Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – February 8, 2013) Investigators on Thursday raided the apartment of Vladimir Ashurkov, director of the Foundation for Fighting Corruption and an anti-Kremlin activist, in connection with a criminal case against opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Navalny, who started the foundation, is accused of stealing 100 million rubles ($3.3 million) from the now-defunct Union […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – February 8, 2013) Eleven prominent rights groups have sent a complaint against Russia’s so-called foreign agent law, which targets NGOs engaged in political activities, to the European Court of Human Rights. The organizations argued on Thursday that the legislation violates the Constitution and fundamental human rights such as the freedoms […]
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(RFE/RL – www.rferl.org – Daisy Sindelar – February 8, 2013) Many people enjoy the fireworks and celebrations that come with Chinese New Year. Not everyone, however, is enthusiastic about the upcoming Year of the Snake, which begins February 10. For one thing, the Year of the Snake is traditionally considered a less fortuitous cycle in the 12-year Chinese zodiac than […]
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MOSCOW, February 8 (RIA Novosti) The market value of Russia’s government owned assets is more than 50 percent higher than the country’s 2012 GDP, but the authorities say the property’s management is not always effective. The Russian government held a meeting Thursday to try to work out a concept in the sphere of managing federal property. Russia’s Federal Agency […]
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(Interfax – February 7, 2013) Russian Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev has said that public officials of all levels should leave the boards of directors of state companies, Russian privately-owned Interfax news agency reported on 7 February. He also criticized the procedure for approving state company directors. “In future only professional directors should work on boards; state employees should leave,” Medvedev […]
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Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2013 From: Mary McGuire <mcguire@freedomhouse.org> Subject: New Report: U.S. Needs Post-Reset Policy on Russia Freedom House FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Mary McGuire at +1-202-747-7035 or mobile, +1-202-683-0909 New Report: U.S. Needs Post-Reset Policy on Russia Washington February 6, 2013 As President Obama enters his second term, he and his administration should formulate an approach […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – February 7, 2013) One year before the Winter Olympics are to kick off, it looks like Sochi 2014 is getting mired in controversy. While the country’s leaders have made it clear that the Olympics are a matter of national pride and prestige, national and international media attention is increasingly focused on […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Yulia Ponomareva, Combined report – February 7, 2013) Disputes about Stalin’s role in history have flared up again, as the legislature of the city of Volgograd rules that the city shall be called Stalingrad on dates commemorating key anniversaries of World War II. Volgograd, one of 15 Russian cities with a population of […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 6, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/02/window-on-eurasia-russian-regions.html) Encouraged by Vladimir Putin, Russian regions over the last year have come up with new and often harshly reactionary legislation that taken together has the effect of undermining something the incumbent Russian president took so much pride in creating during his first two terms, a common legal […]
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(Interfax – February 6, 2013) A senior Russian government minister has dismissed allegations that migrant workers involved in preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi are being cheated out of wages and denied adequate rest, food and housing, the privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported on 6 February. With almost exactly a year to go until the Games, Dmitriy […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova – February 7, 2013) [Chart here http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/sochi-scorecard-lots-of-progress-but-lots-to-be-done/475172.html] An inflatable 8-meter brown bear floating off into the Moscow sunset followed by applause from the stands during the closing ceremony of the 1980 Summer Olympics is perhaps one of the most colorful moments in the country’s sports history. It took Russia 30 years to win […]
