Stories about Russia from March, 2010
Russia: Results of regional elections
Gabriela Ionita of Power&Politics World analyses the results on Russia's recent regional elections and its effects on the country's politics.
Russia: Blogger Criticizes National Post Service
Blogger cyxoupshk published a video (RU with English subs) address criticizing Russian post service. The video is provoked by increasingly bad quality of service as well as recent DHL's shipping suspension.
Russia: DHL Suspends Shipping
RUSSIA! Magazine's blog reports that DHL has suspended shipping to Russia.
Georgia, Russia: Commentary on Imedi's Fake Broadcast
Giorgi Kvelashvili of Jamestown Foundation Blog and Vadim Nikitin of Foreign Policy Association's Russia blog comment on the mock news broadcast on the Russian invasion of Georgia, aired on Imedi TV channel last Saturday.
Belarus diversifies oil deliveries
Belarus Digest reports that Belarus plans to start importing oil from Venezuela to substitute for the country's oil dependency on Russia, which recently has caused strained relations between Minsk and Moscow.
Russia: Blog Report from Penal Colony
Photojournalist Maks Avdeev (LJ user Avdeev) published photos from a penal colony in Arkhangelsk region. More pictures can be found on his Flickr account.
Russia: TV Star Calls For Young Talents Online Project
A famous TV host published a blog post where she called for creating an online initiative that would support young talents from remote regions of the country.
Russia: Regions Encouraged to Use E-Government Services
Russian Ministry of Telecommunication will encourage regions to provide services via e-government portals. Director of Department for Informational Policy Artem Ermolaev announced that his ministry would start an intensive program for local administration that would be completed in two months.
Belarus: “Less Pro-Russian” Than Eastern Ukraine
Belarus Digest writes that, unlike in Ukraine, “groups potentially advocating a unification with Russia have never been too active in Belarus.”
Moldova: Military Neutrality
Morning in Moldova writes about the issue of Moldova's military neutrality: “In Moldova's case, neutrality has just made the country weak and defenceless in the face of very real aggressors who control a large chunk of the country's territory (the Russians and Transnistrians) […].”
Russia: Anti-Putin Internet Petition
Window on Eurasia reports: “The Internet petition campaign launched last week calling for the Vladimir Putin’s departure from office not only has already collected some 7500 signatories but nearly 80 percent of these have given their names, their professions and their place of residence, thus opening a window onto the...
Ukraine: “Deal for Yanukovych: Bandera for Mezhyhiria”
Here is how Steve Bandera of Kyiv Scoop explains a mock deal that he has offered to the newly-elected Ukrainian president: “The point is to show the absurdity of the [Stepan Bandera] debate: almost everybody from Moscow to Warsaw to Edmonton has an opinion on Bandera (who was killed more...
Russia: Photos of Newspaper Office Assault
Regional newspaper Nasha Ryazan (Our Ryazan), published photos of armed men in military outfits (allegedly policemen) blocking the entrance to the newspaper's office. The assault can be connected with the forthcoming regional elections taking place on March 14, 2010.
Georgia: Mock news report causes panic
A mock news program broadcast on television reporting that Russia had once again invaded and that the president was dead caused panic in Georgia this weekend. Bloggers react.
Russia: Mapping Broadband Internet Prices
Russia has experienced an enormous growth of Internet penetration during the last 10 years. But the quality, price and accessibility of the broadband Internet differ a lot throughout the country with some territories still being beyond the digital divide.
Russia: Video of Directed Voting
Political analyst Alexander Kynev posted a video where students of a local college vote preliminarily in the city of Ivanovo. The video shows one of the most popular fraud techniques in modern Russia: directed preliminary vote that gives 10-15% for the ruling party. The students are either forced or paid...
Russia: Thoughts on March 8, Feminism
Thoughts on March 8 and feminism in Russia and Ukraine – at Poemless, Global Comment, and Sean's Russia Blog.
Russia: Photos of Khrapovitskiy Estate
Blogger vadych posted photos of ruins of the magnificent Khrapovitskiy estate, the only Russian estate built to compete with classic French mansions. Under Bolsheviks, the estate experienced nationalization, transformation to public college, then dormitory, fire and now it is close to complete destruction.
Russia: Soviet Singer Becomes Internet Meme
A wordless song “I'm Glad I'm Finally Returning Home” performed by Soviet singer Eduard Hill became the recent Internet meme on English-speaking blogosphere. The Youtube video for the song counts about 2 mln. views, 13 thousand comments and 96 video replies.
Russia to Launch Social Network for Public Officials
Russia will launch a social network for governmental officials involved in implementation of e-government program. The Minister of Telecommunication Igor Schegolev explained that the network would foster communication between the federal government and regions.
Russia: Two Journalists Kidnapped in Caucasus
Israpil Shovhalov and Abdulla Duduev, two journalists of the “Dosh” online magazine were kidnapped on March 9, 2010 in the Republic of Ingushetia, one of the most unstable regions in Russia, Kavkazky Uzel reported [RUS].
