Putin critic to remain under arrest until spring

Leonid Razvozzhayev file photo with hand to ear, as if holding cellphone

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Alina Lobzina – Dec. 12, 2012) Investigators successfully appealed on Wednesday to prolong the detention of opposition figure Leonid Razvozzhayev for nearly four more months. The activist is accused of staging mass unrest in Moscow. The decision to allow investigators to continue work on the case until April 1 was made by Moscow’s Basmaniy Court, […]

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Protest movement losing steam in Russia due to disappointment in its leaders – expert Kostin

Moscow Protest file photo

(Interfax – Dec. 6, 2012) The protest movement in Russia is losing steam, Civil Society Development Fund head Konstantin Kostin said in a presentation of his report at Interfax on Thursday. “Protests were escalating from December 2011 through February 2012 and then started to subdue,” he said. Kostin put the blame on internal problems of the protest movement. “People are […]

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After Year of Protests, Activists Founding Political Parties

File Photo of Moscow Winter Protest

(Moscow Times – themoscow.times.com – Alexander Bratersky – Dec. 6, 2012) Activists who took part in large-scale protests against the Kremlin over the last year are putting their hopes in new political parties that could be used as a platform for opposition leaders like Alexei Navalny. With public enthusiasm for protests seeming to have waned after a year of mass […]

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NEWSLINK: After a year of protest, a different Russia beckons

File Photo of Moscow Winter Protest

[After a year of protest, a different Russia beckons – Washington Post – Will Englund and Kathy Lally – Dec. 5, 2012 – Click here for full article] The Washington Post covers the one-year anniversary of the large protests that broke out in Russia in December 2010: The political protests that suddenly began a year ago seemingly accomplished little concrete […]

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Russia’s Anti-Putin Opposition: One Year On

Moscow Protest file photo

MOSCOW, December 5 (Marc Bennetts, RIA Novosti) – When thousands of Muscovites swept into the streets to protest alleged vote-rigging in favor of Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party at the December 4, 2011, parliamentary polls, they revived a passion for politics not seen here for some two decades and set the scene for the greatest challenge to the ex-KGB officer’s […]

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Russian opposition figure pleased with year’s work, vows to continue protest

Sergei Udaltsov file photo

(Interfax – Moscow, 4 December) Left Front coordinator Sergey Udaltsov is satisfied with the results of the year that has passed since the start of active protests and believes in dialogue with the authorities on issues of political and social reform in the country. (Passage omitted: disputed 4 December 2011 parliamentary election led to mass public protests) “It will be […]

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Opposition Council Seeks Purpose

Map of Russia

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – Dec. 5, 2012) “Who is in favor of fair courts? Seems like no one wants fair courts. How about early elections? Don’t you want early elections?” former chess champion Garry Kasparov asked the opposition Coordination Council regarding the main slogan to be used for a Dec. 15 protest march. “For now, we […]

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Year After First Protest, Future of Movement Uncertain

File Photo of Moscow Winter Protest

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com –  Jonathan Earle – Dec. 5, 2012) One year ago Wednesday, tens of thousands of protesters filled Chistiye Prudy, a leafy park in downtown Moscow, in a spontaneous protest against State Duma elections that they said were rigged. The participants ­ led by students and urban, middle-class professionals ­ described the event in terms of jubilation […]

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Has the Russian opposition lost its way?

File Photo of Moscow Winter Protest

(Ben Judah – www.opendemocracy.net – Nov. 27, 2012 – 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.) From the euphoria of last winter, reality has bitten Russia’s […]

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NEWSLINK: Constitutional Court considering law on rallies

Russian Constitutional Court file photo

(Constitutional Court considering law on rallies – ITAR-TASS – RUSSIAN PRESS REVIEW – November 28, 2012 – http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c142/583381.html) ITAR-TASS reports on the Russian Constitutional Court’s review of a law on protests: Russia’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday began to consider complaints filed by parliamentarians of the State Duma and opposition leader Eduard Limonov. They oppose new rules for organizing rallies and […]

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Year-old protests hit snag: Plagued by infighting and a seeming caste system, the opposition is at a crossroads

Moscow Protest file photo

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – November 26, 2012) Nearly a year after a modest opposition rally against an allegedly rigged parliamentary vote sparked the biggest demonstrations Russia has seen in two decades, anti- Kremlin groups are suffering from fatigue ­ and an identity crisis. “If someone knew what to do in this situation, then [President Vladimir] Putin […]

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Kashin Fired From Kommersant

File Photo of Oleg Kashin Outdoors with Boat and Water in Background

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – November 27, 2012) Kommersant has fired opposition-minded journalist Oleg Kashin for writing too much for other media and too little for his employer, the leading daily’s editor said Monday. “An agreement has been reached with Kashin [to terminate his employment] because he practically has not worked for Kommersant for one year,” […]

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NEWSLINK: Opposition will have its protest march on December 15

