Month: August 2009

August 6, 2009

Supporting Russia’s Neighbors

From Steven Sestanovich in the Washington Post: Almost all the states of the former Soviet Union are already working with Western governments, and with each other, to increase their independence from Moscow. When Kyrgyzstan lets the United States ...
August 6, 2009

19th Century Thinking

From the BBC: Neil MacFarlane, Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford, believes Russia’s relations with its neighbours are governed by an approach which differs widely from that of the West. “To judge from wha...
August 6, 2009

Still No Justice for Anna Politkovskaya

Vladimir Putin marked his ascendancy by talking about the dictatorship of law through his vertical of power.  Dmitry Medvedev was defaulted into office on anti-corruption pledges and a mission to rid Russia of its legal nihilism.  Yet on...
August 6, 2009

The Czar-boro Man

This is the last Putin-in-Siberia post, promise.  From the Associated Press: While Americans may think of the Marlboro man, for Russians the more powerful association is the warrior heroes of Russian fairy tales who rode horseback and defende...
August 6, 2009

Energy Blast – August 6, 2009

Turkey has apparently approved ‘in principle’ plans for the South Stream pipeline to pass through its waters.  Russia may decrease the price at which it will offer to sell power from a proposed nuclear plant to be built in Turkey....
August 6, 2009

Today in Russian Business – August 6, 2009

President Medvedev has openly complained about the amount of red tape small businesses have to plough their way through to develop.  Medvedev has suggested that small and medium-sized businesses are key factors in economic modernization. ...
August 6, 2009

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – August 6, 2009

TODAY: Submarine activity deemed routine.  Russia will not amass troops in Georgia; suggests non-violence treaty for Saakashvili’s regime.  Georgia denies rearming. Politkovskaya trial re-opens, and is adjourned. A high-ranking Rus...
August 5, 2009

Not Yet Out of the Woods

The RTS is surging, oil comfortably trading around $70, and even Vladimir Putin is doing his topless thing again, which is always a sign of economic robustness.  Despite all the rosy news, Owen Matthews at Newsweek thinks that the crisis may ...
August 5, 2009

The Hermitage File: Russia as a Criminal State

Many readers have been following the legal saga of William Browder, Hermitage, and HSBC against Renaissance Capital and certain members of the Russian government alleging a $230 million fraud scheme.  Now we’ve got our hands on a public...
August 5, 2009

There Goes Russia’s Neighborhood

From yesterday’s Vladimir Ryzhkov column in the Moscow Times: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s attempt to restore Russia’s influence over the former Soviet republics has failed miserably. Moscow’s standing in the region is w...