Stories about Russia from June, 2010
Russia: Moscow's Female Poplars
Belatedly, a link to Vilhelm Konnander's post about Moscow's female poplars and the trouble they've been causing for half a century.
Russia: Ramzan Kadyrov's Blog and Plagiarism Controversy
Sean's Russia Blog notes that “just when [Ramzan] Kadyrov thought he had a clear path to becoming a star of the blogosphere, his second post, “My city, Grozny” was accused of plagiarism […].”
Russia, U.S.: The “Spy Ring” Story
A selection of posts on the “Russian spy ring” story: Julia Ioffe at The Daily Beast; A Good Treaty; Yelena Osipova at Global Chaos; Mark Adomanis at True/Slant; Vadim Nikitin at FPA's Russia blog; Dina Fainberg at The Dustbin of History; Catherine Fitzpatrick at Minding Russia; Windows to Russia; Eugene...
Russia: New Initiatives Indicate Government's Fear of the New Media
Alexey Sidorenko writes about the Russian government's attempts to control cyberspace - and its apparent fear of the new media.
Russia, US: “Burger Diplomacy”
Vadim Nikitin wonders if the Medvedev-Obama meeting is a sign that “[…] the Russian President, for so long considered a mere window dressing to Prime Ministerial rule, might stick around longer than Putin might like?” Robert Amsterdam writes that “burger diplomacy” is “[…] an apt epithet for a relationship that...
Ukraine: Gorbachev and Chernobyl
Window on Eurasia writes about Mikhail Gorbachev's order to hold the May Day demonstration in Kyiv shorly after the Chernobyl catastrophe.
Russia: Blogger Finds a Vulnerability in E-Gov Portal
Habrahabr-user Romachev blogs [RUS] about a crucial security hole in the process of the identification of E-government portal gosuslugi.ru [RUS]. According to the blogger, the vulnerability offers a large potential for identity fraud.
Turkey: Jazz and the Russian Revolution
The Daily Seyahatname/Blogging Balkanistan writes about “how the Russian Revolution brought jazz to Turkey.”
Russia: Chechen President Launches Blog
Ramzan Kadyrov [EN], president of the Chechen Republic [EN], launched a blog ya-kadyrov [RUS] at Livejournal. In his first post Kadyrov writes that he is “a sociable and to the limit outspoken person”, and that he “hopes to develop friendship and discuss various events with his readers”. There is no option to...
Russia: Bloggers React to President Medvedev's Silicon Valley Tour
For the first 24 hours, Dmitry Medvedev's @KremlinRussia Twitter account provided a unique opportunity to send unmoderated comments to the Russian president. Then all the comments were removed, and the era of the Russian unmoderated online democracy ended. Gregory Asmolov reviews Russian bloggers' reactions to the president's visit to California.
Russia: Charges Against Alexanyan Dropped
Robert Amsterdam reports that “Russian prosecutors have finally dropped their case against Yukos lawyer Vasily Aleksanyan”: “But I don't really see this as a sign of clemency or change, or a sudden recognition of judicial independence. Russia just admitted that it held an innocent individual for two years for no...
Russia: President Medvedev is “iPhone Compatible”
Julia Ioffe announces at True/Slant that “Russian president is iPhone compatible.” More on Dmitry Medvedev's visit to California by Julia Ioffe – here, here, and here, and by Jamestown Foundation Blog – here.
Russia: Cocks and Prayers
Sean Guillory of Sean's Russia Blog writes about a “Prayer for the President” and “a kind of re-embrace of Tsarist symbolism” that seems to be taking place in Russia. Julia Ioffe writes at True/Slant about “the Cosmic Cock of War” that was painted on one of St. Petersburg's bridges “in...
Russia, Belarus, Moldova: Gas Wars
Updates on the gas dispute between Russia and Belarus – at Leopolis, Jamestown Foundation Blog, and BelarusDigest. A May 28 post on Moldova's relationship with Gazprom – at RFE/RL's Transmission.
Russia: Police Would Like to ‘Cooperate’ With Bloggers
Valery Gribakin, head of the public relations department of the Russian Ministry of Interior, expressed a will to meet with top-ranking bloggers in order to discuss ways of possible cooperation, rsn.ru reported [RUS]. Bloggers have lots of questions to the police but don't expect the answers, sadly comments anti-corruption blogger...
Russia: President Medvedev Visits Silicon Valley
Russian president Dmitri Medvedev, during the widely discussed tour to the Silicon Valley, dined with Arnold Schwarzenegger [EN], visited Apple [RUS], officially started [EN] an account on Twitter [RUS] at the company's headquarters, and refused [EN] to meet with Google‘s creator Sergey Brin. The Russian blogosphere reacted [RUS] with a number of...
Russia: Flaws and Pitfalls of the Subsidized “Social” Internet Plan
Gregory Asmolov examines the potential of the Russian government's two new initiatives that aim at reducing the digital divide in the country.
Russia: Analysis of Hacker Attacks On Bloggers
Over the last five years, more than 40 RuNet bloggers have become targets of hacker attacks, most of which were carried out by a group of hackers named The Brigade of Hell. The hackers' targets have been both political and commercial bloggers.
Blogger Compares Russian Army to American Prison
Blogger mr_bison analyses [RUS] Russian military statistics. The results are shocking: Russian army is more dangerous environment for a human being than a prison in the US. Plus, almost every fifth death in the army is a suicide, another sad military fact says.
Russia: Famous Blogger and Civil Rights Activist Gives Interview
Marina Litvinovich, one of the top Russian bloggers and a civil rights activist, shares [RUS] her perspectives on online campaigns, civil society, and politics in Russia.
Russia: Anti-Corruption Cartoon Competition
S-pravdoi.ru, civil society portal, launched [EN] an anti-corruption cartoon competition. After one day of work the competition gathered more than 100 works from all over the country.
