· January, 2011

Stories about Russia from January, 2011

Russia: Bloggers Protest Against Educational Reform

RuNet Echo  31 January 2011

Blog-based address [RUS] to Russian leadership with demands to cancel educational reform has received more than 10 thousands voices of support [RUS] within two days. Bloggers protest against wide reform of the high school that would reduce number of compulsory subjects to 4 while leaving such disciplines like Russian language, mathematics,...

Russia: Blogger Released After 14 Months of Penal Colony

RuNet Echo  31 January 2011

Irek Murtazin [RUS], blogger and former spokesperson of the Tatarstan's president, has been released today after spending more than 14 months in penal colony, “Novaya Gazeta” reported [RUS]. After published a gossip about the death of Mintimir Shaimiev, president of Tatarstan Republic, Murtazin had been accused of defamation and sentenced to 2 years...

Russia: Valeria Novodvorskaya's Blog Hacked

RuNet Echo  31 January 2011

Vladimir Pribylovskiy reports [RUS] hi-jacking of Valeria Novodvorskaya‘s (Russian liberal politician and a former Soviet dissident) LiveJournal account [RUS]. “The Brigade of Hell,” dispersed group of generally pro-Kremlin hackers, took the responsibility for the attack. For the time being Novodvorskaya's account has been suspended.

Russia, Ukraine: More Tributes to Playwright Anna Yablonskaya

  29 January 2011

At The Guardian's Comment is Free, Natalia Antonova writes about the Jan. 24 suicide bombing at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport and about playwright Anna Yablonskaya, who was killed in the attack. Another tribute to Yablonskaya – at The Guardian's Theatre Blog, here.

Russia: Domodedovo Bombings Expose Imbalance Between Traditional and Social Media

RuNet Echo  27 January 2011

Social media played a significant role in the coverage of the terrorist attack in Domodedovo International Airport near Moscow. Russian bloggers and journalists discussed the consequences of increasing role of blogs and Twitter in emergency situations. Gregory Asmolov analyzes the roles of the government, traditional and new media in the coverage of the attack.

Russia: Students Launch Online Map of Illegal Gambling

RuNet Echo  26 January 2011

Students of Saratov University of Technology launched gdecasino.ru, a crowd-sourcing website dedicated to map illegal gambling sites. A representative of Russian police said [RUS] to “Komsomolskaya pravda” newspaper that the website has already helped to close few illegal casinos.

Russia: Internet Industry Stays at Home

RuNet Echo  25 January 2011

Emma Barnett, digital media editor at “The Telegraph“, summarized reflections from her recent trip to Russia and explained “Why the Russian Internet doesn't need the West.” According to Barnett, the Russian Internet industry is “self-contained and self-sufficient” and it has no “ambition for the foreseeable future to expand internationally.”

Russia: First Twitter Reports of Domodedovo Suicide Bombing

RuNet Echo  24 January 2011

A deadly explosion killed at least 35, and wounded as many as 70 people in the Moscow airport Domodedovo. Early reports assert (ru) that the attack was a suicide bomb. Information has been coming in from many sources. Twitter is experiencing an explosion of tweets with the hashtag #Domodedovo.

Russia: Domodedovo Airport Blast

RuNet Echo  24 January 2011

A bomb exploded at Moscow's Domodedovo airport, at least ten casualties reported. An avalanche of Twitter items here (RUS) and here (RUS, ENG). @ann_mint, who works at Domodedovo, was one of the first Twitter users to report on the blast; “There're victums in #domodedovo Pray for us,” she wrote (ENG)...

Russia: Bloggers Choose RuNet Events of 2010

RuNet Echo  24 January 2011

LiveJournal administration published [RUS] list of the most memorable events and personalities of 2010 chosen by bloggers. The winners: Wikileaks, Moscow mayor's resignation, wildfires, riots on Manezhnaya square, investigation of corruption in Russian pipeline company “Transneft”. Ilya Varlamov (Zyalt) has been chosen as the best blogger, and the photo of the year...

Russia: Why Skype Worries The FSB?

RuNet Echo  22 January 2011

While Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urges government officials to get hip to technology, Russia’s Security Service, the FSB, has begun to clamp down on officials’ use of email and Skype, in a measure some are arguing is meant to stop possible ‘leaks’ of governmental information.

Russia: Putin's Palace Exposed on Ruleaks

RuNet Echo  20 January 2011

The Russian Wikileaks website published photos [RUS] of what is allegedly known as Vladimir Putin's $1 billion-worth palace on the shore of  Black Sea . The story of the secret construction has been exposed [ENG] by Vedomosti newspaper few weeks ago.

Russia: Social Network User Accused of Piracy

RuNet Echo  20 January 2011

Russian Ministry of Interior reported [RUS] of the first criminal case against a user of the most popular Russian social network Vkontakte.ru. The user allegedly shared several copyrighted materials on Vkontakte.ru.

Poland: More Reactions to IAC Report – on Microblogs and via Cartoons

  20 January 2011

The Interstate Aviation Committee's report on last April's Smolensk plane crash has provoked many insightful posts from bloggers, but microblogging platforms - Twitter and Blip.pl - have also become good spaces for Poles to express their opinions, and quite a few of visuals criticising the report have appeared online as well.

Poland: Initial Reactions to Russian Report on Polish Air Force One Plane Crash

  19 January 2011

The Interstate Aviation Committee's report on the crash of TU-154M airplane near Smolensk on April 10, 2010, has generated an outburst of strong opinions about the validity and objectivity of the document, as well as the effect it might have on the Polish politics in 2011. Most discussions in various social media are highly negative of the document's content, but gradually bloggers are beginning to elaborate on the topic.