Guest Post: Speedbox -Postcard from Kislovodsk #2


Mineral water museum, Kislovodsk*

Mrs Speedbox is still in Kislovodsk, Russia, although she returns in a few days.  The following are additional observations that may be of interest to Cats.

1.  With regard to reporting on the war, Russian television is the polar opposite to what we see here in Australia in terms of partiality.  That won’t be a surprise but Mrs Speedbox has commented on the ‘gruesomeness’ of the reporting.  Russian TV news has no problem showing dead bodies in various states of disarray – bullet and shrapnel wounds and other much more severe injuries. 

2.  Russian TV has featured interviews with assorted residents of Mariupol and have particularly focussed on the damage to the homes and businesses of those people.  The interviewees claim that much of the destruction was caused by the Ukrainian forces.  The interviewees claimed that Ukrainian forces bombarded the town with artillery/rocket fire as Russian forces approached then, as the town was being taken over by the Russians, the Ukrainians adopted a ‘scorched earth’ mindset as they retreated.  One man claimed his house, and most of those in his neighbourhood, had survived unscathed yet the Ukrainians made a point of flattening every property as they withdrew.  Moreover, they claim the city is now riddled with booby traps.  The interviewees were very unhappy with the Ukrainian forces.   

The TV news also featured interviews with others who claim that Ukrainian forces have undertaken similar scorched earth practices elsewhere.

3.  Moscow is serviced by a number of airports.  If you have flown into Moscow on a heavy jet international flight, it is very likely you landed at Domodedovo or maybe Sheremetyevo depending on your departure point.  The smaller airport of Vnukovo mostly handles lighter aircraft on international commuter flights.  It is well known that numerous airlines have suspended flights to Russia and as a consequence of reduced air traffic, the government has decided to close (care & maintenance) Vnukovo airport.  Zhukovsky airport handles light aircraft, charter and some short haul commuter airlines and remains operational along with Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo.    

In the good times, the four airports collectively handled over 150 million passengers per annum.

4.  After 1991, each Russian bank issued their own credit card and signed up retailers but, there was a problem in that bank ‘A‘ didn’t trust that bank ‘B’ would honour purchases made on a card issued by bank ‘B’ at bank ‘A’s retailer.  Therefore, unless you had a card issued by the bank with whom the retailer also did business, your card was useless. 

There was no universal ‘clearing house’ and the individual banks were not set up to manage the inter-bank card purchases.  The issue persisted for a while but eventually common sense prevailed and the banks came to agreement – which also included access to Mastercard and Visa.

Recently of course, Mastercard and Visa announced they were suspending their services in Russia and whilst that suspension definitely applies to foreign bank issued cards, Russian bank issued Mastercard/Visa branded cards continue to work as usual inside Russia. 

5.  I should have mentioned the issue of purchasing the flight tickets to Russia in my earlier post. 

Because of the sanctions, searches for flight tickets to Russia have been blocked by most of the usual websites.  (They actually show a message saying that the booking you are trying to make has been blocked.)

Obviously there are work-arounds but the lack of direct website access is irritating.

6.  For most people, sending money to Russia is a problem.  The international SWIFT transfer system has shut out Russia and all of the other money transfer websites, including those not necessarily using SWIFT, now block the transfers – even Western Union has suspended services.    

Globally, there is a large expatriate Russian cohort who are commenting on assorted websites that they are now unable to remit money to their families and are requesting that a limit be implemented, rather than an outright ban.  The authorities are currently disinterested in changing the status quo. 

Theoretically, outbound remittances are also frozen however a friend is sending money to his son who is studying in the USA.  It turns out that there is a quirk in the system that circumvents the freeze.  That quirk cannot be exploited by all people and for my friend, it was a serendipitous discovery.  I won’t spell it out here but it is hilariously simple when explained.  You can bet your socks that the oligarchs are also aware and have been/will use it to move money both into and out of Russia.

*  Yes, a museum dedicated to mineral water.  It sets out the history of mineral water in the Caucuses and the health benefits.  There are numerous mineral water drinking fountains inside and a ‘bottomless glass’ costs 2 roubles (AUD .04c).


Subscribe
Notify of
guest

11 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Zyconoclast
Zyconoclast
May 9, 2022 11:09 am

Thanks.

Rob MW
Rob MW
May 9, 2022 12:58 pm

You just can’t make this stuff up.

