... Petersburg, Moscow, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod and Sochi. The program is hoping to add Omsk, Khabarovsk and Rostov-on-Don next year. Each five-a-side game was played on a small, specially marked-out field and lasted 20 minutes. Russian Premier League footballer Yevgeny Varlamov from CSKA and Lokomotiv's Dmitry Sennikov were among the local celebrities who were on hand for the final, a closely fought game between Desnitsa Samara and Alfa Nizhny Novgorod, which was won by the Samarans 4-3. Samaran...

Russian football fans will be able to fly to the European Football Championship in Ukraine and Poland for free. Russian football fans will be able to fly to the European Football Championship in Ukraine and Poland for free, Aeroflot and Transaero have said...

A man sentenced to 20 years in the killing of a Russian football fan that led to nationalist riots has had his jail term reduced by two months. A man sentenced to 20 years in the killing of a Russian football fan that led to nationalist riots has had his jail term reduced by two months, RIA-Novosti...

Architectural preservation group Arkhnadzor said Monday that demolition at the constructivist-era Dynamo football stadium as a part of ongoing building work was against the law. Architectural preservation group Arkhnadzor said Monday that demolition at the constructivist-era Dynamo football stadium as a part of ongoing building work was...

Siemens and Samsung are among the European and Asian companies that may vie to build and operate a $21 billion rail link between Moscow and St. Petersburg before the 2018 World Cup football tournament. Siemens and Samsung are among the European and Asian companies that may vie to build and operate a $21 billion rail link between Moscow and St. Petersburg before the 2018 World Cup football tournament. Alstom, Bouygues of France...

... imagine him making the rounds of contemporary TV talk shows, dabbling in controversy to enhance his social status. Twenty-two additional characters represent the workers at Andrei's factory, the inhabitants of a communal apartment and attendees at a football match where Ivan's dastardly plan to use Kavalerov to kill Andrei is put into motion. Subbotina gives the play a contemporary feel even as she references its historical past. Andrei's extravagant sausage-making machine looks both ancient and...

... Russian translator Thursday in St. Petersburg. Blatter, the head of soccer's governing body, said fans should be allowed to enjoy life, enjoy the game and drink beer. "We'll see," Putin said Thursday in response to Blatter's remarks. Russian Football Union chief Sergei Fursenko called for a return of beer advertisements and sales to sporting arenas to boost sponsorship and clubs' revenue, RIA-Novosti said Dec. 5. (Bloomberg)

... try something different, check out Voronezh City Inn (+7 473 251-5626, 256-2626; city-inn.ru ), which offers "hotel-style" apartments around the city from 2,500 rubles to 6,500 rubles ($85 to $215) per night. Conversation starters Local football fans are proud of the local team Fakel-Voronezh and are happy to talk about it and the state of Russian football in general. Another topic is politics, and discussions often revolve around Governor Alexei Gordeyev, the only governor who served...

... 520,000 target. The company also said it expects new sales to total 600,000 to 650,000 square meters this year. PIK is 38 percent owned by billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, who also controls the potash miner Uralkali and funds the Russian Premier League football club Anzhi Makhachkala. 179738

... broken and bad language isn't used. The fact that a discussion is taking place, that society is forming — that's very good." He also told the students that it was possible that Rosneft and Gazprom Neft could become sponsors of their local football club, called Tom, as long as the structure of the sponsorship is transparent. "[The companies] are ready to come to the event tomorrow to work with leaders of the region and the club, to start the process," said Putin, adding that he...

... growth in traffic," Beeline said in e-mailed comments. MegaFon said it was not planning any special measures for Saturday's meeting, saying only that all operators face problems connecting calls and sending SMS messages during "demonstrations, football matches and other large gatherings." The company said its policy in such cases is to give priority to voice calls and SMS messages at the expense of data transmission, but that it had "no plans" to turn off its 3G coverage all...

... lawyers argued Tuesday as a lawsuit between the men drew to a close. Both sides have accused each other of dishonesty and greed during the three-month trial in London. Over the next two days, Berezovsky's lawyers have a last chance to discredit Chelsea Football Club owner Abramovich, 45, as they sum up the $6.8 billion claim against him to judge Elizabeth Gloster. "The cynical manipulation of evidence and indeed of the trial process," by Abramovich is one of the factors Gloster should consider...

... those who organized the debates from United Russia "cannot solve anything." Political expert Nikolai Zlobin told reporters Thursday that he felt the opposition had missed an opportunity by not attending the forum. "Politics is like football," he said. "You not only have to defend your own goal, but attack the goal of your rivals." But even without the presence of their most outspoken opponents, United Russia's leaders were harshly grilled by establishment opposition...

... Vladimir Putin has said on more than one occasion that he may reconsider the decision. On Tuesday, he told supporters that if people felt strongly that the change was a mistake, the government may turn back the clock on the move. Last month, he told football fans that perhaps the decision wasn't thought through completely. Putin added that he always finds it difficult to get up in the morning. The practice of temporarily advancing the clock to conserve electricity in the evening has been widely used...

... afraid of losing their state jobs, or of disappearing altogether. The younger ones were not afraid. They were simply not interested in a spectator sport of politics that seemed irrelevant to their lives. Of course, no one could affect the outcome of a football match, either, but at least it was fun to watch — and the rules were clear. In Russian politics, as the old joke goes, the outcome is fixed in advance, but the rules are unpredictable. So, what changed? Everyone points to Facebook and its...

... his ethnic roots. Akunin has played a vocal role in the recent wave of protests spurred by allegations of fraud in December’s State Duma vote. A year before the rallies, Russian authorities faced demonstrations by thousands of nationalists and football fans who rallied on Manezh Square after police released several North Caucasus nationals, suspected in killing an ethnic Russian fan. Opponents of various political stripes have long expressed outrage at the problems in the Northern Caucasus...

... money he made into real estate. My other grandfather worked for the same company for 25 years and supported 14 children. He also had a company with his brothers that made cane roofs. On top of that, he was a butcher and painted the lines on the local football field for 40 years. I admire their energy to keep on going. They didn't think in terms of problems. They thought: "This is my day-to-day work; what comes, we will solve." People overanalyze. At a certain point, you've got to get started...

... which it succeeded in doing. Last year, the city set a new target of 8.1 million tourists by 2016 and announced a plan to make the city more tourist-friendly. The program will help the city prepare for a huge influx of tourists as the venue for the football Confederation Cup in 2017 and the World Cup the year after. Major Businesses St. Petersburg Sea Port (5 Mezhevoy Kanal; +7 812-714-9927 ; seaport.spb.ru ) is one of the major entry points for trade in and out of Russia with a turnover of 12...