Stories from RuNet Echo from November, 2009
Russia: Thousands Protest Against Trading Center Construction
On November 29, thousands of people in Moscow went out on the streets to protest against the construction of a new trading center. This center would replace the “Cherkizovski” market [ENG], which was closed down in June because of many illegal activities on its premises. The photos of the protest...
Russia: How Passengers of “Nevsky Express” Tell Their Stories Through Social Media
The crash of the "Nevsky Express" train happened far from any major populated area. It took several hours for reporters to arrive on the spot. Only then the first photographs and videos started to appear everywhere. But what happened to citizen reporting that led the way in the coverage of the plane crash in Russia a year ago?
Russia: At Least 25 People Killed in the ‘Neva Express’ Train Crash
An express train traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg derailed at 9:34 PM on Friday, Nov. 27, near the town of Bologoye, killing at least 25 people. Below are some of the initial reactions from the Russian blogosphere.
Russia: Official Government Web sites Will Be Regulated By Law
A new law “On Ensuring Access to Information about Activities of Government Bodies and Municipal Authorities” [RUS] will require, among other things, creating public Internet terminals all around Russia. But netizens question [RUS] the feasibility of the law.
Russia: Tatarstan Blogger Sentenced to Almost 2 Years in Penal Colony
On Sept. 12, 2008, Tatar blogger and journalist Irek Murtazin blogged about rumors of Tatarstan president Mintimir Shaimiev's death. On Nov. 26, 2009, Murtazin was convicted of defamation and incitement to hatred and sentenced to 1 year and 9 months of penal colony.
Russia: Free Wi-Fi To Be Installed At Moscow Railway Stations
The Russian Railroads company announced [RUS] today that free wi-fi hotspots would be installed at every passenger terminal in Moscow by December 7, 2009. The company expects around 1,500 wi-fi users per day but many Russian bloggers think the figure will be much larger.
Russia: Website Administrator Faces Trial on Libelling
Alexander Batalov, a former administrator of the official Web site for the town of Irbit, faces libel charges for anonymous comments left by someone else on the site. Batalov is accused of allowing unapropriate comments online and, if found guilty, will be required to pay $8,000 penalty. The full story...
Russia: Defense Ministry Reports “Non-Combat Losses” Online
Russia's Defense Ministry reports on its website that suicides, accidents, murders, and, possibly, manslaughter claimed 297 lives in the country's armed forces from Jan. to Oct. 2009, and that 149 of these deaths were suicides. Andrei Skvarsky reports on some of the Russian netizens' reactions to these figures.
Russia Begins Registering Domains in Cyrillic
November 2009 will take a special place in the history of the Russian Internet. It is the month when a Cyrillic domain zone was born - .РФ (Russian Federation). Russia became the first country that allows top-level domains in non-Latin characters. Up until now, governments, companies and individuals could register domain names based on different languages only in Latin transliteration. The current Internet domains system will go much further allowing to use Cyrillic characters in a URL.
Russia: Anti-fascists Mourn Murder of Activist Killed By Neo-Nazis
Hundreds of young anti-fascists gathered in the center of Moscow. They mourned the murder of Ivan Khutorskoy, an activist of “Antifa,” Russian anti-fascist movement. A blogger chtodelat claims [ENG] it's the sixth “Antifa” murder in Russia during the last few years. The photos of the gathering made by lj-user ottenki_serogo...
Russia: Local Authorities Slow Broadband Development
On November 10, activists held a rally calling for broadband Internet and protesting against Internet provider monopoly in the township of Kraskovo (Moscow region, 10 km from the Moscow beltroad). This is the first known case of a protest dedicated to the defense of the Internet rights in Russia. The event also raised the issue of the overregulatedness of the process of Internet providing in the country.
Russia: 6,5 percent of all Web sites are Russian
There are 15 million Web sites in the Russian segment of the Internet. They account for 6,5 percent of all Web sites available online. An average Russian Web site contains 255 pages, 159 thousand words, and 204 images. These facts were revealed in the latest research “The Runet Content” by...
Russia: Blogging the Winter in Yakutia
Winter is yet to arrive in much of Europe, but one of its geopolitical attributes is already back in the spotlight: fears of disruptions of Russian gas deliveries are growing more intense, due to the recurring dispute between Russia and Ukraine. Politics aside, though, in some of Russia's regions winter has been there since early fall. In Yakutia, for example.
Russia: Young People Trust Internet
Fifty one percent of young Russians (ages 16 – 24) consider the Internet a reliable source of information. This makes the Internet the second most trustworthy source after TV among the youth. This and other findings are available in a newly published report [RUS] by the Public Opinion Foundation.
Russia: Medvedev's Speech and IT; Twitter and the Police
Profy writes about the IT dimension of president Medvedev's annual address: “The draft speech was initially published online as a lengthy article by the president and he invited all the citizens to voice their opinions out via the Kremlin official website – and people were definitely very willing to participate...
Russia: Forbes Website
Profy writes about the newly-launched ForbesRussia.ru website and “their obvious lack of interest in anything local and specific to the Russian market, in particular in the field of social media and social networking.”
Russia: 1999 Chechen Diary, Part 4
The final part (part 4) of Polina Zherebtsova’s 1999 Chechen Diary – at Sundry Translations and Other Tangentialia. (More links: intro, part 1, part 2, part 3, Russian-language original.)
Russia: Videos of Ulyanovsk Arms Depot Blasts
LJ user oleg_kozyrev posts six YouTube videos of Ulyanovsk arms depot blasts, shot by Russian video bloggers.
Russia: Article On Social Network
The Daily Telegraph published an article “Social-media and networking websites booming in Russia” [ENG] by Denis Terekhov, one of the marketing specialists in Russian social networks.
Russia: Bird's Eye View Photos of Central Part of the Country
Russian landscapes from the board of a small plane. LJ-user Makarena [RUS] shared some breathtaking photos here.
Russia: Flashmobbers Connect With Each Other Via USB (photo)
About three dozen of Moscow flashmobbers got together to participate in a 7-minute flashmob act they called "USB global connect". Each actor held a USB cable to connect to the others.
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