Stories about Russia from March, 2008
Russia: Bulgakov, Bukharin and the Trial of the 21
De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis posts episodes from Mikhail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita that feature Nikolay Bukharin (portrayed in the novel as “Nikolay Ivanovich, a ‘tenant from the ground floor'”). Also, there's a related item on the 1938 Trial of the 21 – co-authored by Dmitry Minaev for ExecutedToday.com.
Russia: Kosovo and Abkhazia
TOL's Steady State writes about Russia and “Kosovo's precedent”: “Russia is an ardent supporter of the territorial integrity in the Balkans. When it comes to the Caucasus, those principles change.”
Russia, Serbia: Zlobin on Kosovo
Scraps of Moscow discusses an article by a Russian analyst on Kosovo's independence.
Russia: Newspaper Piece on Russia Blogs
Sean's Russia Blog links to a piece on Russia blogging that appeared in a Moscow English-language paper.
Russia: Football in Grozny
Siberian Light writes about the return of “top-flight Russian football” to Chechnya's capital Grozny.
Russia: Relations With Germany; Arms Sales
Siberian Light writes about the future of the Russian-German relationship – and about an apparent competition between Russia and the United States in the arms supply market.
Russia: “Customs and Superstitions”
Windows to Russia! writes about local “customs and superstitions.”
Russia: Mari El vs Microsoft
Window on Eurasia writes about one “small Finno-Ugric people”‘s demand that Microsoft add six “additional modified Cyrillic letters their language requires but that are not found in Russian to his company’s Windows operating system.”
Russia: Putin on Khodorkovsky's Pardon
Robert Amsterdam writes about various (mis)interpretations of Vladimir Putin's quote on a possible pardon for Mikhail Khodorkovsky – in the Russian press as well as in the Western media – and offers a translation of his own.
Russia: “Dmitriy Medvedev: How it all Began”
La Russophobe explains and translates the video parody “of the way Dimitri Medvedev was selected to be the next ‘President'”: “The parody appears to have become wildly popular on the RuNet, with nearly 800,000 views to date.”
Russia: “The New Cold War” Review
Kim Zigfeld of La Russophobe reviews books on the “new Cold War” by Edward Lucas and Mark MacKinnon at Pajamas Media.
Russia: Natalia Morar's Domodedovo Ordeal
Below is the translation of journalist Natalia Morar's first blog post since her departure from Russia, published on March 4. Morar, a citizen of Moldova, was "barred from entering Russia in December on a secret Federal Security Service order" and was denied entry into Moscow again last week, spending three days in detention at Moscow's Domodedovo airport with her husband, a Russian citizen.
Israel, Soviet History: Pictures From the Exhibition on Refuseniks
Pictures from an exhibition on the Soviet refuseniks at the Museum of the Jewish Diaspora in Tel Aviv – by LJ user mozgovaya (Israeli journalist Natasha Mozgovaya). (Text in Russian.)
Russia: Political Jokes
Over at La Russophobe, Dave Essel writes about Soviet and contemporary political jokes. Here's one: “Putin’s Reform Programme: 1. Make people rich and happy; 1a. List of people attached.”
Russia, EU: Views on the Election
A discussion of the Russian election and certain European politicians’ reactions to it – at the Economist's Certain Ideas of Europe.
Russia, Venezuela: “Exxon Strikes Back”
White Sun of the Desert writes about how “international oil and gas companies are not as completely helpless in the face of politically contrived domestic disputes as most would think”: “ExxonMobil is currently demonstrating rather effectively how an international oil company can remove the dispute from the domestic arena into...
Russia, EU: Blog Roundup & Directory
A Russia blog roundup from Siberian Light, and an EU blog directory from Nosemonkey's EUtopia.
Russia: Putin the Richest Man in Europe?
Vilhelm Konnander thinks Vladimir Putin would fail a polygraph test if asked whether he was the richest man in Europe.
Russia: Medvedev's Future
Siberian Light examines the issue of whether Dmitry Medvedev will “wield actual power” – or whether he'll “just be the right hand man of outgoing President Vladimir Putin.”
Russia: Maslenitsa
Russian History Blog writes about Maslenitsa, a holiday aka Russian Pancake Week, Russian Butter Week, or Cheesefare Week. Josefina of Russian Blog provides a recipe for traditional Russian pancakes.
Russia: Underwater Archaeology in Novgorod
De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis writes about archaeological excavations at the bottom of river Volkhov in Novgorod.
