Month: May 2009

May 27, 2009

A Step Forward toward Nonproliferation

The New York Times reports on the opening of the new Shchuchye chemical weapons facility in Siberia, a project funded by $1 billion in U.S. aid money to safely decommission dangerous Soviet era weapons that could easily fall into the wrong hands (...
May 27, 2009

Gazprom’s Next Generation Stasi

Roman Kupchinsky has a piece up on Jamestown about Gazprom’s extensive network of European lobbyists – atop which of course sits Mr. Gerhard Schröder, the highest paid lobbyist/fixer who now sits on the board of TNK-BP as well as Nord ...
May 27, 2009

Video: Mark Zuckerberg and Yuri Milner on Facebook

TechCrunch has posted up this video interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his new Russian partner Yuri Milner of Digital Sky Technologies (see Bob’s post from yesterday).  Also see the FT Tech blog for a little more info about...
May 27, 2009

U.S. Needs Corrective Vision on Russia

Daniel Kimmage writes in Foreign Policy today about the myth of mutual interests between Russia and the United States.  We’ve held some of these arguments in the past, such as the idea that Russia has completely opposite intentions with...
May 27, 2009

Deadly Crossings

Yesterday I linked to a Moscow Times piece about a Polish man who received a pretty serious thrashing because he refused to yield to car while crossing the street in a crosswalk.  An anonymous reader emailed me the following two additions to ...
May 27, 2009

Energy Blast – May 27, 2009

Rosatom has sealed the deal to supply the US with uranium fuel, which represents the first commercial energy contract between Russian and US companies.  As the appeal of renewable energy suffers, Russia is apparently hoping to establish itsel...
May 27, 2009

Today in Russian Business – May 27, 2009

In a meeting with Russian businessmen, Dmitry Medvedev has lambasted ministers who make gloomy economic forecasts. ‘When my colleagues from the government say that Russia will not come out of the crisis for another 50 years, it is unacceptab...
May 27, 2009

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – May 27, 2009

TODAY: Russia back firm but cautious stance on North Korea; Russia-NATO council meeting on level of ambassadors; Russia-Georgia discuss border reopening; Kremlin seeks extradition of Yukos’ Spanish head; Putin tries his hand at journalism Vi...
May 27, 2009

Who is Facebook’s New Russian Partner?

Tuesday’s big news was that the Russian investment group Digital Sky Technologies purchased a 2% stake of preferred shares in the immensely popular social media platform Facebook.  But who is this group, and who’s behind it? ...
May 27, 2009

Russian Company Grabs 2% of Facebook

Do you think that the social media platform Facebook is worth $10 billion? The Russian company Digital Sky Technologies sure thinks so, as it has just acquired 2% of preferred shares at $200 million.  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerman said DST was ...