(Moscow News - themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – April 29, 2013) Anna Arutunyan is an editor and correspondent at themoscownews.com As the head of an organization that helps people suffering from cystic fibrosis, an incurable genetic disorder that affects the lungs, Olga Alekina, of the Aid to Patients with Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, wasn’t exactly daunted when prosecutors demanded an explanation for the foreign financing that her organization gets. After all, she’s
(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 26, 2013) Russian human rights commissioner Vladimir Lukin said that the tragedy in the psychiatric clinic in Ramensky village in the Moscow region’s Dmitrov district was a consequence of a number of issues in the sphere. “I share deep grief of all relatives and loved ones of the victims. Of course, possible criminal liability for what has happened can only be a result of a thorough
(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 25, 2013) Russians are mostly happy with their lives, especially those living in Tyva, Dagestan, Adygea and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, the poll held by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) showed. The poll was carried out in 2,220 settlements in 79 Russian regions among 56,900 respondents. A total of 73% Russians consider themselves happy. The following groups of respondents are the most optimistic: students (88%), executives
(RIA Novosti - GORKI, Moscow Region, April 24, 2013) New legislation banning smoking in public places could save up to 200,000 lives annually in Russia, which has some of the highest rates of smoking in the world, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday. “I hope that it [anti-smoking law] will contribute to reducing this factor [smoking],” Medvedev said at the first session of the government’s health protection committee.
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – April 18, 2013 – Robert Coalson) The whole process took less than an hour. At 10:26 a.m. on March 18, Lyudmila Popkova was handed a piece of paper ordering her to appear before Moscow Judge Tatyana Neverova. At 11 a.m. the same day. Hustled off to court by investigators, Popkova spent 15 minutes in front of Neverova at the Tverskoi district court. She was not allowed
(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 9, 2013) Mortality rates in Moscow have declined by practically every parameter thanks to the modernization of city healthcare in 2011-2012, city health department head Georgy Golukhov said at a city government meeting on Tuesday. “The death rate from external causes decreased by 25% in the reporting period; the death rate from respiratory disorders went down by 19%, and the death rate reported by suicides dipped
(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 9, 2013) Physical education and sport in Russia have improved over the past seven years in the eyes of respondents polled by the Russian Public Opinion Study Center (VTsIOM). The percentage of positive opinions grew from 42% to 59%. The negative opinions declined from 44% to 30%, VTsIOM told Interfax. The majority of positive opinions were expressed by young Russians (70%). VTsIOM polled 1,600 respondents in
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Kristen Blyth – April 8, 2013) A few years ago, an autistic boy named Anton wrote an essay about life. “People rush. People swear,” it reads. “Now happy. Now serious. People bang and rattle. They’re not shaggy. They get lost. Ginger. Deep. They skin things. People renovate houses and barns. People will endure a bit more…People are finite. People fly.” Anton’s unexpected expression of intuition
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, April 4, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/04/window-on-eurasia-life-expectancy-in.html) For the first time in a decade, life expectancy at birth in the Russian Federation has declined, the Russian state statistical agency says, and while the decline was small, demographers say that it reflects a disturbing trend, one that also includes the end of the much-ballyhooed mini-”baby boom” in that country. According to a report in yesterday’s
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Eugen Tomiuc – April 2, 2013) More than two decades after the fall of communism, most former Soviet countries still have mortality rates significantly higher than those in Western Europe. Cardiovascular disease, high infant-mortality rates, infectious diseases, and a decrease in the quality and financing of public health-care systems were the main factors driving the trend, according to an article that appeared last week in “The
(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 3, 2013) Over one million people have died from Afghan heroin in the world since 2001 and the NATO operation against drug production in Afghanistan is ineffective, Russian Federal Drug Control Service Chief Viktor Ivanov said. “Since the 2000s, since the beginning of the Enduring Freedom operation in 2001, over one million people have died from Afghan heroin in the world, moreover, over one trillion U.S.
