Russia

July 1, 2009

The Gazprom-Nigeria Brand Still Catching Criticism

It looks like the unfortunately named joint venture between Nigeria and Gazprom is still causing some problems.  Luke Harding as a piece taking a look at all the reactions, while I found this eyebrow-raising quote at the bottom of a Reuter...
July 1, 2009

Klebnikov Investigation Frozen, Again

Different people may hold different opinions about Russia’s administration of law and justice.  Given that we are involved in a case featuring a political prisoner undergoing a second show trial, obviously we hold a strongly critical op...
July 1, 2009

A Keen Grasp of the Obvious

Just about every Russian leader for the past several hundred years has at one point or another felt compelled to weigh in on the country’s national pastime, drinking. For some observers, it’s a bit of a mystery why they bother, as thes...
July 1, 2009

Do The Math

From Yulia Latynina’s column in the Moscow Times: On June 17, President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao signed an agreement in which Russia will sell 300 million tons of oil to China over 20 years for $100 billion. That break...
July 1, 2009

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – July 1, 2009

TODAY: Skepticism about re-set; opposition activist dies in prison; Russians largely unaware of events in Pikalyovo; Klebnikov family urge Obama to push for justice; government to act on Russian dipsomania Ria-Novosti reports that Russian analysts...
June 30, 2009

Gambling for Peace

As readers are likely well aware, Russia is shutting down most of its casinos this week under a new law that will isolate legal gambling facilities to just a handful of regions, far from the capital of Moscow.  This new piece from Tony Halpin...
June 30, 2009

No Vacation for You!

Well this is just mean.  Vladimir Putin doesn’t want Russia’s billionaire bankers to take any vacation this summer, while it also looks like the state will become even more dominant in the banking sector.  From the Financial ...
June 30, 2009

Andreas Schockenhoff on the Khodorkovsky Trial

The following is the official press statement from the offices of the German MP Dr Andreas Schockenhoff, who attended the second trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky as an observer. His conclusions, as you can read below, are sharply critical of the lega...
June 30, 2009

Video: Stratfor on the Obama-Medvedev Summit

George Friedman of Stratfor gives some interesting and less interesting opinions on the Obama-Medvedev summit coming up next week.  Friedman believes the the “sphere of influence” question will be the central issue of the meeting,...
June 30, 2009

Video: Gori Rebuilds While Russian Army Looms

The news from Georgia is pretty bad this week.  Russia is conducting large scale war games right on the border, the OSCE monitors have left, protests continue to split the country, and observers are wondering if Barack Obama will even say the...