the filming is based solely on imported materials. The Russian film industry has already been affected by Western restrictions due to the situation around Ukraine. In particular, Western studios refused to provide Russian cinemas with rental licenses for showing films, Radio Svoboda reports.
Workers of the Izhevsk Automobile Plant wrote an open letter to the Russian President, Vladimir Putin
They claim that the Plant has been idle for five months already due to the lack of imported parts for assembling Lada Vesta cars, their main product. In an open letter, which was published on Vkontakte of the IzhAvto trade union organization, it is stated that the assembly production of Lada Vesta at the plant has actually been stopped.
"Today, the best Russian car is only 40% Russian. Everything else was brought from abroad," the authors of the letter note. The workers are asking President Putin to intervene and prevent "the destruction of Russiaʼs best automobile plant”, Radio Svoboda reports.
Some wounded Russian soldiers find compensation elusive, despite Putin’s pledge
Some of the injured men could claim compensation of three million roubles, equivalent to about $50,000 or the amount an average Russian worker would earn in four years.
Five months after Putin invaded Ukraine, the conflict is taking a heavy toll on Russia’s military as well as its economy due to international sanctions, according to Ukraine and its Western allies.The United States has estimated that potentially 45,000 Russian soldiers have been wounded and around 15,000 were killed (the estimates of the Ukrainian General Staff are almost three times higher). As early as on March 3 Putin announced generous compensations to the wounded soldiers during a meeting of his security council broadcast on national television, Reuters reports. Two days later, he issued a decree setting out the compensation, commonly referred to among soldiers as “presidential payments.” But, according to Reuters, many soldiers struggle to get the money. Eventually, the Russian government limited those who were eligible for the compensation: it turned out that there are way more wounded soldiers than Russian leaders thought would be.
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