DAVOS, January 23 (RIA Novosti) The danger of a global slump in the raw material markets remains a key threat to the Russian economy, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday. That means the Russian economy remains vulnerable to negative changes in global markets, the premier told the World Economic Forum in Davos. “That is why we continue to […]
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(Voice of America – Anna Malinovskaya – January 22, 2013) Perhaps all international students discover at some point that going to college in the States costs more than they pay in money terms. I have experienced personal costs that will impact my life long after my education here is done. Some I was prepared to encounter, and others caught me […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova and Anatoly Medetsky – January 23, 2013) Russian officials visiting the World Economic Forum 13 years ago were puzzled by U.S. journalist Trudy Rubin’s famous question about the newly elected Russian president: “Who is Mr. Putin?” This year, members of the Russian delegation, which includes state officials, economic experts and business leaders, are […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Alexander Gabuyev – January 21, 2013) Russia’s relations with China have long been governed by need and fear, even when they were supposedly linked by common ideology. Now China’s financial might means it can offer seductive loans to its cash-light neighbour. But Russia has so few specialist China-watchers to offer proper advice, says Alexander Gabuyev. In their time, […]
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(www.opendemocracy.net – Ben Judah – January 21, 2013) Ben Judah is the author of Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell In And Out Of Love With Vladimir Putin to be published in May 2013 by Yale University Press. He is an associate fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Is Russia in control of its relationship with the world’s emerging […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 22 (Interfax) – Former Russian foreign minister and former secretary of the Russian Security Council and International Affairs Council President Igor Ivanov said that the “reset” in Russian-American relations has exhausted itself and the two countries should move further. “Getting back to ‘reset,’ I think it has fulfilled its mission and exhausted itself,” Ivanov said in an interview […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anastasia Matveyeva, Moskovskiye Novosti – January 21, 2013) New calculations for pensions and a funded component, a possible luxury tax and a special structure that will come to manage Russian currency reserves are the main economic events that are expected in the coming year. How will these reverberate on us, and what will they will […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – January 21, 2013) Anna Arutunyan is the politics editor of The Moscow News Let’s call her Valentina Petrovna. Standing with her bundle of red carnations, she looked at me, a little indignant, and said, “I’m here to lay flowers at Lenin’s monument, of course. The Mausoleum is closed.” For the 89 years […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yulia Ponomareva, Combined report – January 21, 2013) The biggest anti-corruption campaign in the Defense Ministry in years has yielded its first arrest, at the agency’s very top. The head of the ministry’s Facilities Department has been placed behind bars for two months. New arrests have been made as part of the high-profile […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 21 (Interfax) – The majority of foreign migrants arriving in Russia come from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Ukraine. There is no growth of migrant crime rates, Federal Migration Service head Konstantin Romodanovsky told Interfax. “Only 3.4% of solved crimes are committed by migrants. Most frequently migrants are charged with document forgery,” he said. Migrant arrivals in Russia have grown […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – January 22, 2013) Russia urgently needs to attract immigrants over the coming years to avoid labor shortages, the country’s top migration officer said Monday. “Even if we manage to stabilize or increase the population by raising the birth rate, the only source for increasing the labor force for the coming 15 […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Kristen Blyth – January 21, 2013) In the early hours of November 7, 2012, 30-year-old lawyer Dmitry Vinogradov posted a message on his VKontakte profile. “I hate human society, and I am disgusted to be a part of it,” he wrote. “I see only one way to justify it: to destroy as many particles of […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – January 22, 2013) A presidential election in Russia isn’t scheduled for another five years, but the people who will run the polling stations and count the ballots are already being selected. Regional elections officials have until April 30 to form more than 90,000 local elections commissions nationwide one for every polling […]
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(RFE/RL – Tom Balmforth – January 22, 2013) Russian politics is so inclusive, pluralist, and teeming with new political parties that each party should adopt an animal as its insignia to make it easier for overwhelmed voters to remember which party is which. This is the solution put forward by Aleksandr Sidyakin, a 35-year old United Russia parliamentary deputy, to […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova – January 21, 2013) “The breaking point came when he stuffed my head into a toilet bowl and tried to make me drink the water,” Daria, a petite brunette in her mid-30s, told The Moscow News. “He claimed that something I had said to him made him feel humiliated and he had […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Henry Meyer, Scott Rose and Ryan Chilcote – January 22, 2013) Russia has a $10 billion sales pitch for investors at this year’s World Economic Forum: give us your money and we’ll worry about corruption for you. That was the line from First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov in an interview with Bloomberg Television last week […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – January 21, 2013) Angel Gurria, secretary general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, addressed the Gaidar Forum in a keynote address on Friday. [The global economic outlook] has deteriorated again, and the word “again” is probably the more operative one. We are indeed far from being out of the woods. We predict a […]
