RIA Novosti: Russia Publishes Draft Law Restricting Foreign Land Ownership – Paper

Siberian Natural Scenery, with River, Trees, Hills

MOSCOW, November 20 (RIA Novosti) ­ Russia has published a draft law that will bar foreigners from owning or renting land in the country without official permission, a Russian newspaper reported Wednesday. The publication of the document follows reported consultation between government ministries, security services and migration agencies. Experts have warned the move could affect the country’s investment climate. According […]

» Read more

RIA Novosti: Russian Lawyers Protest Putin’s Court Reform

File Photo of YUKOS trial judge and courtroom staff

MOSCOW, November 20 (RIA Novosti) ­ Russian lawyers criticized the Kremlin on Tuesday in a rare display of public discontent, speaking against a court reform that would abolish what they called the most progressive branch of Russia’s judiciary. Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed in July to merge the Supreme Arbitration Court, which oversees business disputes, into the Supreme Court, which […]

» Read more

Kremlin struggling to get a hold on graft

Cropped File Photo of Two Men in Business Suits Shaking Hands and Passing Cash

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – November 19, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin is frustrated with the slow progress in his anti-corruption drive and struggling to take charge of the situation. Having ignored the problem for over a decade, the president has been forced to finally deal with the problem of graft, as Russia can […]

» Read more

Putin Adviser Sees Political Will to End Greenpeace Dispute

Polar Map Showing Permafrost Areas, Adapted From NOAA.gov Graphic

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Henry Meyer – November 19, 2013) Russia is showing “political will” to end a two-month-long dispute over the prosecution of Greenpeace activists after they began to be set free on bail, President Vladimir Putin’s human rights adviser said. “It’s a good sign,” Mikhail Fedotov said in a phone interview today from Moscow. “I hope the same […]

» Read more

Putin Takes Inputs on Tax Investigation Bill

File Photo of Man Placing Stack of Large Bills into Inside Pocket of Suitcoat

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Panin and Delphine d’Amora – November 18, 2013) While the Kremlin considers possible modifications to a bill that will restore investigators’ power to open tax fraud cases, lobbyists said small businesses and individual entrepreneurs, whose numbers are decreasing, are the ones most threatened by the legislation in its current form. The tempest centers on […]

» Read more

Interfax: Matviyenko calls for respect of Russian Constitution

Valentina Matviyenko file photo

MOSCOW. Nov 14 (Interfax) – Russian Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko believes the resources of the Russian Constitution have not been exhausted yet and the issue of changing it should be approached very carefully. “We should treat the Constitution very carefully. We should always remember that this document determines the long-term national development and is far from having exhausted its resources […]

» Read more

Prosecutors drop charges against Skolkovo Foundation

Skolkovo File Photo

MOSCOW. Nov 16 (Interfax) – The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has dropped its charges against the Foundation for the Development of the Center for the Elaboration and Commercialization of New Technologies (Skolkovo Foundation) after the latter corrected the violations uncovered earlier, the Prosecutor General’s Office said on Saturday. “The management of the non-profit organization Foundation for the Development of the […]

» Read more

Changing the Russian Constitution Fraught with Dangers, Experts Say

Russian Constitutional Court file photo

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, November 18, 2013) The Moscow media are full of stories that President Vladimir Putin plans to propose changes in the 1993 Russian Constitution in a message to the Federal Assembly on December 12 and will announce the establishment of a special 90-person Presidential council to consider and draft revisions. But some Russian […]

» Read more

Pussy Riot’s Tolokonnikova is in Krasnoyarsk penitentiary – watchdog

File Photo of Pussy Riot Members in Courtroom Enclosure, With Man Showing Papers to One While Female Guard Looks On

MOSCOW. Nov 14 (Interfax) – Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, one of the convicted performers of the feminist punk group Pussy Riot, has arrived at a penal colony in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Territory, a spokesman for the local branch of the Federal Penitentiary Institutions Service (FSIN) told Interfax on Thursday. Her family will be informed of that in due course, he said. “Tolokonnikova’s case […]

» Read more

Interfax: Putin denies that revision of tax legislation would be a clampdown on business

