Russia to set up Federal Copyright Service

Igor Shuvalov file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, October 14, 2013) Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov chaired a meeting last week where it was decided that Russia would set up a Federal Copyright Service, Izvestia newspaper reported Monday. “The new structure will offer government services to register and protect intellectual property, legal regulation, supervision and coordination of authorities in this area,” the paper […]

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Interfax: Russian Internet economy expected to grow 3-6%/yr even amid global crisis

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Interfax – MOSCOW, October 11, 2013) Russia’s Internet economy will continue to grow at a rate of 3-6% annually even if there is a global crisis, the head of the Russian Association for Electronic Communications (RAEC), Sergei Plugotarenko told reporters. “In preparing the study Runet Economy 2012-2013, we prepared four scenarios for the Internet economy’s development: innovation, stabilization, negative and […]

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Business looks to tech to salvage U.S.-Russia relationship

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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Artem Zagorodnov, RBTH – September 17, 2013) The reset may be over, but business leaders hope that trade ties do not have to be completely dependent on the whims of Washington and Moscow. Russian Innovation Week, which has started today in Boston and would continue this week in Silicon Valley, is the latest […]

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Kremlin_ru_eng Live Twitter Feed

Kremlin and Moscow Environs Aerial View

Date: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 From” “Timothy Post” <email@timothypost.com> Subject: Kremlin_ru_eng Live Twitter Feed I just created a live Twitter feed of all the news items published by the Kremlin Wire Service. If any of the JRL readers would like to subscribe to this feed (lots of folks have Twitter feeds come to their cell phones) they can check it […]

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40 percent of Russian Internet users are small-town

File Photo of Little Girl at Computer Next to Globe

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Dan Pototsky – September 5, 2013) People in small towns and villages are quickly getting the hang of the Internet. They account for more than 40 percent of all Internet users in Russia ­ a total of 27.5 million ­ according to TNS Russia. The fastest-growing segment of Russian Internet users is residents […]

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Medvedev proposes that bloggers be involved in information security sphere

File Photo Dmitry Medvedev at Desk with Laptop Computer

(Interfax – PYATIGORSK, August 19, 2013) People, who are constantly working in the information technology sphere, bloggers included, should be involved in developments in the sphere of information security, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said. “We must be ready to protect ourselves in case of any attack against our country or our interests. In my point of view, it is […]

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Nearly half of Russians do not mind piracy – poll

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Interfax – MOSCOW, August 13, 2013) Russians are not unanimous about the need to protect copyright owners, sociologists told Interfax. Some 48% of 1,600 respondents polled in 130 towns and cities in 45 regions in late July said it was possible to buy “pirated” discs and software. Thirty-nine percent argued it was improper and 13% could not answer the question. […]

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RIA Novosti: Most Russians Still Trust TV News More Than Internet – Poll

File Photo of Russian Television Studio

(RIA Novosti – August 13, 2013) The share of Russians who trust the TV is almost three times greater than of those who regard the internet as a trustworthy source of information, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported on 13 August, quoting the latest opinion poll from VTsIOM, the Russian Public Opinion Research Centre. Asked which source they would […]

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Moscow has U.S. Internet surveillance server – Vedomosti quoting Snowden’s disclosures

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Interfax – August 12, 2013) One of the servers of U.S. global system of monitoring Internet users is located in Moscow, Vedomosti daily reported on Monday quoting information shared by former CIA employee Edward Snowden with The Guardian. Vedomosti says this follows from a 2008 presentation of the U.S. National Security Agency published on the Guardian’s website on July 31. […]

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The Audacity Of Navalny

Alexei Navalny file photo

(RFE/RL – Brian Whitmore – August 8, 2013) There’s just no escaping Aleksei Navalny. Whether one thinks he’s Russia’s greatest hope, or the most dangerous man in Russia, he is absolutely dominating the conversation right now. The ruling United Russia party is complaining about his online fundraising, as is Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Television personality Ksenia Sobchak is worried about his aggressive […]

