(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber – December 17, 2013) The State Duma will vote Tuesday in a first reading on President Vladimir Putin’s draft bill to grant amnesty to certain categories of prisoners, a piece of legislation that could exonerate high-profile detainees despite what critics say are its narrow criteria. As part of an effort to free space […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Vladimir Kozlov, special to RBTH – December 16, 2013) In the past year, the Bolshoi Theater has gone through a series of controversies and management changes. What is behind all of the chaos? Just a few years ago, Bolshoi was under public scrutiny because of its major renovation scheme, which went behind schedule […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Dec 9 (Interfax) – The economic amnesty declared in Russia has been applied to almost 1,500 people already, Russian business commissioner Boris Titov said. “As of today, a total of 1,479 people have been amnestied,” Titov said during a conference in Moscow on Monday. The possibilities of the amnesty are not exhausted yet, Titov said. “We are not completing […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Delphine d’Amora – December 9, 2013) The Russian diplomats and their spouses charged with fraudulently claiming a total of $1.5 million from a U.S. government health care program are all to return to Russia, a news report said Monday. Only 11 of the 49 defendants are still on American soil, and they too will soon […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – Moscow, December 4, 2013) A member of the public council at the Russian Interior Ministry, former Finance Minister Aleksey Kudrin, has announced that according to his data, the number of recorded crimes committed in Russia is understated at least by a factor of four. He told this journalist after the first meeting of the new composition of […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Dec 3 (Interfax) – The sentencing of corruption suspects to fines has practically doubled in Russia in the past two years, the Supreme Court said. “The number [of suspects] sentenced to fines has grown in the past two years, since the moment the amendments that significantly raised fines for corruptive practices came into force. Some 46.5% of all persons […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Nov 20 (Interfax) – The necessary level of public security has not been reached in Russia, says Russia’s public security policy that was approved by the president. “The state of public security in Russia is characterized as unstable. Despite the efforts made by the state and society to combat crime and other illegal encroachments and prevent and contain emergencies, […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Nov 19 (Interfax) – The Western form of juvenile justice will not work in Russia, Russian children’s rights commissioner Pavel Astakhov said. “My principled stance is that the Western style, a virtually bankrupt form of juvenile justice is not viable,” Astakhov told reporters on Tuesday. “It is not viable in Russia because the equality between parents and a child […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Nov 14 (Interfax) – President Vladimir Putin has ruled out the possibility of restoring the practice where police were authorized to prosecute violators of tax laws. Putin, who was speaking at a meeting of the supervisory board of the Strategic Initiatives Agency, was referring to proposals for changes to the Criminal Code to adjust it to the 2011 liberalization […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Nov 14 (Interfax) – Former Russian finance minister Alexei Kudrin, today head of the Civil Initiatives Committee, has slammed as a “major backward step” a draft law to bring back the practice where law enforcement agencies could bypass tax authorities in prosecuting suspected tax crimes. “I support those who don’t consider it correct to empower law enforcement authorities to […]
» Read more
MOSCOW, November 15 (RIA Novosti) Russians now face fines for smoking in public places, including near metro stations and airports, under new amendments to a broad anti-tobacco law that came into force Friday. Smoking within 15 meters (50 feet) of entrances to the metro, train stations and airports, as well as near hospitals, schools and playgrounds, is now punishable […]
» Read more
ST. PETERSBURG. Nov 7 (Interfax) – Investigators are preparing to charge former Russian parliamentarian Mikhail Glushchenko with masterminding the assassination of State Duma member Galina Starovoitova in 1998, Glushchenko’s lawyer Alexander Afanasyev told Interfax on Thursday. “Both defense lawyers representing Mikhail Ivanovich [Glushchenko] were officially notified that at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow he will be charged under Part 3 of Article […]
» Read more
