 RFE/RL Russia Report 12/23/2009 3:56:28 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 . |
 One More Litmus Test If there is anyone out there who thinks that President Dmitry Medvedev is serious about his stated intention of rooting out “legal nihilism” and strengthening the rule of law in Russia, here is one more chance to see how he acts instead of merely listening to how he speaks. More  Russian Court: Yukos Defendant's Arrest Illegal Russia's Supreme Court has ruled that the 2003 arrest and pretrial detention of Yukos shareholder Platon Lebedev was illegal, though it's unclear how this will affect him or co-defendant Mikhail Khodorkovsky. More  Defector Cites 'Moral, Political' Reasons A Russian soldier who asked for political asylum in Georgia says his decision to leave the Russian Army was morally and politically motivated, RFE/RL's Echo of the Caucasus reports. More  Putin Piles On As Georgia Grapples With War Memorial Tragedy The fallout continues in Georgia over the fatal demolition of a war memorial in the western city of Kutaisi. More  A False START? Will there be a new U.S.-Russian strategic arms reduction treaty or not? More  'They Throw You There To Break You' The death last month of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in Moscow's Butyrka prison sparked a public debate over the notorious living conditions in Russian jails and holding cells. Roman Popkov, who led the Moscow branch of the banned National Bolshevik party, spent more than two years in pretrial detention in Butyrka. Popkov speaks to RFE/RL about life in one of the city's most infamous prisons. More  Turkmenistan Restores Gas To Russia Ashgabat and Moscow have agreed to renew Turkmen gas supplies to Russia by early January, ending a nine-month dispute between the two ex-Soviet states. More  Russia's Lavrov In Uzbekistan To Warm Ties Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has arrived in Tashkent for a two-day visit aimed at improving cooled relations between Moscow and Tashkent, RFE/RL's Uzbek Service reports. More  Russia Marks 130 Years Since Stalin's Birth Russia is marking the 130th anniversary of the birth of Soviet leader Josef Stalin with medals and marches in his honor, as well as an exhibition that shows his crude and vindictive side. But even as many Russians continue to revere Stalin as a strong leader, others remember his cruel legacy as the man responsible for millions of deaths during his nearly 30-year rule. More  NATO Chief Looks For Afghan Help, Eases Tensions NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen departs Moscow today after a three-day trip aimed at easing relations and coaxing Russia to contribute to the war in Afghanistan. More  Ingush Activist's Widow Survives Blast The widow of a recently slain Ingush human rights activist was seriously injured when her car exploded in the Ingushetian city of Nazran, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. More  My Conversations With Yegor Gaidar When I first met Yegor Gaidar in early 1990, he was an editor at "Pravda" and I was looking for a job. He was explaining what his department was doing, what was allowed and what wasn't. "I'm outta here," I decided, just as he concluded: "You don't want to work here." More  The Year In Review RFE/RL's Information Unit compiled this summary of Russia's ranking in some major annual global development surveys. More  The Real Police Reform Although the topic of police reform in Russia never seems to go away, it has been in the spotlight for some weeks now, at least since the sensational videos posted by former police Major Aleksei Dymovsky with allegations of massive police corruption in Novorossiisk. United Russia Duma Deputy Aleksei Makarov even proposed “abolishing” the police force and starting over – “with help from civil society and human rights groups” (too bad they have all been neutered). More  Plan To Unite Russia's Muslim Hierarchies Collapses While some circles in Moscow had initially backed proposals to unite Russia's Muslim spiritual directorates (DUMs) under a single mufti, others apparently realized just how dangerous combining these institutions might prove to be. More  Nauruans Discover The Caucasus Maybe Moscow's trying to finance its own "color revolution" in Micronesia. More Despite the Russian government's untiring efforts to control political and social discussion in Russia, some brave and witty activists continue trying to engage an apathetic public. More  Ferrero-Waldner: For EU's East, Generations To Change Benita Ferrero-Waldner served five years as the EU's external relations commissioner before making way on December 1 for the bloc's new high representative for foreign policy, Catherine Ashton. In an interview with RFE/RL, Ferrero-Waldner cautions the bloc's Eastern neighbors to accept the fact that the reforms needed to make them ready for the EU could take "generations." More  Jaruzelski Again Denies Seeking Soviet Aid Against Solidarity A document recently appeared in Poland seeming to suggest that in December 1981 Polish leader Wojciech Jaruzelski. requested Soviet military aid, which he has always denied. He discusses the allegations with RFE/RL's Russian Service. More  Russian Hockey Skates Full Circle Vyacheslav Fetisov, at the age of 51, donned his old No. 2 CSKA Moscow jersey and returned to the ice in a regulation Kontinental Hockey League game against SKA St. Petersburg. Fetisov's career has now gone full circle. More  The Abkhaz Vote, But Moscow Still Rules It's election season in Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region as voters go to the polls for the first time since last summer's war in the Caucasus and Russia's move to recognize Abkhaz independence. Incumbent leader Sergei Bagapsh is favored to win a second term as de facto president. But Abkhazia's true rulers are in Moscow. More  Russia, Georgia Move To Restore Transport Links President Mikheil Saakashvili has accepted the offer by his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev to open the Verkhny Lars/Zemo Larsi border crossing between the two countries and to restore direct |