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Edward Snowden ‘In Safe Place With Friends’ – Russian Lawyer

Edward Snowden file photo

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, Aug. 2, 2013) Edward Snowden, who is wanted by the United States for leaking classified information on US surveillance programs and who was granted temporary asylum Thursday by Russia, has decided where he is going to live and is in a safe place with friends, a Russian lawyer who helped him with his asylum bid said […]

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RIA Novosti: Snowden’s Russia Asylum Gets Mixed Response From Rights Advocates

Edward Snowden file photo

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, Aug. 1, 2013) ­ The news that US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has been granted temporary asylum in Russia received mixed response from human rights advocates Thursday. The head of Amnesty International’s Moscow office said the human rights organization welcomed Russia’s decision to grant temporary asylum to Snowden, who had been holed up in a Moscow […]

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Website to be launched to provide online cover of mayoral elections

Arm and Torso of Person in Brown Sweater Placing Paper Ballot into Ballot Box

(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 23, 2013) A website, vybory.mos.ru, will go online soon to allow Muscovites to monitor the mayoral elections, Moscow’s IT Department head Artyom Yermolayev told the city government on Tuesday. “A technical scheme has been devised that will link up the video cameras intended for the police and housing utility services into an integrated video monitoring system, […]

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Interfax: Prime Minister Medvedev is best known blogger of Russia – poll

File Photo Dmitry Medvedev at Desk with Laptop Computer

(Interfax – July 19, 2013) Seventy percent of Russians have heard the “blogger” word but 29 percent do not know what it means, the Russian Public Opinion Study Center (VTsIOM) said in the presentation of a poll conducted in 42 regions on July 6-7. A third of the respondents (33 percent) could name some of the Russian bloggers. Twenty percent […]

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Navalny Verdict Dominates Russian News, Social Networks

Alexei Navalny file photo

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, July 18, 2013) ­ Russian public figures and foreign diplomats on Thursday weighed in on the five-year jail sentence handed down to anti-Kremlin activist Alexei Navalny, with opinions ranging from grim pessimism among liberals and “disappointment” from the U.S. ambassador to mixed forecasts by economic analysts and claims of a fair trial by pro-Kremlin pundits. – […]

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Russia – making bloggers ‘law-abiding’?

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova, Acting Editor-in-Chief, July 15, 2013) The latest legislative initiative from the State Duma would award popular blogs the status of media outlets. I am using the word “award” somewhat ironically here. United Russia Deputy Sergei Zheleznyak, who saw himself and his family attacked in the blogosphere after it was revealed that his daughters […]

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Germans Hail Snowden as NSA Evokes Stasi Seizing Lives of Others

Stylized Artist's Depiction of Shadowy Figures in Dark Coats and Dark Hats, One Carrying a Briefcase

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Cornelius Rahn & Leon Mangasarian – July 10, 2013) Willi Kuhlmann remembers the day the Berlin Wall was erected on Aug. 13, 1961, and how the system of spying on East German citizens by secret police known as the Stasi intensified. His experience as a border guard along the Wall that divided Germany’s capital city for […]

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Russia’s New Digital Vigilantes

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(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. […]

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Website owners obliged to delete slanderous comments posted by others – Russian Constitutional Court

Russian Constitutional Court file photo

(Interfax – ST. PETERSBURG, July 9, 2013) Website owners are obliged to delete information discrediting citizens posted in comments sections, the Russian Constitutional Court ruled. The resolution was made at a session on Tuesday. According to the materials of the court’s press office, the implementation of the right to freedom of speech imposes relevant obligations and responsibilities, including the respect […]

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Russian Wikipedia Faces Ban Due to Anti-Piracy Law – Director

