(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Igor Rozin, based on Interfax – March 14, 2013) Representatives for the Russian church and the government hailed the election of the new pope as a good sign for Orthodox-Catholic relations. The Russian Orthodox Church has welcomed the election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, as Pope Francis. “The new […]
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(Interfax – March 7, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied he can influence the fate of members of the female punk band Pussy Riot who are currently serving prison terms. He was talking to journalists on a visit to Vologda on 7 March, as reported by Interfax news agency that day. “That depends not on me, but on the […]
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Moscow, March 5, Interfax – Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar supports the punishment of the members of the Pussy Riot punk band for their performance in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. “If we talk about the sentence itself, I think it isn’t that bad, because they did hurt believers’ feelings. It’s obvious they were to be punished. […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, March 1, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/03/window-on-eurasia-five-new-statistics.html) Five new statistics about Russia this past week one about Muslims in the army, a second about the state of its roads, a third about the number of illegal migrants in the country, a fourth about Russian attitudes toward religious instruction in the schools, and a […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – February 26, 2013) President Vladimir Putin said last week that returning a Jewish book collection confiscated after the Bolshevik Revolution was impossible because it would open a “Pandora’s box” of claims on such property. “[If Russia] starts satisfying these sorts of claims, there would be no end to them and no telling […]
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MOSCOW, February 21 (RIA Novosti) – Representatives of the four factions in the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, on Wednesday requested an extremism probe into an article on a Russian Orthodox Church reform by political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky. In the article published by the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily on February 15, Belkovsky says that the Russian Orthodox […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Aleksandras Budrys – February 20, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the country should not return cultural property confiscated by Bolshevik and Soviet authorities after the 1917 revolution to its previous owners. “If we now agree that such property of the Russian state will be transferred to someone, we will open a Pandora’s box. […]
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Moscow, February 18, Interfax – The inaugural congress of the Russian Ten Commandments Party took place in Moscow. The total of 134 delegates from 45 Russian subjects, including Christians of different confessions, Muslims, and Jews, participated in the inaugural congress on February 17. The political council, the decision making body of the party, was headed by Sergey Mezentsev, Ph.D. “I […]
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Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2013 From: “Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)” <newslist@isn.ch> Subject: No.122: Pussy Riot RUSSIAN ANALYTICAL DIGEST Newsletter 4 February 2013/No. 122 Pussy Riot To download this issue please click here: http://www.css.ethz.ch/publications/DetailansichtPubDB_EN?rec_id=2415 Analyses Failed for Now: Pussy Riot and the Rule of Law in Russia, by Caroline von Gall, Cologne The Pussy Riot Trial and the Russian Orthodox Church, […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Lucia Bellinello, RBTH – February 12, 2013) A few hours after Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation, Russia was already thinking about building relations with his successor. It had not happened for nearly 600 years. On February 11, 2013 Pope Benedict XVI (Ratzinger) announced his resignation in Latin to the Vatican. “I have […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 8 (Interfax) – The Russian Foreign Ministry has recommended that the Culture Ministry and the Russian State Library go to court to claim a fine imposed on the U.S. Library of Congress for holding seven books lent to it in 1994 from the so-called Schneerson Library, i.e. a collection of tens of thousands of old Judaic books and […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Alaa Omar, special to RBTH – February 8, 2013) In response to Russia’s support of Bashar Assad in Syria, Russia has been condemned in Arab media and press as hostile to Islam, exporting only “immoral values” to the region. Independent journalist and political analyst Alaa Omar takes a look at the other side […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – February 4, 2013) Anna Arutunyan is the politics editor of The Moscow News Just when I thought I was done, they pull me back in. Nearly one year since the girls staged the punk rock dance that got two of them sent to penal colonies, they are still one of the world’s […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Kristen Blyth – February 4, 2013) He’s young and slim, with a narrow face and dark beard. Deeply religious and intensely conservative, he supports all the precepts of traditional Christian values: church, family, God. He’s anti-abortion, anti-homosexuality, and opposes teaching evolution in schools. “It’s crazy to think that the world is millions or billions of […]
