Stories about Russia from January, 2008
Russia, Moldova: More on Natalia Morar's Case
More on journalist Natalia Morar's case – at Sean's Russia Blog (plus an interesting discussion in the comments section).
Russia: Nashi's EU Visa Problems
Sean's Russia Blog writes: “Natalia Morar is persona non grata in Russia. More and more Nashi activists are becoming persona non grata in the European Union.”
Azerbaijan: Analyzing Black January
Asking Tough Questions in Tough Places analyzes another blog post on the 18th anniversary of Black January in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan: The Day the Soviet Union Died
Window on Eurasia remembers the events and circumstances surrounding Black Friday, 20 January 1990, when Soviet troops went on the rampage in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku. The blog says the event marked the end of the former Soviet Union.
Russia: Vasily Alexanyan
Robert Amsterdam writes on the plight of Vasily Alexanyan, an imprisoned and gravely-ill former Yukos executive.
Latvia: Review of “Defenders of Riga”
Latvian Abroad reviews Defenders of Riga, “a feel-good patriotic movie”: “And watching a war movie in which bombs were falling on the familiar streets on which I've walked thousands of time, just a few hundred meters from the movie theater… was so much more intense emotionally.”
Macedonia, Russia: Photos
Pictures from Macedonia, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Novgorod (here and here) – from Flickr user quinn.anya (via Openly Feminist, a Bulgarian-language blog by Petya of Bighead).
Russia: Flag Unification for Hajj?
Window on Eurasia reports that the Russian Federation's Muslims make hajj “under the flags of their national republics or even nations.” This may change next year, though.
Russia: “Not Free”
Sean's Russia Blog writes about the Freedom House's recent verdict on Russia: “not free.”
Russia: News Update
Mark MacKinnon posts for the first time this year: an update on the news from Russia and elsewhere.
Russia: Ivan the Terrible
Axis of Evel Knievel writes about Ivan the Terrible.
Russia, UK: View From BC's Former Employee
Interesting insight into the British Council scandal from Dmitri Minaev of De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis – in this post's comments section at Siberian Light: “These attacks never really stopped, but the British embassy managed to keep the offices running till in 2007 Russia finally demanded that some offices be...
Russia, U.K.: More on the British Council
Ongoing coverage of the British Council row – at A Step At A Time: “An interesting feature of the present crisis, which was obviously prepared in advance by the Russian authorities, is the flooding of British media comments boards (the Mail and Telegraph are the two leading examples at present)...
Russia, Serbia: Gazprom's “Offer”
Streetwise Professor writes about Gazprom's relations with Serbia: “Gazprom/Russia is/are playing smashmouth ball over Serbia’s national oil company. Don Miller and Don Medvedev have presented Serbia with an offer it can’t refuse: to sell Naftna industrija Srbije at a fraction of its true value–and one with an unbelievably short fuse,...
Russia, UK: More on the British Council Row
Robert Amsterdam posts an update on the British Council scandal.
Ukraine: NATO; Economic Freedom
Ukrainiana writes about Ukraine-NATO relations, and about Ukraine's “dismal” ranking in the 2008 Index of Economic Freedom.
Russia, EU: Asylum Seekers
IVAN vs JAAN writes about the EU stance towards Chechen asylum seekers – and about the ongoing row between the U.K. and Russia over the British Council.
Serbia: Kosovo – “A Balkan Taiwan”?
A Fistful of Euros writes about Kosovo: “So we’re going to end up with a Balkan Taiwan: a de facto state without a UN seat, recognized by some nations but not others.”
Belarus, Russia: Minsk-Murmansk Train
The post translated below features a photo of a note pasted on the Minsk-Murmansk train - a note that's supposed to assist passengers in locating cars they've got tickets for, but is instead a great illustration of how easily something mundane may turn into the frustratingly surreal in this part of the world.
Russia: New Year's in Grozny
LJ user timur-aliev has posted three New Year's snapshots taken in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, which the United Nations called "the most destroyed city on earth" in 2003. Below is the Chechen blogger's brief account of the festivities - and a couple of clarifications from the comments section.
Russia: Dagestan's Party Politics
Window on Eurasia reports on a new political trend emerging in one of Russia's North Caucasus republics: “Daghestan, the most multi-national republic in the Russian Federation, no longer has any ethno-parties which express the interests and will of particular ethnic groups. Instead, the major all-Russian parties there increasingly include representatives...
