Russia

April 2, 2009

Those Plucky Swedes

A small but powerful news article in English brought to our attention by Helga Brekkan, the Stockholm-based documentary filmmaker making a movie about Grigory Pasko. Here’s a short version: The Russians have arranged a feel-good junket to th...
April 2, 2009

A Death Foretold (on Wikipedia)

The Russian blogosphere is buzzing with talk about yesterday’s vicious assault on human rights activist Lev Ponomarev in Moscow. One particularly hot topic right now is the sensational discovery that a premature report of Ponomarev’s d...
April 1, 2009

Common Sense on Trial

The Khodorkovsky & Lebedev Communications Center has issued its latest newsletter, containing the following article signed by the defense team.  Please consider dropping by the site to sign up for the list. As the G20 Gather in London, Co...
April 1, 2009

Blood on the Snow, Again

Not even three months have passed since the assassination of one of Russia’s greatest human rights lawyers, Stanislav Markelov, that once again we have blood on the Moscow snow.  Once again, the victim is another illustrious human right...
April 1, 2009

Obama and Medvedev Should Address Rule of Law

Ariel Cohen of the Heritage Foundation has an interesting op/ed in the Washington Times arguing for greater attention to rule of law, which in all likelihood will not make its way onto the busy agenda for the meeting today between Barack Obama and...
April 1, 2009

The Importance of Principles

Is there any room left any more for values-based diplomacy, or has everything slipped back into realism of great power politics?  As Barack Obama makes his rounds at the G20 meeting in London this week, it appears that “principles”...
April 1, 2009

The Violent Attack Against Lev Ponomarev

Coverage of the brutally violent attack against Lev Ponomarev late last night is beginning to make its way into the English press.  Echo Moskvy reports that the attack took place after a meeting with PACE representative Sabine Leutheusser-Sch...
April 1, 2009

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – April 1, 2009

TODAY: Medvedev article positive on US relations; human rights activist Lev Ponomarev hospitalized after being beaten in Moscow; Lukashenko opens bidding war?; Khodorkovsky second trial begins; limousines.An article in the Washington Post by Dmitr...