... Alexandrà Andreyeva said, talking about the contractor that built a kindergarten in her local park, the Stroganov Estate on the Yauza River embankment. City Hall allowed a new school to be built on the estate — a federally protected architectural heritage site since 1960. Andreyeva said Moscow-based developer firm Terra Auri fenced off a construction site in June and cut trees in early July — though it received a permit to build only in late July. Terra Auri confirmed that it received e-mailed...

... value of Sberbank's brand is pegged at $10.6 billion, while MTS has a $9.5 billion brand value. The bank's progress on the ranking is partially credited to the ambitious rebranding campaign it launched in 2009. In addition to emphasizing its 170-year heritage, Sberbank is upgrading 22,000 branches to include VIP centers, business centers, 24-hour self-service lobbies and kiosks for doing transactions. "The high appreciation of the Sberbank brand is due to the bank's record-breaking financial...

... since 1999. "Russians feel closer to Scots than they do to Brits," he told The Moscow Times, and promised that he would "flog" his Scottishness to promote the U.K.-Russian business relationship. "If you can refer to cultural heritage then it helps, particularly when the political side breaks down," he said in an interview in the RBCC's Moscow offices. Diplomatic ties between Britain and Russia have been strained for years, but they reached a nadir after the 2006 polonium...

... historical buildings and estates, nature reserves and national parks are all falling victim to inside, corrupt development deals. As happened at the end of the Soviet era, civil society is again focusing on protecting nature and the country's historical heritage. New citizen groups have formed to protect national treasures such as Lake Baikal, the Ukok Plateau amid the Altai mountains and the historic buildings in St. Petersburg and Moscow. The only way Putin knows how to govern is by falsifying and...

... regional gift shop, Kamchatka, with its glaciers, geysers, and 130 volcanoes, still seems like a place where gods could walk. Humble as Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky may seem to an outsider's eye, it serves as the gateway to a peninsula rich with indigenous heritage, Soviet legacies and natural wonders. What to do if you have two hours Slip on your most comfortable shoes and take a stroll around the city's historical center. Stand first at the shore along Ozernovskaya Kosa Ulitsa. This stretch gives you...