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(Interfax – February 7, 2013) Despite the fact that members of the Kirov regional Legislative Assembly have dropped the idea of holding a vote of no confidence in Governor Nikita Belykh, his possible dismissal is still under consideration, Vedomosti reported on Thursday. “The issue of Belykh’s dismissal has not been removed from the agenda, and it is still quite likely,” […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – February 4, 2013) Anna Arutunyan is the politics editor of The Moscow News Just when I thought I was done, they pull me back in. Nearly one year since the girls staged the punk rock dance that got two of them sent to penal colonies, they are still one of the world’s […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova – February 4, 2013) The story, as told by Yekaterinburg-based journalist Aksana Panova on her Facebook page, is nothing short of amazing. Znak.com, an online portal where Panova works, decided to place banners with quotes from the Russian Constitution on the city streets. The banners went up – but not without a struggle. […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – February 6, 2013) Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov on Tuesday asked for an additional $1.4 billion in farming subsidies this year, as grain prices are growing and WTO commitments are taking effect. Total federal spending on supporting farmers was initially projected at 158 billion rubles ($5.3 billion) this year. Following a less-than-spectacular crop […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 6 (Interfax) – The law on “foreign agent” NGOs has not had a legal effect as yet, Presidential Human Rights Council Chairman Mikhail Fedotov told a press conference at Interfax. “The law in its current form has had a psychological rather than legal effect,” he noted. Not a single organization has been registered as a foreign agent, Fedotov […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Kristen Blyth – February 4, 2013) He’s young and slim, with a narrow face and dark beard. Deeply religious and intensely conservative, he supports all the precepts of traditional Christian values: church, family, God. He’s anti-abortion, anti-homosexuality, and opposes teaching evolution in schools. “It’s crazy to think that the world is millions or billions of […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 5 (Interfax) – Political analysts believe the intention of a group of members of the Kirov regional legislature to express no confidence in Governor Nikita Belykh has been endorsed by some influential political forces both in the region and in Moscow. “Mr. Belykh is not very popular with the local elites and is perceived as an outsider. Perhaps […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – February 6, 2013) Nikita Belykh, the liberal governor of the Kirov region and a former opposition leader, is facing a new wave of pressure from opponents after 19 regional lawmakers announced their intent to put forward a no-confidence vote against him. Investigators raided Belykh’s office last week in connection with the alleged […]
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(RFE/RL – www.rferl.org – Brian Whitmore – February 5, 2013) Somebody is out to get Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Or somebody is setting up Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. Or both. Or neither. But regardless, something pretty weird appears to be going on. A slick feature-length video appeared online last week attacking Medvedev for selling out Russia’s interests in the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Winning – February 6, 2013) The ruling United Russia party has founded a “liberal” platform calling for a major overhaul of the party in light of heightened political competition. But analysts said that the party, known as a deeply conservative force led by Kremlin loyalists, had no intention of accommodating liberal attitudes and that […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Henry Meyer and Ilya Arkhipov – February 6, 2013) Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is clinging to his job as President Vladimir Putin grows increasingly frustrated with his protege’s inability to boost growth, three current and former Kremlin advisers said. Putin criticized Medvedev’s government last week for failing to adapt to a “post-crisis” economic model. That followed […]
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MOSCOW, February 5 (RIA Novosti) Russia is losing arms markets in Asia and the Middle East, two of its traditional strongholds, but gaining new ones in Latin America and Africa, a Russian arms official said this week ahead of an aviation expo in India, a major buyer of Russian weaponry that has recently been opting for Western hardware. “While […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Henry Meyer – February 5, 2013) “Are you totally out of your mind?” Russian newspaper tycoon Alexander Lebedev exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. He stared combatively at property developer Sergei Polonsky, who had taunted Lebedev for ridiculing his claim to be a major charity donor. As tempers flared during the recording of a TV […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.com – February 5, 2013) After dubbing it the most corrupt sector in Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin has moved again to crack down on graft in the utilities sector by calling for public oversight of the sector. Public councils are to be set up to oversee the sector and Putin said this will be done […]
