Postcards

• 25 January 2022

  No Nickel In Nikel? A Russian Mining Town Faces Steep Decline

  For decades, nickel mining and smelting in the northern Russian town of Nikel provided a living for its residents and vast wealth for the company's owners. But since the town's large smelting plant was shut down over environmental concerns, residents have been wondering what the future holds.

• 13 January 2022

  Friends Turn Plastic Waste Into Cash, Clean Up In Kyrgyzstan

  Three friends in Kyrgyzstan's capital hated seeing the pollution caused by plastic waste, so they decided to take matters into their own hands.

• 02 December 2021

  How To Save A Language: Ethnic Merch And Emojis

  Russia's Mari people face a challenge common to many small ethnic groups around the world: How to save their language from dying out? One artist aims at younger generations via colorful cartoon-style stickers for T-shirt designs and social media.

• 01 December 2021

  Poisonous Ruins: Russian Town Struggles With Toxic Lead Legacy

  It was once ranked among the most polluted places on Earth, but Rudnaya Pristan in Russia's Far East, about 500 kilometers north of Vladivostok, has cleaned up its act since the closure of its lead smelting plant. Local fish populations benefited from cleaner water but are threatened by overfishing.

• 29 November 2021

  'We Had It Coming With Methane': How 51 People Died In A Siberian Coal-Mine Tragedy

  According to witnesses to last week's Siberian coal-mine disaster, lax safety standards meant it was an accident waiting to happen. Fifty-one people died in Russia's worst mine tragedy since 2010.

• 23 November 2021

  Amidst Rising Death Rates, Some Ukrainian Churches Proselytize For COVID-19 Vaccinations

  With one of the world’s highest daily death rates from COVID-19, Ukraine, a predominantly Christian country, is hoping churches can convert more Ukrainians to a belief in vaccination.

• 28 October 2021

  Vaccine Restrictions Tighten Inside Ukraine's COVID-19 'Red Zone'

  With tens of thousands of new COVID-19 cases daily and a vaccination rate of just 16.2 percent, Ukraine, Europe’s second-largest country after Russia, is facing a growing pandemic crisis. Current Time visited two of eight Ukrainian regions where the government has intensified COVID-19 restrictions.

• 18 October 2021

  Face Pay: Moscow Metro's Facial-Recognition Payment System Raises Surveillance Concerns

  The Moscow Metro has touted a new facial-recognition payment system as the first mass-scale use of a technology that will bring greater convenience to people's everyday lives. But its launch in Russia has raised concerns about the system's possible misuse for surveillance purposes.

• 12 October 2021

  Return To Coal: Kyrgyzstan Goes Back To Dirty Fuel To Cope With Hydroelectric Shortage

  Kyrgyzstan is forcing homes and businesses to go back to using coal as a severe drought has reduced output at the country's lone hydroelectric plant, which usually produces 40 percent of the country's electricity. Other energy-saving measures include switching off street lights and neon advertising.

• 09 October 2021

  'Russians Building On Bones': What Fuels Ukrainian Opposition To Babyn Yar Memorial Complex

  Eighty years after the September 29-30, 1941 Nazi massacres that left nearly 34,000 Ukrainian Jews dead, Ukraine is still struggling to decide how best to remember the tragedy of Babyn Yar. One private proposal for a huge memorial complex that includes Russian investors has provoked the wrath of some Ukrainians, but the government, for now, has offered no alternative.

• 06 September 2021

  Once A 'Window To Europe,' A Russian Town Rich In History But Little Else

  The centuries-old town of Sebezh sits near the borders of both Belarus and Latvia in Russia's western Pskov region. Residents are proud of their well-preserved old houses and rich history, but they've seen little development in a struggling town that was once called the "window to Europe."

• 20 August 2021

  The Antlers Of Altai: Siberia's Controversial Harvest

  Russians living in Siberia’s Altai mountains make a living by cutting the antlers off Maral deers. The dried antlers are sold for more than $300 per kilogram to China and South Korea where people believe they help boost libido and longevity. But animal rights groups call the practice cruel.

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