File Photo of Vladimir Putin at Valdai Club 2013 Meeting, Adapted from Screenshot of Valdai Club Video at youtube.com

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

Kudrin: Putin’s tax crimes bill means “major backward step”

Alexei Kudrin file photo

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

Interfax: Shakhrai: even minor adjustment of constitution may open “Pandora’s box” of political instability

Kremlin and St. Basil's

ST. PETERSBURG. Nov 14 (Interfax) – The Russian constitution is still up-to-date and does not need any alterations, constitution co-author, merited lawyer of Russia Sergei Shakhrai declared. “The constitution of 1993 is 20 years old, which means this fundamental document is still up-to-date and has creative potential,” he told the audience at a conference, “Modern Constitutionalism. Conclusions and Prospects”, in […]

» Read more

Interfax: Constitutional Court chairman opposed to alteration of constitution

Russian Constitutional Court file photo

ST. PETERSBURG. Nov 14 (Interfax) – The 20-year-old Russian constitution has commendably withstood the test of time, Russian Constitutional Court Chairman Valery Zorkin said. “The constitution has been tested during this drastic historic turn in the country’s life,” he told the audience at a conference, “Modern Constitutionalism. Conclusions and Prospects”, in St. Petersburg on Thursday. “It [the constitution] prevented the […]

» Read more

Putin Blasts Officials Over Discussing Disagreement in Public

Kremlin and Moscow Environs Aerial View

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Delphine d’Amora – November 15, 2013) President Vladimir Putin has reprimanded officials for discussing government issues in the mass media and suggested that those who oppose government policy had better leave their posts. The president was speaking Thursday at a meeting of the Strategic Initiatives Advisory Board when he was asked about a contentious bill […]

» Read more

RIA Novosti: Putin Vows to Eradicate Corruption Regardless of Rank

Cropped File Photo of Two Men in Business Suits Shaking Hands and Passing Cash

NOVO-OGARYOVO, November 15 (RIA Novosti) ­ Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to fight corrupt officials regardless of their rank or any other factors that may hinder the effort. “We will in the most serious way … continue eradicating this infection regardless of position or party membership,” Putin said at a meeting of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, which is tasked […]

» Read more

Interfax: Socio-cultural split in Russia can be overcome – Constitution Court Chairman

Russian Constitutional Court file photo

MOSCOW. Nov 14 (Interfax) – Public accord in Russia is attainable and its legal grounds are the basis of the Russian Constitution, which has considerable potential for legal reforms, Russian Constitution Court Chairman Valery Zorkin said. A number of research publications emerged in the field of Russian social science in the recent years and they allow that Russia has a […]

» Read more

Paying for terror in Russia

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – November 14, 2013) On November 2, President Vladimir Putin signed a controversial law changing Russia’s anti-terrorism legislation, enabling law enforcement authorities to confiscate the property of relatives of anyone who has committed a terror attack. The Moscow News has asked five experts to weigh in on whether the law will work and […]

» Read more

Kudrin’s proposals to reform law enforcement structures to meet serious resistance – political expert

Alexei Kudrin file photo

MOSCOW. Nov 11 (Interfax) – The concept to reform the law enforcement authorities drafted with the participation of the Committee of Civil Initiatives, headed by former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, is interesting but will meet serious resistance, the Center for Political Technologies First Vice President Alexei Makarkin said. “I think that the concept itself is quite adequate. I suppose that […]

» Read more

Russian ombudsman pledges to follow Pussy Riot case

Vladimir Lukin file photo

(Interfax – Moscow, November 12, 2013) Pussy Riot punk group member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has been placed at the medical unit of a prison colony in the Krasnoyarsk Region, human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin told Russian Interfax news agency. “Tolokonnikova has arrived in the Krasnoyarsk Region, where she will serve the remainder of the sentence. As I have been told, at […]

» Read more

Lawmakers Approve Bill to Merge Top Courts

Russian Duma Building

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Oleg Sukhov and Ivan Nechepurenko – November 13, 2013) The State Duma on Tuesday approved in the first reading a bill seeking to merge the Supreme Arbitration Court into the Supreme Court, as the former warned that the move could signal the end of the entire arbitration court system. Arbitration courts, which hear commercial disputes, […]