(opendemocracy.net – Mikhail Loginov – March 21, 2013) Mikhail Loginov is a journalist and novelist based in St Petersburg. He is the author of the recently published bestselling political thriller “Battle for Kremlin”. Throughout Russia’s history its rulers have attempted to curtail the consumption of alcohol and/or tobacco. Gorbachev had little success in the 1980s; will this year’s new laws have any more success, asks Mikhail Loginov? The town of
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Winning – March 21, 2013) Health officials are complaining that Russia is becoming increasingly dependent on the West for medical supplies and top-flight treatment, as a growing number of Russians choose overseas clinics over state medical care. Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova told regional health authorities on Wednesday that instead of traveling either abroad or to Moscow and St. Petersburg for medical care as many
(opendemocracy.net – Yelena Vorobyova – March 13, 2013) Yelena Vorobyova is a journalist from Bryansk, Russia Russia has the highest underage suicide rate in Europe. Yelena Vorobyova reports from the Bryansk region, where 10 children have taken their own lives in as many months. Masha says, ‘We can still be friends’. Masha sends hundreds of smiley faces on social networking site VKontakte. Masha doesn’t go out. Masha goes out, but
MOSCOW. March 13 (Interfax) – The birth rate in Russia grew by over 10% year-on-year this January. “Some 158,900 babies were born in January 2013 or 15,100 (10.5%) more babies than the year before. That was the highest January birth rate since the launch of the demographic program. Birth rates tend to be lower in the first month of the year,” the ministry said on Wednesday. Most of the Russian
MOSCOW. March 11 (Interfax) – Russia has the biggest child suicide rate in Europe, the Rospotrebnadzor website reported on Monday. “Russia has the highest suicide rate among children and teens in Europe. The rate has grown by 35%-37% in the recent years. In all, Russia reported about 800,000 suicides from 1990 to 2010,” it said. The child suicide rate continues to grow in Russia, the report said. “A survey showed
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Ben Aris, special to RBTH – March 11, 2013) Russians’ legendary capacity for hard drinking is finally being challenged by a changing work ethic and a Kremlin crackdown. Faced with Russia’s alarming demographic decline, the government is getting serious about tackling the country’s legendary love of strong liquor. This January, stiff new taxes saw the cost of vodka soar, while harsh restrictions
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – March 6, 2013) Russia saw virtually no increase in life expectancy from 1990 to 2010 and lagged behind more than 100 countries in the key health statistic over that period, according to a global study released Tuesday. The study, called the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2010, says that while global life expectancy increased by nearly five years from 1990 to 2010,
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Svetlana Smetanina, special to RBTH – February 26, 2013) A new law on education soon to be passed in Russia will allow parents of children with special needs to demand that their children be educated in regular state schools. Moscow Technological High School 1540 has been teaching children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) for over 15 years. “At first we were driven by
WASHINGTON, February 25 (By Sasha Horne for RIA Novosti) The Kremlin has moved aggressively in recent months to stifle US influence on its domestic politics, but America’s fast-food footprint continues to grow across Russia’s nine time zones. Iconic US eatery McDonald’s has announced it could widen its presence from Russia’s western exclave of Kaliningrad to eastern Siberia in a race to satisfy what industry experts describe as a growing
MOSCOW, February 20 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, approved a bill on Wednesday banning smoking in public places. The ban, which takes effect on June 1, was passed by 125 votes. Four senators voted against the bill and six abstained. The State Duma, the parliament’s lower house, passed the bill in its third and final reading on February 12. The bill introduces a gradual
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Aleksandras Budrys – February 20, 2013) Most Russians support measures aimed at restricting the advertising, sale and use of tobacco products contained in the new bill passed by both houses of parliament, but are divided about its outcome, a poll run by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) showed on Wednesday. It showed 79 percent of respondents approved the ban on all forms of
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Kristen Blyth – February 18, 2013) Making a smoking section at a restaurant, as comedian George Carlin once put it, is like designating a urinating section in a swimming pool. The two are not separate, whether you like it or not. In Russia, a country where about 39 percent of people are regular smokers, coming home smelling like an ashtray has long been an accepted
MOSCOW, February 14 (RIA Novosti) – The infant mortality rate in Russia was 8.7 per 1,000 newborns last year, Health Ministry department chief Yelena Baibarina said on Thursday. “I have cited data from the Russian Federal State Statistics Service. During the 12 months of 2012, infant mortality rate reached 8.7,” she told a congress of pediatricians. Infant mortality in 2011 was 7.1 per 1,000 newborns. The infant mortality rate varied
WASHINGTON/MOSCOW. Feb 12 (Interfax) – The United States has criticized the ban Russia imposed on meat imports from February 11 due to ractopamine and says Russia is violating WTO regulations. The Russian agriculture watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor says other countries, including WTO members, have also banned imports of U.S. meat produced with ractopamine and Russia is simply following their example. In a press release issued by the Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Secretary
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – February 11, 2013) Anna Arutunyan is the politics editor of The Moscow News In early December in the Siberian city of Barnaul, Vitaly Sidukhinsky, 28, was trying to board a bus with his mother. The doors closed before his mother could get on the bus, and Sidukhinsky, who was mentally disabled and had difficulty communicating, rode on the bus alone. When the
MOSCOW, February 12 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, on Tuesday approved a bill banning smoking in public places in its third and final reading. The ban, which takes effect on June 1, was passed by a 441 to one vote. The Duma passed the anti-smoking bill in a second reading on January 25. It envisages a gradual ban on smoking in public, including in
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Alina Lobzina – February 12, 2013) Russians have nearly lost their fear of returning to Stalinism while old age and helplessness scare them more, a recent poll showed. The number of those concerned over a new wave of Stalin-era repression, anarchy, and civil wars has shrunk by nine times and 6.5 times respectively in comparison with a similar poll taken by the same pollster, VTsIOM,
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – February 5, 2013) Georgian wine and mineral water could return to Russian store shelves as early as this spring, Russia’s chief sanitary official said Monday. Moscow will send teams of sanitary inspectors to facilities in Georgia, Gennady Onishchenko told reporters. If they approve local quality levels, producers can register in Russia and resume imports, he said in comments carried by Interfax.