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MOSCOW, January 22 (RIA Novosti) Russia has no plans to allow foreign companies to work independently on the country’s continental shelf but will let them develop offshore deposits there in partnership with Russian state firms, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said on Tuesday. “As for the admission of foreign companies, no changes are planned, which means foreign companies can […]
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STRASBOURG. Jan 22 (Interfax) – Problems facing Russian-Georgian relations could be resolved easily if Moscow agreed to give up its “territorial claims”, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said. “Russia ought to give up its imperial ambitions, its territorial claims, and Georgia should rebuild its territorial integrity,” he said at the winter session of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) in […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Roland Oliphant – January 21, 2013) Government ministers were offered a free crash course in WTO rules after one of the country’s most senior financiers savaged officials for failing to understand the organization Russia finally joined last year. Pascal Lamy, the head of the World Trade Organization, said Friday that the group would be willing […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova – January 21, 2012) Accession to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development provides a good chance for Russia’s decision-makers to identify weaknesses in social and economic policy and respond with adequate reforms, the organization’s secretary general said. Jose Angel Gurria, who spoke at the Gaidar economic forum on Friday, said work on […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 18 (Interfax) – The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe must get rid of imbalances and double standards by 2015, becoming a fully-fledged international organization with its own charter, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. “Russia sees the Helsinki + 40 initiative as an important step that aims to launch the process of the OSCE’s renewal and […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 21 (Interfax) – U.S. President Barack Obama wants to continue the “reset” policy in Russian-American relations during his second term, said political analyst Nikolai Zlobin. “I think Obama would like to continue the ‘reset’ policy. I understand, the accent will be put in this reset on conventional arms reductions, nuclear weapons and the attainment of the global status […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – January 21, 2013) A left-wing economist who advocated firing Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will help draft the government crisis strategy in case of economic turmoil, according to a presidential order published in December, Vedomosti reported Friday. Sergei Glazyev will be on a task force that will develop the strategy. It will also […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, January 19 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/01/window-on-eurasia-real-opposition-to.html) The “real opposition” to the powers that be is not in Moscow but in the provinces, a Lipetsk writer says, because in Moscow, opposition figures simply want to replace one ruler with another while in the provinces people want the authorities whoever they are to play an ever-smaller […]
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Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 From: Robert Bridge <robertvbridge@yahoo.com> Subject: Letter to the editor re “Expect More Anti-Americanism in 2013” (JRL 2013-#12) Dear JRL, I can’t help but the see the incredible hypocrisy in the article entitled, “Expect More Anti-Americanism in 2013” (The Moscow Times, January 18), when this publication – Moscow’s only English-language daily – has practically declared itself […]
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MOSCOW, January 21 (RIA Novosti) Russia sold a record $15.16 billion worth of weaponry in 2012 while expanding its foreign client list, the Federal Military-Technical Cooperation Service (FSMTC) reported on Monday. “The volume of arms exports has reached $15.16 billion, according to preliminary calculations … which means that our plans have been fulfilled by 111.8 percent,” FSMTC chief Alexander […]
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(Interfax – January 21, 2013) Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) brought the country many advantages for protecting the domestic agriculture market, Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov said at a press conference in Berlin. “We view WTO accession as satisfactory and believe that it provides more pluses for protecting the domestic market,” he said. Membership in the international trade […]
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MOSCOW, January 21 (Vladislav Fedotkin, RIA Novosti) Russians have been shopping hand over fist in recent years, and borrowing more money than they can pay back to do it. Last year, overdue consumer loans surged, but analysts say that as long as world oil prices don’t plunge, a slew of emerging safeguards is likely to keep the credit bubble […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Eradzh Nidoev – January 21, 2013) If you live in Moscow, breathe and have a fairly stable hand, consider yourself invited to take part in a new documentary series. Casting for the documentary project “Realnost.Doc” (Reality.Doc), which aims to chronicle life within Moscow society through a series of amateur-shot clips, launched on Sunday. Chosen candidates […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 21 (Interfax) – Alexander Dolmatov, a leading rocket designer and an activist of the unregistered leftist organization The Other Russia, committed suicide in the Netherlands after having been interrogated under torture by Western special services, says The Other Russia leader Eduard Limonov. “After Sasha Dolmatov’s suicide note was published, it is clear that he was interrogated by Dutch […]
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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 19 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/01/window-on-eurasia-russias-leading-ngos.html) Squeezed by a November 2012 law that restricts their ability to accept money from abroad and the unwillingness of wealthier Russians to contribute to groups the Kremlin doesn’t like, an increasing number of prominent Russian NGOs are running out of funds and may soon be forced to close. […]
