Month: February 2009

February 11, 2009

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Feb 11th, 2009

TODAY: Spotlight on US-Russia foreign policy; Belarus wants more loans from Russia; Human Rights Watch condemns government’s treatment of migrant workers; political cartoons.All eyes are on upcoming developments in US-Russia foreign policy. ...
February 11, 2009

No Metals Merger for Now

The Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service has announced it is opposed to the idea of merging Norilsk Nickel into a single metals company owned partially by the state, since this is just a scheme proposed by Russian metals tycoons struggling to pay...
February 10, 2009

Boris Nemtsov: Dictatorship or Perestroika

The following is an exclusive translation from Grani.ru. Dictatorship or perestroika By Boris Nemtsov, Grani.ru The crisis has shown the complete incompetency and weakness of the state built by Putin. The main feature of “putinism” ...
February 10, 2009

Guinea-Gate

Tabloid newspaper Metro UK features an article on the Kremlin once again acting in aggression before their PR team can asses the situation. Case in point, the story features Nastya Ivliyeva, a thirteen-year-old girl who sent a message to Dmitry Me...
February 10, 2009

Not So Rapid Reaction

Only days after its formation, the Collective Security Treaty Organization‘s rapid reaction force already has a breach. AFP reports that Belarus apparently didn’t understand that the force might actually be used, you know, for combat, ...
February 10, 2009

The Iran Question

The World Policy Institute speculates on Russia’s stance vis-à-vis America on Iran and nukes: “Despite its public claims to the contrary, Moscow knows that Iran’s missile capacity poses a threat and has at times publicly admitted...
February 10, 2009

Putin’s ABBA Fetish

President Obama managed to squeeze in some remarks about nuclear non-proliferation in his economic stimulus talk yesterday, saying, “One of my goals is to prevent nuclear proliferation generally. I think that it’s important for the Uni...
February 10, 2009

Energy Blast – Feb 10th, 2009

Oil majors LUKoil, Rosneft and TNK-BP have, in previous years, donated a combined $1.5 billion per year to charitable causes, but as companies slash their charity budgets to cope with the effects of the financial crisis, the philanthropic communit...
February 10, 2009

Today in Russian Business – Feb 10th, 2009

President Dmitry Medvedev warned that Russia’s economy should brace for a ‘tough year’, that signs of recovery shouldn’t be expected before 2010, and that the country has not yet seen the worst of the crisis.  Des...
February 10, 2009

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Feb 10th, 2009

TODAY: Kremlin think-tank blames Russia’s economic structure for current financial troubles; Kyrgyzstan delays vote on US base closure, awaits funds; Putin introduces bill to criminalize stock price manipulation, plans domestic ratings agenc...