» Read more

Cancerous Corruption Pervades Russia’s Defense Sector

File Photo of Russian Nuclear Missile on Mobile Launcher Near Woods

(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 203 – Roger McDermott – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – November 12, 2013) Since President Vladimir Putin appointed Sergei Shoigu to be Russia’s defense minister in November 2012, the defense ministry leadership has resorted to Soviet-era “snap inspections” of its Armed Forces to raise combat readiness and gain additional insight into the condition of […]

» Read more

Interfax: Kremlin rights council asks Investigative Committee head to change pre-trial restrictions of Greenpeace activists

Polar Map Showing Permafrost Areas, Adapted From NOAA.gov Graphic

MOSCOW. Nov 12 (Interfax) – The Russian president’s Human Rights Council has asked Investigative Committee Chairman Alexander Bastrykin to consider the possible release of the Arctic Sunrise crewmembers who were detained for staging a protest off Gazprom’s Prirazlomnaya oil rig in the Pechora Sea from custody. “The Russian president’s Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights is […]

» Read more

Interfax: Council of Europe’s rights commissioner expects Russia to strengthen courts’ independence

Russian Constitutional Court file photo

MOSCOW. Nov 12 (Interfax) – Trials in Russian courts are not sufficiently adversarial, while acquittals are seen as a systemic flaw, said the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks. “The criminal justice system is still set up to deliver guilty verdicts and acquittals are perceived as the system’s failure. In the rare cases where acquittals do take […]

» Read more

Former Finance Minister Kudrin Proposes Major Reform of Law Enforcement

Alexei Kudrin file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Delphine d’Amora – November 12, 2013) Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin will present a proposal Monday to completely restructure Russia’s law enforcement system through the creation of independent municipal, regional and federal authorities. The reforms were formulated by The Institute for the Rule of Law at the European University in St. Petersburg and anti-corruption NGO […]

» Read more

Putin’s Plan to Merge Courts Criticized by Judges

File Photo of Vladimir Putin at Valdai Club 2013 Meeting, Adapted from Screenshot of Valdai Club Video at youtube.com

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – November 12, 2013) Supreme Arbitration Court judges have lambasted President Vladimir Putin’s plans to merge the legal body with the Supreme Court, saying that the resulting superstructure will be too cumbersome and less independent in administering justice. The way judges will be appointed to the new structure does not “conform with the […]

» Read more

The Zone

Kremlin and St. Basil's file photo

(opendemocracy.net – Ola Cichowlas – November 9, 2013) Ola Cichowlas is a British-Polish freelance journalist. She covers Russian regional politics and the arts in provincial Russia. The northern territory of the Perm region is known as ‘the Zone’ ­  a remote region of prison camps and correctional facilities. Ola Cichowlas came to know it quite well…. Russia’s prison camps are […]

» Read more

Interfax: Two thirds of Russians take positive view of police, many ready to help – poll

Russian Riot Police file photo

MOSCOW. Nov 8 (Interfax) – The attitude of Russians to police has improved lately, the Public Opinion Foundation said. “There has been an improvement of every essential parameter of personal security and police performance during nationwide monitoring; the situation looks better in 2013 than it was throughout the entire period of monitoring since 2009,” the Foundation said in a press […]

» Read more

Business Leaders Ask Putin to Review Tax Case Authority

Russian Duma Building

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Delphine d’Amora – November 7, 2013) Prominent members of the business community have sent an appeal to President Vladimir Putin asking for a reevaluation of amendments to the Criminal Code, which Putin himself submitted to the State Duma on Oct. 11, Vedomosti reported Thursday. The amendments would authorize investigators to open tax cases at their […]

» Read more

Road rage: Reality in Russia; 10 facts about Russian roads that will make you weep

Moscow Traffic file photo

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – November 7, 2013) Common wisdom has it that all of Russia’s ills originate in two simple things: fools and roads. Indeed, one of the biggest factors holding back the country that occupies one-sixth of the world’s landmass may be its transportation arteries – or lack thereof. 1) Some better off on horses […]

