Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

RFE/RL Russia Report 3/22/2011 8:11:52 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 .

 

Battle Lines Being Drawn? Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin spar over Libya. And this time, it might be for real. More   Moscow OKs One Protest, Bans Another Moscow city authorities today officially approved a planned rally by a group of human rights and opposition activists in support of freedom of assembly. More   Russian Opposition Activist Jailed For Two Days A prominent Russian opposition activist has been sentenced to two days' administrative arrest. More   Central Asia Stands To Gain As NATO Shifts Supply Lines Away From Pakistan Insurgent attacks on NATO convoys in Pakistan are a major concern for the U.S. and its NATO allies trying to move supplies into Afghanistan. As a result, NATO is shifting supply routes northward through the former USSR, with consequences for the entire region. More   Russian Man Probing Mother's Death In Detention Is Attacked A man investigating the death of his mother in pretrial detention last year has been attacked by a knife-wielding man. More   The Battlefield On Your Laptop Cyberwarfare is here, and it is here to stay. Unless and until there is fundamental change in Moscow, Russia will be ready. Will we be ready? More   Russian Officials Investigate Death Of Leading Communist Russian officials say an investigation has been launched into the death of Communist Party member Viktor Ilyukhin. More   Has The FSB Penetrated The Kabardino-Balkaria Insurgency? The case against Asker Jappuyev is based on a directive he issued in early February after a group calling itself the "Black Hawks" began targeting the homes of insurgents' families. The leader of that group has since been identified as an FSB officer. More   Ramzan On A Roll The primary impediment both to Ramzan Kadyrov's aspirations for pan-regional power and to Medvedev's hopes for peace in the North Caucasus is of course the ongoing low-level war of attrition between federal and local police and security forces and the Islamic insurgency. More   Experts Deny Russia's 'Safe' Nuclear Reactor Claims As Japan's deepening nuclear crisis prompts global debate about the safety and sense of atomic power, Russia is pressing ahead with plans to build new nuclear power plants at home and abroad. The government promises its atomic power designs are completely safe, but experts say that's just not true. More   Is Aleksei Kudrin's Political Star On The Rise? Aleksei Kudrin has long been one of Russia's quietly influential figures. But lately, he has become an increasingly public politician -- and people are noticing. More   Remembering Mansur Every insurgency produces its share of legendary leaders; but not all such men are unconditionally respected and loved by their comrades-in-arms. One who met those criteria was the Chechen commander and Islamic scholar Arbi Yovmirzayev (nom de guerre Sheikh Mansur), who died one year ago at 37. More   Belarus Expels Russian Rights Activist Belarusian authorities today ordered a Russian human rights activist to leave the country after briefly detaining him. More   Bribery Lands Russian Ex-Official In Jail The Moscow City Court has sentenced Sergei Yemelin, head of the Defense Ministry's Construction Directorate in Moscow. More   Rumsfeld Reflects In an exclusive interview with RFE/RL, the former secretary of defense talks about the Iraq and Afghan wars, the 2005 massacre in Andijon, and mistakes that were made. More   Turkish PM Erdogan Visits Tatarstan More   Despite Official Reassurances, Russians In Far East Worry About Radiation Residents of Russia's Far East are scrambling to buy iodine, red wine, vodka, and seaweed amid fears about windblown radiation from Japan, even as officials assure them there is no threat. More   Podcast: Regional Elections Kick Off Political Season Were the March 13 regional elections a victory or an embarrassment for the ruling United Russia party? In the second edition of the Power Vertical Podcast, I spoke with Kiril Kobrin, managing editor of RFE/RL's Russian Service, and Gregory Feifer, a senior correspondent at RFE/RL. More   'Pearl Ensign's' Trial Postponed Again A St. Petersburg court has again postponed hearings in the case of alleged abuse by former policeman Vadim Boiko. More   Five Nuclear Disasters Waiting To Happen In light of the Japanese nuclear crisis, RFE/RL takes a look at five other reactor complexes where safety has been an issue in the past and which prompt concern for the future. More   Kosovar Serbs Honor Putin Radovan Nicic, a representative from the predominantly Serb-populated northern Kosovo, said Putin was given the award for his efforts to "safeguard the territorial integrity of Serbia" at the UN Security Council. More