(Business New Europe – bne.eu – April 26, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin broke his own record with his longest ever annual Q&A meet the people press conference. In just under five hours the president attempted to answer as many of the more than 3m questions submitted by Russians on topics covering the gamut of issues. Widely ridiculed by western […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 24, 2013) Representatives of human rights organizations have said that the number of non-governmental organizations (NGO) inspected by state agencies is excessive. “Hundreds of NGOs were inspected by the tax service, the Ministry of Justice, fire, sanitary agencies and other bodies. Some agencies gave ridiculous demands, for instance, to confirm that all employees of the organization […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – April 24, 2013) Russian prosecutors, tax officials, and police are checking the offices of Levada Center, an independent polling organization, as part of a routine inspection of NGOs across the country, a source at the organization told The Moscow News on Wednesday. “They are checking the basic documents, the charter, financial documents […]
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(Buiness New Europe – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – April 25, 2013) There is no competition in Russia. The revenues are fake. You have to control the whole sector to make money.” This comment was made by Oleg Tinkoff on one of the panels at Sberbanks recent investment conference, “The Russia Forum”, yet this highly successful Russian serial […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yulia Ponomareva, RBTH – April 24, 2013) In the absence of significant economic achievements, Vladimir Putin is trying to consolidate support on the basis of conservative values. Although President Vladimir Putin is still the most popular politician in Russia, the trend is clear: The first year of his third term saw his confidence […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 25, 2013) Russian political analysts have different opinions regarding the likelihood that the government could be dismissed following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s remarks during a traditional annual Q&A session on Thursday. Igor Bunin told Interfax that Putin had apparently gave some more time to the government and no dismissals of individual government ministers should be expected […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova and Alexander Winning – April 25, 2013) The Moscow Times is running a live blog of President Vladimir Putin’s 11th televised call-in show, the first since he returned to the presidency last year. See below for updates from our reporters following the show, which will be broadcast on three federal TV channels […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 25, 2013) Officers of the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency operated as consultants to Anatoly Chubais, the Russian deputy prime minister who oversaw the privatization of the country’s economy in the early 1990’s, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. “In Chubais’ entourage, it has now turned out, CIA officers worked as consultants,” Putin said […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – April 25, 2013) President Vladimir Putin said his methods don’t have anything in common with those of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, and that the trials of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the members of the Pussy Riot feminist punk group were not politically motivated. Putin made the remarks in response to a […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 25, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin set a new record on Thursday for the duration of his annual televised question and answer session, replying to 85 questions in four hours and 47 minutes. This was Putin’s 12th Q&A session, but the first since being re-elected president in 2012. Putin’s very first Q&A session, held on […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Evgeny Basmanov, special to RBTH – April 24, 2013) Why the country’s tax system is more trustworthy than those in most European countries. At the end of last year, celebrated actor Gerard Depardieu, unhappy with the high rate of tax in his native France, decided to move to Russia and change his citizenship. […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alexander Gasyuk, special to RBTH – April 24, 2013) Alexander Gasyuk is Rossiyskaya Gazeta’s Washington Bureau Chief “Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin,” a new book by the Brookings Institution pundits, analyzes Russian President Vladimir Putin’s personality instead of surrounding stereotypes RBTH sat down with Fiona Hill, who serves as the director of […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 23, 2013) Former Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has said that he did not discuss any job offers with President Vladimir Putin on April 22. Kudrin attended a Putin-chaired session on economic issues in Sochi on Monday as an expert. “As I left the hall, I had a chance to meet with Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin) on […]
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(opendemocracy.net – April 23, 2013 – Zygmunt Dzieciolowski, Alexei Levinson, and Mikhail Sokolov) Mikhail Sokolov is an ex Radio Liberty journalist and a historian. Alexei Levinson is sociologist and senior researcher at the Levada Center, Russia’s leading polling organisation, Moscow. Zygmunt Dzieciolowski is a Polish journalist who has covered Russia and other post Soviet republics for European media since 1989. […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – April 22, 2013) A large study by Olga Kryshtanovskaya, Russias leading specialist on elites, into the attitudes of young people in 26 Russian cities found that Russias youth have a largely positive view of the president. The full report, available online at gefter.ru/archive/8369 and already the subject of discussions in Gazeta.ru (gazeta.ru/politics/2013/04/19_a_5261565.shtml) and PublicPost.ru […]
