 RFE/RL Russia Report 10/13/2009 3:54:37 PM A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about domestic and foreign-policy developments in Russia.For more stories on Russia, please visit and bookmark our Russia page . |
 Russian Activists Still In Detention After Protest Dozens of opposition activists detained by police during a demonstration in Moscow remain in custody, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Clinton Upbeat On Russia 'Reset' U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said she's pleased with the effects so far of Washington's rapprochement with Russia following talks in Moscow. She said both sides agreed to work more closely on missile defense. But she doesn’t appear to have succeeded in convincing the Kremlin to back a tough U.S. policy toward Iran. More  Where Does Russia Want To Take The CIS? The main intrigue surrounding the summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Chisinau last week was whether Russian President Dmitry Medvedev would attend. The Kremlin only confirmed his participation four days in advance. The delay only intensified speculation that even the Kremlin has come to the conclusion that the CIS is a still-born organization. More  Few Surprises In North Caucasus Elections High turnout was reported and significant violations alleged in elections to municipal councils in Russia's restive North Caucasus republics on October 11, RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service reported. More  Moscow Police Disperse Opposition Protest Of Elections Police in Moscow have dispersed opposition protesters who were complaining over alleged violations during the city duma elections on October 11, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Soldiers' Mothers Demand Alternative Service Option For Draftees The nongovernmental organization Soldiers' Mothers of Petersburg have demanded that officials respect Russian legislation on alternative service for young army conscripts, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Kasyanov: Russians Must Stand Up And Be Counted Mikhail Kasyanov was finance minister under former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, and later prime minister under then-President Vladimir Putin until 2004. After his dismissal, he eventually went into opposition. Kasyanov has now published a book, "Without Putin," on that transition, in which he fiercely criticizes Putin. More  Clinton In Talks With Russians On Iran U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has held talks in Moscow with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The meeting is part of her effort to win Russian support for increasing pressure on Iran over its nuclear program if it fails to live up to its international obligations. More  Regional Elections Go According To Kremlin Script Russia held local elections in more than 75 federation subjects on October 11, with 7,000 posts at various levels of government up for grabs. And the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, grabbed almost all of them. Unified Russia expects to take two-thirds of the seats in the newly elected Moscow City Council. Instead of counting votes, opposition activists were tallying up alleged election-law violations. More  Both Sides Hijacked Georgia War Report The European Union has released its report on last year's August war in the Caucasus. The aim was to establish what happened, however the "facts" have been appropriated by both sides and misconstrued by the press. More  From Political Elite To Political Outsider In a new book, Mikhail Kasyanov, a member of Boris Yeltsin's inner circle and prime minister early in the Putin presidency, details his transition from insider to outsider. "Without Putin" offers a scathing critique of the current prime minister, including claims Putin turned on his mentor in the years before Yeltsin's death. More  Russian Soldiers' Mothers Kidnap Sons To Prevent Beating At a press conference in the western Russian city of Chelyabinsk, four women said that they had to kidnap their sons from their military unit in order to "save them from a beating," RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Russian Jewelry Retailer Chief Arrested For Smuggling Moscow police have arrested the general director of the Altyn jewelry company, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  NATO Chief: Focus On 'Practical Cooperation' With Russia NATO's new secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark, said in an interview on October 7 that NATO seeks to persuade Russia the alliance is "not an enemy." Equally, Rasmussen said he does not think Russia poses a threat to the alliance. But Rasmussen also vowed that Georgia and Ukraine will one day join NATO. Rasmussen spoke to RFE/RL about these statements. More  City Elections A Lesson In Controlled Democracy It would've been the end for any ordinary mayor: a friend suspected of a billion-dollar contraband scheme, your wife accused of using connections to build a massive fortune, and your 17 years in power condemned by a prominent opposition leader in a report on corruption. And there's an election coming up. More  Skyscraper Plans In St. Petersburg Spark Controversy Russian Culture Minister Aleksandr Avdeyev says the construction of a 400-meter-high skyscraper in St. Petersburg should be cancelled, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  Russia Facing Resistance On CIS's Southern Flank Representatives of the CIS are holding a summit in the Moldovan capital today, but most of the Central Asian presidents won't be in attendance. The presidents of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan instead sent lower-level delegations. Focusing on the three Central Asian states that make up the CIS's southern frontier, we examine how, by skipping the summit, they might be exhibiting their