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, November 3, 2013) The Kremlin celebrates every temporary uptick in the Russian birthrate, but it and many others typically ignore another deeply troubling aspect of that country’s deteriorating demographic situation: extraordinarily high death rates among adults and especially working-age males. Indeed, those rates are so high Russia ranks 175th among the […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Oct 31 (Interfax) – Russia has made progress in the protection of intellectual property, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told the audience at the “Open Innovations” Forum in Moscow on Thursday. “There is one more theme, which, unfortunately, has been very complicated in Russia for a long period. I mean intellectual property. Nevertheless, I think that we have recently taken […]
» Read more
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, October 31, 2013) Muscovites interested in ghosts don’t need to go to Transylvania. They can find plenty right at home this Halloween, even if many in the Russian Orthodox Church and Russian government denounce this holiday as alien and “extremist” (globalsib.com/18692/ and religiopolis.org/publications/6936-hellouin-2013.html). In an article on Chaskor.ru yesterday, Artur Mulyukov and […]
» Read more
MOSCOW, October 30 (RIA Novosti) Russian prosecutors said Wednesday they have exposed major financial irregularities and waste at a center for innovation that has long been the pet project of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. The Prosecutor General’s office said in a statement that spending at the Skolkovo Foundation has become “out of control and extravagant” and that it has […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, October 21, 2013) Orhan Zeynalov was driven by hooliganism when he murdered resident of Moscow’s Biryulyovo district Yegor Shcherbakov, the Russian Investigative Committee said. “Zeynalov has been charged with committing a murder driven by hooliganism,” Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Interfax on Friday. According to investigators’ information, “Zeynalov denies the charges brought against him, and, as […]
» Read more
(opendemocracy.net – Daniil Kislov – October 17, 2013) Daniil Kislov is a poet, journalist and essayist from Uzbekistan. He currently lives in Moscow. He is the main editor of the online news portal Fergana News. An ethnic Russian is killed at a Moscow street market, supposedly by a migrant from the Caucasus; the ensuing riot by nationalist extremists leaves one […]
» Read more
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Claire Bigg and Arifa Kazimova – October 16, 2013) Footage detailing the heavy-handed arrest of an Azerbaijani native suspected of killing a Russian man in Moscow has escalated mounting ethnic tensions between the two nations. Russian police detained Orkhan Zeynalov on October 15 on suspicion of fatally stabbing a 25-year-old ethnic Russian man, Yegor Shcherbakov, in […]
» Read more
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, October 16, 2013) The Kremlin’s moves against the principles of the Russian Constitution and basic human rights are currently coming at such a rapid pace that it is difficult to keep up with its assault on what remains of democracy in that country. This week alone featured three initiatives that are particularly […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – October 16, 2013) Police on Tuesday detained the suspect in a killing that provoked a wave of ethnically charged riots in Moscow’s Western Biryulyovo district on Sunday. The alleged murderer, Orkhan Zeinalov, 30, who came to Moscow more than 10 years ago from the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, was detained 100 […]
» Read more
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Tom Balmforth – MOSCOW, October 14, 2013) Moscow’s migrant workers have seen this story before and they believe they have reason to be afraid. When an unidentified man — believed to be from the Caucasus — stabbed and killed a young ethnic Russian on October 10, triggering the capital’s worst ethnic riots in three years, police […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, October 14, 2013) Lyudmila Alekseyeva, the chairman of the Moscow Helsinki Group, said the police officers ‘ actions during riots in the Moscow district Western Biryulyovo were right. “In this case, what has occurred should be classified as hooliganism. It truly was hooliganism, and the law enforcement agencies should punish the perpetrators,” Alekseyeva told Interfax on Monday. […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – Natalia Antonova, Acting Editor-in-Chief of The Moscow News – October 15, 2013) There is a kind of sad poetry to Moscow’s working class neighborhoods. The box-like Khrushchev-era buildings that seem like gigantic children’s toys rather than real housing, the hilariously poor grammar on thousands of tacked up advertisements, the cracked pavement, the whispering trees, and the stars […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – October 15, 2013) Surrounded by railroads, industrial estates and giant cooling towers from a local thermal plant, the Western Biryulyovo district where riots broke out Sunday oozes its own sense of disunion from the rest of Moscow and residents say it has become a hostage to its own growing marginalization. “If […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Oleg Sukhov – October 15, 2013) In response to a violent race riot in southern Moscow over the weekend, federal and city authorities announced new measures to fight illegal immigration and detained about 1,200 migrants at a vegetable storage facility that had been attacked by rioters Sunday. With these actions, the government took a first […]
