Month: January 2009

January 28, 2009

The Battered Olive Branch?

Russia has made so many noises in recent weeks about its optimism about US President Barack Obama’s new administration and the positive turns its holds for US-Russia relations that one was almost inclined to believe today’s announcemen...
January 28, 2009

Power Clashes on Stage

President Dmitry Medvedev has apparently heeded public criticism, and will rework Vladimir Putin’s controversial treason bill, which was originally intended to broaden the definitions of espionage and treason to include the passing of state ...
January 28, 2009

Maps, Kidnaps, and Tit-for-Tat

Georgia must be pleased.  Following the emergence of the news that Russia is planning to start printing maps that highlight the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia by printing them in different colors from their former territory, the G...
January 28, 2009

All Eyes on Putin

With press speculation mounting over how Vladimir Putin is going to play his opening speech in Davos at the World Economic Forum tonight, it will be exciting to see how the Prime Minister decides to play this momentous occasion.  Not only wil...
January 28, 2009

Energy Blast – Jan 28th, 2009

Despite making noises about the deal last week, Ukraine’s president has promised that he will not reopen his country’s 2009 energy deal with Moscow.  ‘Tymoshenko walked away from this conflict with an outstanding victory.&nb...
January 28, 2009

Today in Russian Business – Jan 28th, 2009

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will give the opening speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos this evening, in which he will ‘express his attitude toward the causes of the crisis and the circumstances on the world arena … that led to...
January 28, 2009

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Jan 28th, 2009

TODAY: Russia to halt US retaliation plans; Church elects news leader; Russian military is a ‘paper tiger’; Russia-Georgia soldier spat; Putin ‘too trusting’.Russia has halted its plan to retaliate against a proposed US mis...
January 27, 2009

Governance by Gun and Bribe

Here’s an excerpt from an editorial on the murder of Stanislav Markelov on VOA News which “reflects the opinion of the U.S. government” – Barack Obama’s government, I might add. The Russian people have spoken loudly i...
January 27, 2009

Grigory Pasko: Three Degrees of Pragmatism

Based on the results of a survey by the analytical center of Yuri Levada, carried out last year, Russians named as the countries most unfriendly, antagonistically disposed towards Russia:  Georgia, the USA, Ukraine, Estonia, the Baltic states...
January 27, 2009

Andropovian Reform Won’t Work

From Brian Whitmore over at the excellent blog The Power Vertical: Putin and his closest allies revered Andropov (most of them joined the KGB in the mid-1970s when he ran the spy agency) and tried to establish a new version of his “authorita...