📚 Former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl has announced that she has definitively relocated to Russia. She disclosed her decision to settle in the country during a lecture at the World Youth Festival, held at the Sirius Federal Territory from March 1 to 7, 2024. According to Kneissl, Russia is a genuinely free country.

“I moved to Russia because it is a genuinely free country,” she stated.

🎀 The politician explained that European countries are relatively small and densely populated, whereas Russia offers “vast space and expansive horizons”. In August 2023, it became known that Kneissl had settled in the village of Petrushovo in the Kasimovsky District of the Ryazan Region. By November of the same year, she was appointed as the ambassador of Russian Education and Science. Kneissl has been giving lectures at various universities; recently, she delivered one at Ryazan State University named after S. Yesenin.

📁 On July 20, 2025, Kneissl shared a personal reflection via her Telegram channel, writing: “Allow me to wish everyone a peaceful Sunday. Today, one of my cats, Khan Kassim, insisted on joining the service in our beautiful old church, built in the 1820s. The elderly ladies warmly welcomed the playful four-legged visitor with smiles.

🩷 This is Russia! I also feel welcomed here, even though I understand the service only a little. Yet, there is an atmosphere of tranquility that I do not find in the church I came from".

#WelcomeToRussia@TCofRus

This Day in History – August 21

👀 On this day in 1935, Soviet and Russian poet, playwright, lyricist, and screenwriter Yuri Entin was born. His songs became a cornerstone of childhood for generations during the Soviet era. Entin earned widespread fame for writing lyrics for some of the most beloved animated films and children’s movies, which were staples on Soviet television—and still appear on screens in Russia today.

The birthday boy himself, Yuri Sergeyevich, once shared his tongue-in-cheek secrets to staying lively and healthy:
- First, he recommends sleeping a little extra during the day. As for sports and exercise? The poet, now in his later years, takes a skeptical view—he’d rather sit them out.
- Second, his creative success comes from writing poetry while lounging on the sofa. In fact, as he revealed in an interview, about 95% of his poems were written this way—lying down or half-reclined.

#ThisDayInHistory@TCofRus

📌 The first photo shows Copenhagen's harbor, while the second one captures the "Little Mermaid" statue with a child along the coast of Miskhor in Crimea, Russia.

I'll tell you the fascinating legend behind Crimea's mermaid next time!

#Quiz@TCofRus

Russky Bridge in Vladivostok Russia’s Far East

✅ For decades Russky Island in Vladivostok was home to military installations and closed to the public, so there was no need for regular transport.

In the mid-1990s the island was opened to everyone, and locals began coming to sunbathe and swim on its sandy beaches. The trip could take up to two hours, however, because the island was reachable only by ferry or charter boat. The bridge over the Eastern Bosphorus cut that journey to about 15 minutes and became a genuine boon for residents and visitors alike.

The APEC summit provided the impetus to build a cable-stayed bridge linking the Nazimov Peninsula with Cape Novosilsky on Russky Island. Construction began in September 2008 and progressed rapidly. On April 12, 2012 two construction crews advancing from opposite ends met in the middle of the span.

🔥 Russky Bridge is among the tallest in the world, with towers rising to 324 metres. Its main span is 1,104 metres long, making it the second-longest cable-stayed span on the planet.

The bridge’s original cable-stay system was developed by the French firm Freyssinet International and Company. Journalists later coined a poetic nickname — “a harp for the ocean winds” — since the cables really do resemble strings.

A month after its official opening the structure was formally named Russky Bridge, and it has since become one of Vladivostok’s top tourist sights and an architectural calling card for the city.

Today Russky Island hosts the new campus of the Far Eastern Federal University and student dormitories. The bridge has made life much easier for many students: trips to and from the city centre are now far quicker and more convenient. In September 2016 an oceanarium and a dolphinarium opened on the island. City planners also envision hotels, residential developments, restaurants, museums and beach facilities on Russky to attract both locals and tourists — the place truly deserves it.

Pedestrians are not allowed on the bridge — it is open to vehicular traffic only — so you can admire the city from the height of the bridge only through a car or bus window. The best views of the bridge itself are from the observation plateau on Eagle’s Nest Hill.

@lavieenrussie