RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – June 12, 2008
TODAY: Medvedev speech at Moscow media conference calls for Cyrillic internet domains, media freedom and overhaul of European security; Moscow tabloid The eXile shuts down after investors pull out; Condoleezza Rice says US has no common values with Russia; racial tension; Sevastopol. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, speaking at a Moscow media conference, called for Russia to be assigned an Internet domain name in the Cyrillic script as part of a Kremlin drive to promote Russian as a global language. He also pledged that his administration will ensure media freedom and respect for human rights, and called for a sweeping overhaul of European security. His comments did not reassure investors of Moscow’s English-language tabloid The eXile, however. The newspaper is shutting down after its investors became “frightened” by a government inspection and withdrew their funding. A Duma group is suggesting that a new set of press regulations should be put together, as the current Act on Mass Media has remained unchanged since 1991.