Apparently an assorted bunch of Nazi supporting western cretins turned up in Nazi infested Ukraine to show solidarity and to, get this, to help the Ukrainian Nazis celebrate VE day. What……….. are they going to go around shooting themselves in the foot and call it a celebration………..why not, it only hurts once, although ambulances and fuel are in short supply.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 9, 2022 5:07 pm

Speedbox Thanks – always important and interesting to get an alternate view

Kislovodsk on bucket list for the future

Botswana O'Hooligan
Botswana O’Hooligan
May 9, 2022 5:42 pm

Thanks for being pragmatic, when the missus goes home to visit the grandkids she leaves on her Aussie passport, enters on her Ruski one and reverses the process when returning. We keep an account in a Ruski Banka, also the name for a jar, and always have about 2K in USD in our pockets for contingencies, a trick I learned a very long time ago when working all over for the 2K can buy your way out of trouble just about anywhere.

rosie
rosie
May 9, 2022 7:14 pm

Thank you Speedbox.
Safe travels to your wife.

Chris M
Chris M
May 9, 2022 7:15 pm

Ukrainian forces have undertaken similar scorched earth practices

It’s a shame when foreigners adopt your tactics and use them against you. Cultural appropriation!

Siltstone
Siltstone
May 9, 2022 7:47 pm

thanks Speedbox for this second hand first hand report, good work

Luzu
Luzu
May 9, 2022 8:49 pm

When I first read the name Kislovodsk, my brain pulled it apart:

Kislii – acidic
Vod – short form of voda – water.
The -sk ending is associated with geographical locations.

My ex-husband was from Kholmsk, kholm being the Russian word for hill.

Literally, the name is acidic water. Just after, I read Speedbox’s explanation that it was the source of mineral springs.

Gosh, I love Russian. Many languages actually as I have a passing knowledge of about five. I enjoy teasing out the threads of connectivity within the Slavic languages, German and English and the Romance languages. It is so easy to see the links spread out by geography, movement and time.

On another note, whenever I read the name Izyum, I am a little puzzled. It means ‘raisin’ in Russian. Perhaps it means something else in Ukrainian or it is an area associated with the growing of grapes.

2dogs
2dogs
May 10, 2022 12:23 am

It turns out that there is a quirk in the system that circumvents the freeze. That quirk cannot be exploited by all people and for my friend, it was a serendipitous discovery. I won’t spell it out here but it is hilariously simple when explained.

Let me guess – it involves some kind of intermediate bucket, as it were, that is not blocked?

Speedbox
May 10, 2022 10:20 am

Botswana O’Hooligan says:
May 9, 2022 at 5:42 pm
Thanks for being pragmatic, when the missus goes home to visit the grandkids she leaves on her Aussie passport, enters on her Ruski one and reverses the process when returning. We keep an account in a Ruski……

Ditto. My wife took some extra euros to convert and deposit into the local account.

I was speaking with her last night and she was telling me about the May 9th celebrations in Kislovodsk. She said there were many thousands of people lining the streets (in a city of only 140,000) for the parade and a large number held a photo of a relative who fought. If no photo, they were waving a Russian flag and, a large number had ‘Z’ flags. The parade itself was very well done and the fervour of the crowd was undiminished

I have a standing invitation by some friends to visit them in ‘Stalingrad’ (Volgograd) for May 9th and I’ve been waiting for the opportunity. Couldn’t go in 2019 then bloody covid buggered 2020 and 21, this year turned bad with the loss of my wife’s mother…….maybe 2023? Watching May 9th celebrations in ‘ground zero’ would be a real treat – huge bucket list item for me.

Makka
Makka
May 11, 2022 5:27 pm

That won’t be a surprise but Mrs Speedbox has commented on the ‘gruesomeness’ of the reporting.

It’s not just the war. Russian tv regularly shows the gruesome aftermath of tram, rail and vehicular accidents including dismemberment and decapitations.

  1.  I sat and listened whilst Pretty Boy Minns spoke his shallow empty words. I despise him, like I despise the…

  2. “I’m just an enthusiast who is supporting Ned Kelly…” Mmm…yes; of course you are. Ned Kelly was a deranged outlaw…

  3. Thanks to Roger yesterday for providing link to location of today’s “Brisbane” 7 October remembrance event. Location is 200km north…

  4. We’ve never had a war on home soil. Never had to defend ourselves. Although great its also problematic to get…

11
0
Oh, you think that, do you? Care to put it on record?x
()
x