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LUXEMBOURG. Feb 5 (Interfax) – State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said Human Rights Watch is a politically-biased organization. “Human Rights Watch has long entered Russia on the list of countries with an inferior human rights record,” Naryshkin told reporters in Luxembourg, when asked to comment on the HRW’s most recent report. The HRW’s activities were discussed in the most general […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – February 5, 2013) The Justice Ministry has called on the ministry’s regional branches to get approval from the central office before applying the controversial law on “foreign agents.” The move was prompted by the Saratov branch issuing a warning to a local non-governmental organization that the central office considered “not fully lawful,” Vedomosti reported Monday, […]
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MOSCOW, February 5 (RIA Novosti) – The police detained at least 5,156 people at political rallies in Moscow and its suburbs in the past 13 months, during modern Russia’s most restive period since the end of the USSR, a new report said. The detentions, often accompanied by violence, were made at some 228 rallies in the period between December 4, […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 1, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/02/window-on-eurasia-putins-anti-western.html) Vladimir Putin’s support for “the conservative wave in contemporary Russia” is not just part of his broader effort to set the country’s “silent majority” against the opposition, Aleksey Makarkin says. It is also a reflection of the Russian president’s disappointment in the foreign policy course he pursued […]
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(Moscow Times – moscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel and Irina Filatova – Februry 4, 2013) One year before they kick off, the Sochi Winter Olympics have already bagged a world record. They will go down as the most expensive games in history. The cost will top 1.5 trillion rubles ($50 billion) in state and private investment, and three-quarters of that […]
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(Kremlin.ru – February 2, 2013) Volgograd PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon. Dear friends, dear veterans, Over these days our entire country, our entire nation is celebrating a glorious date, the 70th anniversary of our army’ victory in Stalingrad. This is one of the best examples of courage and heroism in international military history. It is no accident that […]
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(Moscow Times – moscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – February 4, 2013) Russia on Saturday celebrated the 70th anniversary of the decisive Soviet victory over the Nazis in the Battle of Stalingrad amid talk of the revival of Stalinism, the temporary renaming of Volgograd to Stalingrad and the launch of buses bearing Stalin’s image. In Volgograd on Saturday, President Vladimir Putin […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Winning – February 4, 2013) Members of the Kremlin’s human rights council believe that police, not activists, instigated violence at a May opposition protest, a council member said Friday. “The qualification of the Bolotnaya Ploshchad protest as a mass riot was artificially thought up by the Investigative Committee. It does not reflect the reality […]
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(Kremlin.ru – January 31, 2013) The Kremlin, Moscow Vladimir Putin held a meeting of the Council for the Local Self-Government Development. Participants discussed improving the regulation of local self-government institutions. PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, colleagues. I am glad to welcome everyone to our Council’s meeting, one which is attended by the new members. Heads of urban districts, […]
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Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#22 :: 1 February 2013 E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net JRL homepage: www.russialist.org JRL on Facebook: www.facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: http://russialist.org/funding.php POLITICS 1. ITAR-TASS: RUSSIAN PRESS REVIEW. Dmitry Medvedev unveils government’s plans until 2018. 2. ITAR-TASS: RUSSIAN PRESS REVIEW. Most Russians value Vladimir Putin for his experience. 3. Vedomosti: Putin Plans Institutional Revolution in Russia. 4. […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova – February 1, 2013) Finance Ministry and Central Bank officials on Thursday called for strict adherence to existing budget policy, saying the measure is critical to achievement of the high rates of economic growth set by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Attaining an annual 5 percent increase in gross domestic product is “very ambitious,” […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 1 (Interfax) – Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ranks first on the Cabinet members popularity chart (the prime minister and deputy prime ministers excluded), with 90% of respondents polled recently giving him highest marks, the Public Opinion Foundation pollster (FOM) has announced. Sixty-eight percent of respondents polled on January 26 and 27 highly appraised his work since he took […]
