Russia

May 27, 2009

Russian Company Grabs 2% of Facebook

Do you think that the social media platform Facebook is worth $10 billion? The Russian company Digital Sky Technologies sure thinks so, as it has just acquired 2% of preferred shares at $200 million.  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerman said DST was ...
May 26, 2009

Gazprom’s Move on Sibir Energy

Sometimes Russia’s state-run energy business seems to operate under the George Costanza strategy of “do the opposite” – if it makes good sense according to market logic, do something else.  Before the economic crisis, ...
May 26, 2009

Zeks for Khodorkovsky

A phone call in the middle of the night Grigory Pasko, journalist Recently, I received a phone call in the middle of the night from Andrei Volozhanin – a former zek in the Krasnokamensk colony, who was once assigned the unusual task of overs...
May 26, 2009

Gazprom’s Addiction to Politics

Here’s a scorcher from Kostis Geropoulos at New Europe: Against the backdrop of the EU-Russia summit held symbolically in the remote Russian far-eastern city of Khabarovsk on May 21- 22, European officials have accused Russian gas giant Gazp...
May 26, 2009

Zeal for the Deal

Back in the Bush II heydays, I always thought of Russia’s Ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, as a tongue-in-cheek answer to the appointment of John Bolton to the United Nations (minus, of course, the overt racism of the former).  Among...
May 26, 2009

Sergey Prokofiev and the Soviet Experience

This book review about the life of the famous Russian composer Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953) reveals a complex and contradictory tale of one artist’s confrontation with the groundswell of history in Russia. A not untypical contemporary reacti...
May 25, 2009

On the Responsibility of Business in Russia

Mikhail Khodorkovsky has granted an extensive written interview to the Moscow Times in which he criticized the social responsibility practices and anti-crisis efforts of Russia’s business elite.  Keep your eyes peeled on the official MB...
May 25, 2009

The Soon-to-Fail Eastern Partnership

A new 5-page policy brief by the Spanish think tank FRIDE takes a look at the EU’s Eastern Partnership proposal, and finds it riddled with holes and destined for failure.  One, among the many, flaws is that too many EU member states are...
May 25, 2009

Smells Like Yukos

This is a rather strange story from Moscow News, but it seems that one Russian businessman wants to express his solidarity with Mikhail Khodorkovsky by producing a perfume line bearing the Yukos company name.  It will be tough to sell more of...