Stories about Russian from November, 2011
Russia: Creators of Election Violation Map Come Under Attack
With a week to go until Russia's parliamentary elections, the Golos election monitoring association has been experiencing unprecedented pressure, including a break-in by a television team, accusatory articles in major newspapers, and a call for the organization's closure signed by three parliament deputies.
Ukraine: Update on Jailed Ex-PM Yulia Tymoshenko; Donetsk Protests
Foreign Notes cites journalist Viktoria Syumar's blog post [ru], which compares prison conditions of the jailed ex-PM Yulia Tymoshenko to those of Anders Breivik, and writes – here and here...
Russia: “Anti-Gay” Bill Postponed Till Nov. 30
Siberian Light reports that the second reading of the “anti-gay” bill in the St. Petersburg City Duma has been postponed till Nov. 30 – “to allow time for a face-saving...
Russia: Digital Oppression Hits Web Forums as Election Approaches
As the Russian parliamentary election comes closer, dispersed attacks on regional discussion boards have turned into a massive wave of digital oppression. Alexey Sidorenko reports on several cases.
Russia: PM Putin Gets Booed – “End of an Era” or “Wishful Thinking”?
When Prime Minister Vladimir Putin stepped out to congratulate Mixed Martial Arts champion Fedor Emelianenko on November 20, he was visibly taken aback when he received a less than warm response from Moscow spectators. Donna Welles reports.
Russia: Kostroma Police Closes Discussion Board For Criticising Governor
The server of the Kostroma-based discussion board “Kostroma Jedis” (jedi.net.ru) had been confiscated by the police on November 16, 2011 (see police acts here [ru] and here [ru]). The website,...
Russia and Tajikistan: Pilots Sentenced and Migrants Deported
Two Russian pilots have been sentenced in Tajikistan, meanwhile in Russia 300 illegal Tajiks have been arrested for deportation. Is there any connection? Ekaterina reports.
Ukraine: Starbucks, Social Media Marketing, and “Language Issue”
Tetyana Bohdanova writes about social media marketing and the "language issue" in Ukraine - and a recent scandal caused by what turned out to be a fake Facebook page of Starbucks.
Ukraine: Netizens Appeal to Lithuanian President to Postpone Her Visit
Ukrainian netizens drafted an open letter to the Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė, asking her to postpone her visit to Ukraine, currently scheduled for Nov. 22, the seventh anniversary of the...
Kazakhstan: 2,2 percent of population have Facebook accounts
Kazakh blogger sympaticus writes [ru] that the number of Facebook users from Kazsakhstan is now 340 660 people, making up the Facebook penetration in Kazakhstan to 2,2 percent. During the last...
Russia: Nationalist slogans get spread
Fergananews writes [ru] on popularity of Russian nationalist slogans against immigrants from Central Asia amidst the looming parliamentary elections: “25 percent of high school students approve of nationalist actions of their...
Russia: Hidden Camera Reveals Illegal Electioneering in School
A scandal caused by a hidden camera recording at a school in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, has highlighted a serious problem in Russian schools: teachers campaigning for the ruling United Russia party.
Russia: Official List of Extremist (Forbidden) Materials Grows Over 1000 Items
Sova center publishes [ru] another update of the list [ru] of extremist materials (run by the Ministry of Justice). After the update, which includes 1 YouTube video, kavkazcenter.com (radical separatist...
Russia: Interview With LJ User Politrash-ru
A Good Treaty interviews [ru, en] “the author behind one of LiveJournal’s most popular anonymous blogs” – Politrash_ru.
Russia: Radical Feminist Band Dedicates Debut Clip to Arab Spring
“Egyptian air is good for lungs,” “Make Tahrir at the Red Square”, “Feminist whip is good for Russia” and other provoking slogans sing 3 women from the new radical feminist...
Russia: Drug Control Service Goes After a Blogger Who Commented on Steve Jobs Taking Drugs
Russian Drug Control Service had approached Habrahabr.ru, a popular IT-portal, and demanded [ru] personal data of the Belarus-based staff-writer Alizar [ru]. He is accused of drug propaganda in his post [ru]...
Russia: Police Re-Branding, So Far Online Only
Bloggers discuss newpolice.ru [ru], a self-proclaimed website of the Russian police's new look. Despite beautiful design, the authenticity of website hasn't been confirmed by any government agency, which leads a...
Russia: Celebration of Eid al-Adha in Saint Petersburg
Mr7.ru writes [ru] about the Eid al-Adha celebration by Muslims living in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg. The site writes that up to 80,000 people took part in the celebration according...
Russia/Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan Airlines Refuse to Check-In Russian Citizen with Armenian Surname
LJ-user dimulenka re-publishes [ru] the closed post [ru] of Sergey Gurdzian, “Avtovaz” export director, who writes about a case of ethnic discrimination by Azerbaijan Airlines. Airline representative at the Domodedovo airport refused to check-in...
Russia: Hidden Political Messages in Well-Done YouTube Videos
RuNet witnesses a new competition of high quality YouTube videos. The first video [ru] is called “Half-Dead Bloggers in DeadJournal” and mocks top-bloggers exposing them as neo-Nazis, drug addicts, unstable personalities,...
Russia: Reactions to Arms Smuggler Viktor Bout's Conviction
Many citizen media outlets from around the world have captured the controversy surrounding the November 2 conviction of the Russian arms smuggler Viktor Bout by an American jury. Donna Welles reports.