(RFE/RL – www.rferl.org – Tom Balmforth – February 5, 2013) MOSCOW — Denis Svidorov takes a drag on his cigarette, looks at the scene around him and wonders whether it will soon be a thing of the past. It’s lunchtime at a dingy cafe near Moscow’s Belarussky train station and there are smokers at nearly every table. Even the no-smoking room is cloaked in thick tobacco haze as weary waitresses
From: “HRW Press” <hrwpress@hrw.org> Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2013 Subject: Russia: Worst Crackdown Since Soviet Era For Immediate Release Russia: Worst Crackdown Since Soviet Era Government Should Stop Pressure, Reprisals on Civil Society (Moscow, January 31, 2013) The Kremlinn in 2012 unleashed the worst political crackdown in Russia’s post-Soviet history, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2013. The authorities introduced a series of restrictive laws, harassed
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Olga Doronina – January 31, 2013) On Jan. 25, the State Duma adopted an “anti-tobacco” bill that will ban smoking in public places, cigarette sales at kiosks and smoking scenes in films and cartoons. Most Russians oppose a total ban on smoking in public places, but smokers will have less than a year left to adjust to the new rules or kick the
MOSCOW, January 30 (RIA Novosti) – Bad roads, the spread of alcoholism and the critical situation in the housing maintenance and utilities sector are Russia’s most pressing problems, followed by poor healthcare services and drug addiction, the Federal Statistics Service (FSS) said on Wednesday. Last September, the FSS conducted a survey covering 10,000 households in all parts of Russia and a total of 19,800 respondents aged 15 and above. Over
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova – January 28, 2013) A total of 8,000 doctors in Russia became ruble millionaires over the last two years, as the government seeks to attract young specialists to rural areas to upgrade the quality of medical services, Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said Friday. The government provided 1 million rubles ($33,300) in financial support to each of the young specialists, who had agreed to
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Henry Meyer & Stepan Kravchenko – January 24, 2013) Russia weakened a proposed law aimed at cracking down on smoking in the world’s second-largest tobacco market before a key vote on the legislation tomorrow. While the bill keeps a ban on smoking in public places, it drops restrictions on cigarette sales and the right to set minimum cigarette prices, said Dmitry Yanin, head of anti- tobacco
VLADIVOSTOK, January 24 (RIA Novosti) Doctors are concerned about the rising number of Russians infected with tuberculosis (TB). This number has more than doubled over the past 15 years, a senior healthcare official said on Thursday. “Russia ranks 13th on the list of countries with the highest tuberculosis infection rate. There are over 240,000 patients with active forms of TB, four percent of them are children,” Valentina Aksyonova, Russia’s
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Winning – January 24, 2013) Suffocating bars, smoke-filled restaurants and ash-laden office stairwells could soon be a thing of the past if legislation aimed at banning smoking in public places passes the remaining few hurdles and gets signed into law. But not everyone is rejoicing at the prospect of a government-led crackdown on smoking. “Smoking is a habit for millions of Russian adults who
MOSCOW, January 17 (RIA Novosti) – Most Russians do not support the government’s move to impose a complete ban on smoking in public places and believe the emphasis should be on helping smokers quit, a pollster said on Thursday. The State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, is to consider the anti-smoking bill in its second reading on January 25. According to a survey conducted by the Levada Center in
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Roland Oliphant – January 15, 2013) The Health Ministry’s chief narcologist, Yevgeny Bryun, warned Monday that it would take a month for many Russians to recover from the excesses of New Year’s celebrations. “Long holidays are in any event bad. Long-term abuse of alcohol is always bad; it has chronic toxic impacts, the effects of which can last a month. Alcohol is only fully processed
(Russia rings in new year with ban on kiosk beer sales – AP – Jim Heintz – January 1, 2013 – Click here for full article) AP covers Russia’s abolition of sidewalk beer vending, as well as a Russian move to reclassify beer as alcohol rather than food: A big question in Russia in this year may be: “How do I get a beer around here?” Under a law that
(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Kurt Hepler – November 5, 2012) Meeting Report “The story of Russia’s engagement in global health and in international development assistance more broadlybegins many decades ago,” remarked Judyth Twigg, Professor and Chair, Program in Political Science and International Studies, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University; and Director, Eurasia Health Project and Senior Associate (Non-resident), Russia and Eurasia Program, CSIS.
