100 posts
Talks with Russia on missile defence stalled - NATO
By Sebastian Moffett Talks with Russia over NATO's planned missile defence system are failing to progress, the head...
The Baltic Tigers after 20 years: is Russia extending a helping hand?
By Česlovas Iškauskas On the New Year eve the Russian media started escalating the issue of Baltic countries&rsqu...
Rogozin Proposes State Body on Aerospace Defenses
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin on Friday proposed setting up a government body responsible for consolidating efforts aimed at the creation of an effective aerospace defense network in the country. READ MORE...
An Unreconstructed Kremlin
The mental leap to freedom is hard for those programmed into the ideology of the revolutionary left.“When I was a teenager growing up in Chicago, I went through the standard teenage rebellion,” Bill Browder told me one afternoon in the Hermitage...
Putin Slips Below Runoff Threshold In New Polls
Ratings for Russian Prime Minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin slipped in the last week, with three polls showing he would receive less than the 50% of votes necessary to avoid a second round of elections if a vote was held immediate...
Russians Give Their Government Low Grades
A roomful of Russian elites at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, identified corruption as Russia's biggest problem and gave the government low marks for effectiveness.
Blogger, politician, populist? - Alexey Navalny’s rise
Alexey Navalny may well be the first Russian internet politician. The charismatic 35 year old emerged not just as an online activist, but leading agitator of the nascent protest movement. HisRead more…...
Putin´s aim is to stay in power for the rest of his life - but he will not succeed
The opinion page editor of the Moscow Times, Michael Bohm has written a must read article about why Russia´s de facto dictator Vladimir Putin aims to stay in power for the rest of his life: According to The New Times Oct. 31 cover story, "Russi...
What May Come
By Dan Peleschuk Russia’s Tough Talk on Foreign Policy Suggests Fear of Internal Revolts. READ MORE...
Polls Show Putin Faces Fight
Recent polls suggest it's unclear whether Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will be able to gather enough votes in the March 4 presidential election to avoid a second round.
The Russian Conscience on Human Rights in Syria
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, warned on January 18, 2012, according to the New York Times, “that outside encouragement of antigovernment uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa could lead to ‘a very big war that will cause suf...
Putin Ally Signals Readiness for Change, Not Revolution
Mass anti-Kremlin rallies, which Moscow and other Russian cities saw in December, have prompted Vladimir Putin, the country's prime minister and the almost certain winner of the upcoming presidential election, to make "changes," said a long-time gove...
Abramovich, Berezovsky and the real story of Russia's lost billions | Alexander Lebedev
The glitz of two squabbling multimillionaires grabs the headlines but distracts from the high price ordinary Russians have paidIt has been bizarre to watch, from the safe distance of Moscow, how the British press has reported the court case between R...
On the Hegemony of Religion: Russian Patriarch Splashes into Politics
Just because one’s cause is just does not mean it should be one’s cause. Russian Patriarch Kirill said in early January, 2012 that it would be a “very bad sign” if Russia’s political officials failed to heed the recent protests over whether...
Petition Factories
The next Russian election, the one that will inevitably elevate Vladimir Putin back to the presidency, is not until next March, but from a Czech source we see the political machine is already hard at work. tiscali.cz: Předvolební kampaň...
VIDEO: Outlook for Russian economy in 2012 after strong 2011
FSN Moscow correspondent Anya Ardayeva has this piece on the prospects for Russia's economy in 2012.
Putin’s Approval-Rating Slump May Be Reversing
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's support levels appeared to recover further in a recent poll, just two weeks after his approval tumbled to a career low following widely criticized parliamentary elections and national protests.
Putin Presidential Support Steady At 44%, Rivals Gain a Bit – Poll
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's support among voters in the presidential election was steady at about 44% in the most recent week but still far below previous levels, according to a poll.
Russian Bloggers’ Findings Support ‘Fingerprints of Fraud’ in Election Results
Results of the Journal's examination of the results of Russia's parliamentary elections confirm patterns that bloggers inside the country noted.
Russia’s Common Economic Area: Not Another European Union
On January 1, 2012, a new version of the common economic area between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan came into effect. The three countries had already founded a customs union in 2007. As of the end of 2011, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan were still in tal...
