On the way to the dacha I was told an interesting theory as to why the Rublevo-Uspenskoye Highway has not been resurfaced for the last 15 years and is still in perfect condition

On the way to the dacha I was told an interesting theory as to why the Rublevo-Uspenskoye Highway has not been resurfaced for the last 15 years and is still in perfect condition. Suslov, it seems, had a bad back and could travel only at 50 km/h, and so a flawless road without a single bump was built for him using German technology. And ever since, that stretch of the highway has remained just as flawless.

One thing in this story rather puzzled me: Suslov's dacha, Sosnovka-1, was in fact in Troitse-Lykovo, and it is connected with a far more entertaining tale, of how 12.5 hectares of priceless land (at $25,000 per sotka at the time) by Serebryany Bor became the estate of Mikhail Kasyanov.

As for the asphalt on Rublyovka, for the time being I shall keep the version about the whimsical Soviet nomenklatura: it is more interesting that way 👻

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Konstantin Ivanov's Cosmonautics Day poster, published in Moscow in 1977

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Konstantin Ivanov's Cosmonautics Day poster, published in Moscow in 1977

Signs of violent death found on skulls from burials beside the royal tombs at Abydos

Guests at a costume party in a Moscow theatre in the early 20th century

Professor Mie Oba proposes Japan as ASEAN's third partner alongside the US and China