MOSCOW, December 18 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow’s top psychiatrist backed on Tuesday a recent bid to legislate human emotion by imposing a limit on “negative information” in the media, starting with Apocalypse rumors. Reports about the upcoming doomsday and other soul-crushing news breed hopelessness and increase depression and suicide rates, said Boris Tsygankov, who supervises psychiatric help at the city’s healthcare department. Doomsday reports which have snowballed ahead of
(Moscow TImes – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – Dec. 18, 2012) When Maria Gritsai was diagnosed with late-stage cervical cancer, she didn’t spend much time grieving. She knew she had to act fast. With the support of her husband and son, she turned to the Blokhin Cancer Center, one of Russia’s best oncology hospitals, where the diagnosis was confirmed. Doctors there also gave her some devastating news: At such an
MOSCOW, December 13 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Justice Ministry on Thursday denied reports that a regional branch of the No to Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Foundation had been warned under the new “foreign agent” law. “This requirement [to disclose sources of foreign funding] has existed since 2006. Thus, the warning issued is in no way linked to the coming into force of the law on NGOs acting as foreign agents,”
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Alina Lobzina – Dec. 11, 2012) Obesity has become a problem for over 25 percent of Russia’s population, head of the Nutrition Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences said on Tuesday. After an annual examination of 1,500 people across the country, dieticians found that 55 percent of Russians had problems with excessive weight, Viktor Tutelyan told journalists. For Europe the highest obesity rate was
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – Dec. 10, 2012) Doctor Marat Gunashev didn’t even have time to change his slippers when masked law enforcement officials led him out of the surgery room on the morning of Nov. 28 and placed a bag over his head. The patient he was administering anesthesia to was left lying on the table. In a neighboring wing of the Makhachkala, Dagestan hospital where
MOSCOW. Dec 9 (Interfax) – Social activity is not a subject of the law on “foreign agent” NGOs, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told President Vladimir Putin’s election agents on Sunday. “Concerning the recent lawa(euro) There is no change with regard to social affairs, such as hospices. They are unrelated to political activity,” he said. Such organizations are not subject to registration as “foreign agents” but “they have to disclose sources
MOSCOW. Nov 28 (Interfax) – AIDS is spreading in Russia at a fast and accelerating pace, with more than 60,000 cases registered this year and about 70,000 people expected to pick the virus in 2013, the head of the national IDS center said on Wednesday. “About 20,000 have died (of AIDS) this year, and this is not the definitive number either – the final statistics will be released early next
(Interfax – Nov. 28, 2012) Russian head drug and alcohol addiction therapist Yevgeny Bryun believes that Russians drink as much as people in countries with unrestricted selling of alcoholic beverages. “The indicator stands at an annual 13.6 liters per capita. It is similar with the world average in countries without restrictions on distribution and consumption of alcohol. These countries consume approximately 12-13 liters of alcohol per capita. I think Russia
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Roland Oliphant – November 27, 2012) Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was showered by a wave of ridicule and negative public sentiment on Monday following a weekend tirade against bad driving. The backlash kicked off on Saturday when Medvedev used the latest entry on his video blog to call for a crackdown on the country’s notoriously lax attitude to driving rules by setting traffic violation fines
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