» Read more

TRANSCRIPT: [Putin] Meeting with heads of constitutional law faculties

Russian Constitutional Court file photo

(Kremlin.ru – November 7, 2013) Faculty members and researchers from more than 20 universities and institutes attended the meeting, held ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Russian Constitution. PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, friends. We are holding this meeting in the run-up to the 20th anniversary of the adoption of Russia’s Constitution. I will not lecture you […]

» Read more

Investigative Committee Seeks to Formalize Criminality of Tax Avoidance

Cash, Calculator, Pen

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – November 6, 2013) The Investigative Committee has developed a bill criminalizing tax optimization transactions, Vedomosti reported Wednesday. The proposed bill is set to amend the Tax Code by introducing definitions for “imaginary” and “fictitious” financial transactions. These terms refer to transactions which business either did not complete, or have completed, but fudged the description and […]

» Read more

Interfax: Pussy Riot’s Tolokonnikova still en route to new jail – human rights commissioner

File Photo of Pussy Riot Members in Courtroom Enclosure, With Man Showing Papers to One While Female Guard Looks On

(Interfax – November 5, 2013) Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, one of the convicted performers of the feminist punk group Pussy Riot, who is currently being transported to a new penitentiary, is feeling well and eating properly, Russian human rights commissioner Vladimir Lukin told Interfax on Tuesday. “Acting at the request of several human rights campaigners, I got in touch with the administration […]

» Read more

In Russia, ‘Death has Become a Way of Life’

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(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

Interfax: Too soon to talk of radical success in fight against corruption – Medvedev

Cropped File Photo of Two Men in Business Suits Shaking Hands and Passing Cash

MOSCOW. Nov 1 (Interfax) – It is too soon to talk of radical success in the fight against corruption, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with Reuters. “I think there is movement (on corruption) but it is probably too soon to talk about some kind of strong, radical successes,” Medvedev said in the interview. He said Russia […]

» Read more

The Soviet Legacy: The Impact of Early Bolshevik Law Felt Up to the Present

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – Ekaterina Mishina – November 1, 2013) The early Soviet criminal norms formed the basis for arbitrary interpretation and selective application of the law, as well as for judicial arbitrariness. IMR Advisor Ekaterina Mishina, a prominent Russian legal expert, contends that the legacy of that era is still being felt. In the first years […]

» Read more

Interfax: “Medvedev: progress made in intellectual property protection in Russia”

Dmitry Medvedev file photo

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

The mean streets of Russian nationalism; Who are Russia’s real nationalists? And why are they rioting?

Biryulyovo Riots file photo

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan, Natalia Antonova – October 31, 2013) In the past, Maria, a sales manager, never attended the nationalist Russian March, an annual rally commemorating Russia’s Day of National Unity. This time, less than a month after taking part in a violent nationalist protest in southern Moscow’s Biryulyovo district, is different. “I’m ready to go,” […]

» Read more

No criminal cases expected over violations in Skolkovo innovation centre

Skolkovo File Photo

(Interfax – October 31, 2013) The materials of the checks carried out by the Prosecutor-General’s Office, which uncovered serious violations regarding the use of budget funds in the Skolkovo innovation foundation, will not cause an immediate launch of criminal cases, privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported, quoting an informed source in the law-enforcement structures as saying. No criminal cases expected […]

» Read more

RIA Novosti: Bribery, Arrests Among Language Topics in Textbook for Migrants

Migrant Workers file photo

MOSCOW, October 30 (RIA Novosti) ­ “Why are you arresting me?” “Isn’t it just easier to give money to the policeman?” “What do you do if the police beat you?” Practice conversations in a special Russian language-learning textbook ­ handed out at an experimental new cultural integration center for migrants ­ focus on topics considered most relevant to guest workers […]

» Read more

Interfax: Less than 0.1% of Russian public servants have foreign assets, mainly in CIS – Kremlin

Kremlin and St. Basil's

MOSCOW. Oct 30 (Interfax) – Some 1,600 Russian officials have property and bank accounts abroad, mainly real estate in CIS countries. “It has been established that presently slightly over 1,600 municipal and government officials have foreign assets. Given all the statistical errors this is less than 0.1% of all pubic servants,” head of the Kremlin administration Sergei Ivanov told the […]