» Read more
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, October 14, 2013) The ethnic violence in Moscow’s Biryulevo district over the weekend is only the latest pogrom to have occurred in the Russian capital since Vladimir Putin became president, something that all those who are following this rapidly developing story need to keep in mind to comprehend what this latest clash. […]
» Read more
From: Dominique Arel <darel@uottawa.ca> Subject: ASN 2014 Convention Call for Papers Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 Call for Papers 19th Annual World Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN) International Affairs Building, Columbia University, NY Sponsored by the Harriman Institute 24-26 April 2014 www.nationalities.org ***Proposal deadline: 24 October 2013*** [Please note that the deadline is earlier than […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW. September 17, 2013) Over 500 people have been pardoned under the economic amnesty declared in July 2013 by the Russian State Duma, the office of Russian business ombudsman Boris Titov said. “As of September 16, the number of individuals, to whom the State Duma’s decree On Declaring Amnesty from July 2, 2012 was applied, is 525 people,” […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ian Bateson – September 18, 2013) Bolshoi Theater artistic director Sergei Filin appeared at the theater Tuesday to help kick off its 238th season, nine months after being splashed in the face with acid in an attack that shocked the world. Standing up at the event and looking around wearing protective sunglasses, Filin said he […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, September 12, 2013) Business ombudsman Boris Titov believes the issue of criminal prosecution of businessmen is blown out of proportion, although law enforcement agencies are frequently biased against businessmen. “Statements made in the press sometimes blow the issue out of proportion. Statistically, it’s not 300,000 people who have been prosecuted. A little more than 13,000 people, including […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Vladimir Goryachev and Oleg Sukhov – September 3, 2013) Mayoral candidate Alexei Navalny has voiced support for an economic amnesty and a windfall tax on some privatized assets at a high-profile meeting with businessmen and top executives, Vedomosti reported. The event was the first public meeting with entrepreneurs during Navalny’s campaign, with the previous ones […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – August 29, 2013) Mikhail Fedotov, head of the Presidential Council for Human Rights, has proposed introducing a broader amnesty for economic crimes in addition to the one that began in July, Kommersant reported Wednesday. He said the amnesty should be prepared for the 20th anniversary of the Russian Constitution in December. Fedotov said the first […]
» Read more
(Interfax – August 23, 2013) Half of crimes in Moscow are committed by migrants; in general, the situation with ethnic crime in the Russian capital remains tense; the head of the Moscow city’s central directorate of the Interior Ministry, Anatoliy Yakunin, told Russian privately-owned news agency Interfax on 23 August. “I’d like to say that 50 per cent of all […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Patrick Sewell, special to RBTH – August 19, 2013) Flare-ups of nationalist conflict in July exposed the government as being either unable, or unwilling, to oppose a dangerous nationalist interpretation of Russian statehood with one based on civic identity. On July 8, 600 citizens in the southern town of Pugachev, angered by the […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, August 15, 2013) Russian human rights activists do not believe the murder of Memorial center activist Natalya Estemirova in Grozny is being properly investigated and say there is no political will to find the actual murderers. “It is certain that there is no political will to solve this case,” Svetlana Gannushkina, the head of the Civil Assistance […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – August 16, 2013) A defendant in the ongoing trial over the murder of prominent investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya was shot and wounded near Ulitsa 1905 Goda metro on Wednesday evening, his lawyer said. Dzhabrail Makhmudov, who along with his two Chechen brothers Rustam and Ibragim is accused of being involved in the […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, Aug 14, 2013) The number of convicts who have walked free under the so-called economic amnesty has now exceeded seventy, the press service for the Federal Service on the Enforcement of Punishments has reported. “Seven people who served their sentences in correctional establishments and 35 people registered with criminal enforcement inspectorates have been released under a decree […]
