I'm a Kyiv native; divide my time between Kyiv, Moscow, Istanbul and the Croatian island of Vis; lived in St. Petersburg in 2003-2005; attended Rutgers University in 1993-94, did my master's in journalism at the University of Iowa in 1996-98.
Latest posts by Veronica Khokhlova from February, 2010
Slovenia: Tribute to Janez Drnovšek
Two years after the death of former Slovenian president Janez Drnovšek, Sleeping With Pengovsky observes that “most of the nation is on the prowl against any sort of deviation from ‘normality’, be this deviation actual or imagined, personal or political”: “President Drnovšek rarely passed judgement. […] But when he spoke,...
Russia: Snow and the Gastarbeiter
Photos of some of the aftermath of a record-breaking snowfall in Moscow, as well as musings on whether the Russian capital needs its gastarbeiter or not – at Pictures of Moscow.
Montenegro: The Language Issue
“Not content to watch Serbia and Croatia fight it out over Serbo-Croatian, Montenegro now wants its own language,” Eternal Remont reports.
Russia: New Military Doctrine
Irina Filatova comments on Russia's new military doctrine at the Guardian's Comment is free.
Russia: PM's Figure Skating Comment
The Ivanov Report analyzes the Western media response to the Russian prime minister's “Vancouver Olympics quote/misquote” and concludes: “Attaching his name to a piece of ‘analysis’ helps sell this questionable product as efficiently as attaching the name of another celebrity to a product that consumers would be reluctant to buy...
Italy, Russia: Berlusconi's Russian Style
IZO links to LJ user maratguelman‘s post (RUS) and writes: “Silvio Berlusconi travels round Rome in a Russian-made VAZ-Patriot car and likes to wear a commando jacket given to him by Putin.”
Russia: “Merry Gnome”
IZO links to LJ user postoronniy-cb‘s post (RUS) and writes: “When prez Medvedev visited Omsk recently, a sign advertising a play for children called We Await You, Merry Gnome was removed from his route in great haste at the last moment.”
Russia: Torrents.Ru Shut Down
IZO reports on some Russian bloggers’ thoughts (RUS) on why “the massively popular Russian file-sharing site torrents.ru has been shut down.”
Russia: “Best of Russia” Photo Exhibition
IZO writes about Best Of Russia '09 photography exhibition at Winzavod Contemporary Art Center in Moscow: “The wide range of amateur or semi-pro content and the big turn-out reminded me of what the Royal Academy Summer Show in London used to be, before professional artists squeezed the non-professionals out: a...
Poland: The End of Winter
“8 things we’ll miss about winter when it’s gone” – at Polandian.
Poland: “Plenty of Money”
“Years ago, when the inflation in Poland was in triple figures, we were all multi-millionaires,” writes the POLSKI blog and links to a Flickr set of photos of the Polish banknotes from the 1980s and the early 1990s.
Russia: Keith Gessen's LRB Piece on Khodorkovsky
Robert Amsterdam's Blog and Foreign Policy Association's Russia Blog link to and comment on Keith Gessen's review of Richard Sakwa's The Quality of Freedom: Khodorkovsky, Putin and the Yukos Affair, which appeared in the London Review of Books. On his blog, Gessen explains how to pronounce Mikhail Khodorkovsky's last name.
Ukraine, Russia: The Plight of Chekhov's Yalta Museum
Rosamund Bartlett, Anton Chekhov's English biographer and director of the Anton Chekhov Foundation, writes about the plight of Chekhov's house-museum in Yalta, Crimea, at OpenDemocracy.net.
Russia: Sakha (Yakut) Language on the Internet
AskYakutia.com posts a Q&A item on the Sakha Wikipedia and the use of the Sakha (Yakut) language on the Internet.
Ukraine: “A Family!”
Scenes from the Sidewalk shares a story of another formerly homeless Ukrainian child who now has a home.
Latvia: “Cyber-Security ‘Killer Incident'”
Telecoms in Latvia reports that in order to “expose government waste, unjust wage differentials and possible corruption by analyzing data filed by state agencies and public sector,” individuals calling themselves “the Fourth Awakening People's Army” have obtained some “7.4 million records from a database linked to the web-based service for...
Slovenia: Carnival in Ptuj
Adventures in Wheelville posts pictures and video and writes about the carnival in Ptuj: “The carnival was a good time like a mini Mardi Gras and it gave me hope that at least some people in this country know and want to have a good time.”
Estonia: Lessons of the Ukrainian Election
Itching for Eestimaa writes that “the underwhelming victory of Viktor Yanukovich over Yulia Tymoshenko last week has caused all sorts of soul searching in Estonia and, in general, the West”: “Indeed, there are lessons to be learned.”
Bulgaria: “The Bulgarian Guantanamo”
Maya Markova of Maya's Corner posts videos and translates parts of the documentary The Bulgarian Guanatanamo, by Bulgarian journalist Ivan Kulekov. (An earlier GV roundup item on this issue is here.)
Belarus: State TV Accused of “Ripping a Whole Sitcom”
Belarus Digest reports that while the Belarusian government explains the recently-introduced internet regulations by the need to fight copyright law violations, the state-run TV is now being accused of “ripping a whole sitcom”: “In the CBS original, shown on E4 in Britain, the main character are called Sheldon, Leonard, Howard,...
Belarus, Poland: Situation With the Union of Poles
Updates on the tensions between Belarus and Poland – at Belarus Digest: here, here, and here.
