· January, 2008

Stories about Russia from January, 2008

Russia: Osoaviakhim-1

  30 January 2008

De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis writes about the Soviet balloon Osoaviakhim-1, which reached the record altitude of 22,000 meters on Jan. 30, 1934, but crashed during the descent.

Armenia: Russian Masters

  30 January 2008

After a visiting Russian official effectively endorsed the candidacy of the prime minister ahead of next month's presidential election in Armenia, Nazarian asks if it isn't time Armenians started to think for themselves.

Russia: Kasyanov and Invalid Signatures

  28 January 2008

Mark MacKinnon writes about Mikhail Kasyanov's failed attempt to run for president and provides “an incomplete list of the invalid signatures phenomenon in post-Soviet elections.”

Azerbaijan: Ethnic Novelist

  27 January 2008

Window on Eurasia says that a book by ethnic Azerbaijani author Eduard Bagirov is causing a stir as a best seller throughout the Russian Federation. In particular, notes the blog, Bagirov's books generally examines the “extraordinary difficulties Azerbaijanis and other non-Russians living in the Russian capital now face in trying...

Russia: Vladimir Vysotsky

  26 January 2008

Sean's Russia Blog writes on what would have been Vladimir Vysotsky's 70th birthday. Windows to Russia! provides links to translations of Vysotsky's songs. YouTube user filatovv posts a special anniversary tribute playlist of videos of Vysotsky performing in Montenegro in 1974. A 1981 video of people lining up at Vagankovskoye...

Russia: Ukok Princess

  25 January 2008

De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis writes about plans to re-bury the mummy of a Scythian princess in the capital of Russia's Altai Republic.

Russia: Decossackization

  24 January 2008

De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis writes about the history of Decossackization in Russia and recommends a book on the subject, written by Gregory Tschebotarioff, a former Cossack officer, now a professor at Princeton University.

Ukraine, Russia: Monopoly

  24 January 2008

MoldovAnn asks readers to vote “for Kyiv to become one of the 22 cities of the world to be included in the new Monopoly World Edition game board.” Robert Amsterdam writes about real-life Monopoly being played in Russia by the Kremlin.

Russia: Kasyanov and Zyuganov Out of the Race?

  23 January 2008

Siberian Light reports that it is likely that former PM Mikhail Kasyanov will not be able to run for president of Russia. Vilhelm Konnander reports that it is also likely that Communist leader Gennadiy Zyuganov will withdraw from the race.

Russia: The North

  22 January 2008

Window on Eurasia writes that “small ethnic groups of Russia’s north suffer […] from abuse in the post-Soviet media which appear to treat them all as one enormous and inappropriate Chukchi joke.”

Russia, Serbia: Gazprom Buys NIS

  22 January 2008

Robert Amsterdam and A Fistful of Euros write about Gazprom's acquisition of “Serbia's national energy monopoly, NIS, at a knockdown price.”

Russia: Rating Western Democracies?

  21 January 2008

“Stung by Western assessments that Russia is becoming less free, Moscow officials say they will create a new organization of their own to ‘rate’ democracy in the U.S. and other Western countries,” Window on Eurasia reports.