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(RIA Novosti – Andrei Zolotov, Jr. – January 31, 2013) [Photos here: http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20130131/179151559/Church-vs-Nukes-The-Dilemma-of-a-Secret-Russian-Town.html] SAROV – After an overnight trip from Moscow, the train chugs into a tiny, single-track station and stops at closed metal gates crowned with barbed wire. Some passengers disembark and walk to the nearby checkpoint where soldiers match their IDs against a list of authorized guests; others […]
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(Interfax – February 1, 2013) Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill served a liturgy in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on the fourth anniversary of his enthronement as patriarch. “These four years were full of so many events that would be enough for forty years and even more,” the patriarch said after the liturgy. A lot was done […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, January 28, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/01/window-on-eurasia-will-moscows-use-of.html) Moscow’s new effort to use “soft power” in the North Caucasus instead of the “hard power” it has used in the past may reduce the number of young people joining the militants and thus buy the center some time — but only at the price of opening […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, January 24 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/01/window-on-eurasia-kirill-moving-russian.html) Patriarch Kirill over the last two years has been working to transform the administration of the Russian Orthodox Church from that of “the late Middle Ages” into another one resembling “enlightened absolutism,” according to a leading specialist on the Russian church. In an article in “Vedomosti” yesterday, Nikolay […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Michael Bohm – January 25, 2013) Michael Bohm is opinion page editor of The Moscow Times. The decades-old legal battle over the “Schneerson library” reached a new peak after a U.S. district court in Washington ruled last week that Russia must pay an unprecedented fine of $50,000 every day until it returns the 12,000 religious […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 18 (Interfax) – A lawyer has expressed suspicion that there are string indications that the release of one of the three convicted members of the Pussy Riot punk rock band was part of a “bargain” between her and the prosecution and represented “betrayal of common interests.” Correspondence between the two other convicts, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, which […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – January 21, 2013) State-controlled NTV television on Sunday aired its latest documentary-style film targeting prominent opposition figures, this time for allegedly being part of an organized information campaign to discredit the Russian Orthodox Church. The film, “I Don’t Believe It,” accuses popular blogger Rustam Adagamov a member of the opposition Coordination […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, January 17 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/01/window-on-eurasia-radical-muslims.html) Last year was a “successful” one for radical Muslims in the Russian Federation and hence “a failure for their opponents,” Roman Silantyev says. As a result, the upcoming twelve months promise to be “still more unfavorable for [Moscow’s] policies in the Islamic direction” both at home and abroad. […]
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MOSCOW, January 16 (RIA Novosti) – A priest who proposed asking members of the Pussy Riot group to “forgive” the Russian Orthodox community has been relieved of his duties, but a church official said he believed the decision was unrelated to the priest’s comments. Father Dmitry Sverdlov was suspended from carrying out church services for at least five years by […]
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MOSCOW, January 16 (RIA Novosti) A Russian court on Wednesday rejected a plea from a jailed member of the feminist punk group Pussy Riot to have her prison term deferred until her young son reaches adolescence. Maria Alyokhina, 24, mother of five-year-old Filipp, asked for her two-year sentence to be delayed until her son turns 14, as allowed under […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 9 (Interfax) – Officials and businessmen need to win people’s confidence back, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the head of the synodal department on liaison between the church and society, said. “Many people now feel alienation from decisions made in the economic sphere. Decisions are made by a limited circle of people. Our president has called the privatization unfair. This […]