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(Interfax – ST. PETERSBURG, April 22, 2013) The Russian Constitutional Court has confirmed the right of voters to protest election returns in court and declared the practice of banning direct applications to courts unconstitutional. The Constitutional Court announced a corresponding resolution on Monday after checking several provisions of Civil Proceedings Code and federal laws on guarantees of electoral rights and […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – April 19, 2013) The mother and widow of whistle-blowing Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky were in Washington on April 17, just days after the White House issued a blacklist of more than a dozen Russian officials implicated in Magnitsky’s prosecution and death in jail in 2009. RFE/RL’s Richard Solash spoke to Magnitsky’s mother, Natalia, at a reception […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 18, 2013) Boris Reznik, secretary of the Russian Union of Journalists and a State Duma deputy, believes negative tendencies are emerging in Russian journalism. “The situation in information policies is worsening,” Reznik said at the tenth congress of the Russian Union of Journalists on Thursday. Specifically, Reznik said that “our media legislation needs further improvement.” “We […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – April 19, 2013) A prominent Kremlin critic in the largely rubber-stamp parliament, Ponomaryov suggested that ulterior motives lay behind Friday’s news. Investigators have accused a top manager at the government’s flagship Skolkovo Foundation of making $750,000 in improper payments to a State Duma deputy with close links to the street protest movement, […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 19, 2013) Overzealousness in the fight against corruption could drain the civil service of many valuable cadres, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said. Speaking at the Russia 2013 business forum on Thursday, Shuvalov said that corruption is present around the world, but in Russia it has been blown out of proportion, Vedomosti reported. […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 18, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual question and answer session is due to start at noon on April 25, the Kremlin press service said. It will be broadcast live on the Channel 1, Rossiya 1 and Rossiya 24 television stations, as well as the Mayak, Vesti FM and Radio of Russia radio stations, it said. […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 19, 2013) Russians quizzed in an opinion poll released on Friday handed their government, headed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the unflattering equivalent to a “C” grade for overall performance. The government scored 3.2 out of five in the poll, where a five would equal an “A” grade in Western parlance. In other findings […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 19, 2013) The majority of Russians do not see any difference in quality of work of the governments of Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin, judging by a Russian Public Opinion Study Center (VTsIOM) poll. Some 71% of the respondents told VTsIOM that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s Cabinet was no better and no worse than Putin’s Cabinet. […]
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(Government.ru – April 17, 2013) Good afternoon, Mr Naryshkin (Sergei Naryshkin, State Duma Speaker). Good afternoon, State Duma deputies, colleagues. Today for the fifth time the Government is presenting a report on the results of its performance over the past year. This tradition has become a logical step in the development of the modern political system, improving its openness and […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, April 17, 2013) Heads of leading Russian NGOs disagree with accusations levelled by the authorities at the human rights association Golos facing a heavy fine. “We think it is absurd to say that the organization that led the fight for fair elections in Russia is acting in the interests of foreign states and is a foreign agent,” […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 17, 2013 – windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/04/window-on-eurasia-putin-isnt-restoring.html) Several recent actions by the Kremlin restoring Soviet-era symbols have led to speculation that Vladimir Putin is returning Russia to the political-economic model of the USSR, but such speculation distracts attention from what the Russian president is really trying to do: generate support for himself among the […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 17, 2013) The head of Russia’s Communist Party on Wednesday lambasted the government’s current social and economic policies, saying they are detrimental to the country’s economy and that a new cabinet is required to lead Russia out of a crisis. “We must warn society that should the current social and economic course be continued, Russia […]
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(Interfax – April 17, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin is generally “positive” about Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev’s annual speech to the State Duma on the work of the government on 17 April, presidential press secretary Dmitriy Peskov said on the same day, as reported by Russian privately owned Interfax news agency. Putin “on the whole gave a positive assessment of […]
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(RIA Novosti, Moscow, April 17, 2013) The LifeNews (Internet) publication has admitted that it broke some rules when it published President Vladimir Putin’s remarks made at a closed meeting in Kalmykia. However, it thinks that the decision was right and says that the (possible) exclusion of its journalists from the Kremlin pool will not be a problem for the publication. […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Ilya Arkhipov & Henry Meyer – April 18, 2013) Russian police raided the Skolkovo innovation hub, a project championed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a day after his speech to parliament was overshadowed by a leaked video. Investigators talked today to the foundation’s head, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, and other top officials, Skolkovo spokesman Roman Shcherbakov said […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova, Anatoly Medetsky – April 18, 2013) The Cabinet came under attack from State Duma deputies Wednesday as Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev addressed the lower house of parliament for the first time since taking office. The annual speech, which prime ministers have given since 2009, came as the country teeters on the brink of […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – By Irina Granik, Moskovskiye Novosti – April 15, 2013) Analysts call for reform of state institutions, while the government demands action from private and state companies The forecast for socio-economic development of the country through 2030, recently published by the government, has come straight into the depths of discussions flaring up in connection with the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Winning – April 17, 2013) The State Duma on Tuesday passed in a first reading a bill that would reintroduce a mixed voting system for parliamentary elections, despite a heated argument on the Duma floor that it favors pro-Kremlin forces. In voting late Tuesday afternoon, 296 lawmakers voted in favor of the bill, 148 […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 17, 2013) A website leaked a video on Wednesday showing President Vladimir Putin apparently criticizing senior politicians at a meeting with ministers and governors the previous day, just hours before Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev addressed the Russian parliament. The video of the meeting on housing issues, published by Russia’s Life News website, shows Putin asking […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 17, 2013) Moscow Times reporter Anatoly Medetsky is providing a live blog of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s visit at noon to the State Duma, where he will recap the Cabinet’s activities for the past year and offer an account of his upcoming plans. 