Archive

December 4, 2009

Energy Blast – Dec 4, 2009

As expected, Eni and Gazprom have signed an agreement authorizing EdF to join the South Stream pipeline, with conditions to be outlined in the coming months.  The central bank is considering various measures to discourage an inflow of specula...
December 4, 2009

Today in Russian Business – Dec 4, 2009

President Dmitry Medvedev signed no less than nineteen business deals, in the automobile, aviation, banking, and energy sectors, during his trip to Rome.  Steel and mining giant Evraz is seeking measures to deal with ‘staggering debt...
December 4, 2009

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Dec 4, 2009

TODAY: Putin Q&A dominates press, hints at return to presidency; Medvedev establishes diplomatic relations with the Vatican; NATO and Russia working through problems; Lukashenko acknowledges reliance on Russia; hackers destroy tabloid archives...
December 3, 2009

The Magnitsky Letters

The Associated Press has obtained exclusive access to a series of letters written by Sergei Magnitsky, the Hermitage lawyer who died in prison after being denied medical treatment, to his mother.  Heartbreaking reading. Nataliya Magnitskaya s...
December 3, 2009

Are You an Independent Russian judge? You’re Fired.

“One of the key elements of our work in the next four years will be ensuring the independence of our legal system from the executive and legislative branches of power.” – Dmitry Medvedev, Feb. 24, 2008 “Russia should be a d...
December 3, 2009

Video: George Friedman on the Coming Conflict

I usually don’t bother running RT videos, but this one has some highlights.  I hold occasional doubts about the information quality behind STRATFOR’s Russia analysis (they are heavy on the rumors), but Friedman is one of the few w...
December 3, 2009

Energy Blast – Dec 3, 2009

Dmitry Medvedev is in Rome to oversee the signing of an agreement between Gazprom, Eni, and EdF for the South Stream natural gas pipeline, set to open at the end of 2015.  Transneft says that a hundred-ton oil spill ‘will not affect oil...
December 3, 2009

Today in Russian Business – Dec 3, 2009

The new Sochi Winter Olympics logo is ‘clean, forward-looking, transparent — everything that perhaps Russia should be, but isn’t. But hey, that’s branding.‘  The Finance Ministry has proposed to limit significant...
December 3, 2009

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Dec 3, 2009

TODAY: Russian judges resign over inability to perform their jobs in ‘ruined’ legal system; top courts shooting for transparency; media giants at war; Putin’s Q&A on air today, focused on terrorism and economy as Chechens cla...
December 2, 2009

Chechnya murders make FP’s Top 10 missed stories of 2009

Ranking at number 8, I will let Joshua Keating’s words speak for themselves: The world was shocked in July by the murder of human rights activist Natalya Estemirova in Chechnya. Suspicions immediately focused on the Chechen Kremlin-backed st...