Stories about Russian from January, 2010
Russia: Opposition Blogger Finally Gets Permission To Leave Country

An opposition blogger Oleg Kozlovsky tells his story [EN] on how his blog helped his to finally receive a passport allowing him to leave Russia. The country's Federal Security Service...
Russia: Book Written Using Collective Efforts Online

Russian writer Evgeny Popov decided to create his new book using online input from readers of his blog. The author publishes every chapter of the book [RUS] online with several...
Russia: Newspaper Blog Covers Practices Of Trolling

A recent post on the blog [RUS] of a famous Russian oppositional newspaper “Novaya Gazeta” covers general practices of political trolling on the Russian Internet.
Russia: Political Dossier Web Site Shut Down

Compromat.ru, a notorious Web site that publishes controversial dossiers on various Russian politicians and businessmen, has been allegedly closed following a court order, Elena Tokareva (a.k.a. LJ user elena-tokareva2) reported...
Russia: Prosecution Against Opposition Blogger Stopped

The first criminal case against a blogger in Russia with a happy ending unfolded over a long period of time. After two years of investigation and three socio-linguistic assessments, experts didn't find any evidence of "incitement hatred against police and Russian Security Service officers." But the blogger's victory, however, is rather an exception than a rule.
Russia: Newspaper Web Site Hacked

The Web site of a popular Russian newspaper “Novaya Gazeta” has been hacked today, RIA news agency reported [EN]. Allegedly, the attack has been provoked by the article [RUS] about...
Russia: Editor Of Major Newspaper Says Police Treats Internet As Traditional Media

Commenting on the recent arrest of a former Russian police officer who used a video blog to expose police corruption in the country, an editor of a major Russian newspaper...
Russian Blogger Harassed For Marrying Chinese

Maria Gromakova became a victim of comprehensive virtual attacks of Russian extreme nationalists. Online harassment eventually turned into a real-life nightmare forcing Maria and her family to leave Russia. She tells her story to GVO.
Russia: Gamer, Cat And Intellectual Are Most Popular Memes On RuNet

“Hero of the Runet” prize is awarded this year to the following Internet memes of Russian Internet: computer games reviewer Ilya Maddison, cute Cat Manul and Russian flamboyant intellectual Anatoly...
Ukraine: Citizen Media and Political Forecasting
There was no lack of interest in the outcome of the presidential election in Ukraine, and, as a result, the blogosphere was overflowing with political forecasting attempts on the eve of the Jan. 17 first-round vote. Below are summaries of a selection of polls and forecasts that appeared on Ukrainian and Russian blogs.
Russia: Project Aims To Translate Popular Blogs Into Russian

The World Wide Web now hosts a new project that aims to make English-speaking blogosphere more accessible to Russians. Inoblogger [RUS] is a Web site that will be translating the...
Ukraine: Bloggers Discuss Presidential Election
Ukrainians went to the polls on Jan. 17 to choose their president from the 18 candidates running for the post this year. Opposition leader Victor Yanukovich received 35.32% of the vote; prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko is in second place, with 25.05%. As neither won 50% of the vote, they face a runoff vote on Feb. 7. Below are some of the reactions from the Ukrainian blogosphere.
Russia: Story About Paid Bloggers Appears On TV

Paid bloggers became a topic of a segment [RUS] in a popular Russian TV program “Vesti.” The story depicts mechanism of blog marketing and shows interview with a popular paid...
Russia: Company To Pay $300K For Illegaly Taking Forbes Domain

Russian cybersquatter company “Landmark VIP Service” will have to pay $300,000 penalties for illegally taking domain Forbes.ru, forbesrussia.ru reports [RUS] . It is the largest fine for cybersquatting in the...
Uzbekistan: War of the monuments
14th January is celebrated as the Day of Defender of the Motherland in Uzbekistan. On the eve of this day, a grand opening ceremony of the monument “Oath to the...
Russian Bloggers React to Haiti Earthquake

Reaction of Russian bloggers to the devastating earthquake in Haiti is diverse and sometimes unexpected. The cataclysm provided an opportunity for sorrow, support, contemplation and self-observance.
Russia: Businessman in Exile Uses Blog to Answer Questions

One of the youngest Russian millionaires Yevgeny Chichvarkin [EN], who escaped Russian authorities and currently resides in London, UK, used his blog [RUS] as a platform for a virtual press conference. This live...
Russia: Largest Political Community Online Removed And Restored

The recent case of the most popular political online community demonstrated how easy it is to limit free expression on RuNet and revealed the willingness of online audience to defend free speech.
Russia: Quarter of Households Use Broadband

A recent report [RUS] shows that 23.6 percent of households in Russia use broadband Internet access. Analysts also predict the increase in wireless Internet usage in the country within the...
Russia: Mobile Operator Upset With Mockery Online

Russia's largest mobile telecommunication company Mobile Telesystems [ENG] demanded to remove a blog post [RUS] that mocked the company's new ad campaign, adme.ru [RUS] reports. Russian blogosphere is boiling with indignation...
Russia: Details of Arrested Blogger Case Emerge on RuNet

LJ user beri_llii published [RUS] details of Irek Murtazin's [ENG] criminal case. Murtazin has been arrested last year on defamation charges when he reported on rumors about the death of Tatarstan president.