Month: May 2009

May 29, 2009

Today in Russian Business – May 29, 2009

The Chairman of the Central Bank has said that if the ruble were to gain any more it would be a cause for ‘concern’, but has also said that the bank does not expect a second devaluation of the currency.  The Moscow Times reports o...
May 29, 2009

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – May 29, 2009

TODAY: Diplomat accuses US of overplaying threat from Iran; what did Putin tell Bill Clinton?; Russia-Belarus tensions flare on loan; Amnesty slams human rights standards; reclaiming Soviet-confiscated art Russia will not object to a new UN Securi...
May 28, 2009

Renaissance Putin

From the Independent’s Shaun Walker, via HuffPo: In the past year he’s been painting pictures, singing songs, and demonstrating his expert judo moves. This week Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will complete a clean sweep o...
May 28, 2009

The New Fifth Column

From Vladimir Ryzhkov’s column in the Moscow Times on the new history commission: Now, the Kremlin leaders are reviving the Stalinist cult in order to justify their own violations of human rights. They believe that a “firm hand” ...
May 28, 2009

The Kremlin School of Bloggers

Its good to see Evgeny Morozov blogging over at FP – we’ve always liked his work, as there should be more written about the impact of the blogosphere on politics in authoritarian states.  Earlier this week he had a great post up a...
May 28, 2009

Energy Blast – May 28, 2009

In an unexpected twist, shareholder Mikhail Fridman may be the person to become the interim head of TNK-BP, whilst the company considers which of its two candidates, Pavel Skitovich and Maxim Barsk, will take over.  This decision has been pos...
May 28, 2009

Today in Russian Business – May 28, 2009

Russia is willing to invest up to $10 billion from its reserves into the IMF’s first bond issue, in an apparent attempt to gain more clout in the organization.  Discreet businessman Gennady Timchenko has announced that he has built up a...
May 28, 2009

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – May 28, 2009

TODAY: Russia to bolster security over North Korea nuclear tension; Russia-NATO ice thaws; Georgia accuses Kremlin of blackmail; NGO reforms meager; police to declare income; art reaches PermRussia is undertaking ‘an appropriate package of p...
May 27, 2009

History, Reloading

Just a week after President Dmitry Medvedev creates a commission to guard against the falsification of history, he is attending the opening of the virtual library of St. Petersburg – where some 6.5 million rare Russian historical documents w...
May 27, 2009

A Savage Case of Child Abuse in Chita

Responding to the calls of a concerned neighbor, this week the Russian police entered one family’s apartment in Chita, Siberia, to discover an appalling case of alleged child abuse:  a five-year-old girl (estimated age) that had been co...