Russia’s President Medvedev names Kremlin strategist Surkov deputy PM
The continuous moving within the Presidential Administration of the Kremlin and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin subordinated team. A Kremlin aide who played a key role in helping Vladimir Putin craft his tightly controlled political system was mov...
Office Professionals Dominate Moscow’s Protest Movement
Managers, office workers and businessmen made up the biggest part of the estimated 60,000 to 100,000 who took to the streets of Moscow on Saturday calling for new parliamentary elections, political overhaul and alternatives to Prime Minister Vladimi...
Vladimir Putin's world is falling apart | Masha Gessen
The Russian media has lost its fear of Putin's authoritarian regime. History tells us the end must be nighWatching an authoritarian regime disintegrate is like watching an episode of the American television series House, MD. Someone who was enjoying...
Russian Paper Counts 102,486 Protesters, Several Times Police Tally
Does the size of a crowd matter? Only if you’re trying to gauge the stability of Vladimir Putin’s rule and test the strength of the opposition...
Moscow Protesters Voice Complaints About Kremlin, Elections
Moscow protesters voiced complaints on Saturday about the Kremlin leadership and parliamentary elections many saw as riddled with fraud. The protest rally, which attracted tens of thousands, followed another large demonstration two weeks earlier.
The Security Council’s family Christmas from hell
And it’s tidings of comfort and joy… but not for the Security Council. On Thursday, Russia proposed an investigation into the casualties of NATO’s Libyan campaign: Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin said a council-mandate...
Russia’s Protest Movement United, Divided With Twitter, Facebook
The organizers of the wave of anti-Kremlin protests in Russia have relied on Internet services like Facebook and Twitter to mobilize tens of thousands of supporters. But the online tools have at times been a mixed blessing.
Ukrainian Vector of Vladimir Putin
By Alexey Makarkin In Russia foreign policy course is defined by the President – that is why a political deci...
Why Russia Matters to China
By David Cohen As the regime of Vladimir Putin faces the most serious challenge of its 12 years in power, Chinese l...
Is Russia going to save the crisis-ridden eurozone?
For months now EU leaders have been begging China´s communist rulers to participate in the continuing "rescue" efforts of the crisis-ridden eurozone. As the Chinese have not been willing to take any serious action the increasingly desperate eurocrat...
Top news of the Day 6/12/2011
Credit risk European leaders are under yet more pressure after Standard and Poor’s announcement that 15 eurozone countries face having their credit ratings downgraded.The announcement on Monday evening came just hours after France and Germany laid...
Moscow Keeps Police Troops Visible Amid Demonstrations
After a large demonstration Monday night criticizing parliamentary elections and amid other outdoor gatherings Tuesday, Russia decided to keep 2,000 special police troops on the streets of the capital, a spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry said.
Is this the beginning of Putin’s end?
OpenDemocracy.net: The preliminary results from Russia’s parliamentary elections are bad news for the Kremlin. Putin’s pet party, United Russia, got slightly less than 50% and it lost its constitutional majority in the Duma. That translat...
Russian parliamentary elections: rousing from a long slumber | Editorial
If Vladimir Putin's popularity is on the wane, that of the party he created, United Russia, is in a nosediveVladimir Putin made it crystal clear what he expected out of yesterday's parliamentary election – a national show of loyalty. Parliament was...
Putin prepares the Russian empire to strike back | Simon Tisdall
The reincarnation of the current PM as president poses a challenge to western powers for which they seem ill-preparedAs prime minister for the past four years, Vladimir Putin never really went away. But his looming reincarnation as the all-powerful,...
Russia: the sick BRIC?
A new report from ECFR on Russia makes startlingly depressing reading: The economic crisis has exposed a governance crisis inside Russia: even Putin now admits that as much as 80% of Kremlin orders have been ignored in the regions. Instead of moderni...
Putin’s Eurasian Union: A danger or strategic opportunity?
When Vladimir Putin recently published an article in the Russian daily Izvestia that officially announced his plans for the establishment of an Eurasian Union in the geographical space of former USSR countries, he caused quite an uproar in the Wester...
The markets distrust democracy. Just ask the masters of Beijing and Moscow | Jonathan Freedland
Why is the democratic world faring so much worse in this crisis than its authoritarian rivals? It's the austerity, stupidHow will historians remember 2011, the year which, according to the satirists at the Onion, has already used up the next decade's...