File Photo of Little Russian Girl at Laptop Next to Globe

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, July 9, 2013) ­ Russia’s controversial anti-piracy law may cause the biggest online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, to be blocked in the country, the executive director of Wikimedia Russia said Tuesday. The legislation was pushed through parliament in less than three weeks and will come into force on August 1. It will allow copyright holders to get a […]

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Russia’s Internet: Between Regulation and Censorship

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Alexey Eremenko, RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, July 5, 2013) ­ The morbidly cute educational cartoon “Dumb Ways to Die,” about do’s and don’ts when using public transportation, has won critical acclaim at international ad festivals. But in Russia, it was banned as promotion of suicide. Over the past nine months, Russia has passed two bills regulating domestic Internet use, including […]

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Russians Still Get News From TV But Trust It Much Less – Poll

File Photo of Russian Television Studio

(RIA Novosti – July 8, 2013) Internet still trails far behind television as the main source of news for the people of Russia but their trust in TV reporting has decreased quite significantly in recent years, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported on 8 July, quoting the findings of the latest Levada Centre poll. In the poll carried out […]

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Leading Russian Internet Companies Object To New Anti-Piracy Law

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(RIA Novosti – Moscow, June 27, 2013) Russian internet companies have published an open letter against the “anti-piracy” bill, which was approved by the senators on Wednesday (26 June). It was posted on the website of the Russian Association of Electronic Communications (RAEC). The authors of the appeal are Mail.ru Group, Yandex, Afisha-Rambler-SUP, Google Russia, Ozon.ru, the Association of Internet […]

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Looking for Snowden in ‘The Terminal’

Edward Snowden file photo

(Moscow News/RIA Novosti – themosconews.com – Dmitry Vinogradov, RIA Novosti – June 27, 2013)  SHEREMETYEVO ­ A burlesque of Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal is being staged in Terminal E of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. Hordes of journalists flocked to the airport in the last several days hoping to find Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower who emerged into the global spotlight after […]

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Tolstoy’s Entire Body of Work Goes Online, Descendant Says

Leo Tolstoy file photo

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 26, 2013) ­ Count Leo Tolstoy was a prolific author, rich and generous enough to bequeath his works to be published and distributed free of charge. His epics “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina” still top most of the lists of greatest novels of all time, and his controversial views on Christianity earned him excommunication […]

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Long List of Suspects in Yakunin Hoax

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova and Alexander Panin – June 21, 2013) Russian Railways chief Vladimir Yakunin on Thursday attributed rumors of his voluntary resignation to a fight for control over large-scale projects of his company. But experts said Yakunin may have angered regional authorities by receiving huge subsidies for his agency and failing to significantly improve railway […]

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Moscow has questions about personal data leak in U.S. – Foreign Ministry

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 19, 2013) The leak of personal data requested by U.S. security services will be discussed at bilateral meetings of Russia and the United States, Russian Foreign Ministry Representative for Human Rights Konstantin Dolgov said. “We have questions to ask the United States and these issues will not be overlooked in bilateral contacts with the U.S. This […]

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PRISM and SORM: Big Brother is watching

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Kristen Blyth – June 17, 2013) George Orwell’s “1984” was, when it was published, purely a work of fiction. “There was, of course, no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment,” Orwell wrote. “You had to live in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in […]

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State Duma’s internet piracy bill stirs public outcry

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alexandra Guzeva, RBTH – June 14, 2013) Attempts to toughen Russia’s piracy laws were met with hostility among bloggers and advocates, resulting in a softer version in parliament. A draft bill to fight Internet piracy is moving forward in the Duma after a more punitive version provoked a firestorm of criticism. Attempts to […]

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Russia’s internet party

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(opendemocracy.net – Emil Pain) Emil Pain is a professor at the National Research University­Higher School of Economics, Moscow, and the General Director of the Center for Ethno-Political Studies Does Russia’s online community have anything resembling a common philosophy? New analysis of social media suggests the only idea shared right across the political spectrum is xenophobia. Emile Pain presents the research. […]

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Russian Security Service chief worried about extremism being spread online

