 RFE/RL Russia Report 11/2/2010 6:09:24 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 Activist Given Suspended Sentence A court in the central Russian city of Barnaul has given a suspended sentence of engaging in extremist activities and illegal possession of weapons to an activist of the opposition Other Russia movement More  What Is Georgia’s Strategy In The North Caucasus? What is the point of Georgia’s new visa-free policy in the North Caucasus? Is the point, as critics suggest, that Saakashvili wants to annoy Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin without giving much thought to the consequences? Or is this a more thought-out, long-term strategy? More  Khodorkovsky Gives Final Statement Imprisoned former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky used his closing statement in his fraud trial today to make a passionate and provocative political statement on Russia's future. More  Japan Recalls Russian Ambassador Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to a disputed group of islands on November 1 has upset Japan and threatens to reignite a bitter diplomatic dispute. More  People Not Counted In Tatarstan 'To Be Marked As Ethnic Russian' In Census All citizens in the Russian republic of Tatarstan who were unaccounted for in last month's census will be automatically counted as being ethnic Russians, a census taker has told RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service. More  Russia, Japan In Diplomatic Row Russia and Japan are involved in a diplomatic row over Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to an island also claimed by Japan. More  Defining 'Terrorism' In The North Caucasus The Chechen authorities have taken advantage of conflicting interpretations of precisely what kind of attacks should be classified as "terrorism" under Russian law to refute recent criticism of incidences of terrorism in the North Caucasus and the inability of local police to counter it. More  Russia's Haves And 'Refuse To Haves' During the Russian Internet Week conference in late October, Aleksei Chadayev, head of United Russia's Central Executive Committee, stated that members of the Russian government should be forbidden -- by law -- from blogging. More  Death Toll In Grozny Parliament Attack May Have Been Far Higher More than 20 police and security personnel were killed and more than 40 injured in the October 19 attack by a small group of suicide bombers on the Chechen parliament building in Grozny, a Chechen security official has admitted. The official casualty toll made public immediately after the attack was three dead and 17 injured. More  Russia Goes Back To Afghanistan Gregory Feifer looks at Russia's stepped-up involvement in Afghanistan. More  Expert Says UN Counterterrorism Plan Anti-Human Rights An independent scholar hired by the United Nations to report on human rights says the UN Security Council's counter-terrorism regime is operating outside the scope of its power. More  Deputy Prosecutor Lambasts Caucasus' Police On October 25, Russia's Deputy Prosecutor Ivan Sydoruk lambasted law enforcement, military, and security personnel in the North Caucasus, affirming that unprofessionalism, inefficiency, and corruption within their ranks is playing into the hands of the Islamic insurgency. More  Meet Kabardino-Balkaria's New Cabinet Second-term president of Kabardino Balkaria, Arsen Kanokov has reshuffled his cabinet. But, due to a rosier economic outlook, the change is not as drastic as expected. More  Russian Award Winner Urges Journalists To 'Stand Together' Ilya Barabanov, a young investigative journalist for the magazine "The New Times," one of Russia's few opposition-minded publications, last week received Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) Peter Mackler Award For Courageous And Ethical Journalism. Barabanov talked about exposing corruption in the ranks of Russia's notorious riot police and standing firm with those same police demanding to know his sources. More |
