Stories about Russian from June, 2010
Russia: New Initiatives Indicate Government's Fear of the New Media

Alexey Sidorenko writes about the Russian government's attempts to control cyberspace - and its apparent fear of the new media.
Russia: Blogger Finds a Vulnerability in E-Gov Portal

Habrahabr-user Romachev blogs [RUS] about a crucial security hole in the process of the identification of E-government portal gosuslugi.ru [RUS]. According to the blogger, the vulnerability offers a large potential...
Russia: Chechen President Launches Blog

Ramzan Kadyrov [EN], president of the Chechen Republic [EN], launched a blog ya-kadyrov [RUS] at Livejournal. In his first post Kadyrov writes that he is “a sociable and to the limit outspoken...
Russia: Bloggers React to President Medvedev's Silicon Valley Tour

For the first 24 hours, Dmitry Medvedev's @KremlinRussia Twitter account provided a unique opportunity to send unmoderated comments to the Russian president. Then all the comments were removed, and the era of the Russian unmoderated online democracy ended. Gregory Asmolov reviews Russian bloggers' reactions to the president's visit to California.
Kyrgyzstan: Constitutional Referendum, Pro et contra
Ekaterina writes [ru] (and Andrei translates) a analysis of the situation around constitutional referendum in Kyrgyzstan, which is expected to bring more legitimacy to the Interim Government.
Russia: Police Would Like to ‘Cooperate’ With Bloggers

Valery Gribakin, head of the public relations department of the Russian Ministry of Interior, expressed a will to meet with top-ranking bloggers in order to discuss ways of possible cooperation,...
Russia: President Medvedev Visits Silicon Valley

Russian president Dmitri Medvedev, during the widely discussed tour to the Silicon Valley, dined with Arnold Schwarzenegger [EN], visited Apple [RUS], officially started [EN] an account on Twitter [RUS] at the...
Russia: Flaws and Pitfalls of the Subsidized “Social” Internet Plan

Gregory Asmolov examines the potential of the Russian government's two new initiatives that aim at reducing the digital divide in the country.
Russia: Analysis of Hacker Attacks On Bloggers

Over the last five years, more than 40 RuNet bloggers have become targets of hacker attacks, most of which were carried out by a group of hackers named The Brigade of Hell. The hackers' targets have been both political and commercial bloggers.
Blogger Compares Russian Army to American Prison

Blogger mr_bison analyses [RUS] Russian military statistics. The results are shocking: Russian army is more dangerous environment for a human being than a prison in the US. Plus, almost every fifth...
Russia: Famous Blogger and Civil Rights Activist Gives Interview

Marina Litvinovich, one of the top Russian bloggers and a civil rights activist, shares [RUS] her perspectives on online campaigns, civil society, and politics in Russia.
Russia: Anti-Corruption Cartoon Competition

S-pravdoi.ru, civil society portal, launched [EN] an anti-corruption cartoon competition. After one day of work the competition gathered more than 100 works from all over the country.
Russia: Novaya Gazeta, An Opposition Newspaper Under Internet Attack

Novaya Gazeta is a liberal opposition newspaper in Russia that is famous beyond Russia's borders. Several of its journalists have been killed, and it continues to attract both online and offline threats. Sergey Sokolov, the deputy executive editor, shares with GV his perspectives on information security and the ongoing investigations into the journalists' murders.
Belarus: Photos from Minsk, Gomel, Bobruisk, etc.
A great collection of photos from Belarus – new and old buildings, stencil graffiti, Minsk, Gomel, Bobruisk, etc. – by LJ user darriuss (RUS, BEL).
Russia: Bloggers Discuss the Case of a Cop-Killing Gang

Russian bloggers are having a heated discussion of the recent detention of a criminal group that carried out a series of attacks on the police in Russia’s Far East.
Russia: New Websites to Promote Modernist Islam

Paul Goble writes [EN] about the launch of two websites islam-portal.ru and soyuzmusulmanok.ru, that promote modernist Islam. Two websites, Goble suggests, illustrate both attempts to seek connections with younger Muslim population,...
Russia: Online Media Exempt From Comments Responsibility

Russian Supreme Court finally approved the decision concerning responsibility of online news media for the comments published on their forums, lenta.ru reported [RUS]. The court exempt the news websites from...
Kazakhstan: “Leader of the Nation” Mission Complete
As was reported, on May 13, the parliament of Kazakhstan adopted a set of amendments labeled as The Law on Leader of the Nation, as they were meant to attach...
Kyrgyzstan: Provocateurs seen behind ethnic clashes
Clashes between the ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek population in the southern Kyrgyzstan have developed into large-scale violence. After three nights of shooting in the isolated conflict zone - the population still has limited access to telephony, electricity and food.
Russia: Authorities Anounce “Social Plan” for Internet Access

Igor Schegolev, Russian minister of Communications, announced [RUS] today that country's largest, state-controlled, access provider “Svyazinvest“ [ENG] will launch a subsidized Internet access plan. Users of the new “Social” plan will be...
Russia: From “Sovereign Democracy” to “Sovereign Internet”?

Gregory Asmolov analyzes some of the recent Internet-related initiatives of the Russian government and explains what RuNet may possibly evolve into in the future.