(Interfax – MOSCOW. June 13, 2013) Protest activity is on decline in Russia, and an increasing number of citizens are unaware of the goals of protest actions. A sixth of the respondents in a poll held in 45 regions on May 23-27 even claim the opposition wants to topple the authorities. Massive protest actions of the opposition (For Fair Election, […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – June 14, 2013) The consumer confidence level of Ivan Ivanov, the typical Russian modeled in the latest bi-monthly report by Sberbank CIB issued Friday, has, like inflation and unemployment, remained stable over the last two months. While the headline consumer confidence figure remains at the March level of -8 percent down from -4 percent […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, June 14, 2013) An admittedly unrepresentative poll of Russians attending Orthodox services on Palm Sunday conducted by the Sreda Sociological Service, the results of which were released this week, found that many of the most widespread assumptions about who goes to church in Russia and why are not justified. The sociologists asked […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – June 14, 2013) The bill protecting “believers’ feelings,” which rights activists and analysts have called a “step back” for Russia, a legal “Pandora’s Box” and a return to the Dark Ages, looks set to take effect in July after sailing through the State Duma with a unanimous vote on Wednesday. The so-called […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 14, 2013) President Vladimir Putin on Thursday described the main difference he sees between social welfare in Russia and in European countries, which he criticized for losing control of their economies and allowing the rise of a “dependency mentality,” according to an interview with RIA Novosti. Europe’s problem is not the welfare state as […]
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ST. PETERSBURG. June 13 (Interfax) – The Presidential Library named after Yeltsin has opened access to declassified and little known documents coming to its fund. “We began digitizing declassified materials almost three years ago. We work with the archive of the defense ministry and other official archives. Documents are declassified, we digitize them, put them in our funds and wide […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Michael Bohm, opinion page editor of The Moscow Times – June 14, 2013) When the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum opens next week, a traditional fixture of the event will be conspicuously absent: renowned economist Sergei Guriev. During the forum, Russian officials will undoubtedly repeat the usual lines about the country’s untapped potential, its attractiveness […]
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(Kremlin.ru – The Kremlin, Moscow – June 13, 2013) Vladimir Putin announced the signing of the 2014-2016 Budget Policy Address at a meeting with members of the Government Cabinet, heads of both houses of the Federal Assembly and the Presidential Executive Office. The address outlines the basic budget policy objectives over the next three years. The Government will use the […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Alessandro Vitelli & Stefan Nicola – June 14, 2013) The United Nations global warming talks have been set back by six months after Russia and its allies blocked progress at a group charged with implementing decisions of the 190 nations involved in the discussions. The Subsidiary Body for Implementation at the UN talks failed to complete […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 13, 2013) Russia runs the risk of a recession, but there are opportunities to avoid it, Economic Development Minister Andrei Belousov said at a Thursday press conference in Moscow dedicated to the upcoming St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). “The risk of a recession does exist, but we aren’t in a state of recession, and we […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Panin – June 14, 2013) In the coming years, the government will get less revenue than was expected before, and the budget policy for 2014-2016 has to be planned accordingly, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday while presenting the budget policy to senior government officials and lawmakers. Putin also said that while revenues from […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 14, 2013) Moscow views a European Parliament resolution regarding the rule of law in Russia as a set of unwarranted accusations. “The content of the resolution is a hackneyed set of unwarranted accusations and complaints regarding Russia, and this often openly distorts facts as well. It contains everything but a real desire to solve problems with […]
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(RIA Novosti – NOVO-OGARYOVO, June 14, 2013) Russian legislation regarding non-governmental organizations is far more liberal that of other countries, President Vladimir Putin said Friday, in an implicit response to Western criticism that recent Russian legislation on NGOs is too restrictive. “Our legislation is more liberal,” he said in Moscow at a meeting of the Civil 20, the arm […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 14, 2013) Head of a leading non-governmental organization (NGO) in Russia, the Historical, Enlightenment and Human Rights Society Memorial, Arseny Roginsky, said he did not see any sense in elaborating the law obliging NGOs with foreign financing to register as foreign agents. “It is impossible to elaborate this law. It violates the right on freedom of […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – June 14, 2013) Citing problems with transferring his foreign assets to Russia, billionaire businessman Mikhail Prokhorov announced Thursday that he would not run for mayor of Moscow, removing perhaps the strongest potential opponent to acting Mayor Sergei Sobyanin from the September vote. It is possible to move his foreign assets, including legal […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – June 13, 2013) Self-exiled economist Sergei Guriev met with the Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich on Wednesday in Paris his first informal get together with a senior Russian official since he left the country last month, fearing pressure from law enforcement agencies. Guriev, who headed the liberal New Economic School until […]
