Stories about Russian from May, 2011
Russia: OBEY Giant Poster Wonders ‘Who Set Up Strauss-Kahn?’
LJ-user groupper posts [ru] pictures of an illegal poster with OBEY Giant and a question in French and Russian: “Who set up Strauss-Kahn?” The poster hanging in front of the French diplomatic mission building in Saint-Petersburg, raises a conspiracy theory question, wherever the #DSK scandal was a deliberate removal of...
Russia: Famous Sci-Fi Writer's Blog Removed for ‘Anti-Semitism’
Following President Medvedev's speech on extremism in the Russian Internet, security services began a campaign against online neo-Nazis and vocal nationalists. On May 28, 2011, the campaign against racial and religious extremism found an unusual enemy – Leonid Kaganov, one of Russia's oldest bloggers, a poet, and a science fiction writer.
Russia: Moscow Pride 2011
This year's Moscow Gay Pride event ended in clashes almost as soon as it began, at least 18 gay rights activists and 14 of their opponents are reported to have been arrested, and a journalist who had blogged about her reasons for attending the rally ended hospitalized with a concussion.
Russia: Reporters’ Open Letter Highlights TV Censorship Concerns
Censorship on the majority of Russian television channels has been around forever, but a recent open letter by REN TV reporters showed how even remaining small islands of media freedom could get washed away.
Russia: Renewed Anger Over Bureaucratic Traffic Bypasses
A fiery incident on a Moscow highway has reignited the debate on Russian officials' use of “special signals” that allow bureaucrats to move quickly through traffic. Ashley Cleek explores the issue.
Russia: Attack Survivor Journalist Oleg Kashin on Internet Freedom
Oleg Kashin, special correspondent for the newspaper Kommersant and well-known blogger, was brutally beaten near his home in November 2010. A video recording of the attack was subsequently published on the Internet. Global Voices interviews Kashin.
Russia: History of Russian Pop
A translation of History of Russian Pop (the Russian-language original appeared in Russkii Reporter) – at RussiaWatchers, here and here.
Azerbaijan: Eurovision winner Nigar Camal's visa criticism
Dissident blogger and journalist Elnur Majidli, now living in France and facing arrest in Azerbaijan for his Facebook activity, has uploaded a screenshot of a status line apparently written last year by Nigar Camal, one of the two singers who won this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Germany, on the...
Russia: Billionaire Gives Up Business After Publishing a Video On Bank Fraud
Alexander Lebedev, Russian tycoon, said that he will give up his banking business and join pro-Kremlin People's Front, after he published a video clip [ru] on corruption in Federal Security Service and Central Bank in his blog, Gazeta.ru reported [ru]. The video has been removed shortly after its publication, although...
Russia: Sakhalin Island Experiencing Serious Connection Problems Due to Cable Wreck
Broadband cable that connects Sakhalin island with the mainland has been damaged, Rian.ru reported [ru]. The websites are opening with serious delay (or don't open at all). Unstable Internet connection is still a problem for nearly half a million inhabitants.
Russia: Police Requests Data of Users Who Commented on Secret E-surveillance Unit Rumors
On April 17th, 2011 Yevgeniy Roizman, Yekaterinburg-based politician, wrote [ru] that police creates secret “I-departments,” new police units that will collect data on Internet users. After local news site URA.ru republished [ru] his post and some users started to mock the idea, the website administrators received an official police request...
Russia: Church of Scientology in Moscow
English Russia re-posts and translates LJ user ottenki-serogo‘s photo report [ru; over 1,300 comments] on the Church of Scientology in Moscow.
Russia: Navalny Called In For Questioning On Rospil Logo
Kevin Rothrock (@agoodtreaty) reports that anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny (LJ user navalny) has been called in for questioning about the logo of his Rospil [ru] anti-corruption project: “[…] Does it desecrate Russia's state emblem?” Navalny's post [ru] about the investigation, launched at a United Russia MP's request, has so far...
Azerbaijan: Eurovision Victory
Surprising many, Azerbaijan won last night's Eurovision Song Contest in Dusseldorf, Germany. Bloggers and social media users covered the event extensively.
Russia: Quantitative Research Proves Blogs Set an Alternative News Agenda
Bruce Etling, Berkman Center scholar and one of the authors of the “Mapping of the Russian Blogosphere” research, posts the initial results of the Russian online media content analysis. While the “Russian TV channels and newspapers (traditional and Web native) cover topics similar to each other and to the Russian government,”...
Russia: Opposition Blogger's Trial Starts After a Year of Detention
Caucasian Knot reports on [ru] Alauddin (Aleksey) Dudko's trial that started only on May 10, 2011, year after his arrest. Dudko (LJ-user ingushetiya_ru), opposition blogger, had been charged with drug and explosives possession. Dudko's lawyers claim, police set him up in order to prevent his blogging activity. According to the...
Russia: North Caucasian Website DDoS-attacked and Hacked
Caucasian Knot reports [ru] a hacker attack on golosingushetii.ru (Voice of Ingushetia), an independent North Caucasian website. In March 2011, the website was subject to a DDoS attack. This time the online offenders managed to hack the website and delete its content. The content has been backed up and now the...
Ukraine: The Untold Story of the Victory Day Clashes in Lvov
Russian television footage this week showed hooded young Ukrainians attacking World War II veterans, giving Nazi salutes, and chanting nationalist slogans. As they ripped St. George ribbons from people's shirts, it seemed that Ukrainian youth had forgotten the terrible sacrifices made by the Soviet Union to defeat Germany. Will Partlett reports on what the Russian press is not saying about the May 9 clashes in Lvov, Ukraine.
Russia: New Online Electoral Statistics Database Launched
Russian domestic election monitoring group Golos.org has launched an on-line database of electoral statistics stat.golos.org [ru] that contains official data from more than 36 thousand elections of different levels held in Russia since 2003. Golos members noted [ru] that the database greatly eases the access to Russian electoral statistics.
Russia: President Medvedev Meets Russian Internet Community
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met leaders of the Russian Internet community for three hours of discussion about Internet regulation. Gregory Asmolov, who took part in the meeting, shares his impression and analysis of the President's approach to the regulation of the Internet.
Kazakhstan: Two Kazakhstanis in the World News – One Arrested, One Killed
Two Kazakhstanis made it to the international news last week, both in very unfortunate ways. Firstly, Valeriy Tolmachev, an adviser to Kazakhstan's delegation at UNESCO, attacked a flight attendant with a knife onboard his Paris-to-Rome flight and demanded it fly to Libya. Secondly, 26 year old Kirill Denyakin, who was working in Portsmouth, Virginia, was shot by police.
