(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Julia Reed in Moscow – March 13, 2013) The political demonstrations that started in December 2011 caught the headlines, but a Russian revolution to oust President Vladimir Putin failed to appear and the broad protest movement is petering out. However, those protests have given birth to the beginnings of a real civil society and […]
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(Interfax – March 13, 2013) Russian Central Elections Commission (CEC) Chairman Vladimir Churov has criticized a report issued by a think-tank claiming that the 2011 elections to the State Duma were rigged and that the Communist Party actually garnered more votes in them than the United Russia party. A number of media outlets on Wednesday published conclusions from a report […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, March 12, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/03/window-on-eurasia-at-putins-order-fsb.html) At the direction of President Vladimir Putin, the FSB is not only monitoring social networks but using one of their features to create problems for those opponents of the regime who use them by posting statements on their sites and then invoking the appearance of those materials […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – March 12, 2013) Irina Yarovaya, head of the State Duma’s powerful Anti-Corruption and Security Committee, on Monday became the latest United Russia deputy to face embarrassing allegations of ethics violations with the publication of a report accusing her of de facto owning a multimillion-dollar apartment. Despite declared earnings of 2.9 million rubles […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Brian Whitmore – March 11, 2013) Tsar Peter I once proposed to his prosecutor-general that corrupt officials be either exiled to Siberia or executed. “But then who will be left?” the prosecutor responded, according to the oft-repeated historical anecdote. “We’re all thieves.” President Vladimir Putin repeated this tale during his press conference in December to illustrate […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – John Freedman – March 11, 2013) Journalist and theater director Mikhail Kaluzhsky called it a “theatrical slam.” Olga Shakina, a journalist from the Dozhd television channel, said it was a moment when “one theatrical event replaced another.” What they were discussing on Saturday on Echo Moskvy radio was a now-notorious performance of “Moscow Trials,” a […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, March 11, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/03/window-on-eurasia-hatreds-of-deeply.html) The hatreds Russians feel toward others past and present domestic and foreign are an important reason why Vladimir Putin has been able to maintain himself in power even at a time when polls show that an increasing number of the citizens of his country do not actively […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, March 11, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/03/window-on-eurasia-moscow-centrism.html) The “main mistake” of the Russian opposition in the past has been its focus that on Moscow rather than on the regions, but clashes between demonstrators and the authorities in Russia’s regions are prompting them to redirect their attention, a shift that will generate “a wave of […]
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[Sergei Magnitsky: The enemy within: A saga that has been a parable of the self-mutilating way Russia is governed – The Economist – Editorial – March 9, 2013 – http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21573119-saga-has-been-parable-self-mutilating-way-russia-governed-enemy-within] The Economist issues an editorial on the Magnitsky saga and its aftermath, and what it shows about brutal, deadly elitism in Russia: Martyred human rights activists; fatally brave journalists: Russia, […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Inna Soboleva, Combined report, RBTH – March 8, 2013) Before International Women’s Day, Russia’s leading media revealed a list of the country’s 100 most influential women. The speaker of the Federation Council (upper house of Russia’s parliament), Valentina Matviyenko, topped the list of the 100 Most Influential Women in Russia for the second […]
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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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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Alexei Bausin, RBTH – March 7, 2013) Russia’s notorious pro-government youth movement Nashi is set for a complete overhaul. It is reported to be replaced by a new youth organization with a new name and different objectives Russia’s Nashi (Ours in Russian) youth movement, which made a name for itself by organizing outrageous […]
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(RIA Novosti – March 6, 2013) Roughly two in five Russians would like to have a female president, a Levada Centre poll has shown, the RIA Novosti news agency reported on 6 March. The poll, available at http://www.levada.ru/06-03-2013/rossiyane-o-roli-zhenshchin-v-politike, surveyed people’s views on the role of women in Russian politics by gauging responses to three questions. The number of respondents who […]
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(RIA Novosti – February 26, 2013) Aleksandr Lebedev, the co-owner of Aeroflot has nominated three people for the company’ board of directors, including his own son Yegor. According to open sources, Yegor was born in November 2011. Petr Fradkov (born in 1978), the eldest son of Mikhail Fradkov the director of the Russian Federation Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), heads the […]
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TALLINN. March 7 (Interfax) – Members of EU liberal and democratic parties and movements said they were concerned that Moscow was straying from its international obligations in the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and offered to revive the Helsinki Process. “Russia’s abrupt deviation from the democratic standards enshrined in the 1993 constitution, […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Howard Amos – March 4, 2013) The personal fortunes of businessmen rumored to enjoy close relationships with President Vladimir Putin jumped sharply in a new Forbes ranking Monday as Facebook investor Alisher Usmanov retained the title of Russia’s richest man. The wealth of Gennady Timchenko, owner of oil trader Gunvor and a large stakeholder in […]
