No G8 for You

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: October 15, 2007

Both John McCain and Hillary Clinton have new essays in the next edition of Foreign Affairs. McCain, who has spoke out in the past on Russia, uses the opportunity to call for Russia’s removal from the G8: A decade and a half ago, the Russian people threw off the tyranny of communism and seemed determined […]

» Read More

Putin Sees No Problems with Civil Society Law

By James Kimer | Published:

During the Petersburg Dialogue at Weisbaden, President Vladimir Putin fielded some criticism on Russia’s new legislation governing non-governmental organizations, which has been characterized by many as a crackdown on independent voices. The president says he is not aware of any problems: As far as I understand the situation, none of the disasters that some feared […]

» Read More

Piebalgs: “Gazprom is not Microsoft”

By James Kimer | Published:

EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs struck a more conciliatory tone in regards to Gazprom and competition at a conference today: “Do we treat Gazprom as we treat Microsoft? Yes we do. The difference is that Microsoft has 100 percent of the market,” Piebalgs told a conference in the Latvian capital Riga. “That is why we […]

» Read More

Leverage Lost

By Robert Amsterdam | Published:

From the Washington Post’s coverage of Rice’s non-confrontational visit with Putin: After meeting with Rice on Saturday morning at the U.S. ambassador’s residence, Tatyana Lokshina, head of the Demos Center, a Russian human rights group, described the secretary of state as an “impressive and an interesting interlocutor” but said Rice and other officials had lost […]

» Read More

Video: Yavlinsky on the Gazprom Tower

By Robert Amsterdam | Published:

FRONTLINE/WORLD, the interesting online video site of the popular PBS documentary series, has posted up a short clip of a Grigory Yavlinsky speech in St. Petersburg about the plans to build the Gazprom Tower, a controversial skyscraper that has conservationists and others up in arms to block it. Here’s an excerpt from the filmmaker’s notes […]

» Read More

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Oct. 15, 2007

By Citizen M | Published:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin review the honour guards at the Kurhaus resort garden in Wiesbaden, Germany, Monday, Oct. 15, 2007. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) At least four regional figures from the A Just Russia party have defected to United Russia in recent months in what analysts describe as “a further […]

» Read More

Russia Renews Attack on PwC

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: October 13, 2007

PwC literally getting iced in Russia (photo from www.pwc.com) Today’s news that Russia has extended its campaign against the accounting group PricewaterhouseCoopers for its work related Yukos is another reminder that pandering with the Russian state simply doesn’t work. We learned this same familiar lesson in the case of Russneft, when fallen owner Mikhail Gutseriyev […]

» Read More

Grigory Pasko: A Cry from a Jar of Spiders

By Grigory Pasko | Published: October 12, 2007

A Cry from a Jar of Spiders By Grigory Pasko, journalist Kommersant recently published an article entitled “We must not allow warriors to turn into traders”, written by the head of the Federal Service of the Russian Federation for Control of the Circulation of Narcotics, Viktor Cherkesov (English translation here). This is a kind of […]

» Read More

Viktor Cherkesov on the Spy Wars

By Robert Amsterdam | Published:

Below is an exclusive translation of the important open letter published in Kommersant by a high level security official exposing the bitter infighting amongst the Kremlin’s various factions. Cherkesov, who is believed to be an opponent of Igor Sechin, argues that too many former KGB officers have gotten involved in business. “We must not allow […]

» Read More

Unlawful, Dishonorable and Immoral Behavior

By Robert Amsterdam | Published:

Last month we featured an exclusive translation from the German press by investigative journalist Hans-Martin Tillack about Gazprom and the “Gazoviki.” Now we’re posting a translation of the second article by the same journalist. The public authorities in Vaduz are investigating a company related to Gazprom. Who are the mysterious profiteers of the gas deals […]

» Read More