Stories about Russia from May, 2006
Russia: Krasnodar
Brigid of Laughter in the Dark writes about a cab driver in Krasnodar, a southern Russian city: ““Where in the hell did you learn to speak Russian?” and “How did your husband ever permit you to travel alone?” The standard taxi-conversation fare. As I anticipated the next standard question –...
Russia: Siberian Adventure, Part 2
Jane Keeler of From Russia With Blog posts part 2 of her Siberian photo-travelogue: “From Irkutsk to Olkhon.”
Russia: Government Encourages Intolerance
In his comment to Yuri Mamchur's post on Russia Blog, Ivan Lenin of Rush-Mush argues that the Russian government encourages intolerance.
Russia, Georgia, Ukraine: The Future of CIS
Vilhelm Konnander shares his analysis of the situation around the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
Russia: Ethnic Subbotnik
Amid ethnic and racial tensions, Moscow experiences something different for a change: a group of “Africans from over twenty countries (Congo and Ethiopia included), Iranians, and Iraqis [were] all raking leaves as part of a subbotnik organized by Opora, a Moscow NGO run by Ethiopian Dr. Gezahgn Wordofa. This was...
Russia: Siberian Adventure, Part 1
Jane Keeler of From Russia With Blog begins a series of posts about her trip to Siberia and back – Siberian Adventure Part 1: The Trans-Siberian Railroad.
Russia: Victory Day on RTR
Russia Blog posts Victory Day stills from one of Russia's state-controlled TV channels, RTR.
Russia, Ukraine: Victory Day
A WWII veteran in Kyiv, Ukraine – by Veronica Khokhlova On May 9, former Soviet states marked the 61st anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in WWII. Veterans and troops (as well as ultra-nationalists and Stalinists) marched in Moscow, Kyiv and other cities. LJ user drugoi has posted photos...
Russia: Ban on Georgian Wine and Water
Beginning today, Russia has outlawed Georgian sparkling mineral water Borjomi, a health product that many ulcer patients have been relying upon since the Soviet times. Gennady Onishchenko, Russia's chief health inspector, has ordered the ban allegedly due to the discovery of a batch containing fake Borjomi. A few weeks earlier,...
Russia: Update on Khodorkovsky
Yuri Mamchur of Russia Blog posts an update on Mikhail Khodorkovsky's prison stay.
Russia: Lost Passport Stories
Lyndon of Scraps of Moscow shares two stories of what happens when an American loses his/her passport in Russia: the first story, written by a friend of a friend, is quite surreal (e.g. cops taking four hours to fill a 1-page report, drinking vodka all the while); the second one...
Russia: Expat Living
Nancy Case of Case In Point writes on how tragic events in one part of the world may affect dining plans of American expats living in another part of the world.
Russia: Balkmina's Case and the West
David McDuff of A Step At A Time posts an unpublished letter to the editor of the Financial Times on how Svetlana Bakhmina's case should affect the West's business relationship with Russia.
Russia: Child Trafficking in Chechnya
David McDuff of A Step At A Time translates a report by Umalt Chadayev on child trafficking in Chechnya.
Estonia: A Lesson On Parties For TASS
Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa explains to the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS that, due to the specifics of history, all Estonian parties are nationalist.
Russia: “Rich Russia Minus Ideology Equals Trouble”
Edward Lucas, the Central and East European correspondent of The Economist, writes about the dangers Russia poses as an ideology-free, “cash-rich energy empire.” The beatroot reports on Poland's defense minister Radek Sikorski likening the Russian-German gas deal to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
Russia: Humor
W. Shedd of The Accidental Russophile writes about a Westerner's take on Soviet – and Russian – humor: “The film also makes the case that humor has dried up in Russia since the fall of communism. I'm rather skeptical of this claim […]. The targets might now be New Russians,...
Russia: MTS Rebranding
Snowsquare.com, Scraps of Moscow and Russian Marketing Blog write about strange-looking ads that have appeared in Moscow and are part of the mobile phone provider MTS re-branding campaign.
Russia: Stories From a St. Petersburg Hospital
LJ user aneta-spb, a St. Petersburg journalist of Belarusian descent, is busy taking care of her 21-year-old son now, who is in the hospital with a broken spine. Below is the translation of some of aneta-spb‘s hospital notes (RUS) – taken in the city that, among other things, will be...
Armenia: Racist Violence in Russia
Nessuna writes at Oneworld Multimedia about the rise in racist attacks in Russia against people with darker skin and how Armenians have reacted to the stabbing death of a 17 year old Armenian in Moscow.
Russia: May Day in Moscow
Russia Blog reports on the May Day demonstrations in Moscow: “Zyuganov and police officials were asking the three thousand-strong crowd to refrain from carrying fascist flags, but the Russian skinheads claimed free speech and proceeded with to wave their banners and posters anyway. The crowd screamed in ecstasy ‘Christ has...
