· February, 2010

Stories about Russia from February, 2010

Russia and US to Broaden Collaboration Online

RuNet Echo  26 February 2010

Vesti.ru wrote [RUS] about the visit of the U.S. “innovation delegation” [EN] led by America's Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra [EN]. The plans of the Russian-U.S. cooperation include launching e-government Web sites and visits of Twitter, Cisco and Mozilla representatives to Russia in June 2010.

Russia: Sakhalin Island Fails to Connect to Broadband

RuNet Echo  26 February 2010

Blogger w7062c wrote [RUS] about two unsuccessful attempts to connect Sakhalin island [EN] (island in the Pacific north closer to Japan) to the broadband network of Russia. The third attempt is scheduled for 2011. Until then, 580,000 inhabitants of the island are able to go online via satellite only.

Russia: Government Supports Blogger School

RuNet Echo  24 February 2010

Gov-gov.ru blogs [RUS] about a new online initiative: government-sponsored blogger schools that emerge in Tomsk (Siberia) [RUS] and Dagestan [RUS]. The Dagestan region has one of the lowest Internet penetration rates in the country. The schools involve the most popular Kremlin-affiliated bloggers.

Russia: Provider Sued For Not Blocking Web Sites

RuNet Echo  24 February 2010

The prosecutor's office of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Siberian region where most of Russia's oil comes from, filed a suit against a local Internet provider that refused to block “extremist” Web site, Regnum reported. However, there's no federal law that requires providers to block the sites.

Russia: Snow and the Gastarbeiter

  24 February 2010

Photos of some of the aftermath of a record-breaking snowfall in Moscow, as well as musings on whether the Russian capital needs its gastarbeiter or not – at Pictures of Moscow.

Russia: PM's Figure Skating Comment

  24 February 2010

The Ivanov Report analyzes the Western media response to the Russian prime minister's “Vancouver Olympics quote/misquote” and concludes: “Attaching his name to a piece of ‘analysis’ helps sell this questionable product as efficiently as attaching the name of another celebrity to a product that consumers would be reluctant to buy...

Russia: “Merry Gnome”

RuNet Echo  23 February 2010

IZO links to LJ user postoronniy-cb‘s post (RUS) and writes: “When prez Medvedev visited Omsk recently, a sign advertising a play for children called We Await You, Merry Gnome was removed from his route in great haste at the last moment.”

Russia: “Best of Russia” Photo Exhibition

RuNet Echo  23 February 2010

IZO writes about Best Of Russia '09 photography exhibition at Winzavod Contemporary Art Center in Moscow: “The wide range of amateur or semi-pro content and the big turn-out reminded me of what the Royal Academy Summer Show in London used to be, before professional artists squeezed the non-professionals out: a...

Russia: Online Media Competition Lacks Transparency

RuNet Echo  23 February 2010

The Russian Federal Telecommunications Agency announced [RUS] a competition to support online media. Adindex.ru reports [RUS] that requirements for  lack transparency and suggests the competition is a way to encourage new media loyal to the government.

Russia: Keith Gessen's LRB Piece on Khodorkovsky

  22 February 2010

Robert Amsterdam's Blog and Foreign Policy Association's Russia Blog link to and comment on Keith Gessen's review of Richard Sakwa's The Quality of Freedom: Khodorkovsky, Putin and the Yukos Affair, which appeared in the London Review of Books. On his blog, Gessen explains how to pronounce Mikhail Khodorkovsky's last name.

Russia: Media Portal Undergoes Check For Extremism

RuNet Echo  21 February 2010

The war on extremism became a universal formula used by Russian authorities to fight the freedom of online expression. Interestingly enough, this practice co-exists with ambitious projects of the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to modernize the country.

Russia: Torrents.ru Is Suspended

RuNet Echo  19 February 2010

The major Russian torrent (files exchange) service torrents.ru has been suspended due to investigation of copyright violations, RIA Novosty reported. The service continues to work via another domain.