March 26, 2010 By Citizen M

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – March 26, 2010

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TODAY: Russia dropping two time zones; express train infuriates locals, royalties debate infuriates veterans; US-Russia treaty still on shaky ground; China to invest in Belarus; Kremlin bans ‘Mein Kampf’, Yury Luzhkov hasn’t given up on Victory Day Stalin posters. 
Russia is to lose two time zones this weekend with the shift to daylight saving time – five regions will not move their clocks, thereby moving closer to Moscow time.  The move is a bid to ‘revive commerce‘ and could eventually lead to the complete elimination of daylight saving time.  Furious locals have been pelting the 250km per hour Moscow-St Petersburg Sapsan express train with rocks and ice, over complaints about fatal accidents, pedestrians being knocked over by blasts of air from the passing train, and the cancellation of commuter trains.  Members of local veterans organizations are fuming over a debate about whether or not they should pay royalties when they want to sing war songs in public.