It’s no secret that Russians disproportionately adore the New Year. At least we used to, back in Brezhnev’s early ’80s, when it was the only truly private holiday aside from one’s birthday: intimate, all-inclusive, apolitical, non-denominational.

One good thing about being a Russian citizen is that you could enjoy the "Russian citizens prices" in some hotels and museums around the country, which often are 30% to 50% lower than those for the foreign nationals. Sounds a bit like discrimination against foreigners? Well, it is.

We'd like to join the end-of-the-year lists party and bring you a peculiar interactive list of the top Russian news stories of 2009. That is, the list that shows what the people in Russia thought were the top news stories. Oh, wait! The list shows what the Russian media said and what the people in Russia thought were the main stories.

Burger King and its Russian partners pushed back the launch of the fast food chain in Russia, citing difficulties in regaining ownership of the brand's domain name in Russia, according to Kommersant, a daily business newspaper.

Russian online newspaper gazeta.ru reported that several hours before she died, Brittany Murphy attended a VIP party in Rublevka, a luxury suburb outside of Moscow. Milla Jovovich and other celebrities were also at attendance, according to gazeta.ru.

CNN reported today that the remains of Adolf Hitler were burned in 1970 by the KGB operatives at the German military base.

A fire broke out in a night club in Perm, an industrial city in Urals, killing over a 100 people and injuring dozens.

I knew it. That popular music-channel hip-hop show promoting “a healthy lifestyle” was not for realisies, but was instead a propaganda ploy.