Month: June 2009

June 20, 2009

Heat Turns Up For Independent Dagestan Newspaper

Authorities have accused the Dagestan weekly Chernovik of sympathizing with Islamic militants who have been launching almost daily attacks against police. Chernovik editor Nadira Isayeva told the AP that officials were seeking to close the newspap...
June 20, 2009

Soros Pledges $100 Million to Charities in Ex-Soviet Republics

George Soros is pledging $100 million to charities in the former Soviet republics, eastern Europe and the Balkans to help counteract the effects of the global recession. The money will be distributed in 20 countries based on recommendations by loc...
June 19, 2009

Less is More

Here’s a write-up of Russia’s beautifully liberal concept of emissions reductions.  From The Guardian: Russia plans to release 30 percent more greenhouse gases by 2020 under an emissions target scheme announced on Friday by Presid...
June 19, 2009

‘A Russian Coup!’

Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Dish has posted a piece alleging that Iranian film director Mohsen Makhmalbaf accused Iran’s contested President, Mahmoud Ahamdinejad, of giving up Iran’s rights in the Caspian Sea to Russia in exchange for...
June 19, 2009

EU ‘Not Responsible’ for Looming Ukraine-Russia Crisis

The Wall Street Journal blog today is running a piece on European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso’s statement that the natural-gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine could cause a major crisis in the European Union ‘in weeks, ...
June 19, 2009

A Tale of Two Soldiers

Remember Junior Sgt. Aleksandr Glukhov, the Russian soldier who sought asylum in Georgia, claiming that he had been mistreated and improperly nourished?  And who was then ‘paraded around […] like a championship trophy’ by a ...
June 19, 2009

An Open Letter to Shareholders of Former Yukos Assets

Today the defense team for Mikhail Khodorkovsky is running a letter, bearing the signature of Robert Amsterdam, in the global edition of the Financial Times.  The story has been covered by Dow Jones and some other news outlets.  Below is...
June 19, 2009

Energy Blast – June 19, 2009

The Energy Ministry is investigating ways of reducing taxes on undeveloped gas fields, having seen that even with high oil prices most projects would not be financially solvent.  Ukraine’s energy company Naftogaz has said that to avoid ...
June 19, 2009

Today in Russian Business – June 19, 2009

Medvedev has established five key areas in the drive to modernize Russia’s economy.  The President has met with IT specialists at the Kaspersky Lab and announced his intention to make the field of computer technology ‘one of the m...
June 19, 2009

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – June 19, 2009

TODAY: Positive feeling in run-up to Obama meeting; Russia says only US President respects Red Army contribution in WWII; WTO motives analyzed; oligarchs in the spotlight; Hermitage museum arrives in Amsterdam US-Russian negotiations on the START ...