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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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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – March 4, 2013) Anna Arutunyan is the politics editor of The Moscow News In Russia, there were a thousand shades of gray before Vladislav Surkov, the so-called “gray cardinal” behind Vladimir Putin’s first 12 years in power, was replaced in late 2011. Now, one year into Putin’s third term as president, there […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, March 3, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/03/window-on-eurasia-polls-in-russia_3.html) Polls in Russia often influence public opinion more than they reflect it, according to a Moscow sociologist, because they are conducted after a decision is taken rather than before, because they use terms that dispose people to answer one way rather than another, and because as is […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 28 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said he disagrees that there were human rights problems in Russia in 2012, adding that election campaigns are accompanied by accusations of human rights violations all over the world. “I don’t believe we had any special problems with human rights in 2012. We had an election campaign in 2012,” Putin told […]
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(Governent.ru – February 26, 2013) Correspondent (via interpreter): Mr Prime Minister, thank you very much for finding time for Globo in your schedule. In your recent article in the influential Financial Times, you wrote that Russia should look to the East, to the Asia-Pacific Region. How, looking East, did you wind up in Brazil? Did you follow Columbus who set […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 28 (Interfax) – Some 47% of Russians believe that President Vladimir Putin can keep the election promises, the Levada Center told Interfax after having polled respondents in 130 towns and cities in 45 regions this February. A third (34%) doubted that and 17% were hesitant, the sociologists said. In the opinion of 65%, President Putin has done more […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – February 27, 2013) Gennady Zyuganov, re-elected Saturday as leader of the Communist Party, a position he’s held for 17 years, said Tuesday that public calls to remove Stalin’s and Brezhnev’s graves from the Kremlin Wall Necropolis came from “provocateurs” and “SS loyalists.” He vowed that his party would continue to fight proposals […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 26, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/02/window-on-eurasia-xenophobic-attitudes.html) Xenophobic attitudes are now to be found among communist, nationalist, liberal and pro-Kremlin parties and groups, according to Moscow’s leading specialist on inter-ethnic relations, a development that reflects the efforts of these organizations to tap into popular attitudes and win votes. Such outreach programs are not likely […]
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(Institute of Modern Russia – www.imrussia.org – Tatiana Stanovaya – February 25, 2013 – click here for original posting of article) Two important tendencies have marked Russian political life during the past few months. The first is the Kremlin’s attempt to control officials’ and lawmakers’ foreign accounts and real estate holdings. The second is the growing activity of independent bloggers […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 25, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/02/window-on-eurasia-putin-system.html) The Russian Federation is “again entering a period of radical changes when entirely different and still unknown forces and figures” will replace those that President Vladimir Putin has assembled around him, according to Valery Solovey, an MGIMO professor who heads the New Force Party. In an interview […]
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(Moscow TImes – themoscowtimes.com – February 26, 2013) The Justice Ministry has refused to conduct a check into election watchdog Golos’ compliance with recently passed legislation requiring foreign-funded organizations to register as “foreign agents” despite over 100 requests to do so. The ministry received 120 requests to recognize Golos as a foreign agent, and 350 such requests for the Levada […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – February 26, 2013) Oleg Smolin, a State Duma deputy with the Communist Party, praised a law that entered into force Monday and requires companies to hire disabled people or face fines of up to 10,000 rubles ($330). “We supported this legislation because it looks like a first step forward,” Smolin, who is […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Aleksandras Budrys – February 26, 2013) One-third of Russians still believe that President Vladimir Putin is the best choice for the post as head of state, although his rating continues to fall steadily, a survey conducted by independent agency Levada Center showed on Tuesday. The poll, conducted on February 15 to February 18, surveyed 1,600 […]
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(www.opendemocracy.net – Grigory Okhotin – February 22, 2031) Grigory Okhotin is a journalist and co-founder of the grassroots police monitoring organisation OVD-Info [‘police-info’]. [Charts here: http://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/grigory-okhotin/arrest-and-custody-russian-style] Police custody, violence, trials and imprisonment have been all to common features on the Russian protest landscape since December 2011. A grassroots monitoring project called OVD-info has kept realtime data on the arrests; co-founder […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 22 (Interfax) – President Vladimir Putin’s representative in the State Duma Garri Minkh has acknowledged that government executives may have problems selling their assets and foreign company shares in compliance with the president-proposed bill. “The procedure of selling shares is not so easy. Not so easy as selling a glass of sunflower seeds,” Minkh said during the first […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – February 22, 2013) The resignation of senior United Russia lawmaker Vladimir Pekhtin following accusations from opposition leader Alexei Navalny that he owned undeclared property in the U.S. triggered speculation that more lawmakers would quit their seats, throwing the ruling party into crisis. Pundits said Thursday that with lawmakers facing an increasing barrage […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – February 22, 2013) The Kremlin’s drive to crack down on corruption in the government