Stories from RuNet Echo from March, 2013
Russian Photographer Unearths Ghost Slum
A photo-blogger based in the city of Voronezh, located in central Russia not far from the Ukranian border, has taken a series of striking photographs [ru] (including an animated panorama) of...
As Liberal Russia's Secret Superhero ‘KermlinRussia’ Unmasks, Some See Evil
Arseny Bobrovsky, the owner of a Russian PR firm called “Daily Communications,” would be a thoroughly typical example of Moscow’s “creative class” liberals, were it not for one thing: Bobrovsky has a secret identity. At least he did, anyway, until March 25, 2013, when he and his accomplice Katya Romanovskaya outed themselves to the world as the authors of KermlinRussia, one of the most popular accounts on Russian Twitter.
Russian Anti-Corruption Blogger Appeals to Readers
Alexey Navalny, unofficial protest leader, took to his blog [ru] on March 27 to defend himself from what he says are unfair allegations of corruption. Navalny is currently a suspect in...
Russians Can't Agree on Billionaire's Suicide
When Alexander Dobrovinsky, lawyer to Russia's rich and famous, announced on his Facebook that Boris Berezovsky, controversial Russian oligarch living as a refugee in London, had committed suicide, RuNet reacted with disbelief.
Shades of Communism in New Russian Registration Law
On the evening of March 18, 2013 group of around 12 people [ru] unveiled a long black-and-white poster in the Red Square, reading “Go f*ck yourself with your registration”. They set off flares and shouted slogans, among which were “Down with the Chekist government!” and “Putin will be executed!”
The Criminal Economics of Kremlin Propaganda
Anti-corruption blogger Alexey Navalny is causing more waves at Aeroflot Airlines, where he has called for an internal investigation into a contract worth 64 million rubles awarded without competition to Apostol Media Group.
Russian Nationalists Rally Behind Subway Shooter
After all, how can one not react with outrage upon learning that Alexandra Lotkova, a pretty, twenty-one year old college student, got three years in prison for using a non-lethal gun to protect herself from knife-wielding thugs, who had already stabbed one of her friends!
How Russian Villagers Can Terrify the Kremlin
The ploy was simple: Andrei Turinov, a town councilman from Novouspenskii, posted to the Internet an open letter addressing Dmitri Medvedev, declaring the exit of 60 United Russia members from the party. The timing was perfect, and for a brief moment one small village in Krasnoyarsk had the attention of the nation's political elite.
Top Anti-Corruption Blogger Parties at Kremlin
Russia's best known anti-corruption blogger, Alexey Navalny, shocked [ru] many of his supporters when he attended a banquet at the Kremlin yesterday, March 18, 2013.
Sptn!k: Unconventional Russian Excursions Brought to You by Locals
The Sptn!k project was created in St. Petersburg and has now reached Moscow. Last month, Teplitsa's Ekaterina Izmeskyeva spoke with the creator, Aleksander Kim, about how the idea came about to create the portal, who becomes tour guides, and what interesting tours can be found on the site.
Stones & Glasshouses? A Writer Challenges the Kremlin
Kittens aside, there is nothing your average Russian blogger loves better than a juicy spat about politics or literature, except for a combination of the two.
Propaganda & Mystery in Russia's Browder-Magnitsky Case
Conspiracies are the stuff of Russian politics, and the anarchy of online political discourse makes the RuNet an especially exciting place to watch conspiracy theories unfold. Consider Bill Browder and the late Sergei Magnitsky, the two key figures in a multimillion-dollar tax fraud scam. For years, Russian federal investigators and Browder’s firm have traded accusations about who’s to blame for the theft of 230 million dollars.
How Using Twitter Can End Your Political Campaign in Russia
Earlier this week, a judge in Krasnodar disqualified a politician running for city council, after determining that his campaign materials infringed on copyrights of three popular Internet social networks: Twitter, Facebook, and Vkontakte. What exactly was this man’s crime? He ran a black-and-white newspaper advertisement that included the three websites’ logos.
Beauty & the Beast? “Ethnic” Pageant Winner Enrages Russian Nationalists
When top Russian blogger Rustem Adagamov posted the news of Abdrazakova's victory in the 2013 Miss Russia pageant on his blog, along with some her photographs, his post attracted comments like "Are there still Russian girls in the Russian Federation?"
Facebook Instigates Another Russian Media Scandal
Earlier today, Yuri Saprykin, announced that Gazeta.ru’s editors have removed Maria Tsybulskaya from the newspaper’s video-interviews project, because her interview with Saprykin included off-limits political questions about the criminal cases surrounding last May’s violent protest at Bolotnaia Square, and Putin’s declining support in national polls.
Russia's Public Petitions: By the People, But for Whom?
Yesterday, on March 4, Vladimir Putin signed an executive order regarding the creation of a government petitions online platform, which will allow Russian citizens to create and vote on various policy issues at the federal, regional, and local levels. The website, which is scheduled to go live for federal petitions in April 2013 and regional and local issues in November 2013, will be called the “Russian Public Initiative.”
Why Do Russia's Newsmen Keep Quitting?
Two editors-in-chief lost their positions on March 4, 2013: Mikhail Kotov left one of Russia's biggest online newspapers, Gazeta.ru, while Alexey Vorobiev is no longer the head of the Kommersant FM, a Kommersant affiliated radio station with a heavy online presence.
Doubt & Clan Politics in Russian Cyberspace
The turbulence of the 1990s seems to have returned to Russia, despite a political culture built on the expectation that Vladimir Putin keeps such chaos at bay. What role can netizens play in a Russia with an increasingly fragmented ruling elite?
