Russia

May 31, 2009

Protestors Arrested in Moscow

A small anti-Putin rally was broken up rather abruptly and quickly today in Moscow, with the arrests of some 30 people, including Natsbols leader Eduard Limonov.  One would think that the government would find a that a more confident show of ...
May 31, 2009

Dissident Memories

Yesterday the Associated Press published a pretty interesting profile of the former Soviet dissident Sergei Kovalyov, who laments the lack of interest in this side of Russian history.  Just got around to reading it this morning, and found som...
May 29, 2009

Sneak Preview: Cohen vs. Cohen

Check out “Rethinking Russia,” an hour-long discussion with three prominent Russia scholars on the state of U.S./Russia relations, premiering this Tuesday at 8:00 pm on Dan Rather Reports, on the cable channel HDNet. Dan Rather hosts t...
May 29, 2009

Kasparov: Hitler Used Tanks, Putin Uses Banks

It’s been an interesting week here in Helsinki, where I have been attending the Finnish-Russian Civic Forum. In addition to showing my short documentary film on the Nord Stream project (which produced a spirited debate), I had the opportunit...
May 29, 2009

Meeting Mr. Milner

The Financial Times profiles the new Russian owner of 2% of Facebook. Mr Milner’s story, like his growing portfolio, combines American ideas with Russian opportunities. The son of an economist and a doctor, he studied particle physics at Mos...
May 29, 2009

Europe’s Disingenuous Innocence

I’ve always liked Transitions Online, but found this opinion column by Jeremy Druker a little confusing.  Druker is looking to give some balance to Russia’s vocal opposition to the EU’s Eastern Partnership initiative, and lo...
May 29, 2009

Russia’s Arctic Gas

The boys at Gazprom are partying this weekend.  From Associated Press: Nearly one-third of the natural gas yet to be discovered in the world is north of the Arctic Circle and most of it is in Russian territory, according to a new analysis led...
May 29, 2009

What to Do with Belarus

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Jeffrey Gedmin, the president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has a few suggestions: The U.S. and the EU need to consider two issues in their relations with Belarus. It’s only through a coordinated app...
May 29, 2009

Forgetting Ukraine

Do good relations with Russia mean a total abandonment of its neighbors?  From Foreign Policy’s The Argument: Russia has always had a knack for overshadowing its neighbors – and this time the West, focused on Moscow, is distracted...
May 28, 2009

Renaissance Putin

From the Independent’s Shaun Walker, via HuffPo: In the past year he’s been painting pictures, singing songs, and demonstrating his expert judo moves. This week Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will complete a clean sweep o...