19 Events -- Almost Certain to Occur -- Russians Will Be Talking About in 2019

Paul Goble

            Staunton, January 1 – The events likely to be the most important in the coming year are likely to be things no one can predict accurately or with any degree of confidence, including the passing of leaders, the start of new wars, and developments that in and of themselves seem minor but nonetheless lead to radical transformations.

            But there are events that are almost certain to occur, either because they are already scheduled or because people have been working on them for some time and slated to be completed in 2019. And it is worth taking note of these as a kind of checklist for developments that other and perhaps more dramatic ones will take place

            Komsomolskaya Pravda journalist Aleksy Ivanov provides a useful list of what he describes as “The 19 Main Events of 2019 which Russians Will be Talking About” (kp.ru/daily/26927.3/3975198/).  Listed by date, they include the following:

1.      The controversial pension reform will go into effect on January 1.

2.      Trash collection will become a consumer-financed communal service also on January 1.

3.      The 75^th anniversary of the lifting of the blockade of Leningrad will take place on January 27.

4.      Russia will gradually make the transition from analogue to digital television between February and June.

5.      Russia will release its very off elite off-road vehicle sometime in February or March.

6.      The Winter Universiada World Games will take place in Krasnoyarsk March 2-12.

7.      Verdicts will be handed down in the case of the two former football players held guilty of violating rules sometime in the first half of the year.

8.      Presidential elections will take place in Ukraine on March 31.

9.      Vladimir Putin will go to China in April.

10.  A new blockbuster film about the Soviet war in Afghanistan is to be released on May 9.

11.  As of July 1, contractors won’t be able to collect money from those who are purchasing apartments until the housing is ready.

12.  A new arms race will begin when the US formally pulls out of the short and intermediate range rocket accord in August.

13.  New license plates, which will tell more about who owns them, will be distributed on August 4.

14.  The 2019 WorldSkills Competition will take place in Kazan August 22-27.

15.  St. Petersburg will elect a new governor on September 8.

16.  The city of Moscow will open a new inner ring road at the end of 2019.

17.  Gas pipelines to Europe and Asia will open at the end of 2019.

18.  Russia will launch the most powerful icebreaker in the world by the end of 2019.

19.  The rail line on the Crimea Bridge will begin operations in December.