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(Russian patriarch says religion law must not go too far – Reuters – Alexei Anishchuk – January 6 – click here for full article) In the aftermath of the Pussy Riot prosecution, Reuters covers the Russian Orthodox reaction to Russia’s law on anti-religious offenses: Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a long-standing ally of President Vladimir […]
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(Interfax – January 6, 2013) Your Eminences the archpastors, honourable fathers, God-loving monks and nuns, dear brothers and sisters! Today the Holy Church radiantly and with joy glorifies the mystery of the birth from the Most Pure Virgin of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Creator, in loving his creation, ‘was manifest in the flesh’, ‘became man’ and ‘like […]
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(Kremlin.ru – January 7, 2013) Vladimir Putin wished Orthodox Christians and all Russian citizens a Merry Christmas. The message reads, in part: “Over the centuries this holiday has brought us the light of faith, hope and love. It unites us around traditional moral values that play a special role in Russian history and are the backbone of our society. Christmas […]
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MOSCOW, January 7 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Orthodox believers flocked to churches on Monday to attend Christmas services with some 6,000 people attending the service in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, called on the believers to “follow the Savior’s path of love” and to “always think about the wellbeing of all […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 1 (Interfax) – Head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill has said that the diversity of ideas inherent in church circles sometimes assumes absurd forms in the Internet environment. “In the web space groups of church liberals and conservatives are appearing that are not looking for the truth, divine truth but a means of finding fault, stinging […]
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(Interfax – December 25, 2012) Only 7 percent of Russians celebrate Western-style Christmas, according to a Levada Center survey obtained by Interfax. The indicator stood at 5 percent in 2011, 6 percent in 2006, and 19 percent in 2003. It seems Russians are bracing for the long New Year holiday season, Levada Center said. The majority of Russians celebrating Western-style […]
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(Alina Lobzina – Moscow News – themoscownews.com – December 19, 2012) The number of Russian Christians came under scrutiny after polls registered dwindling ranks of the faithful. The most surprising finding was that only 41 percent of all Russians say they are members of the Russian Orthodox Church, according to a poll carried out by Sreda, a research service. This […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 17 (Interfax) – Orthodoxy is the most common religion in Russia. Seventy-four percent call themselves Orthodox believers, while 7% say they are Muslims. Less than 1% profess other religions (Catholics, Protestants, Jews and others), the Yuri Levada analytical center told Interfax on Monday. The center polled 1,600 people in 130 towns and cities in 45 regions in late […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – Nov. 30, 2012) A city court has declared Pussy Riot’s “punk prayer” video extremist, meaning that media outlets can face closure for publishing the all-female band’s famous performance in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. Thursday’s far-reaching decision also means that hosting platforms like YouTube must remove the video for Russian users […]
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(RFE/RL – Uma Isakova – Nov. 28, 2012) An uneasy peace holds between Ruslan and Rustam Shapiyev in the Daghestani village of Komsomolskoye. Younger brother Rustam, who has taken the name Abubakar, says he loves and respects his older brother, who has adopted the name Magomed. “Of course, a brother is a brother. We are obligated to maintain kinship ties,” […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – November 26, 2012 – Anna Arutunyan is the politics editor of The Moscow News) I’m going to tell you a story about three pretty girls who defied the patriarchy no, wait, scratch that. This is a story of deceit, betrayal and revolution. No, scratch that, too. Here’s a tale of greed, […]
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NEW YORK, November 27 (RIA Novosti) – Members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot were nominated by influential magazine Time for the 2012 Person of the Year. The punk band is among 40 candidates, who influenced news this year for better or worse. The list also includes US President Barack Obama, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Syrian leader […]
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MOSCOW, November 23 (RIA Novosti) A growing number of Russians consider the Russian Orthodox Church to be a necessary feature of their national identity, a recent public opinion poll showed. Some 38 percent of survey respondents said it was “very important” to be an Orthodox believer if one wants to be considered “an authentic Russian,” according to a report […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – November 21, 2012) Yekaterina Samutsevich, the Pussy Riot rocker released from jail last month, is thinking about requesting that three of the band’s former lawyers be stripped of their licenses, her new lawyer told Kommersant. Sergei Badamshin said in an interview published Tuesday that the past lawyers Violeta Volkova, Mark Feigin […]
