Stories about Russia from May, 2011
Russia: History of Russian Pop
A translation of History of Russian Pop (the Russian-language original appeared in Russkii Reporter) – at RussiaWatchers, here and here.
Russia: Parking and Driving in Moscow
English Dad in Moscow writes about and posts photos of parking and driving in Moscow.
Technology for Transparency: Final Report
The Technology for Transparency Network is proud to announce the release of its final report, "Global mapping of technology for transparency and accountability". The report is being published by the Transparency and Accountability Initiative (@TAInitiative) along with a over a dozen other reports on the global transparency movement.
Russia: Billionaire Gives Up Business After Publishing a Video On Bank Fraud
Alexander Lebedev, Russian tycoon, said that he will give up his banking business and join pro-Kremlin People's Front, after he published a video clip [ru] on corruption in Federal Security Service and Central Bank in his blog, Gazeta.ru reported [ru]. The video has been removed shortly after its publication, although...
Russia: “Work and Shelter in Migrant Moscow”
Madeleine Reeves writes at OpenDemocracy.net about migrant workers in Moscow and their “daily struggle […] to stay ‘legal’, and survive.”
Russia: Moscow Schools and Migrants’ Children
Window on Eurasia writes that “an increasing number of Muscovite parents are doing whatever they can to ensure that their children go to those schools which have few or no migrant children.”
Russia: “Violence, Death and Cover-Up in the Russian Army”
At OpenDemocracy.net, six tragic cases of hazing of new Russian army recruits: the Russian NGO Mother’s Right Foundation “used the highly popular Russian social network http://www.odnoklassniki.ru to publish selected profiles of young men who died while serving in the army. They were no longer alive, so couldn't write anything themselves,...
Russia: Sakhalin Island Experiencing Serious Connection Problems Due to Cable Wreck
Broadband cable that connects Sakhalin island with the mainland has been damaged, Rian.ru reported [ru]. The websites are opening with serious delay (or don't open at all). Unstable Internet connection is still a problem for nearly half a million inhabitants.
Russia: Police Requests Data of Users Who Commented on Secret E-surveillance Unit Rumors
On April 17th, 2011 Yevgeniy Roizman, Yekaterinburg-based politician, wrote [ru] that police creates secret “I-departments,” new police units that will collect data on Internet users. After local news site URA.ru republished [ru] his post and some users started to mock the idea, the website administrators received an official police request...
Russia: Pictures of Skolkovo Center Design Projects
Popular photoblogger Ilya Varlamov (zyalt) posted pictures of design proposals for Skolkovo research center, Russian equivalent of Silicon Valley. English Russia has English translation of zyalt's post.
Russia: Church of Scientology in Moscow
English Russia re-posts and translates LJ user ottenki-serogo‘s photo report [ru; over 1,300 comments] on the Church of Scientology in Moscow.
Russia: Navalny Called In For Questioning On Rospil Logo
Kevin Rothrock (@agoodtreaty) reports that anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny (LJ user navalny) has been called in for questioning about the logo of his Rospil [ru] anti-corruption project: “[…] Does it desecrate Russia's state emblem?” Navalny's post [ru] about the investigation, launched at a United Russia MP's request, has so far...
Russia: Blogger Continues to Fight for Right to Photograph
Popular photoblogger Ilya Varlamov (zyalt) continues to report on the violations of his constitutional rights to freely photograph in any public place. Varlamov's latest attempts to take pictures in the Moscow-City, a business district of Moscow, led, as always, to confrontation with private security services.
Russia: Quantitative Research Proves Blogs Set an Alternative News Agenda
Bruce Etling, Berkman Center scholar and one of the authors of the “Mapping of the Russian Blogosphere” research, posts the initial results of the Russian online media content analysis. While the “Russian TV channels and newspapers (traditional and Web native) cover topics similar to each other and to the Russian government,”...
Russia: Opposition Blogger's Trial Starts After a Year of Detention
Caucasian Knot reports on [ru] Alauddin (Aleksey) Dudko's trial that started only on May 10, 2011, year after his arrest. Dudko (LJ-user ingushetiya_ru), opposition blogger, had been charged with drug and explosives possession. Dudko's lawyers claim, police set him up in order to prevent his blogging activity. According to the...
Russia: North Caucasian Website DDoS-attacked and Hacked
Caucasian Knot reports [ru] a hacker attack on golosingushetii.ru (Voice of Ingushetia), an independent North Caucasian website. In March 2011, the website was subject to a DDoS attack. This time the online offenders managed to hack the website and delete its content. The content has been backed up and now the...
Ukraine: The Untold Story of the Victory Day Clashes in Lvov
Russian television footage this week showed hooded young Ukrainians attacking World War II veterans, giving Nazi salutes, and chanting nationalist slogans. As they ripped St. George ribbons from people's shirts, it seemed that Ukrainian youth had forgotten the terrible sacrifices made by the Soviet Union to defeat Germany. Will Partlett reports on what the Russian press is not saying about the May 9 clashes in Lvov, Ukraine.
Russia, Macedonia: Victory Day Parade Impressions
Macedonian blogger VBB posted [mk] an exclusive photo report from his attendance of the 2011 Victory Day Parade in Moscow.
Russia: New Online Electoral Statistics Database Launched
Russian domestic election monitoring group Golos.org has launched an on-line database of electoral statistics stat.golos.org [ru] that contains official data from more than 36 thousand elections of different levels held in Russia since 2003. Golos members noted [ru] that the database greatly eases the access to Russian electoral statistics.
Russia: President Medvedev Meets Russian Internet Community
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met leaders of the Russian Internet community for three hours of discussion about Internet regulation. Gregory Asmolov, who took part in the meeting, shares his impression and analysis of the President's approach to the regulation of the Internet.
Russia: A Third of Russian Internet Users Enjoy Broadband Internet Access
Almost 18 million of Russians now browse the Web using broadband connection, Rumetrika.ru reported. It is 34 percent of all Russia's Internet users.
