Stories about Russia from March, 2010
Moldova: Fear for a fifth column
Zimbru of Morning in Moldova argues that Moldova's centre-right politicians underestimate the power of political forces aligned with Russia and thus put the country's democratization and plans to join the European Union in peril.
Is Russia an Enemy of Internet?
The degree of freedom on the Russian Internet is an issue for debates. Some put Russia on the same list of "Internet enemies" with China and Iran. Others strongly oppose this kind of generalization and claim that Russian Internet is the most liberal and unrestricted public sphere in the country.
Russia: Prisoners Spend Their Time on Social Networks
Internet and social networks help Russian prisoners spend their time in prison, says an article at chaskor.ru. Convicts use mobile Internet to access dating sites, search information, and even post their own videos shot on cell phones.
New requirements for Russian E-Gov Sites.
The Russian Ministry for Economical Development published a list of requirements for governmental Web sites that provide online services, reports lenta.ru. All the documents on the sites should be accessed without any pre-registration and additional software requirements and content on the sites should be reached with no more than 5...
Russia: Prosecuted Blogger Receives Journalist Award
Mikhail Afanasyev (aka LJ user rukhakasia), blogger from Abakan, Eastern Siberia, received a Journalist Union Award “For Professional Achievement” for a series of articles about the accident at Sayano-Shushenskaya dam, Echo Moskvy reported. The articles led to a criminal case initiated against Afanasyev, which was closed later due to lack...
Russia: Activists Burns Effigy of Policeman
Activists of the movement “Autonomous Action” burnt an effigy a policeman during the “political Maslenitsa“, indymedia reports (photos and footage available). The action was dedicated to Seva Ostapov, a young man violently beaten by policemen and later accused of assaulting them.
Russia: Bank Employee Spoils Credit History for $0.26
Blogger logra published the recording of her conversation with a Russian bank employee who called her and in a strikingly impolite manner said he would spoil her credit history for the debt of 26 cents on her account. Logra's post gathered almost 3500 comments, seriously undermining the reputation of the...
Russia: Actor Calls Against Cooperation with Government
Russian actor Aleksey Devotchenko wrote a desperate post about what professional actors can do to express their protest against current political regime. Among the measures proposed are: not to stage in ‘patriotic’ movies, not to participate in concerts organized by police or FSB and so on.
Russia: Alpinist Destroys Cars And Blogs About It
Karpovka.ru writes about blogger drunn2007 who works as an industrial alpinist climbing up house walls and breaking excessive ice. On his blog, drunn2007 posts photos of cars damaged by fallen ice adding quite cynical comments.
Russia: Protests in 48 Cities Mark “Day of Anger”
Bloggers post photos of mass protests dedicated to the “Day of Anger” held on March 20, 2010. Protests in 48 cities gathered around 20,000 people. Here are the links to pictures and videos from Moscow, Kaliningrad, Vladivostok, Novosibirsk and Irkutsk.
Russia: Putin pros and cons go cyber
LJ user Anton Igorevich reports [RUS] that recent demonstrations against and for Russian Premier, Vladimir Putin, now have gone cyber, with websites against and in support of Putin, the latter being hacked, presumably by anti-Putinists.
Russia-UK: British troops return to Red Square
Siberian Light questions the recent reports that British troops are to march on Moscow's Red Square for the first time ever on the 9 May Victory Day Parade, illustrating previous visits with pictures and videos.
Russia-US: A Derogatory Dilemma
Streetwise Professor reflects upon US Secretary of State's, Hillary Clinton, visit to Moscow and reacts against her not responding to insults from Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, fearing this will become a pattern in US-Russian relations.
Russia: Bloggers Expose Election Fraud Techniques
The recent elections for local administrative offices in Russian regions were the first to show the power of Web 2.0. in uncovering voting violations. Bloggers would gather evidence with their cell phone cameras and published them online.
Russia to Investigate Closure of iFolder
Russian Minister of Interior Rashid Nurgaliev gave an order to check if the action of police against a popular Russian hosting ifolder.ru was legal. According to Lenta.ru, the order was given following request by president Medvedev.
Russia: Filipina Babysitter and Moscow Police
English Man in Moscow recounts his family's Filipina babysitter's ordeal with the Russian police.
Russia: “Battle for Khimki Forest”
A detailed account of the ongoing “battle for Khimki Forest” – by Yevgeniya Chirikova at OpenDemocracy.net: “The plan to construct a section of the new Moscow-St.Petersburg motorway through the legally-protected Khimki Forest Park will destroy a rare eco-system. Dogged local resistance has turned this into a national, even international issue....
Russia: Andrei Loshak's Text on Corruption
Andrei Loshak's much-discussed text about corruption and “the normal functioning of an irrational system” in Russia has been translated into English by OpenDemocracy.net (the Russian-language original is at OpenSpace.ru).
Russia: Bread
Photos of “how Russian bread is being baked” – at English Russia.
Ukraine: Differing views of the Orange revolution
The Ivanov Report presents a very critical comment on an essay about the Orange revolution by Keith Gessen in The New Yorker.
Russia: Authorities Shut Down File Sharing Service
ifolder.ru, Russian file sharing service, has been shut down by police, roem.ru reported. This is the second case of the file sharing site being shut down. The first one was the scandalous case of torrents.ru.