» Read more
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova, Acting Editor-in-Chief – August 12, 2013) Pavel Adelgeim, an outspoken Orthodox priest, was stabbed to death last week. His death was a tragic end to an equally tragic life. Father Pavel, as he was known to many, was the son of parents who suffered grievously from repressions in the Soviet Union. In the […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – August 6, 2013) The Federal Migration Service has drafted a bill to set up 83 new detention centers for illegal immigrants across the country as Moscow’s three holding facilities run out of space following a week of raids on city markets. Some 1,400 alleged illegal immigrants from Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Syria, Morocco, Kyrgyzstan, […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – August 7, 2013) One of Russia’s most revered priests, widely considered a “dissident priest” for his strong criticism of the Russian Orthodox Church, was stabbed to death on Monday night in the northwestern town of Pskov. Pavel Adelgeim, 75, was found dead by his wife late Monday, with the suspect still at […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – August 5, 2013) The performance of popular U.S. rock band Bloodhound Gang was canceled over the weekend after one of its musicians shoved a Russian flag into his underpants at a concert in Ukraine, prompting outrage from Russian officials and calls for an investigation into the possibility that the flag fiasco was […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, August 5, 2013) Four environmental activists in southern Russia have been given lengthy jail terms for extorting money from a real estate developer, though they denied the accusations, Russian media reported. Four employees of the Gelendzhik Human Rights Center in the Krasnodar Region were given jail terms of between eight and 13 years in a […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, August 2, 2013) Bolshoi Theater Artistic Director Sergei Filin, who is being treated in a German clinic, has said he does not rule out that he might return to the theater in September. “If vision in my left eye continues recovering at the same pace and if it stabilizes, it is quite possible that I could return […]
» Read more
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – July 25, 2013) Despite its image as a den of high tech thieves international credit card company VISA reports that fraud in Russia is 10-times less than in its other markets. The company said that card fraud in Russia costs it 5 kopecks per 1,000 annually, a tenth of the company’s global average, VISA […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yulia Ponomareva, RBTH – July 22, 2013) After the latest in a series of murders in the North Caucasus, Russian Duma deputies are proposing an increase on the maximum prison sentence for violence against journalistsfrom six years to ten. On Wednesday, July 10, a bill toughening the penalty for offenses against journalists was […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, July 23, 2013) The first thirteen businessmen have been set free in Russia as part of an economic amnesty for white-collar criminals that came into effect earlier this month, business ombudsmen Boris Titov said Tuesday. “As of now, 13 people have been released under the amnesty,” Titov told reporters. Eight people have left pre-trial detention […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 11, 2013) The director of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN), Viktor Ivanov, has confirmed an upsurge in smuggling Afghan heroin to Russia. “We see a larger flow of Afghan drugs to Russian territory. (Drug hauls) intercepted by our services in the first half of the year increased 1.5-2 times as compared with the same […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, July 10, 2013) Russian officials and community leaders tried Wednesday to cool interethnic tensions by calling for a liquor ban, evacuating “radical” youngsters and promising justice, after a stabbing death in a small town triggered days of angry protests demanding that residents from Russia’s war-scarred republic of Chechnya be kicked out. President Vladimir Putin’s regional […]
» Read more
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Tom Balmforth – July 10, 2013) MOSCOW — It’s sort of a freelance sting operation aimed at suspected pedophiles. And it works like this: An activist logs into an Internet chat forum and poses as a minor. If an adult man shows interest and suggests inappropriate contact, he is gently warned that his interlocutor is underage. […]
» Read more