Russia: Rebuilding an Empire While It Can
video By Lauren Goodrich U.S.-Russian relations seem to have been relatively quiet recently, as there are numerous contradictory views in Washington about the true nature of...
Putin Speaks Out on Europe
Russia's past and likely future president attacks EU energy policies, calls on the ECB to act to stem crisis and delivers a eulogy for Silvio Berlusconi.
Russia Rich in Talent, Poor in Entrepreneurship, Says Microsoft Executive
Russia may be filled with talented IT people, but entrepreneurship is not their strongest side, a Microsoft Corp. executive said.
Russian Lapdog Leaving Lap
BACK in the USSR! We’ve already been treated recently to some prime Soviet nostalgia, in the form of the Yulia Timoshenko show-trial in the Ukraine. Now from Le Monde we see how that’s been joined by the lock-step Kremlin solidarity of ol...
Medvedev Loses Temper After Giving Up Kremlin
President Dmitry Medvedev, who agreed not to run for a second term and make space for his political patron, isn’t taking this situation too easily, analysts said pointing to his angry outburst that led to the resignation of Russia’s finance minis...
Martin McCauley - Another useful idiot praising Putin´s stability
Agent Putin before he became the "strong" leader of RussiaIt is sad to see another western academic Russia expert turn into a useful idiot for the Putin regime. It is difficult to arrive at any other conclusion having watched Dr. Martin McCauley (for...
Swiss, Spanish, German and Czech media on role-swapping Putin and Medvedev
The Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin announced his candidacy for the presidential elections in March. The current Kremlin chief Dmitry Medvedev would take his job in parliamentary elections on 4 December... get it? This swap would cement Russia'...
Monday’s Russian Papers: Kremlin Castles as in Chess
Depending on the slant of the individual newspaper, the Russian press was mixed in its front-page treatment of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s move to seek the presidency next year.
The return of the man who never left
Vladimir Putin will return to the Kremlin in 2012...
Can we really laugh at Russia?
Vladimir Putin has now officially expressed his readiness to take over presidency after incumbent Dmirty Medvedev will finish his term. Hot news of the day indeed, which finally unveiled the mis(t)ery of the future of the Russian Federation. As a con...
Putin Comments on Tycoons’ Tiff
Vladimir Putin has one word for out-of-control oligarchs: "hooliganism."...
Hot Autumn in Moscow
Almost two years the interview with John Helmer has been located in top preferences readers of this blog. Soon, a new interview with John, an interesting discussion in his slightly informal style, about the hot autumn of elections in Moscow, …...
Gas Dispute between Russia and Ukraine: in Expectation of the “Hot Phase”
By Oleg Gorbunov Moscow and Kiev can’t agree on changes of the “blue fuel” supply contracts into this country and gas transit to Europe. Russia suggested Ukraine to enter the Customs Union and lease or sell its ga...
One Step Forward
video By Konstatin Eggert The relationship between Russia and NATO will forever be defined by encouraging steps forward hampered by regular setbacks. But soon, other regional...
Business Forum Russian Style
A bunch of men in business suits rushed to a last week gathering with Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin only to find that gates were closed early---one executive, left out of the VIP meeting, called this business forum “a circus.”...
Putin's win in Strasbourg
A mixed court ruling on the dismemberment of an oil giant will go down well in Moscow...
Russian Criminal Case No. 144,128 - "The Putin Affair"
"while serving as the Chairman of the City’s Committee on Foreign Economic Relations he routinely took bribes. And I’ve spoken to many people myself who were a party to such transactions with him. You couldn’t establish a joint venture in the C...
On EU-Russia visa free travel (Part 1)
A visa-free regime with the EU is perhaps the one thing that most Russians want most from the EU and is a key priority for Russia’s EU policy. The EU and Russia have agreed on a set of ‘joint steps’ towards a visa-free regime. The issue...
To Russia From America, With Lace
Female Russians should be delighted. Retailing giant Limited Brands Inc. is opening its first Victoria's Secret lingerie shop in Moscow later this month, according to the business daily Vedomosti.