File Photo of Partial FSB Headquarters Building Facade

(Interfax – June 11, 2013) The director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Aleksandr Bortnikov, has said that social networksand shortcomings in migration laws contribute to the proliferation of extremism in Russia. His comments at a session of the National Antiterrorist Committee were reported by the Interfax news agency on 11 June. “Part of the internet has become a […]

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Russia to Fast-Track New Online Censorship Bill

Russian Duma Building

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 12, 2013) ­ A Russian parliamentary committee approved for review a new controversial anti-piracy law dubbed “the Russian SOPA” by critics after a similar US bill. The bill will undergo on Friday the first of three required readings in the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, and may be passed by mid-July, […]

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Interfax: Pushkov says U.S. to be hysterical if Russia grants political asylum to surveillance leaker

Alexei Pushkov file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 11, 2013) The United States will be hysterical if Russia grants political asylum to (name/post redacted), State Duma International Affairs Committee Chairman Alexei Pushkov tweeted on Tuesday. “By promising asylum to (name redacted), Moscow undertakes the protection of persons persecuted for political motives. The U.S. will be hysterical. They recognize it as their right,” he said. […]

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Watching the NSA Prism scandal from Russia

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova, Acting Editor-in-Chief – June 10, 2013) The NSA Prism surveillance scandal is disconcerting for many reasons – all of which I won’t get into here. What is especially curious about it is how meek other Western governments and even rights organizations are sounding when they talk about it. Amnesty International noted that the […]

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On Intolerance to “Others”: An Ideological Portrait of Modern Russia

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – Boris Bruk – June 3, 2013) The principal idea that consolidates different parts of Russian society is xenophobia and intolerance to “others.” Such, at least, was the conclusion of a new study on Russia’s “ideological portrait.” IMR Advisor Boris Bruk, who has analyzed the study, is skeptical about predictions of a “fascist” future […]

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Medvedev Learns Geology at Skolkovo as Startups Seek Their Niche

Skolkovo File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Guennadi Moukine – May 29, 2013) Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited the Startup Village conference at Skolkovo on Tuesday, reaffirmed his commitment to the Skolkovo innovation hub following a recent embezzlement scandal surrounding the project he conceived during his presidency, and learned a bit of geology. “I never knew that Kaliningrad had commercial geo-thermal sources,” […]

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Prison or presidency for ‘Russia’s Kennedy’? [re: Navalny]

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(opendemocracy.net – Ekaterina Loushnikov – May 25, 2013) Ekaterina Loushnikova is radio and print journalist based in the city of Kirov Charismatic opposition leader Aleksey Navalny is on trial in the provincial capital of Kirov, 900km from Moscow. He is controversially accused of stealing timber worth 16 million roubles in 2009; if found guilty, he will spend his next few […]

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Russia’s Top Social Network Under Fire

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Tom Balmforth – MOSCOW – May 28, 2013) When Vkontakte.ru briefly appeared on a government blacklist of banned websites last week, it raised eyebrows. Russia’s leading social network isn’t just a place where friends connect, make plans, and share experiences. It’s also one of the main platforms the opposition has used to organize its activities across […]

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The Turning Point for Russia Will Be a Higher Proportion of People on the Internet

File Photo of Little Girl at Computer Next to Globe

(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Mary Elizabeth Malinkin and Andrey Miroshnichenko – May 22, 2013) Interview with Andrey Miroshnichenko, Fulbright-Kennan Institute Research Scholar, upon the completion of his grant, Spring 2013 Malinkin: During your Fulbright scholarship you have been looking at the question “Will Russian media go the way of American media?” What are your thoughts about this, based on […]

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Surkov Ridicules Government’s New Website

Vladislav Surkov file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimews.com – May 21, 2013) Former deputy prime minister Vladislav Surkov has ridiculed the English version of the government’s new official website presented by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Monday. Surkov posted in his Twitter blog a screenshot of the new site’s introductory page with comments pointing to obvious grammatical errors as well as awkward translation into […]

