 RFE/RL Russia Report 5/11/2010 7:14:46 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 . |
 U.S. Revives Nuclear Energy Pact With Russia, Citing Cooperation On Iran U.S. President Barack Obama has resubmitted to Congress a nuclear energy pact with Russia that was cancelled two years ago in the aftermath of the Russian-Georgian war. More  Russian Poll: Medvedev Still In Putin's Shadow A recent poll has found that only 22 percent of Russians believe President Dmitry Medvedev formulates his policies independently. More  Detente And Modernization According to a report in "Russian Newsweek," Moscow is planning to reorient its foreign policy in a more pragmatic and pro-Western direction. More  Karachayevo-Cherkessia Still Without A New Prime Minister Eleven days after the deadline imposed last month by North Caucasus Federal District head Aleksandr Khloponin, it is still unclear who will succeed Vladimir Kayshev as prime minister of the Karachayevo-Cherkessia Republic. More  Russia Mine Deaths At 47, Many Missing Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the site of a Siberian coal mine tragedy today, pledging government support to relatives of the scores of miners and rescuers who were killed by two explosions at the Raspadskaya mine at the weekend. More  Medvedev Leaves Syria For Turkey President Dmitry Medvedev leaves Syria for Turkey today following two days of talks in Damascus, which covered economic and military ties as well as the Middle East peace process and Iran's disputed nuclear program. More  Interview: What's On Agenda As Medvedev Heads To Syria? Russian President Dmitry Medvedev travels today to Syria, where he is due to meet with President Bashar al-Assad for talks on economic partnership, military cooperation, and prospects for Middle East peace negotiations. RFE/RL asks Mark Katz, an expert on Russian policy in the Middle East, about what the Russian leader is likely to try to achieve with his visit to the region. More Troops from four NATO countries for the first time joined Russia's military parade in Moscow's Red Square to mark the 65th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. More  Europe Marks Defeat Of Nazi Germany Military parades and wreath-laying ceremonies are being held today to mark the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Most countries from the former communist bloc mark the defeat of Nazi Germany one day later, on May 9. More  Russia's Victory Day This Year Aimed At Youth As Well As Veterans As Russia celebrates the generation that delivered victory to the country in World War II, it is also reaching out to a new generation, to educate younger citizens about a significant chapter in their nation's history. More  Amid V-Day Festivities, Soviet Partisan Braces For War Crimes Verdict World War II veterans around the world are preparing to mark the anniversary of the end of the war in Europe weekend, but former Soviet partisan Vasily Kononov is in no mood to celebrate. He is bracing for a decision by the European Court of Human Rights, which will rule on May 17 whether post-Soviet Latvia had the right to jail him for alleged war crimes. Moscow has warned of dire consequences if the court rules against the man hailed in Russia as an anti-Nazi hero. More  What’s Up In The Upper Chamber? It has been a long time since anyone paid much attention to the Federation Council, the putative upper chamber of Russia’s legislature. Although its chairman, A Just Russia head Sergei Mironov (now on Twitter!), occasionally makes headlines for some odd statement or other, the body itself plays its role in Russia’s faux-democratic political system almost unnoticed. More  After Just A Year, Are Wheels Coming Off EU's Eastern Partnership? A year after its celebrated inception, the European Union's Eastern Partnership for Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan has sunk into the kind of obscurity that tends to envelop unloved EU projects. More  'Stalinobus' Cruises While Russians Debate Ahead of Victory in Europe Day celebrations, a bus adorned with an advertisement depicting Soviet dictator Josef Stalin has been traveling the city’s streets and stirring controversy. More  Preventative Measures A few days ago, fellow Power Verticalist Brian Whitmore gave the rundown on a bill the government has submitted to the Duma that would give the Federal Security Service (FSB) the authority to take “preventative measures” against individuals and organizations whose activities they think might lead to the commission of a crime, particularly the promotion of “extremism.” More  Will Russians Go This Far To Gamble? Don't Bet On It When Russia imposed a sweeping ban on casinos and slot machines last summer, it sought to soften the blow by promising die-hard gamblers four oases of legal gaming in far-flung outposts in places like the Far East and Kaliningrad. Nearly a year later, however, only one legal casino has managed to open its doors. More  Nuking The Gulf The Soviet remedy for the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, courtesy of Julia Ioffe at "The Moscow Diaries." More |
