Month: January 2008

January 15, 2008

Sovereign Democracy at the Polls

Here’s a brief translation of an interesting item from Vedomosti: Russians were delighted to find out whom they would elect as president in March, show the results of a “Levada-Center” survey. The fact that the future president w...
January 15, 2008

Energy Blast, Jan. 15, 2008

Sweden-listed oil firm West Siberian Resources has signed a preliminary agreement to buy Alliance Oil in a stock deal valuing the Russian firm at about $1.5 billion. Gazprom is planning to boost energy cooperation with Iran, and an offer is to be ...
January 15, 2008

Today in Russian Business

Russia’s VTB Bank says that Swiss trading company Noga has won a French court order against it to freeze company accounts. Moscow’s Foreign Ministry has issued a formal complaint to France as a result. A lawyer for the Bank of New York Mellon aske...
January 15, 2008

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Jan. 15, 2008

TODAY: British Council row escalates, visa sanctions imposed; United Russia officials dismissed over “financial machinations”; new Berezovsky lawsuit; US and Russia to run joint anti-terror exercise; difficulties faced by Russian journalists and a...
January 15, 2008

The Kremlin Gets a Christmas Gift

This one from Alexei Pankin in the Moscow Times: “The presidential election was held in Georgia, which, in my opinion, was a major gift for the Russian authorities. Against the backdrop of the enormous scandal that surfaced there, the Kremli...
January 15, 2008

Grigory Pasko: A Smart Person Won’t Climb the Mountain

A smart person won’t climb the mountain… By Grigory Pasko, journalist The complete text of the ancient Russian saying cited in the title of this essay reads thus: A smart person won’t climb the mountain; a smart person will go around the mou...
January 14, 2008

Next Khodorkovsky Show Trial Timed for the Elections?

Here’s an interesting translation of some news from Vedomosti about the upcoming second show trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which due to some unexpected changes and willful delays by the Investigation Committee, could take place right during...
January 14, 2008

Anna Politkovskaya Nominated for Book Award

On Saturday night the National Book Critics Circle announced the nomination of slain Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya for the 2007 award for best autobiography for her posthumous collection of journals “Russian Diary: A Journalist’...
January 14, 2008

Italy Partners with Russia for the Superjet

The Sukhoi Superjet, upon which the future of Russia’s role in civil aviation rests, was given a boost today as Vladimir Putin signed a decree approving the purchase by Italian aeronautical firm Alenia of a 25% stake in Sukhoi’s civil ...
January 14, 2008

Anthony Julius Reviews Peter Oborne

[I am pleased to announce that my friend and colleague, the esteemed British lawyer Anthony Julius, has agreed to author a short series of book reviews to be published exclusively on this blog. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Anthony and...