Stories from RuNet Echo from July, 2011
Russia: US Support of Opposition?
LJ user grad46 (Maxim Petrovich) claims [ru] that several Russian opposition groups are funded by US-interests. Until recently an opposition activist himself, Petrovich publishes corroborating documentation, accuses several leading opposition activists of taking American money, and is interviewed [ru] on the issue by Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets.
Russia: News as Rap
Edmund Downie at Foreign Policy Passport reports that Russian president Dmitri Medvedev is much impressed by news agency's RIA-Novosti introduction of news in the form of musical rap info [ru].
Ukraine: Collapse of Government Policies
Taras Kuzio posts a translation of Vitaliy Portnikov's article [ru], arguing that the policies of the Ukrainian President Yanukovich and the government are close to a political collapse.
Russia: Policeman that Promised to “Rob and Kill” Dismissed
A policeman that was caught on camera saying that if he would be dismissed he would “go to the streets to rip, rob, and kill” (video [ru]) was dismissed, lenta.ru reported [ru]. The dismissal (result of a bloggers’ activity in spreading the word about the case), however, didn't solve a...
Russia: While LiveJournal Experiences DDoS Attack (Again), Users to Twitter and Facebook
LJ-user igrick (head of LiveJournal development team) publishes [ru] (the link might be temporary unavailable) evidence of another serious DDoS attack against the platform. Roem.ru, on the other hand, brings up graphs [ru] that say that bloggers deprived of their publishing platform move to Twitter and Facebook.
Russia: Megafon/Yandex Text Message Leak
Svetlana Gladkova of Profy writes that “one of the largest Russian mobile carriers [Megafon] and the leading Russian search engine [Yandex] need to explain quite a lot of things to their users […] due to an unspeakable data leak as thousands of SMS messages sent via Megafon website got publicly...
Russia: Bloggers Find Street Shooter
Bloggers across the Russian Internet were quick to respond with posts and information after well-known photo-blogger Dmitry Ternovsky was shot at recently on a highway in the southeast of Moscow. Ashley Cleek details the story.
Belarus: East and West and Nothing in Between?
"East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet." This chronically misused Kipling phrase seems to catch the realities for an increasing number of Belarusians, who, waking to a wild and hostile world, are asking: "Who cares about Belarus?"
Russia: “Double-Entry Bookkeeping” in Moscow State University
Blogger Vladimir Varfolomeev writes [ru] about strange occurrences during the entry exams to the prestigious Journalism Department of the Moscow State University. Varfolomeev brings up a story of the entrant who received the highest possible mark for the interview. After the interview, however, the mark was significantly reduced by a...
Russia: Envisioning the “Cloud Democracy” Utopia
'Cloud Democracy' is the title of the new book written by Leonid Volkov and Fyodor Krasheninnikov, two political bloggers from the Urals region of Russia. The book displays the authors' vision on how a system of 'future' democratic governance can be built with the help of online tools.
Is Russia's Political “Black Hole” About to Reach Tipping Point?
In December 2011 Russian voters will elect a new parliament, and than in March 2012 a new (or perhaps, not so new) president. Analysts predict that the upcoming elections threaten a confrontation between the old political parties and their new, network-based, alternatives.
Russia: Online Effort to Discredit Environmentalists Exposed
Suren Gazaryan, Russian environmentalist, publishes [ru] the scan of the document that describes the strategy of discrediting local environmentalist organizations protesting against the development of the Tuapse oil terminal. The “plan” includes prices for the paid posts in the blogs, forums, media outlets, as well as a list of possible...
Russia: President Medvedev's Gadgets Evaluated in a YouTube Video
YouTube user tebedam publishes a video [ru/en] entitled as “Medvedev is NOT corrupted,” that provides market prices for the gadgets president Medvedev had been spotted with on various photos, including Leica S2 camera (Price 22,995 US dollars), other top shelf Swiss watches, and a spacious Moscow flat. According to the...
Russia: Women ‘Rip For Putin’ As Election Campaign War Begins
Russian 2012 presidential candidate Vladimir Putin is quickly catching up with his supposed rival Dmitry Medvedev in engaging guerrilla marketing techniques and new media to boost his campaign.
Russia/Belarus: Two More ‘Revolutionary’ Initiatives Appear Online
Ukraine-based Looo.ch launches [ru] street-art initiative called “Belarus Front of Street Art,” which idea is to spray word “Скоро” (“Soon”) on the streets of Belarus thus inspiring people to oppose the regime of Alexander Lukashenko. In Russia, the community “Crayon Revolution” [ru] calls people to draw “This government should resign”...
Russia: Internet Audience Continues to Grow Rapidly
RuMetrika sums up the recent survey of “Public Opinion Foundation” on the Internet audience in Russia. According to it, the audience grew 7 percent (versus predicted 3.7) in the first three months of 2011. During the last year and a half, the monthly Internet audience increased by 27 percent.
Russia: Notorious Foundation Clashes with “Forbes”
Infamous “Federaciya” foundation accused “Forbes” employees of contacting the internationally famous guests of a Russian charity event and trying to persuade them not to attend, “Forbes” reported on its Facebook page. The magazine denies any involvement in the issue.
Russia: New Statistics of Social Network Users
Russian collaborative blog Habrahabr.ru publishes statistics on the users of Vkontakte.ru, the most popular social platform in Russia. According to the data, Alexander (for man) and Ekaterina (for women) are the most popular names of users. The most users are from Moscow or Saint Petersburg.
Russia: Photoblogger Covers Drug Addiction in Afghanistan
Popular Russian photoblogger Ilya Varlamov (zyalt) traveled to Afghanistan where (among other things) he covered drug addiction in Kabul.
Russia: Government Company to Bring Internet to Largest Island in Norway
Russian government company “Kosmicheskaya Svyaz” plans to bring fast Internet and digital TV to Spitsbergen, the largest island in Norway, news website Lenta.ru reported.
Russia: News Website to be Closed Because of Racial Clashes Coverage
URA.ru, an information agency and website that became popular after it extensively covered clashes in a small Russian village Sagra, is on the verge of being closed down by the authorities. It is said that because of URA.ru, the coverage of Sagra clashes became “too extensive” in media.
