Stories about Russia from June, 2010
Russia: Novaya Gazeta, An Opposition Newspaper Under Internet Attack
Novaya Gazeta is a liberal opposition newspaper in Russia that is famous beyond Russia's borders. Several of its journalists have been killed, and it continues to attract both online and offline threats. Sergey Sokolov, the deputy executive editor, shares with GV his perspectives on information security and the ongoing investigations into the journalists' murders.
Lithuania-Russia: Swastikas on Baltic products
Alan Hendrixson of With a Grain of Druska draws attention to Lithuanian dairy products being labelled with swastikas in Russia, according to his translation of a Delfi.lt article.
Russia: Bloggers Discuss the Case of a Cop-Killing Gang
Russian bloggers are having a heated discussion of the recent detention of a criminal group that carried out a series of attacks on the police in Russia’s Far East.
Russia: New Websites to Promote Modernist Islam
Paul Goble writes [EN] about the launch of two websites islam-portal.ru and soyuzmusulmanok.ru, that promote modernist Islam. Two websites, Goble suggests, illustrate both attempts to seek connections with younger Muslim population,...
Russia: Online Media Exempt From Comments Responsibility
Russian Supreme Court finally approved the decision concerning responsibility of online news media for the comments published on their forums, lenta.ru reported [RUS]. The court exempt the news websites from...
Russia: Authorities Anounce “Social Plan” for Internet Access
Igor Schegolev, Russian minister of Communications, announced [RUS] today that country's largest, state-controlled, access provider “Svyazinvest“ [ENG] will launch a subsidized Internet access plan. Users of the new “Social” plan will be...
Russia: From “Sovereign Democracy” to “Sovereign Internet”?
Gregory Asmolov analyzes some of the recent Internet-related initiatives of the Russian government and explains what RuNet may possibly evolve into in the future.
Russia: Cyrillic Email Accounts?
Svetlana Gladkova of Profy.com writes about the Russian government's plans to provide every citizen with a Cyrillic email account, points out “the problem of the @ character” on the Cyrillic...
Russia: Apple at Moscow Schools
Svetlana Gladkova of Profy.com reports that “at least a quarter of the new Moscow schools to be opened this fall for school children will be equipped with Mac computers, including...
Russia: Networks of Paid Bloggers Exposed
In Russia, networks of paid bloggers sometimes turn to advocating certain political views or to promoting the official political agenda. A recent investigation by LJ user dobrokhotov sheds some light on this "grey zone" of RuNet.
Russia: Mysterious Death of a Soldier in the Far East
Alexey Navalny, famous anti-corruption blogger, posted a shocking video [RUS], depicting an observation of Roman Suslov's dead body. According to Russian military officials, Suslov committed a suicide during the transfer...
Russia: Far East “Partisans” – Nationalists or Corruption Fighters?
Maxim Sviridenkov posts the recording of the coversation with Vladimir Savchenko [RUS], father of one of the members of the Primorsky krai [EN] partisan group. The “Partisans” were claimed to...
Russia: Street Action to Save Khimki Forest
Bloggers Igor Podgorny [RUS] and bb-mos [RUS] post pictures of the street action to protect a historic oak forest north of Moscow. Legally protected Khimki Forest Park is endangered to...
Russia: Prosecutor's Office Forces Provider to Close Website
Prosecutor's office of Zabaikalsky region [EN] demanded to block [RUS] the website of newspaper “Russkoye Zabaikalie” (previously available at www.srn.megalink.ru), whose content has been officially recognized as “extremist.” Earlier, the...
Russia: Famous Blogger Speaks About the Future of Social Networks
Sergey Kuznetsov, one of the first RuNet activists, discusses how social networks will look like in five years. In his interview to Lenta.ru [RUS] he argues that analysts should focus on functions but...
Russia: Protest Against Building in the Historical Center of Moscow
Bloggers post photos [RUS] and footage [RUS] of the protests against a building site next to the Church of the Resurrection in Kadashi that is located in the historical district...
Russia: Sochi 2014 occasion to recognise Circassian genocide
Sufian Zhemukhov at oD Russia argues that Russia should take the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics as an opportunity to recognize the alleged genocide of Circassians during the 1860s.
Russia: BP faces problems also in the East
Joshua Keating of Foreign Policy Passport draws attention to how the situation of British Petroleum and its partner TNK worsens again in the Russian market.
Russia: Terror in times of tranquility
LJ user nature nature writes about [RUS] three terror bombings shaking Moscow back in 1977 – an unprecedented phenomenon in Brezhnevite Soviet Union.
Belarus: Minsk puts customs agreement on hold
Belarus Digest analyzes why Minsk has stopped a long negotiated customs union between Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan.
Baltics: Any need for Baltic Sea cooperation
Litauen writes about [GER] the Council of the Baltic Sea states and how this organization is becoming increasingly superfluous as basis for Baltic Sea cooperation.