EU:s strategic ally and Obama´s "reset" partner Russia to have joint military excercise with North Korea
While David Cameron and a number of other western "useful idiots" hobnob with Putin and his puppet Medvedev, the European Union´s strategic ally and Obama´s reset partner is set to have a joint military excercise with North Korea:North Ko...
Moscow 'regrets' EU decision on trans-Caspian gas pipeline
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Moscow regrets the EU's decision on Monday to open talks with Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan aimed at agreeing shipment of Turkmen natural gas across the Caspian Sea to Europe. READ MORE...
The Life and Fate of Vasily Grossman
“There is no sense or truth in my present position, in my physical freedom while the book to which I dedicated my life is in prison. For I wrote it, and I have not repudiated it, and am not repudiating it. (…) I ask for freedom for my boo...
"Useful idiot" David Cameron meets a thug in Moscow
A useful idiot meeting a thug in MoscowDavid Cameron has today met with a thug - Vladimir Put...
To Vladimir Putin, David Cameron is a useful idiot | Simon Tisdall
Russia badly needs democratic reform. But Cameron's day- tripping pragmatism will only strengthen Putin's autocratic gripDavid Cameron's call in Moscow for a "new approach based on co-operation" with Russia revealed the prime minister's pragmatic sid...
Russia’s Tech Hub Gets Boost From U.K. Deals
In a sign of improved relations between Russia and the U.K., the two countries signed several bilateral agreements, including those in the field of research and science.
UK Russia reset reluctance
A good rule in restaurants is always to have a good look over your shoulder before taking too freely. I recently had lunch with a group of British diplomats, and one chided me for speaking a bitRead more…...
Putin: Russia’s Trillion-Dollar Man?
As elections near, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has stopped promising billions and is now trumpeting more than a trillion dollars in spending to improve the lives of Russians.
More Energy Tensions With Russia?
New initiatives aimed at reducing Russia's clout in EU energy affairs are not likely to please Moscow.
Russian Businessmen Survey British Landscape
A new survey shows that most Russian businessmen consider the U.K. as only the seventh best place to invest for growth opportunities in the next two or three years.
If WW III breaks out tomorrow/or what happens if China decides to get hold of Russian Siberia and Far East?
By Vadim Volovoj, expert of the Centre for Geopolitical Studies china-army.jpg china-army.jpg Today military actions...
Russian Rulers’ Popularity Declines as Elections Loom
As Moscow prepares for parliamentary elections later this year and the presidential election early in 2012, Putin and Medvedev have seen yet another hit to their popularity, according to an August poll.
EU-Russia Relations
The European Union’s relations with Russia hit a low in the summer of 2008, when Russian troops intervened in Georgia. And the energy crisis triggered by the Ukrainian gas dispute of January 2009 didn’t help. But in the two-and-a-half yea...
It's all in Putin's head
Russia gears up for next year's presidential election...
Russia’s Recovery May Stymie Inflation Fight
Russia has dodged several bullets this year when it comes to inflation, including an unexpected jump in fuel prices in the spring and the impact of June’s short-lived ban on vegetables from the European Union. But the main threat to the central ban...
Medvedev flies in to the European storm
Medvedev is touching down in Hannover for talks in a Germany at the heart of a nervous Europe. The Russian President will be flanked by twenty ministers and corporate chieftains. Angela Merkel willRead more…...
Could Energy Resources Cause Russia to Spark a Naval War in the Caspian?
In the past three decades the Islamic Republic of Iran has developed a well-earned sense of paranoia. First, in September 1980 Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in what he thought would be a quick military victory, but which quickly turned into an eight-ye...
Moscow Elite See Kudrin as Possible Prime Minister
Several members of Moscow's elite business and economic circles have suggested that Putin may run for president and, when he’s inaugurated, select Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin as Russia's next prime minister.
Iran’s nuclear program helped by China, Russia
Cooperation began in 1990s. READ MORE...
The Russians quake in fear
Priceless headline spotted by @PlaceLuxBrussels to send vegetable negotiators to MoscowGo on then, fill in the first paragraph of copy to go with it.
Khodorkovskiy in a cage
In the case of Khodorkovskiy v. Russia the Court reaffirmed that placing a person in a cage during a trial if the person is not predisposed to violence or there are no serious security threats, is degrading and violates Article 3. The Court noted tha...