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(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 10 – Jamestown Foundation: jamestown.org – Margarita Assenova – January 18, 2013) Increased state control and consolidation of the oil and gas sector marked Russia’s energy developments in 2012, while the state budget remained heavily dependent on energy revenues. At the same time, Russia’s markets in Europe are shrinking due to the economic crisis […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines/Rossiyskaya Gazeta – www.rbth.ru – Fyodor Lukyanov – January 21, 2013 – http://rbth.ru/opinion/2013/01/21/washington_and_moscow_hope_for_reset_2_22039.html) Fedor Lukyanov is the editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs magazine and chairman of the Council of Foreign and Military Policy. The opinion is abridged and first published in Russian in Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Barack Obama is back in the White House. A second term […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – David Edwards – January 21, 2013) David Edwards is chief copy editor at The Moscow Times. An obscure Washington state politician once said her votes on proposed legislation were based on conscience, constituency and caucus in that order. She may be on to something. United Russia deputies in the State Duma who voted for […]
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(Voice of America – James Brooke – January 18, 2013) Russia’s new law banning American adoptions of Russian orphans is polarizing Russians into two camps: pro-West and anti-West. Russia’s parliament voted overwhelmingly last month to bar Americans from adopting Russian orphans. But the vote triggered this last week the largest protest Moscow has seen since President Vladimir Putin was inaugurated […]
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(RFE/RL – January 21, 2013) Despite claiming that he’s not a politician, Yury Shevchuk, frontman for the legendary Russian rock band DDT, is quite vocal when discussing political topics. Speaking recently at the Brooklyn Public Library, Shevchuk said he and his band are seeking to bring about democratic change in Russia through music. Nikola Krastev caught up with Shevchuk in […]
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(RIA Novosti – January 20, 2013) The opposition Coordination Council has decided to hold the next mass protest march in spring, Russian RIA Novosti news agency reported on 20 January. Twenty-six members of the Coordination Council voted for the proposal “to hold a nationwide mass protest in spring 2013, with the working title March against the Hangmen”. The exact date […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – January 21, 2013) Two opposition figures saw their legal troubles mount on Friday, as investigators pressed ahead with an embezzlement charge against protest leader Alexei Navalny and opened a criminal case into allegations that leftist activist Leonid Razvozzhayev falsely maligned them. Investigators presented the final version of a charge against Navalny that […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – January 21, 2013) Alexander Bastrykin’s Investigative Committee – which just celebrated its second birthday – is flexing its muscles in a much-touched anti-corruption crusade. But a look at its achievements in recent months suggests that while the body’s crime-fighting intentions may be sincere, Bastrykin’s caped crusaders are still far from Eliot Ness’ […]
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(Interfax – January 18, 2013) Over 70 per cent of Russians support the recently adopted law which bans adoption of Russian children by US families, Interfax news agency reported on 18 January, quoting a poll conducted by the pro-Kremlin All-Russia Public Opinion Research Centre (VTsIOM). Details of the poll were posted on the centre’s website on the same day (http://wciom.ru/index.php?id=459&uid=113548). […]
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(Interfax – January 18, 2013) Russia’s Justice Ministry has said that it has so far found no NGOs headed by or financed by citizens of the USA whose activities could be suspended under the “anti-Magnitskiy” law (also known as the Dima Yakovlev law). The law, better known for its controversial Article 4, which bans US citizens from adopting Russian children, […]
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WASHINGTON, January 17 (RIA Novosti) The United States government disagrees with a federal court’s decision to impose a $50,000-a-day fine on Russia for failing to comply with an earlier order to hand over religious texts to a New York-based Orthodox Jewish group, a US State Department spokeswoman said Thursday. On Wednesday a federal judge in Washington ordered Russia to […]
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Moscow, January 17, Interfax – Russian presidential representative for international cultural cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoy is perplexed by a U.S. court order on the so-called Schneerson collection, as he thought Russia and the United States had earlier settled the problem. “Russia earlier honored all agreements on this issue. The problem was discussed within the Gore-Chernomyrdin commission’s framework, and we reached quite […]
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(Interfax – January 17, 2013) The Russian economy is losing out from the process of globalization, Sberbank (RTS: SBER) president German Gref believes. “A question: are we gaining or losing on global markets? Answer: losing. We gained in all recent years only thanks to resource exports. On all other positions we are losing,” Gref said at the Gaidar Forum, commenting […]
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(http://government.ru – January 16, 2013) Speech by Dmitry Medvedev at the forum: Good afternoon, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to thank you for inviting me to speak at the Gaidar Forum. Life changes fast. Currently, all of us, Russians of course, take for granted the possibility to build our lives as we see fit and to do it […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova – January 18, 2013) Russia is on the right path to radically improve its business environment and move up 100 notches within the next five years in the global rankings of the favorableness of countries’ investment climate, a World Bank official said Thursday. But its eventual position in relation to other countries in […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – January 18, 2013) The culture and education ministers on Thursday presented a list of 100 Soviet and Russian films that schools will be advised to show students to strengthen their cultural values and to build bonds with their parents and teachers from older generations. “This is not a list of the best […]
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