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(Kremlin.ru – Moscow, June 12, 2013) Vladimir Putin took part in the founding congress of the Russian Popular Front. The congress’s delegates adopted the founding documents, including the Russian Popular Front Charter, which enshrines the movement’s post-partisan nature. The delegates elected Mr Putin to be the movement’s leader. Speech at founding congress of Russian Popular Front PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – June 13, 2013) When it came time to elect a leader at Wednesday’s conference of the All-Russia People’s Front, there was no need for formalities: The ecstatic crowd was already chanting “Putin, Putin, Putin!” “So are we going to vote? Are there any other nominees? Vladimir Vladimirovich, I congratulate and sympathize with […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 12, 2013) Amid growing competition in the world in all fields, from art to the defense industry, Russian researchers and scientists should not expect stress-free work, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a ceremony of presenting state awards at the Kremlin on Wednesday. “I will venture to follow up on what today’s laureates have said here […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Dmitry Sukhodolsky, special to RBTH – June 13, 2013) From the Russian avant-garde to psychedelic art, from Swan Lake to son et lumiere, from great Russian literature to television and constructivist architecture, the world would have been missing out on an essential part of culture and, in fact, be a totally different […]
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(Interfax – June 13, 2013) The law on non-governmental organizations (NGO) acting as foreign agents may be amended, says Ksenia Yudayeva, the chief of the Russian presidential expert directorate. “I think a lot of laws we adopt are later discussed and subjected to an adjustment process,” Yudayeva told journalists at the Civil G20 Summit in Moscow on Thursday. “For any […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – June 13, 2013) Non-governmental organizations in Russia have found a way to bypass the law requiring them to register as “foreign agents,” a news report said Thursday. An official in one NGO told Kommersant that his agency is planning to set up a commercial organization which will officially receive foreign grants. The main NGO will […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Igor Rozin, based on Interfax – June 12, 2013) Both opposition activists and the Russian human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin seemed satisfied with the results of the protest and did not advance any complaints concerning the police’s behavior. Some 6,000 people took part part in the opposition march in central Moscow on Wednesday, […]
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(Interfax – June 12, 2013) Russian rights activists and bloggers have criticized a bill protecting the feelings of religious believers, which the State Duma passed in the third and final reading on 11 June. The law, prompted by the controversial Pussy Riot “punk prayer” in 2012 in Moscow’s main cathedral, provides up to three years’ jail for offending religious feelings. […]
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(Interfax – June 13, 2013) Opposition activist Alexei Navalny believes that the Kirov Court hearings on the Kirovles case scheduled by the court for June 13 and 14 are aimed at blocking his nomination for Moscow mayor, said his lawyer Sergei Kobelev. The lawyer said that his client Navalny had notified him that he was supposed to attend a meeting […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Evgenia Pismennaya – June 12, 2013) Vladimir Putin is handing the keys of his central bank to a poetry-loving Francophile who pays homage to the victims of Russia’s totalitarian past. The first woman to head a Group of Eight central bank, Elvira Nabiullina’s appointment surprised even herself, according to four colleagues who asked not to be […]
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(Interfax – June 13, 2013) Moscow is hosting the Civil 20 Summit on June 13-14. This is the final event of the civil track within the framework of Russia’s official chairmanship of the G20. The summit’s principal objective is to promote productive dialogue between global civil society, politicians, and decision-makers based on priorities declared in the Russian chairmanship’s official agenda. […]
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(Interfax – KYIV, June 12, 2013) Seventy-eight percent of the Ukrainians believe Russia ad Ukraine have more thins in common than they do different things, and more than half of the respondents see Russia as a brotherly or friendly country. The poll was conducted by the company Research&Branding Group in all regions of Ukraine, in Crimea, and in the cities […]
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(Kremlin.ru – Moscow, June 11, 2013) Vladimir Putin visited the new Russia Today broadcasting centre and met with the channel’s leadership and correspondents. The President toured the production control room, the sound editing booth, the English, Spanish and Arabic desks, and a visual effects studio. Russia Today is a Russian international multilingual media company, which comprises five 24-hour television channels: […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 11, 2013) The range of issues being considered by the G20 has gotten too broad and the Seoul agreements to recapitalize and redistribute quotas in the International Monetary Fund are not being carried out, but the group of 20 major economies has managed to resolve the problem of bailing out too-big-to-fail banks with taxpayer money, Russian […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Viktor Kuzmin, special to RBTH – June 12, 2013) The Russian economy now has an opportunity to harness the unique heritage of the communist empire with modern ideas and solutions. In contrast to southern Europe, Russia has long learned to live within its means, making it better equipped to cope with the economic […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 11, 2013) Around 13,000 people convicted of business-related crimes could be amnestied, Representative of the Russian Presidential Commission for Entrepreneur’s Rights, Andrei Nazarov, said during the discussion in the Civic Chamber. “Those 110,000 people about whom everyone is talking – this is the total number of people convicted for economic crimes. The expected amnesty could be […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 11, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin says he expects the government to take extra measures to stimulate the national economy in the near future, but Russia is not going to start a currency emission process. “I hope the Russian government, after our numerous meetings, will propose extra steps to stimulate economic development,” Putin said while taking […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Winning – June 11, 2013) Embattled Education and Science Minister Dmitry Livanov said Monday that Russian professors would get a pay rise in September in a move seen as an attempt to appease opposition to his tenure at the ministry. Livanov has been heavily criticized for implementing a series of unpopular reforms since being […]