File Photo of Moscow Winter Protest

[Opposition will have its protest march on December 15 – RUSSIAN PRESS REVIEW – ITAR-TASS – November 26, 2012 – http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c142/581381.html] ITAR-TASS covers Russian opposition plans to hold a combined protest march in mid-December, as well as a split in alleged opposition goals: The opposition’s second meeting of the Coordinating Council managed to agree on a date of a new […]

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NEWSLINK: As ‘Foreign Agent’ Law Takes Effect in Russia, Human Rights Groups Vow to Defy It

Kremlin and St. Basil's

[As ‘Foreign Agent’ Law Takes Effect in Russia, Human Rights Groups Vow to Defy It – Ellen Barry – New York Times- November 22, 2012 – http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/22/world/europe/rights-groups-in-russia-reject-foreign-agent-label.html?_r=0] Ellen Barry and the New York Times cover Russia’s adoption of its “Foreign Agent Law” impacting nonprofits: Workers at the human rights organization Memorial arrived at work on Wednesday morning to see a […]

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Analyst: Time of street protests gone in Russia

File Photo of Moscow Winter Protest

(Interfax – November 22, 2012) MOSCOW – The street protests that erupted in December 2011 had tapped their potential by the beginning of the autumn, said Civil Society Development Foundation Chairman Konstantin Kostin. “The story that started back in December ended in September 2012. I think the reason is obvious. The motives that encouraged people to fill the streets in […]

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Investigators Refuse to Open Case Into Razvozzhayev ‘Torture’

Leonid Razvozzhayev file photo with hand to ear, as if holding cellphone

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – November 23, 2012) The Investigative Committee won’t open a criminal case into claims by detained opposition activist Leonid Razvozzhayev that he was kidnapped and tortured by security services. Instead, investigators launched an inquiry into the activist’s allegedly illegal entry into Ukraine, from where he mysteriously vanished last month. The decision was […]

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Blue skies, clear thinking: Russian democracy in the Cloud

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Fyodor Krashenninikov and Leonid Volkov – www.opendemocracy.net – November 16, 2012) Leonid Volkov is protest movement activist and political blogger based in the city of Yekaterinburg. In 2009, Volkov ran for and won a seat on Yekaterinburg’s city council. Together with Fyodor Krasheninnikov he co-authored “Cloud Democracy” published in Russia in 2011. Fyodor Krasheninnikov is political PR consultant, protest movement […]

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Certain Opposition Demands Reasonable – Medvedev

Moscow Protest file photo

MOSCOW, November 14 (RIA Novosti) – Certain issues and demands, voiced by the Russian opposition, are reasonable, and the authorities should take an appropriate action on them, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said. “It seems to me that, firstly, the fact that the civil society has become more active is a positive thing, and, secondly, that certain issues that are […]

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Pozner Show Will Continue Airing on Channel 1 – TV Personality

Russian Jail File Photo Showing Outer Wall, Windows, Barbed Wire

MOSCOW. Nov 12 (Interfax) – Famous TV anchor Vladimir Pozner has said that his show will continue airing on Channel 1 and that he has not had to apologize to anyone for his comments about the Russian law enforcement system. “Let me get things clear. I did not apologize, I was not fired, reports of my departure are absolute nonsense, […]

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Few Russians know about and believe in opposition Coordination Council – poll

Moscow Protest file photo

(Interfax – November 8, 2012) Only 5 per cent of people surveyed by Russian pollster FOM consider themselves to be properly informed about the opposition Coordination Council (CC), Interfax news agency reported on 8 November, citing the latest survey data. Another 19 per cent of the 1,500 respondents from 43 Russian regions said they had “heard something” about the Council […]

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Anti-Putin Protest Movement ‘Gaining Influence’ ­- Valdai Index

Moscow Protest file photo

MOSCOW, November 8 (RIA Novosti) ­ Russia’s extra-parliamentary opposition has grown in influence since last year, according to almost 70 percent of political analysts who contributed to the Valdai Development Index published on Thursday. The Russia Development Index (Valdai Index) is an analytical initiative which grew out of the Valdai Discussion Club, and which seeks to harness the opinions of […]

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Vedomosti Misrepresented Survey Results in Recent Article [Re: Protests]

Moscow Protest file photo

From: “William Dunkerley” <wd@publishinghelp.com> Subject: Vedomosti Misrepresented Survey Results in Recent Article Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2012 Vedomosti Misrepresented Survey Results in Recent Article By William Dunkerley William Dunkerley is a media business analyst and consultant specializing in Russia and the former Soviet Union. An October 30, 2012 Vedomosti article titled “No Pathologies in Anatomy: Russians disbelieve that protesters meant […]

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Inquiry Begins Into Razvozzhayev’s Abduction – Human Rights Activists

Leonid Razvozzhayev file photo with hand to ear, as if holding cellphone

MOSCOW. Oct 31 (Interfax) – An inquiry into the abduction of Russian opposition figure Leonid Razvozzhayev in Ukraine has begun, Moscow Public Oversight Commission head and Moscow Helsinki Group member Valery Borshchev said. Commission members again visited Razvozzhayev at the Lefortovo detention facility on Wednesday. “A detective has been assigned to investigate the abduction. Razvozzhayev has met with him,” Borshchev […]

