Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from June, 2014
Ukrainian Rebels Worry that Putin Will Repeat Milošević's Mistakes
Eastern Ukraine’s rebel military commander warns that Putin might be repeating Slobodan Milošević’s wartime mistakes, though not in the way you might be thinking.
Serbian Insurance Company Refuses to Pay Damages to Roma Family
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...
Russian Team Leaves World Cup
Russians resigned to poor national team performance.
TJournal.ru Says Enough With Russian Media's Ukraine Coverage
Responding to a flood of anti-Ukraine propaganda in the Russian mass media, the website TJournal has temporarily halted a service that aggregates news stories trending on the RuNet.
National Heroes Get a Postmodern Makeover in Kazakhstan's #Selfie Statue Scandal
This week the eyes of the Kazakh Internet have been fixed on an ill-fated statue of two national heroes caught between historical greatness and the trappings of the 21st century.
Western Ukraine Police Using Facebook to Increase Police Accountability
According to a report [uk] by RFE/RL (Radio Free Europe), heads of district police departments in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv have been ordered to set up Facebook profiles. As of June 25, 2014, all of them can be found and contacted through the social network, which the Head...
Propaganda Wars: Russian Twitter Account Takes on American “Progress” in Iraq
Someone writing in Russian has issued the latest Internet challenge to the US government, launching a Twitter account parodying Washington's "counter-propaganda" feed about events in Ukraine.
Russians See in US Government Spokesperson the “Heart of a Dog”
An unusual video clip – the latest in a series of Internet memes attacking Jen Psaki, the spokesperson for the US State Department – is circulating among Russians online.
Could Snowden Be Russia's Alfred Kinsey?
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?
Russian Bureaucracy’s Race to Police the Web
"...the most frightening truth may be that Russia’s law enforcement agencies don’t always wait for lawmakers to grant them formal authority when it comes to policing the Internet."
Twitter's Game of Cat and Mouse in Russia
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.
Russian Phone Prankster Fools Belarus Dictator
After Lukashenko found out he was a victim of a prank, he apparently gave his security apparatus "a week" to find Vovan and bring him to some form of justice.
Russians Amused by National Team World Cup Performance
"Everyone is on the Russian team's case, but the real horror is the performance by a team that consists of Real Madrid and Barcelona players."
Russia Claims to Have Forced Twitter into Submission Ahead of Crowell's Moscow Visit
Ahead of a meeting between Twitter and Russia’s chief censorship outfit, Moscow is signaling that Internet giants like the world’s most popular microblogging service must conform to Russian sovereignty.
Russia's Irresistible Putin Swag
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
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?
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.
Russia's Hacker Collective That Wasn't
There is a new Internet group in Russia that publishes compromising political information that the public was never supposed to see. But who's behind it all?
Comas Make for Comedians on Russian Twitter
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.
Global Voices Seeks Contributing Editor for RuNet Echo Project
Global Voices is seeking a part-time Contributing Editor to support our coverage of Russian citizen media, as part of our RuNet Echo project.
Tor's Skyrocketing Popularity in Russia
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 is the Central Europe editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.
Daria Dergacheva is the Eastern Europe editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.