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(Moscow Times – moscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – February 1, 2013) A leading rights group lashed out at President Vladimir Putin on Thursday by saying he had “unleashed the worst political crackdown” in the country’s post-Soviet history after returning to the Kremlin last year. Human Rights Watch’s annual report, released Thursday, says the string of restrictive laws enacted since […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 31 (Interfax) – The new reform of gubernatorial election law is a step towards decentralization of power, but this process needs to be balanced, Federation Council Chairperson Valentina Matviyenko said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta published on Thursday. “Moscow has assumed an excessive number of competences for a federal state. That was the right thing to do […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Yulia Ponomareva, Combined report – January 31, 2013) Nine months after popular gubernatorial elections were re-introduced on the initiative of former President Dmitry Medvedev, a 90 percent majority in the Russian Duma votes “yes” on a bill that gives regional legislatures the right to scrap them. President Putin believes the measure could prevent […]
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(Kremlin.ru – January 31, 2013) Vladimir Putin chaired an expanded meeting of the Government of the Russian Federation. The meeting discussed the guidelines for the Government’s performance through 2018. * * * PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, colleagues, Last year we outlined a strategy for our activities in the long term. We identified our priorities and targets in […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 31 (Interfax) – Russia needs to develop democratic institutes and strengthen civil society, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday to summarize results of the expanded government meeting. “We have to go beyond the government policy fundamentals until 2018, which have been presented today, so to solve all problems faced by the country and to keep all promises given […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 31 (Interfax) – The main risks that Russia faces are not external, but internal, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at an expanded government session on Thursday. “And all the main risks are not external, but internal. I’m referring to the forecast reductions in the working-age population, the low quality of state management, the far-from-ideal investment climate, the […]
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(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 18 – Pavel Felgenhauer – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – January 31, 2013) Since the rebellion against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began almost two years ago, many in the West and in the Arab World have eagerly awaited evidence of Moscow beginning to finally ditch the brutal and seemingly doomed Syrian […]
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[Russian state TV talk show discusses controversial State Duma bills – BBC Monitoring/Rossiya 1 – January 27, 2013] BBC Monitoring reports on the Rossiya 1 television program “Sunday Night with Vladimir Solovyev” and its January 27, 2013, broadcast covering Duma bills: The 27 January edition of the “Sunday Night with Vladimir Solovyev” talk show on state-owned Rossiya 1 TV featured […]
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[“Riot Police Stand By and Watch Attack on LGBT Activists” – Vedomosti – January 31, 2013] Vedomosti reports on a demonstration in front of the Duma featuring homosexual behavior in the form of same-sex kissing, broken up by “Orthodox fundamentalists,” with police reportedly then arresting only the homosexual demonstrators: … Russian authorities seem to have given up their monopoly on […]
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From: “HRW Press” <hrwpress@hrw.org> Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2013 Subject: Russia: Worst Crackdown Since Soviet Era For Immediate Release Russia: Worst Crackdown Since Soviet Era Government Should Stop Pressure, Reprisals on Civil Society (Moscow, January 31, 2013) The Kremlinn in 2012 unleashed the worst political crackdown in Russia’s post-Soviet history, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, January 30, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/01/window-on-eurasia-indifference-not.html) A majority of Russians today does not feel any sympathy for the Putin regime or is not prepared to show any “active support” or “active opposition” to it, according to Lev Gudkov, head of the Levada Center. Instead, they manifest a kind of “inert indifference” about those […]
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(Russian ex-finance minister tipped to be premier before long – BBC Monitoring/Ekho Moskvy Radio – January 30, 2013) BBC Monitoring reports on Ekho Moskvy and Argumenty Nedeli covered of alleged systematic down-grading of how state-controlled Russian television presents Dmitry Medvedev to the viewing public: Russia’s national TV channels have been told to reduce their coverage of Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev, […]
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(RIA Novosti – January 29, 2013) Veteran journalist Vladimir Pozner is one of the three best known and most trusted TV journalists in Russia, a poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) has shown, as reported by RIA Novosti news agency on 29 January, citing the organization’s website (http://fom.ru/SMI-i-internet/10793). The poll was conducted on 27 January among 1,500 respondents […]
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