» Read more

Comments by Sergei Ivanov following meeting of the Council for Countering Corruption

Sergei Ivanov file photo

(Kremlin.ru – October 30, 2013) The Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office spoke with journalists about the results of auditing declarations by civil servants and staff at state corporations, as well as companies with state participation, conducted in 2013. Sergei Ivanov reminded journalists that anticorruption standards apply to all civil servants and officials, certain categories of municipal offices […]

» Read more

TRANSCRIPT: [Putin at] Meeting of the Council for Countering Corruption

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Speaking with Flag Behind Him and Microphones in Front

(Kremlin.ru – October 30, 2013) Vladimir Putin held a meeting of the Presidential Council for Countering Corruption. The main issues on the agenda were implementing state anti-corruption policy, and the effectiveness of recent legislative and administrative measures. PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, colleagues, We are here today to discuss the results of state anti-corruption policy. We have taken […]

» Read more

Skolkovo Warned Over Potential $4 Billion in Misspending

Skolkovo File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – October 31, 2013) Fraudulent schemes used during the creation of state-owned innovation hub Skolkovo have created the potential for misspending almost $4 billion in state funds, the Prosecutor General’s Office said Wednesday. “A lack of proper control on the part of Skolkovo Fund management over implementation of the project has prompted uncontrolled […]

» Read more

Corruption Checks Result in 200 Firings

Hands Opening Envelope Containing Cash

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – October 31, 2013) Some 200 officials, including eight unidentified senior officials, have been fired for “loss of confidence” over information in their income declarations for 2012, Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Ivanov told a meeting of President Vladimir Putin’s anti-corruption council Wednesday. In addition, the official number of corruption crimes decreased this […]

» Read more

RIA Novosti: Prosecutors Expose Major Irregularities at Russia’s ‘Silicon Valley’

Skolkovo File Photo

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

Navalny’s Bid to Reform Utilities Sector Headed for Rejection

Electrical Yard file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Oleg Sukhov – October 30, 2013) Two commissions of the Moscow City Duma on Tuesday recommended against registering opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s bid to submit a bill on utilities prices, which he has sought to make the first-ever grassroots initiative considered by legislative authorities in Russia. Navalny wrote on Twitter that the City Duma would […]

» Read more

Interfax: Russian society should not tolerate corruption – Putin

Cropped File Photo of Two Men in Business Suits Shaking Hands and Passing Cash

MOSCOW. Oct 30 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said an atmosphere of intolerance of corruption should be created in Russia. “The laws alone, the demands [against corruption] alone are not enough. We need to form an atmosphere of zero tolerance of corruption in society,” Putin told the Council on Corruption Prevention on Wednesday. The president believes there is a […]

» Read more

Interfax: Russia has political prisoners, head of rights council says

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Interfax – Moscow, October 29, 2013) Head of the Human Rights Council (HRC) under the Russian president Mikhail Fedotov has expressed the view that there are political prisoners in present-day Russia and they should be amnestied. “There are political prisoners in present-day Russia. The human rights community, include one abroad, has a view on this, and it clearly says that […]

» Read more

Moscow Times: Russians See Greenpeace Protest as a Foreign Plot

Polar Map of Major Rail Lines in Russia, Canada and United States, With Hypothetical Additional Route Drawn In Connecting Them Across Bering Strait

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – October 29, 2013) State pollster VTsIOM released survey results Monday regarding last month’s Greenpeace protest in the Arctic that indicate more than a third of Russians believe the protest was a foreign plot and more than two-thirds disagree with the group’s message of needing to protect the environment from oil drilling. Armed […]

» Read more

Russians Must Accept Court Decisions as Law – Medvedev

Dmitry Medvedev file photo

MOSCOW, October 26 (RIA Novosti) ­ Russians must learn to perceive the decisions of courts and investigators as legitimate for the country to develop forward, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in a televised interview Saturday. Answering a question about a high-profile corruption case that has ensnared several top Defense Ministry officials since late last year, Medvedev said that evaluating the […]

» Read more
1 17 18 19 20 21 32