· June, 2013

Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from June, 2013

PHOTOS: Budapest's Unique Brand of Urban Art

The capital city of Hungary, already famous for its history, art and architecture, seems to be breeding its own brand of urban art these days. Photos and commentary under hashtags such as #streetart related to Budapest are popping up daily on social networks like Twitter and Instagram, in particular as the summer tourism season gets rolling.

28 June 2013

Russian NGOs Learn to Invest in Paper Shredders

RuNet Echo

At 3AM, last Saturday, Russian riot police and private security raided the offices of one of the country's oldest human rights organizations. Those inside, including the group's leader, Lev Ponomarev, were forcibly evicted from the premises. Later, allegations arose that the group was involved in certain "unpatriotic" activities.

26 June 2013

Environmental Issues Drive Russians to Demand More of Their Leaders?

RuNet Echo

Over the last year, “Save Khoper” has held a series of protests to bring attention to a cause against a mining project outside Voronezh. On June 22, the latest demonstration turned violent, after a splinter group of protestors set fire to two drill rigs and other geological survey equipment.

24 June 2013

New Law in Slovakia Would Require Citizens to Report Long Stays Abroad

Slovakia's president has vetoed a controversial new law that would require citizens who plan on leaving the country for more than 90 days to inform the nearest Ministry of Interior office of their intended whereabouts during that time. The legislation has prompted highly visible anger from Slovaks on blogs and social media.

21 June 2013

The Kremlin's Kitchen Serves Up Russia's Free Press

RuNet Echo

Novaya Gazeta has implicated Vladimir Putin’s favorite restaurant owner in a bizarre scheme to defame several of the country’s most prominent news publications, involving a conspiracy to plant false information in different newspapers, in order to convince Russians that the news is for hire.

21 June 2013

Thousands Are Joining Bosnia's ‘Babylution’

The death of a baby girl has people in Bosnia-Herzegovina crossing the country's deep ethnic divides by the thousands to protest together against the government's failure to remedy a lapse in the law that is preventing newborns from being given an identity number and, by extension, travel papers and healthcare.

20 June 2013

Vladimir Putin: Lord of the (Super Bowl) Rings

RuNet Echo

Did Vladimir Putin steal New England Patriots' owner Robert Kraft's Super Bowl ring when they met in 2005? Many Russian bloggers are asking that very question, after Kraft claimed in a June 14, 2013, New York Post interview that he had in fact not given the ring as a gift.

18 June 2013

Orphaned in US, SOPA Finds Home in Russia

RuNet Echo

America’s controversial Stop Online Piracy Act is back—and it’s poised to become law in a matter of weeks. SOPA, however, isn’t coming to the US, where a wide coalition defeated the legislation in January 2012. A law that creates similarly harsh penalties for online copyright violations is on the cusp of finding a home in Russia.

14 June 2013

PRISM Infects Russia with Cyberwar Scare

RuNet Echo

Since last week, when the world learned about PRISM, Russian state officials have expressed renewed concerns about foreign social networks posing a national security threat. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin recently told reporters that websites like Facebook and Twitter are elements of a larger American campaign against Russia.

12 June 2013

Russia Eyes Another Orphan Experiment

RuNet Echo

Pavel Astakhov's idea of sending Russia's highly-politicized orphans to the restive North Caucasian Republics as a kind of social "experiment" was overwhelmingly condemned by netizens of all political stripes.

11 June 2013

About our Eastern & Central Europe coverage

Filip Stojanovski
Filip Stojanovski is the Central Europe editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.

Daria Dergacheva
Daria Dergacheva is the Eastern Europe editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.