Grigory Pasko: The Pollution of Lake Baikal

By Grigory Pasko | Published: May 21, 2010

The Russian premier sure loves his idiomatic phrases. He has certainly made up a number of his very own, and when he can’t, he always manages to remember something suitable to the occasion. And so it was that he remembered a phrase from the immortal film «Brilliantovaya ruka» [The Diamond Arm], beloved by all Russians. […]

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Grigory Pasko: Hunger as a Method of Protest

By Grigory Pasko | Published: May 20, 2010

(The following article was written before Mikhail Khodorkovsky had concluded his hunger strike following a successful result. – Editor) Mikhail Khodorkovsky has declared a hunger strike of indefinite duration. About this became known from a declaration by the ex-owner of YUKOS, addressed by him to Chairman of the Supreme Court of the RF Vyacheslav Lebedev. […]

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Grigory Pasko: Rule of Law, But Without Juries

By Grigory Pasko | Published: May 13, 2010

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation recently issued a decree, according to which the conducting of judicial processes [trials] on a charge of terrorism without the participation of jurors was recognized as legal. The court likewise withdrew from the competence of jury trials criminal cases of the crimes prescribed in the Criminal Code by […]

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Grigory Pasko: The Parades of the Hussars

By Grigory Pasko | Published: May 6, 2010

Hurrah! Joint training for the military parade has begun outside Moscow! It’s quite a sight – military parades. Koz’ma Prutkov is recalled right away : «Want to be beautiful – join the hussars». Parades on Red Square – this is parades of hussars. They have nothing in common with the real life of the army. […]

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Grigory Pasko: Interview with Andrei Illarionov

By Grigory Pasko | Published: April 26, 2010

Journalist Grigory Pasko recently had the opportunity to sit down with Andrei Illarionov, former advisor to the President of the Russian Federation, and currently a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity at the Cato Institute in Washington. – Andrei Nikolayevich, appearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of […]

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Grigory Pasko: Interview with Yuri Schmidt

By Grigory Pasko | Published: April 20, 2010

Author’s intro:  President Dmitry Medvedev recently sent a package of amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure to the State Duma. The amendments, as was announced, are aimed at the humanization of punishments for economic crimes.  For example, the amendments propose the exclusion of Article 173 of the Criminal Code regarding […]

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Grigory Pasko: The Provocations of Prosecutors

By Grigory Pasko | Published: April 14, 2010

During my last visit to the Khodorkovsky trial courtroom, I had the opportunity to stop the procurators Kovalikhina and Shokhin outside on the staircase with a question: “Do the procurators give interviews?” Shokhin stopped short in surprise. Kovalikhina, continuing to move, replied: “They do. After the verdict.“ Well, at least that. Before the verdict, they, […]

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Grigory Pasko: The Chaos in Khamovnichesky Court

By Grigory Pasko | Published: April 6, 2010

In preparation for this week’s trial testimony of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, defense lawyers Yuri Schmidt, Vadim Klyuvgant, Natalia Terekhova, Elena Liptser and Konstantin Rivkin held a press conference I was able to attend at the editorial offices of the «Osobaya bukva». Если Вы хотите прочитать оригинал данной статьи на русском языке, нажмите сюда. Having known and […]

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Grigory Pasko: The “Patriotism” of Hooligans

By Grigory Pasko | Published: April 1, 2010

Konstantin Pereverzev, born 1979, was already declaring himself to be a true “Russian Orthodox Patriot” on his way to the police station after being arrested for striking a blow to the face of 82-year-old human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva. The incident took place yesterday during a commemoration event for the victims of the terrorist attack […]

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Grigory Pasko: Russia’s Bad Cops

By Grigory Pasko | Published: March 31, 2010

From 1 July of the year 2010 subdivisions of moral-psychological provision will begin to work in the system of the MVD to foster patriotism and intolerance towards corruption in policemen, to form in the guardians of order a complex of civic, moral and spiritual qualities, as well as “resistance to unfavourable informational-psychological influence». (The latter, […]

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