3:45 p.m.: Medvedev wrapped up his Duma appearance after a closing […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – April 16, 2013) The Economic Development Ministry of Russia proposed another five large privatization transactions in addition to the sale of 14% of ALROSA and an additional issue of VTB worth RUB100bn, Minister Andrei Belousov said, Vedomosti reported. The Ministry proposes to privatize in 2013 up to 19% of Rosneft, state-owned stakes in Aeroflot […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 16, 2013) Pavel Chikov, a member of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, said on Monday that a clear set of rules for inspections of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is required. “There are no rules for prosecutors’ checks. In my opinion, this is the main lesson that we should learn from all these […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 15, 2013) The information on the multi-billion funding of non-governmental organizations (NGO) in Russia coming from abroad voiced by the president only partially refers to the NGOs whose activities are controlled by the Justice Ministry. “Of course, not all NGOs that are reported by banks to receive such funding according to the NGO legal status belong […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, April 15, 2013) The Interior Ministry has received no complaints against police with regard to checks of non-commercial organizations, Deputy Minister Mikhail Vanichkin has said. “Since the start of the checks, there has not been a single complaint to date from heads of non-commercial organizations against the actions of the police,” Vanichkin told a special meeting of […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 16, 2013) Russian prosecutors have opened a case against a regional non-governmental organization accused of not registering as a “foreign agent” in the wake of a wave of inspections of NGOs, a rights group reported on Tuesday. Alexander Zamaryanov, director of the Kostroma Public Initiatives Support Center, is suspected of being involved in political […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Mikhail Loginov – April 15, 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”. Broadcaster Vladimir Posner’s ‘slip of the tongue’, calling Russia’s parliament the Dura (fool) instead of the Duma, added yet another slur to the already emasculated body. A […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, April 15, 2013) Only 4 per cent of Russian do not care what incomes State Duma deputies have, while the vast majority (92 per cent) would like to know this and therefore support the use of such measures as mandatory declaration of incomes and spending for the elected representatives of the people. Some 90 per cent of […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 15, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/04/window-on-eurasia-russians-want.html) In January 1917, Lenin thought that he and members of the older generation of revolutionaries might not live to see a revolution but by the end of that year, he and the Bolsheviks were in power in Petrograd. Now, the Russian opposition believes that there must be […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 15. 2013) Days before the much-anticipated trial of opposition leader Alexei Navalny is scheduled to begin, an Investigative Committee spokesman has suggested that Navalny’s constant criticism of the government caused investigators to “accelerate” work on the case against him. When someone “uses all his energy to bring attention to himself” and “provokes the government,” […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 15, 2013) Income declarations for 2012 for the president, members of the presidential administration, government officials and Federation Council officials were published on Friday, showing revenues that ranged from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of rubles, and from one to several pieces of real estate. In the overall picture, President Vladimir Putin […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 13, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/04/window-on-eurasia-alienation-of-russian.html) A major reason for the destruction of the Russian Empire in 1917 and of the Soviet Union in 1991, a Moscow historian says, was “the alienation that existed between the state and the Russian people,” a shortcoming that unfortunately the Russian Federation has not yet overcome with […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 15, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev have agreed to have a special meeting with the economic block of the government, members of the Kremlin administration and experts to discuss prospects of the Russian economy amid the global negative tendencies on the world market. Medvedev said at a meeting with Putin at […]
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(Interfax – April 15, 2013) Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov has said that the information about the foreign funding of non-governmental organizations (NGO) in Russia recently disclosed by President Vladimir Putin is reliable. “There is not the slightest reason to doubt the reliability of the said figures,” Peskov said on a Sunday night current events show on Russia 1 channel. […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 15, 2013) Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Sunday described Vladimir Putin as a “fierce” defender of Russia’s national interests but also a “master of compromise” while commenting on everything from the opposition movement to escalating tensions with the U.S. Peskov’s comments, made on the state-owned Rossia 1 television channel on Sunday night, come amid […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – April 12, 2013) The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a private foundation based in Washington, D.C., that provides grants and other support to organizations around the world that promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. The NED’s senior director for Europe, Rodger Potocki, recently visited RFE/RL’s broadcast center in Prague and spoke with […]
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