discontent with Russia. More  Efforts To Stage-Manage Elections Fuel Tensions In North Caucasus Daghestan's President Mukhu Aliyev is reportedly sparing no effort to secure the reelection on October 11 of the incumbent mayor of the southern town of Derbent, Feliks Kaziakhmedov. In Karachayevo-Cherkessia, candidates for the post of mayor of the town of Karachayevsk have demanded that acting Mayor Umar Uzdenov be disqualified from the ballot (also on October 11) on the grounds that his registration as a candidate is invalid, and that the presidential administration is pressuring voters to cast their ballots for him. More  Astronauts, Cosmonauts Land In Prague Prague this week plays host to a global meeting of astronauts and cosmonauts. Some big names are in attendance, including Soviet space hero Aleksei Leonov and China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei. More  Grandfathers And Grandsons Moscow-based journalist Anton Orekh asks: What if Moscow judges in a defamation suit decide Stalin did not sign execution orders and that this remarkable man is not guilty? Will "Novaya gazeta" have to publish a retraction and an apology? More  Why Do Russia's Police Remain Unreformed? While so much else in Russia has changed, its police force is still strikingly unreformed since the late Soviet era. From time to time, this is recognized as a problem and promises are made to modernize the Interior Ministry. But rarely do they come to anything. More  After Russia-Georgia Report, A Sense Of 'What Now?' In the wake of last week's EU report on the Russia-Georgia war, many in the West are wondering what can be done to prevent the conflict from repeating itself. For answers, RFE/RL's Georgian Service spoke to Lithuanian Foreign Minister Vygaudas Usackas and Ron Asmus of the German Marshall Fund. More  Report Says Gulf States, Others Ready To Dump Dollar A British newspaper report that Gulf Arab states -- along with China, Russia, Japan, and France -- are planning to move away from using dollars for oil trading is getting attention in financial circles. The report by the daily "Independent" names no sources for its information, but it is the latest indication that officials in many countries are worried about the strength of the dollar in the global economic crisis and whether it will always remain strong enough to be the standard global currenc More  Stalin Returns To The Moscow Metro Josef Stalin's name and image once graced the walls of the Moscow metro, but disappeared during the era of de-Stalinization in the 1950s. Now Stalin is reappearing underground -- just as his reputation is slowly being restored throughout Russia. More  Homeless Stage Protest In South Ossetia Between 60 and 200 Ossetians whose homes were destroyed or damaged in the August 2008 war between Georgia and Russia gathered on September 30 outside the government building in Tskhinvali to protest the delay in providing them with new accommodation. More  Lessons Georgians Should Draw From War Probe Former Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili says "our duty to both Georgian and international opinion is to confront this reality and try to move on from there." More  What Does Russia Think? If we want to deal with Russia, we need to understand it. Western observers tend to focus on what Russia lacks -- be it Western-style democracy, the rule of law, or property rights. Russia may have justifications for all of these gaps, but we need to look closely at the Russian debate to find out. More  Turning To Russia To Save A California Landmark Recent budget cuts in the U.S. state of California nearly forced the closure of Fort Ross, a 19th-century trading post founded by Russian settlers. Now Fort Ross supporters are looking to Russia to help keep the historic site open and prospering. More  Tony Judt On 'One Of East Europe's Great Mistakes' The future of the EU, Russia's relations with Europe, the course of American foreign policy. All have dominated headlines in recent weeks, and all are issues that renowned European historian Tony Judt has spent a lifetime analyzing and writing. Judt, who is director of the Erich Maria Remarque Institute at New York University, sat down with RFE/RL correspondent Heather Maher for a broad-ranging interview about the strength of the European Union, Russia's ambitions, and what Central and Eastern Europe should expect from Washington. More  Naive Khodorkovsky? Last week RFE/RL correspondent Nikola Krastev caught up with Pavel Khodorkovsky, the 24-year-old son of jailed former Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Pavel Khodorkovsky has been living in the United States since September 2003 and, on the advice of his father, has not returned to Russia since then. He was holding a picket in front of a U.S.-Russian business forum, trying to draw attention to his father’s case. More  EU Report On 2008 War Tilts Against Georgia An international report into the causes of the 2008 Russian-Georgian war suggests that both parties share the blame for the long-simmering conflict. But the report's conclusion that Georgia started the hostilities means that Russia seems to have achieved its main objective for this round in the post-war standoff. More  Moscow Snubs European Rights Court On Chechnya Human Rights Watch has accused Russia of repeatedly ignoring decisions by the European Court of Human Rights on Chechnya. The U.S.-based rights group said in a report released this week that Russia's failure to investigate and punish abuses under the court's rulings is fueling "unchecked violence" in the North Caucasus. More  Have Russia’s Dirty Generals Turned On Shamanov? On the surface, tapes of a Russian general allegedly obstructing justice suggests the government is at last beginning to crack down on the abuse of office within the high command. But the reality is less promising. More |
