Far-Right Party Performs Strongly in Ukrainian Vote

While the results of the Oct. 28 elections in Ukraine are still being finalized, netizens are already discussing the anticipated outcome. Many are paying special attention to VO Svoboda, a far-right party, and its victorious leap over the 5% threshold necessary to get any Parliament seats.

Tajikistan: Students Forced to Love President

As the president of Tajikistan tours the country's northern province of Sughd, blogger Teocrat reports [ru] that thousands of students were mobilized to greet the president wherever he goes. This has...

Tajikistan's ‘Million Dollar Baby’ Hangs Up Her Gloves

Mavzuna Chorieva, Tajikistan's female boxer who brought the country its only medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, has married and hung up her gloves, at least for a year. While many people in the country are happy for Chorieva, some have been disappointed over her decision.

Russia: Assessing Predictions About the Coordinating Council Election

As RuNet Echo readers know well, the Coordinating Council's elections took place last week, and that body has already convened virtually through Facebook and once again in person. Weeks in advance of the vote, Global Voices offered projections based on Yandex's blogger rating index. Here, we've assessed those predictions against the actual results and another forecast model

Central Asians Treated ‘Like Crap’ at Moscow Airport

I realized that once you find yourself at [the Moscow airport] Domodedovo, you start feeling like you are [crap]. And you feel so not because you are actually [crap], but because the personnel at the airport treat you this way.

Ukraine: Election Votes for Sale Via Social Network

Odessablog draws attention [en] to a VKontakte page [ru] used by those who are willing to sell their Oct. 28 election votes. Roma Lexikov, one of the very few users...

Russia: the Scuffles of the Moscow Literati

Most online conflicts in the RuNet remain virtual. Sometimes, however, members of the Moscow creative class feel that fisticuffs are their only recourse, as a recent Twitter spat between blogger Maksim Kononenko and Pussy Riot lawyer Mark Feygin demonstrated.

Russia: Facebook Insults Lead to a Fight at the Bolshoi

Earlier this week, an online spat between the chief editors of Russian GQ and Russian Tatler magazines came to physical blows on the steps of the famous Bolshoi Theater. First,...

Kazakhstan: Misused National Symbols

People should be punished for displaying the coat of arms on garbage trucks and for using the national flag as a construction tool or toy bag.

Russia: Cryptanalytic Vulnerabilities in the Opposition's Online Elections

The opposition's Elections Commission accidentally leaked personal voter data to one of its most dangerous enemies, Sergei Mavrodi's MMM group. How avoidable was this mistake, and does the fact that it happened indicate more serious vulnerabilities in the protest movement's digital self-defense?

Kyrgyzstan: Bride-Kidnapping Prevented

You know what shocked me most of all? The people in the street. They were just standing there and watching [an attempt to kidnap a girl], as if it was some sort of a performance.

Russia: With Opposition's Online Elections Over, Scandals Plague Results

The Coordinating Council elections are finally over. Now that the final tally is in, it’s time to look more closely at what happened. Scandals and provocations have led to results with more than a few critics among and outside the opposition.

Kyrgyzstan: Child Abduction Caught on Tape

A spine-chilling video caught on a CCTV camera in a small provincial town in Kyrgyzstan appears to depict an abduction of an 11-month-old child in a crowded market place. The video has become a focal point for discussion among Kyrgyzstani netizens, with many blaming the child's mother for neglect and even complicity in the abduction.

Ukraine: Homophobic Bill Considered Ahead of Election

Shortly after scrapping the infamous defamation bill in early October, Ukrainian MPs passed another scandalous proposal in the first reading, aimed at “defending children from the propaganda of homosexual lifestyle and the HIV/AIDS infection associated with it.” Tetyana Bohdanova reports.

Tajikistan: Russian ‘Migrant Guide’ Deemed Insulting

A new 'migrant worker's guide' to the city of St. Petersburg depicts foreign labor migrants as brooms, paint brushes, trowels, and paint rollers. The leaflet has provoked widespread anger in Tajikistan, with many internet users and officials describing the representation of migrant workers in the guide as 'insulting'.

Russia: DDoS Attacks Cripple Opposition's Online Vote

Eight hours after online voting for the Russian opposition's “Coordinating Council” began, unknown assailants launched a sustained Denial-of-Service attack against the Election Commission's website, disabling the primary voting portal.

Russia: Opposition Distracted by Virtual Elections, Loses Real Elections

In August, Global Voices reported on several activists from Russia’s protest movement running for office in local elections. They hoped it would be easier to win these small-scale contests, which took place last weekend. They were wrong, and the Coordinating Council election might be partly to blame.

Russia: A Ponzi Scheme to Destroy the Opposition's Coordinating Council?

There are storm clouds rolling in for the Coordinating Council's coming elections, and the promise of a democratic triumph for the protest movement could be faltering, thanks mainly to the unsavory scheming of one of Russia's most infamous and odious characters: Sergei Mavrodi, the founder of the MMM series of pyramid schemes

Russia: Regional Governor Holds Twitter Q&A

Two days ago Alexander Tkachev, governor of the the southern Kradnodarskiy Krai (one of Russia's 87 federal regions), announced a “twitter-conference” [ru], soliciting questions from his followers. Today he spent a...

Russia: Candidates Drop Out of Opposition Elections

On October 16 two high profile candidates in the opposition's Coordinating Council elections announced they are withdrawing from the campaign. Economist Irina Yasina and writer Liudmila Ulitskaya published a statement [ru]...

Russia: Lawmaker Wants to Regulate Social Networks

A few days ago several Russian bloggers were incensed by the idea that a Duma committee responsible for legislating the internet was going to propose a new law requiring passport identification for users of social networks.