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Russian Puzzle: Change Inevitable, Evolution Impossible, Revolution Implausible

Kremlin and Moscow Environs Aerial View

(Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org –  Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 9, Issue 197 – Pavel K. Baev –  October 29, 2012) The Moscow rumor about President Vladimir Putin’s health problems appears well-informed and confirmed by several cancellations of long-scheduled visits and by the postponement of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, but it is remarkable how little […]

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NEWSLINK: Putin’s Russia: back in the USSR; The president’s crackdown will do nothing to tackle the source of his problems: a corrupt and unreformable system of government

Vladimir Putin file photo

(Putin’s Russia: back in the USSR; The president’s crackdown will do nothing to tackle the source of his problems: a corrupt and unreformable system of government – The Guardian (UK) Editorial – October 29, 2012 – http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/28/vladimir-putin-russia-crackdown-protest) The Guardian (UK) in an editorial accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of orchestrating repression unseen since the Soviet Union, despite his supposed public […]

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Opposition Coordination Council doesn’t view itself as alternative parliament

Russian Duma Building

(Interfax – October 28, 2012) The Opposition Coordination Council, whose members were elected a week ago, should consider itself not an alternative parliament but a working body of the opposition movement, says Andrei Piontkovsky, a prominent journalist and a member of the bureau of the opposition group Solidarity. “We have no right to declare ourselves an alternative parliament or a […]

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Report Shows Plunging Support for Putin -­ and Protest Leaders

Vladimir Putin file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – October 25, 2012) Russians view the ruling elite as aggressive and predatory and believe that revolution is one of the only realistic ways to change the government, according to a report released Wednesday by an influential think tank. The report, ordered by the Committee of Civic Initiatives, a group of political and […]

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Navalny, Kasparov Win Seats in Opposition’s ‘Shadow Government’

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Moscow Times – October 23, 2012) Well-known opposition figures like anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny and former chess champion Garry Kasparov joined lower-profile personalities like former Kremlin G8 sherpa Andrei Illarionov and political analyst Andrei Piontkovsky in a new 45-member “shadow government,” according to election results. The online election, which was extended into a third day Monday after hacker attacks disrupted […]

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Rocking the vote? The opposition’s elections have been labeled a ‘toy project’ ­ but proved to be colorful

Arm and Torso of Person in Brown Sweater Placing Paper Ballot into Ballot Box

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Yulia Ponomareva – October 22, 2012) In contrast with official polls, the transparency of the elections to the opposition’s coordination council has not been questioned by watchdogs ­ and this is beside the fact that all of the candidates faced off in televised debates. The results, however, will have little if any practical effect ­ […]

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Udaltsov Won’t Flee Russia, Lawyer Says

Sergei Udaltsov file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – October 24, 2012) Opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov has no intention of violating the travel restrictions that currently bar him from leaving the country, his lawyer said Wednesday. Defense attorney Violetta Volkova said that her client ­ a prominent organizer of anti-Kremlin protests ­ was under constant surveillance, Interfax reported. Explaining why Udaltsov cannot be reached […]

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Udaltsov Calls for Pickets Over Aide’s Detention

Sergei Udaltsov file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – October 18, 2012) Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov, who investigators suspect of plotting mass riots on Russian soil, called on supporters to picket law enforcement agencies on Thursday in support of his assistant charged in the same case. “We must struggle to free Lebedev,” Udaltsov told Interfax on Thursday, referring to his aide Konstantin Lebedev, […]

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Q&A: Navalny’s Fundraiser Sees the Power of the Crowd

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Howard Amos – October 12, 2012) Vladimir Ashurkov Education 1989-1993 ­ Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology 1994-1996 ­ Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania Work Experience 1993-1994 ­ PepsiCo Holding, financial analyst 1997-1999 ­ Renaissance Capital, investment banking department 1999-2001 ­ Saint Petersburg Sea Port, financial director 2001-2003 ­National Container Co., president 2003-2004 ­TransCare logistics […]

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Opposition Expose Incites Investigation

Russian Duma Building

(Alexander Bratersky – Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – October 8, 2012) Prosecutor General Yury Chaika has ordered an investigation into claims in a television expose that opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov received funding from an ally of Georgia’s president and the former head of Bank of Moscow aimed at sowing discord in Russia. It was unclear Sunday what the investigation might […]

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Next Mass Protest Postponed Until December – Russian Opposition Activist

File Photo of Moscow Winter Protest

(Interfax – Moscow, 19 September): The opposition organizing committee has postponed the next March of Millions event from 20 October until early December, Left Front leader Sergey Udaltsov has said. “The opposition organizing committee decided today to hold the next March of Millions in early December, the (first) anniversary of the start of mass protest,” Udaltsov told Interfax on Wednesday […]

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