· December, 2012

Stories about Russia from December, 2012

This December, Russia's Kids Aren't Alright

RuNet Echo  25 December 2012

As billions of people across the world awoke today to open gifts and be with their families, three of Russian Duma Deputy Sergei Zhelezniak's four daughters rolled out of bed to find that intimate photographs from their social network accounts had been published in a muckraking attack on their father. Navalny's decision to target Zhelezniak's children has split the RuNet into camps of supporters and critics.

Who Supports Russia's Ban on American Adoptions?

RuNet Echo  24 December 2012

A slight majority of Russian internet users support the ban on adoptions by Americans. 50% do not understand the motivation for international adoptions, and 60% think that such adoptions endanger children. Who are these people, and what are they saying?

Prank Reveals the Depths of Anti-American Propaganda in the Russian Media

RuNet Echo  23 December 2012

Anonymity affords ordinarily timid individuals the courage and opportunity to behave dishonestly. That, anyway, is the story we typically hear, especially in the context of the Internet. As Oleg Kashin recently pointed out in his column [ru] at openspace.ru, however, it takes two to make a successful prank (the prankster and the sucker)—a...

Tempers Flare As Court Frees Dagestani Boxer Who Killed Russian Teenager

RuNet Echo  20 December 2012

Rasul Mirzaev, a 26-year-old mixed martial arts world champion from Dagestan, is a convicted killer. His victim was a 19-year-old Russian man, Ivan Agafonov, whom he murdered in a scuffle outside a nightclub in August 2011. On November 27, 2012, a Moscow court let him walk free, after a little more than a year in custody. The RuNet has responded with often vehement emotion.

On Putin's Address to the Federal Assembly

RuNet Echo  15 December 2012

RuNet Echo contributor Donna Welles compiles [en] netizen reactions to President Putin's Address to the Federal Assembly (ru, en), highlighting which passages best resonated with bloggers and how they interpreted and understood his latest initiatives.

Russian Documentary Filmmakers Abandon YouTube After Police Investigation

RuNet Echo  15 December 2012

On December 12, filmmakers halted the online publication of one of Russia's most curious documentary efforts: "Srok" ("The Term"), a video project hosted on YouTube and LiveJournal, chronicling and capturing the events of the opposition movement. The project's suspension came after federal investigators searched the home of one of its directors.

Russian eDemocracy: There and Back Again

RuNet Echo  10 December 2012

Just like last winter, Russia's opposition leaders are involved in negotiations with Moscow city authorities to determine where an upcoming rally will take place. This time, however, they are asking their online electorate to pitch in.

Remembering the Night the Russian Opposition Would Prefer to Forget

RuNet Echo  4 December 2012

Yesterday, The New Times published a retrospective on last winter's mass protests, highlighting how the Internet played a vital role in mobilizing thousands of people in a city that, until then, could only produce a few hundred demonstrators at a time. The middle class, the youth, and the technophiles of Moscow had awakened and the possibilities seemed endless. Then came the schism.

Russian LiveJournal Announces Grant Program

RuNet Echo  3 December 2012

LiveJournal, owned and managed by Russian company SUP Media, just announced [ru] a grant program that will target the development of “interesting, but less well known blogs.” The grant funds could be used by a starting blogger to promote their blog through various paid “promo” services run by the company.