News round-up: this week in Russian culture

A journalist from news channel RT has resigned following “false” reporting of the Malaysian Airlines plane crash; a “new breed” of enormous vending machines is soon to hit Moscow; and a giant 100 metre-wide crater appeared in Russia’s isolated Yamal region this week. A look at some of this week’s cultural stories.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin is planning to install around 60 enormous “new-breed” vending machines in the Russian capital over the next two months, which will sell goods including mobile phones, tickets for public transport and food.

President Vladimir Putin has called for a Russia-Argentina bilateral year of culture next year, in a bid to foster closer diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Russian high-school students will have to demonstrate their patriotism and respect for “traditional values” in order to graduate from school, according to a new decree from the Ministry of Education and Science.

57% of bars, restaurants and shops in Moscow are at risk of losing the liquor licenses by the end of the year, if they don’t submit documents indicating their alcohol turnover to the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation by the end of December.

A London-based journalist from Kremlin-funded news channel Russia Today resigned in protest at the coverage of the Malaysian Airlines plane crash. She described the channel’s reporting of yesterday’s fatal crash as “shockingly obvious misinformation”.

And… a giant 100 metre-wide crater mysteriously appeared in Russia’s isolated Yamal region this week, with the cause still unknown.