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(Interfax – June 11, 2013) Russia needs a more flexible immigration policy to make it possible to attract the specialists the country requires, President Vladimir Putin has said. He was speaking during a visit to state-owned international TV channel RT (formerly known as Russia Today) in Moscow on the same day, as reported by the Russian media that day. “On […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 11, 2013) The New Economic School (NES) has never helped opposition politicians, former NES head Sergei Guriyev said in an interview with Vedomosti newspaper, published on Tuesday. “The New Economic School has never supported (opposition activist Alexei) Navalny or other opposition politicians. I supported Navalny from personal funds only,” Guriyev said. Guriyev, who gave expert opinion […]
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(Interfax – PARIS. June 11, 2013) Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich plans to meet with former head of the Moscow-based New Economic School Sergei Guriev in Paris on Wednesday. Guriev recently announced that he did not plan to return to Russia from France, where he was on vacation. “I have known Sergei for a long time, we are friends, […]
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(Interfax – ST. PETERSBURG, June 11, 2013) Russian Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov has supported the need for a new bill, which is currently being debated, to provide a wider range of grounds permitting inspections of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the country. “The bill that broadens the range of grounds for such inspections is in the stage of preliminary debates at […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Emil Pain) Emil Pain is a professor at the National Research UniversityHigher School of Economics, Moscow, and the General Director of the Center for Ethno-Political Studies Does Russia’s online community have anything resembling a common philosophy? New analysis of social media suggests the only idea shared right across the political spectrum is xenophobia. Emile Pain presents the research. […]
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(Interfax – June 11, 2013) The director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Aleksandr Bortnikov, has said that social networksand shortcomings in migration laws contribute to the proliferation of extremism in Russia. His comments at a session of the National Antiterrorist Committee were reported by the Interfax news agency on 11 June. “Part of the internet has become a […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 12, 2013) A Russian parliamentary committee approved for review a new controversial anti-piracy law dubbed “the Russian SOPA” by critics after a similar US bill. The bill will undergo on Friday the first of three required readings in the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, and may be passed by mid-July, […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – June 11, 2013) The controversial legislation that introduces tough penalties for offending believers’ feelings is set to come into force in July after State Duma Deputies approved a number of amendments to the bill in a third and final reading. Hefty fines and possible prison sentences for offenders from both Russia and abroad are included […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Artem Zagorodnov, RBTH – June 12, 2013) Sergei Shakhrai, one of the authors of Russia’s constitution, explained to RBTH what really brought about the USSR’s demise, and what prevented Russia from splitting apart further. During the turbulent years of the Soviet collapse, parliamentarian Sergei Shakhrai supported the Declaration of Sovereignty, passed by parliamentary […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 12, 2013) A revived pro-Kremlin movement that aims to unite civic activists loyal to the government announced at its official founding congress on Wednesday that President Vladimir Putin will become its leader. In his speech, Putin thanked the members of the All-Russia People’s Front (ONF), which has been renamed by the congress as People’s […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 11, 2013) Russians doubt the possibility of the soonest government resignation and expect the president and the prime minister to carry on a coordinated policy for the next few years, Levada Center said. Sixty-four percent of the respondents polled in 130 towns and cities in 45 regions in late May said they did not believe that […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 12, 2013) It is difficult for Russians to name the country’s achievements and events in the country’s life in the past decades that they take pride in, an opinion poll showed. Most often, respondents asked by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) to mention events over the past 10-15 years that […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Gleb Cherkasov, special to RBTH – June 11, 2013) Conceived by the founding fathers of the new Russia and in the mold of U.S. Independence Day, “Russia Day” has become just a new summer holiday mainly because no one has ever managed to figure out who Russia gained independence from. For almost […]
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(Kremlin.ru – June 12, 2013) The Kremlin, Moscow PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, friends, Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, I congratulate you on Russia Day. This holiday grows in importance every year. Its meaning, spirit and atmosphere reflect Russia’s development today. It is also a part of our history with all its difficult and sometimes dramatic moments. We all […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 12, 2013) Russia slid two places to 155th slot among 162 countries in the 2013 Global Peace Index, an annual report by a Sydney-based non-profit research group published Tuesday. Russia’s downgrade was due to simmering violence in the North Caucasus and the country’s growing role as a global arms supplier, the Institute for Economics […]
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(Interfax – June 11, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he and his wife Lyudmila Putina never married in church and that their decision to divorce was a mutual one, privately-owned Interfax news agency reported on 11 June. “We never married in church,” Putin said at a meeting with staff from the RT TV channel (formerly Russia Today). […]
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