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(Interfax – November 20, 2012) Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is known to most Russians, and 62 percent of citizens polled recently know his name, the VTSIOM pollster told Interfax. Most respondents best informed about the Russian patriarch are pensioners or citizens of pre-pension age (respectively 72 percent and 71 percent), and also citizens with a higher education […]
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(Museum at heart of Russia’s Jewish culture revival – AP – Nataliya Vasilyeva – November 16, 2012 – click here for full article) AP takes a look at Moscow’s new Jewish Museum and Center of Tolerance: The museum, which opened this week, tells the history of Jewry through people’s stories, which come alive in video interviews and interactive displays. The […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – November 13, 2012) Gazprom contractor and billionaire Arkady Rotenberg, 60, has said that his childhood friend President Vladimir Putin was sent to Russia “from God.” Rotenberg, a longtime judo sparring partner of Putin’s who has investments in the construction and finance industries, is ranked as Russia’s 94th wealthiest man by Forbes with a personal fortune […]
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(Interfax – Novo-Ogarevo, 7 November) Grassroots anti-Semitism still exists in Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin has admitted. “You have said that there is less anti-Semitism now, but this means that it still exists,” he said on Wednesday (7 November) at his meeting with chief rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar and president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia Aleksandr […]
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(RFE/RL – Tom Balmforth – November 05, 2012) MOSCOW — Suicide bombings in police stations. Muslim clerics gunned down in broad daylight. Shoot-outs between insurgents and security forces. These have become run-of-the-mill headlines in Russia’s troubled North Caucasus region of Daghestan. Last week, unidentified gunmen shot dead an imam and two of his male relatives as they drove to morning […]
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(Prospect of show trial stirs some Russians’ memories of Stalinism; Some Russian activists are drawing parallels between a potential ‘mega-trial’ for leftist leader Sergei Udaltsov and Stalin’s show trials in the 1930s. But the comparison remains controversial. – Christian Science Monitor – By Fred Weir – October 30, 2012 – http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2012/1030/Prospect-of-show-trial-stirs-some-Russians-memories-of-Stalinism) The Christian Science Monitor reports on concerns by some onlookers […]
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From: Lucy Ash <lucy.ash.05@bbc.co.uk> Subject: BBC online stories Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2012 Audio slide show for “Putin’s favourite monastery. The wooded island of Valaam, in a large lake in northern Russia, is a beacon for Russian Orthodox believers – among them President Putin.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20041504
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MOSCOW, October 18 (RIA Novosti) – Pope Benedict XVI has agreed with the Russian Orthodox Church’s position regarding acts of vandalism in downtown Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral, the Church said. “Pope Benedict XVI has expressed solidarity with the Russian Orthodox Church’s position on the issue and perplexity over the reaction of a number of media to these events,” the […]
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Church’s Muscle Helped Propel President’s Rivals to Victory in Georgia – New York Times – Ellen Barry – October 14, 2012 – http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/world/europe/churchs-muscle-aided-win-of-presidents-rivals-in-georgia.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Ellen Barry writes on the Eastern Orthodox church in Georgia and its views of politics and recent elections: “As sharply contested parliamentary voting approached in Georgia last week, the country’s Orthodox patriarch implemented his own peculiar pre-election […]
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MOSCOW. Oct 11 (Interfax) – The Moscow City Court has evaluated the degree of every Pussy Riot member’s participation in the stunt in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The court found that Yekaterina Samutsevich did not shout in the cathedral and she was freed. “Samutsevich, like the others, put on a cap, took out her guitar, got into a […]
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MOSCOW. Sept 28 (Interfax) – Sixty-two percent of Russians are aware of the Innocence of Muslims scandalous film released in the United States. Thirty-three percent of them have heard a lot about the film, and 6% are monitoring the situation closely, the Levada Center told Interfax. Thirty-nine percent of the respondents learned about the film in the poll of 1,601 […]
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