Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from July, 2013
30 July 2013
Brutal Attack on Moscow Cop Reignites Russian Ethnic Tensions

Russia rarely enjoys any stretch of time without some news event involving ghastly violence between ethnic Russians and ethnic minorities.
Bosnian Fans of Serbia's Red Star Football Carve 60-Meter Mountainside Logo
As many fans and foreign friends from the region attest, it is a sign of true fanaticism for one's favorite football club.
29 July 2013
Can Pirates Save the Russian Internet?

Judging from attendance at recent demonstrations, Russian supporters of internet freedom have their work cut out for them if they want to move their cause from online to offline.
Laughing at Putin's Pike

Vladimir Putin's presidential photo-ops, which grow more absurd with each passing year. In his latest publicity stunt, Putin joined Prime Minister and Defense Minister on a fishing trip in Krasnoyarsk.
26 July 2013
Anti-Gay Protesters Violently Disrupt Montenegro's First Pride Parade
About 500 people along the parade route tried to stop the historic event, according to police.
A Jewish Russian Mayoral Candidate Even the Nazis Can Love

With his half Jewish heritage, Evgeny Roizman would be an unlikely political star in Russia, were he anyone but Evgeny Roizman.
25 July 2013
Ethnic Slurs Haunt Alexey Navalny

Alexey Navalny came under harsh criticism from Russian opposition movement colleagues just days after he was released from Kirov jail, and as soon as it became clear that he would...
21 July 2013
Has Alexey Navalny Really Changed Russian Politics?

If convicted activist and Moscow mayoral candidate Navalny has in fact rejuvenated Russian politics, what does that look like online, where his support base is supposedly strongest?
19 July 2013
The Terrifying Potential of a Post-Navalny Russia

On the eve of being sentenced to a five-year term in a penal colony, Alexey Navalny blogged as irreverently as ever.
18 July 2013
Russian Nationalists Score Victory in Opposition Council

The Coordinating Council of the Opposition has released a statement on the ethnic clashes and protests taking place in the town of Pugachev.
17 July 2013
Russian Blood on the Asphalt, Armenian Hands on the Wheel

A fatal bus crash that killed 18 has heightened anti-immigrant tensions in Russia.
With Russian Netizens Like These, Who Needs Trolls?

Pavel Astakhov, Russia's children's ombudsman, blithely raises the possibility of sending Russian orphans to be adopted in the North Caucasus. Again.
15 July 2013
Snowden Airport Saga Polarizes Russian Human Rights Community

Are some of Russia's human right defenders guilty of letting the Kremlin score a few PR points?
13 July 2013
Tragedy Ignites Online Friendship Between Romanians and Montenegrins
In one of the most tragic road accidents ever seen in Montenegro, 18 Romanian nationals lost their lives and 29 were injured on June 23, 2013 when a Romanian bus...
10 July 2013
Fear and Censorship in Russia's Huffington Post

PublicPost, an internet news publication that for a time sought to become the Russian Huffington Post, met its end last month, when it became the latest in a series of...
Serbia Rises to Save 600-Year-Old Oak Tree
As a plan to remove Istanbul's Gezi park sparked a mass uprising in Turkey in recent weeks, the people of Serbia were faced with a similar fight. A planned highway...
9 July 2013
Bulgarian Protesters March Kilometers to Challenge Government
On Sunday, July 7, the number of protesters in the streets of the Bulgarian capital was unprecedented, as tens of thousands of citizens marched in the streets, again demanding the...