has escalated dramatically in the last week and moved into a new phase. In addition to several high profile investigations into both government departments and large state-owned companies, senior officials have come out in recent days to indicate that the […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 20, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/02/window-on-eurasia-putins-nationality.html) Both the five specific planks of his nationality policy that Vladimir Putin outlined yesterday and problems underlying his entire approach to this issue guarantee that the Russian president will offend both Russians and non-Russians and produce the very outcome he says he is trying to avoid […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 21 (Interfax) – Support of the Russian public to President Vladimir Putin’s bill banning foreign bank accounts of civil servants is practically unanimous, the Public Opinion Foundation said. It polled 1,500 respondents in 100 towns and cities in 43 regions on February 16-17. Seventy-three percent heard about the bill, and 26% learned about it during the poll. From […]
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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. Feb 21 (Interfax) – Sixty-five percent of Russians approve of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s work, the Levada Center told Interfax on Thursday, following a nationwide survey conducted on February 15-18. Levada Center sociologists said that the approval rating of the Russian president gained three points, as compared to 62% in January. The approval rating of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev […]
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NOVO-OGARYOVO. Feb 20 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said the living conditions of orphans in Russia are much more important than the current debate on adoptions. “We are now actively discussing the work with foreign adoptions, which is, of course, an important thing, but not the main thing. What is more important is the way children, who have been […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova – February 20, 2013) Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich got in the spotlight Tuesday amid rumors that he might have to resign in the wake of the recent scandals in the energy sector, which he oversees. In comments posted on his Facebook account late Monday, Dvorkovich unequivocally dismissed speculation in social networks that […]
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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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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 19, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/02/window-on-eurasia-having-released.html) President Vladimir Putin’s decision to give official support to some of the most reactionary and vicious groups in Russian society in order to counter the increase in the number of the middle class who are appalled by his policies in this regard carries with it great risks […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Winning – February 20, 2013) Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin is among the few politicians capable of appeasing warring factions within the ruling elite and becoming President Vladimir Putin’s successor, a report released Tuesday said. The report, drafted by the influential Minchenko Consulting Group, said that although there exists a broad consensus within Putin’s inner […]
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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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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Eradzh Nidoev – February 19, 2013) More than a year after the start of marches against allegedly rigged Duma elections, the burning caldron that was the Russian protest movement cooled to a gentle bubbling, while its participants went back to their usual temperate lives. Such a turn of events poses a problem for the Dozhd […]
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(Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 30 – Pavel K. Baev – February 18, 2013) The meteor that exploded over Chelyabinsk in the early hours of February 15, as damaging as it was, produced even more jokes than material destruction. One of those was about the State Duma urgently approving legislation banning the incursions of celestial […]
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Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2013 From: Sue Dorfman <Sedorf@comcast.net> Subject: PUTIN’S KISS on 2/20 in DC Matt Rojansky suggested I contact you to help spread the word on the upcoming screening of the film, PUTIN’S KISS. The film shows on Wednesday, February 20 at 7 pm at the West End Cinema, located at 2301 M St NW Washington, DC 20037. […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Pavel Chikov – February 15, 2013) Pavel Chikov is chair of AGORA, an association of human rights organisations based in Kazan. Since 1999 Chikov has been a leading human rights lawyer and head of a number of Russian human rights organizations in Moscow and Kazan Continuing oDRussia’s debate on the future for Russian NGO funding, now a view […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 15 (Interfax) – Some 56% of Muscovites approve of President Vladimir Putin’s work, the Public Opinion Foundation said after polling 3,632 adults on January 26 – February 7. Four percent said they knew nothing about Putin’s activity, 28% expressed their discontent and 11% could not answer the question. Fifty-one percent said Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin was working well. […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, February 17, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/02/window-on-eurasia-russian-officials.html) Russian officials have ignored a 2004 law requiring them to respond to appeals lodged by demonstrators, but now some protesters and their lawyers are using the courts to force at least some government agencies to respond, a development that some say opens the way to a new […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, 17 February) The concept of Russia’s foreign policy that was voiced by Vladimir Putin is aimed at using economic diplomacy and applying “soft power” as well as “the democratization of diplomacy”, head of the Federation Council’s International Affairs Committee Mikhail Margelov has said. “This concept reflects the fact that today international economic problems cannot always be resolved […]
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