The Dnieper River /ˈniːpər/ is one of the major rivers of Europe (fourth by length) that flows from Russia, through Belarus and Ukraine, to the Black Sea. The total length is 2,285 kilometres (1,420 mi) and has a drainage basin of 504,000 square kilometres (195,000 sq mi). The river is noted for its dams and hydroelectric stations. The Dnieper is an important navigable waterway for the economy of Ukraine and is connected via the Dnieper-Bug Canal to other waterways in Europe.

In antiquity, the river was known to the Greeks as the Borysthenes and was part of the Amber Road. Arheimar, a capital of the Goths, was located on the Dnieper, according to the Hervarar saga.

The name Dnieper is derived from Iranic Sarmatian Dānu apara "the river on the far side". (By contrast, the Dniester derives from "the close river".)

In the three countries through which it flows it has essentially the same name, albeit pronounced differently:

The river is mentioned by the Ancient Greek historian Herodotus in the 5th century BC as Borysthenes (Βορυσθένης), as well as by Strabo; this name is Scythian (cf. Iranian *varu-stāna) and meant "wide land", referring most likely to the Ukrainian steppe.^{[citation needed]} The late Greek and Roman authors called it Δάναπρις - Danapris and Danaper respectively - (dana in Old Persian meant "river"); The name Dnieper probably derives from that Greek word.^{[citation needed]} Its Old East Slavic name used at the time of Kievan Rus' was Slavuta or Slavutych, the Huns called it Var, and Bulgars - Buri-Chai.^{[citation needed]} The name in Crimean Tatar: Özü.

Michael Edward Palin, CBE, PRGS (born 5 May 1943) is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries. Palin wrote most of his comedic material with Terry Jones. Before Monty Python, they had worked on other shows such as the Ken Dodd Show, The Frost Report and Do Not Adjust Your Set. Palin appeared in some of the most famous Python sketches, including "Argument Clinic," "Dead Parrot," "The Lumberjack Song," "The Spanish Inquisition," and "The Fish-Slapping Dance."

Palin continued to work with Jones after Python, co-writing Ripping Yarns. He has also appeared in several films directed by fellow Python Terry Gilliam and made notable appearances in other films such as A Fish Called Wanda, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedians' Comedian, he was voted the 30th favourite by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.

Matti Salminen (born 7 July 1945, in Turku) is a Finnish operatic bass singer, who has sung at all of the most important opera houses of the world, including the Metropolitan and Bayreuth Festival.

Salminen is distinguished by an imposing figure and height; an enormous, sonorous and dark voice; and an expressive face. According to one reviewer, in his prime Salminen was "... simply the largest bass voice in captivity. It is not just its roar in powering over Wagner's maximum orchestra, but the way he carves the sonority and forms the color."

He performed as Fafner and Hagen in the PBS video broadcast Ring Cycle from the Metropolitan Opera, for the largest viewing-audience of the Ring in history.

He sang in the premiere of Sallinen’s Kuningas Lear in 2000 (King Lear, title role), and Jukka Linkola's Robin Hood in 2011 (Sheriff).

Salminen has a contract at the Zurich Opera, and he also frequently performs in his native Finland. Most of all he has been admired in such Wagner roles as Daland (The Flying Dutchman), Gurnemanz and Titurel (Parsifal), King Marke (Tristan und Isolde), Fasolt and Fafner (Das Rheingold / Siegfried), Hunding (Die Walküre), and Hagen (Götterdämmerung).

Alexei Osipovich Ratmansky (Russian: Алексей Осипович Ратманский, b. August 27, 1968, Leningrad) is a choreographer and former ballet dancer. He is artist in residence at the American Ballet Theatre and the former director of the Bolshoi Ballet. Ratmansky trained under Pyotr Pestov and Anna Markeyeva at the Bolshoi Ballet School. Prior to his appointment as artistic director he was a principal dancer with the Ukrainian National Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Royal Danish Ballet.

Ratmansky staged ballets for the Dutch National Ballet, Kirov Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and the State Ballet of Georgia, where his Dreams of Japan, choreographed for Nina Ananiashvili, earned the Golden Mask Award from the Theatre Union of Russia, in 1998. Ratmansky's 2003 staging of The Bright Stream (also translated as "The Limpid Stream") for the Bolshoi Ballet led to his appointment as artistic director of that company the following year. While there he also made a full-length production of The Bolt, in 2005, and re-staged Le Corsaire and the Flames of Paris, in 2007 and 2008. In 2011, his choreograpgy of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet was premiered by the National Ballet of Canada in Toronto. The Critics' Circle in London has named the Bolshoi "Best Foreign Company" under Ratmansky's direction, in 2005 and 2007, and he received its National Dance Award for The Bright Stream.