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Russians say Internet does more good than harm – poll

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Interfax – May 21, 2013) The Internet audience in Russia has been growing year on year and most of users believe the worldwide web has nothing but advantages, the Russian Public Opinion Study Center (VTsIOM) said after having polled 1,600 respondents in 42 regions of the country on March 30-31. At present 65 percent browse the Internet daily, weekly or […]

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Two Thirds of Russians are Internet Users – Survey

File Photo of Little Russian Girl at Laptop Next to Globe

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, May 21, 2013) A total of 59 percent of Russians use Internet, up three percentage points since last year, according to the results of a survey published on Monday by an independent pollster, Levada Center. The figure was only five percent when Levada Center first polled Russians on the issue in 2001. The percentage varies greatly […]

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60% of Russians wish to bar children from social networks – poll

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 16, 2013) Some 57% of Russians polled by the Superjob.ru portal support the idea of banning children younger than 13 from social networks. Another 17% expressed their support but said the age limit should be higher (49% stand for 16 years and 21% for 18). Fourteen percent were against and 12% could not answer the question. […]

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Radicalization of Tsarnaev Brothers Likely Did Not Occur in Chechnya

Boston Bombings Suspects File Photo Adapted from FBI Image

(Eurasia Daily Monitor – Volume 10, Issue 88 – Mairbek Vatchagaev – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – May 9, 2013) The role of the brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the Boston bombings is assessed differently on either side of the Atlantic. In the United States, few doubt they are terrorists and that the youngest son, Dzhokhar, who remains alive, […]

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Putin’s Lost Children

File Photo of U.S. Diplomat Teaching Class to Russian Students

(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – Donald N. Jensen – May 2, 2013) It is often argued that Russia’s democratic future is assured by the progressive and pro-Western attitudes of its youth. Donald N. Jensen, Resident Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, contends that the reality is more complex. […]

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Russian Deputy PM Lends Support To Social Networking Site

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(RIA Novosti – London, May 2, 2013)(Dateline as received) Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov hopes that social network VKontakte will continue despite the problems surrounding its founder, Pavel Durov. Social network VKontakte has recently found itself at the centre of several scandals. Information has appeared in the media about Durov’s involvement in a high-profile road accident in central St […]

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TRANSCRIPT: Direct Line with Vladimir Putin (continued)

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Kremlin.ru  – April 25, 2013) (transcript continued) Moscow MARIA SITTEL: We have a culture-related question from Moscow now. Ms Antonova, director of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, is here. You have the floor. DIRECTOR OF THE PUSHKIN STATE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS IRINA ANTONOVA: Mr President, my question also concerns St Petersburg. The matter is that 65 years […]

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Jihadist Websites Played Role in Boston Bombing

Boston Bombings Suspects File Photo Adapted from FBI Image

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – April 25, 2013) As more evidence surfaces that the Boston bombing suspects were motivated by a radical version of Islam learned largely from jihadist websites, the monitoring of such websites may prove to be the starting point for closer cooperation between the U.S. and Russia on security issues. The surviving suspect of […]

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Navalny’s Request For Further Trial Delay Rejected

Alexei Navalny file photo

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – April 23, 2013) KIROV, Russia — A court in Russia’s Kirov Oblast has rejected a request from anticorruption blogger Aleksei Navalny for a further delay in his trial. Navalny had asked for more time for his lawyers to examine the 28 volumes of documents associated with his case. Navalny is accused of being involved in the […]

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Navalny’s Taunts Led to ‘Speedy’ Investigation

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 15. 2013) Days before the much-anticipated trial of opposition leader Alexei Navalny is scheduled to begin, an Investigative Committee spokesman has suggested that Navalny’s constant criticism of the government caused investigators to “accelerate” work on the case against him. When someone “uses all his energy to bring attention to himself” and “provokes the government,” […]

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