· June, 2014

Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from June, 2014

Serbian Insurance Company Refuses to Pay Damages to Roma Family

  29 June 2014

Serbian daily Blic reports on a curious case in which Serbian insurance company Takovo Osiguranje has, in writing, refused to pay damages to the widow and children of a car accident victim, based on his ethnicity. Blic journalists and an attorney representing the victim's family claim that the insurance company...

Could Snowden Be Russia's Alfred Kinsey?

RuNet Echo  24 June 2014

If Kinsey’s Big Data could show the reality of human sexual behavior, what might the total disintegration of online privacy reveal about all kinds of political behavior?

Twitter's Game of Cat and Mouse in Russia

RuNet Echo  23 June 2014

A pattern is emerging in the relationship between the Kremlin and Twitter, where Moscow makes sweeping demands of the website and then touts the resulting compromise as a victory.

Russia's Irresistible Putin Swag

RuNet Echo  21 June 2014

Last week, two fashion designers opened a kiosk in a shopping mall outside Red Square, selling t-shirts celebrating Vladimir Putin. Within a day, they'd sold over five-thousand.

Russia Says the Internet Spreads Extremism

RuNet Echo  21 June 2014

Russia’s Interior Ministry has drafted a ten-year strategy for countering violent extremism. The plan identifies the Internet as the main conduit for extremism and calls for new policing measures.

Russia's Failed e-Democracy?

RuNet Echo  20 June 2014

Last year, the Kremlin launched an online portal where citizens can propose and vote on their own legislative ideas. The e-democracy experiment disappointed many, however.

Comas Make for Comedians on Russian Twitter

RuNet Echo  18 June 2014

Until yesterday, racing driver Michael Schumacher was in a 6-month coma. After he regained consciousness, Russian Twitter users welcomed the story with a flood of jokes about sports and politics.

Tor's Skyrocketing Popularity in Russia

RuNet Echo  17 June 2014

Since mid-August 2013, the average daily number of Russian users of the Tor anonymity network, a free software for enabling online anonymity and resisting censorship, has multiplied fourfold.

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.