Month: February 2011

February 22, 2011

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Feb 22, 2011

TODAY: Gorbachev launches stinging verbal attack on Putin’s ‘overconfidence’; Khodorkovsky disheartened by prospect of PM’s possible return to power; Kudrin’s reform talk analyzed. Patriarch’s dacha plans upset ...
February 21, 2011

Opposition Politicians Refute Medvedev’s Reform Rhetoric

Mikhail Kasyanov, Vladimir Milov, Boris Nemtsov and Vladimir Ryzhkov of the People’s Freedom Party, are taking no prisoners in a Washington Post op-ed: Contrary to the wishful thinking many in Russia and abroad expressed when Medvedev took o...
February 21, 2011

The Case Against Baturina

Yelena Baturina is in trouble. The halcyon days of bulldozing through Moscow, overseeing Inteko’s lucrative development contracts, apparently eased along by her husband, then mayor Yury Luzkhov, are over: they ended with his fall from grace....
February 21, 2011

The Case Against Baturina

Yelena Baturina is in trouble. The halcyon days of bulldozing through Moscow, overseeing Inteko’s lucrative development contracts, apparently eased along by her husband, then mayor Yury Luzkhov, are over: they ended with his fall from grace....
February 21, 2011

Grigory Pasko: Arrests at Putin’s Mega Mansion

Recently the news hit the Russian internet concerning the arrests of a group of environmental activists and a female journalist working near the so-called “Putin dacha,” in the area of Gelendzhik on the Idokopas cape. The three activis...
February 21, 2011

Kudrin For Transparency?

The Moscow Times’ Olga Razumovskaya is one the commentators to have remarked upon Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin’s unusual espousing of political reform at the end of last week.  The Minister told the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum th...
February 21, 2011

Kudrin For Transparency?

The Moscow Times’ Olga Razumovskaya is one the commentators to have remarked upon Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin’s unusual espousing of political reform at the end of last week.  The Minister told the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum th...
February 21, 2011

Openness or Maneuvering with Russia’s Whistleblowers?

Wikileaks and Julian Assange may grab all the headlines, but Russia’s swelling numbers of bold, brave, and sometimes mysterious whistleblowers are a phenomenon worth watching.  We have of course the high-profile leaks of police officers...
February 21, 2011

Openness or Maneuvering with Russia’s Whistleblowers?

Wikileaks and Julian Assange may grab all the headlines, but Russia’s swelling numbers of bold, brave, and sometimes mysterious whistleblowers are a phenomenon worth watching.  We have of course the high-profile leaks of police officers...
February 21, 2011

Energy Blast – Feb 21, 2011

Oil and Gas Eurasia reports that with the political situation in Libya looking uncertain, the price of oil on world commodity exchanges has been growing.  Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir has invited Russian companies to take part in infrast...