 RFE/RL Russia Report 7/27/2010 6:04:54 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 . |
| Dissident Or Traitor? New French Film 'Farewell' Explores Obscure Cold War Drama In the darkest moments of his life, when it was clear that he would be executed, Vladimir Vetrov did not cower in fear. Instead, he asked his interrogators for a pen and paper and wrote "The Confession of a Traitor," a scorching condemnation of the Soviet system. More  Russian Hunger Strike Over Housing Six people have begun a hunger strike in the southeastern Russian city of Samara to protest authorities' refusal to allocate them new homes. More  The Spy Scandal Is Over. Next Comes The Reckoning The spy scandal has faded from the world's front pages. Now comes the time for the reckoning. More  Kirill Protests Quashed In Kyiv The protesters were detained as they tried to stage a play critical of the patriarch near St. Sofia's Cathedral. Patriarch Kirill visited the church earlier in the day, but the Kyiv district court ruled that no demonstrations either in support of or against the patriarch were permitted. More  Daghestan's Leaders Issue Ultimatum To Militants Senior officials in Daghestan issued a "final warning" last week to Islamic militants that if they refuse to lay down their arms, "they will be destroyed," a retreat from repeated earlier assurances by President Magomedsalam Magomedov. More  Kosovo Ruling Encourages Tatar Nationalist There have been mixed reactions in the Russian republic of Tatarstan to the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) ruling that Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia did not violate international law. More The four police officers were convicted of beating Sergei Udavikhin to death after detaining him following an altercation at a bar in the city of Chelyabinsk in November 2008. More  NGO Wants To Erase 'Soviet Streets' The cultural group Homecoming argues that just as several Russian cities have discarded their Soviet-era names for their original ones -- for example Gorky reverted back to Nizhny Novgorod and Sverdlovsk to Yekaterinburg -- the same should also be done to street names in St. Petersburg, which used to be called Petrograd and Leningrad. More  Project Boss Talks About Creating 'Russia's Silicon Valley' On his recent trip to the United States, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited California's techno-hub, Silicon Valley, to meet with high-profile IT and Internet companies and explore further U.S.-Russian business ties. The visit was consistent with Kremlin efforts to foster high-tech innovation and diversify Russia's oil- and gas-dependent economy. RFE/RL correspondents Valentin Baryshnikov and Owen Strong spoke recently with Viktor Vekselberg, manager of a project at Skolkovo that some are calling "the Russian Silicon Valley." More  Eastern Europe's Frozen Conflicts Look To Kosovo Ruling While the International Court of Justice says has said its ruling approving Kosovo's declaration of independence is unique to Kosovo, the ruling is being regarded in more universal terms. And nowhere more so than by parties involved in secession crises or frozen conflicts themselves. More  'Red Terror' Mass Grave Found In St. Petersburg Archeologists working at the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg have discovered some 100 bone fragments which they say are part of a mass grave from the Red Terror of 1918. More Russian police have detained a dozen environmental activists at the Khimki forest north of Moscow, which is slated to be replaced by an $8 billion highway between Moscow and St. Petersburg. More  Russia's Khimki Forest Standoff Continues Protesters remain camped out in the Khimki forest, near Moscow, as they attempt to prevent its destruction to make way for a new highway. More  Russian Officials Give Contradictory Assessments Of Baksan Attack Russian prosecutors have categorized the militant raid early on July 21 that damaged the Baksan hydropower plant in Kabardino-Balkaria as an act of sabotage, rather than an act of terrorism, thereby implicitly downplaying its seriousness and political implications. By contrast, the head of the North Caucasus Federal District has unequivocally branded the attack as terrorism. More  Russian Patriarch Kicks Off Ukraine Visit A year after his first controversial trip to Ukraine, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill is back in the country for a visit that is once again dividing Ukrainians. While some welcome him as their spiritual leader, others see his visit as part of an aggressive campaign to reassert Russian domination over the predominantly Orthodox Christian nation. More |
