Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

RFE/RL Russia Report 29.05.2012 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 .

 

Igor Who? Putin Catapults Tank-Factory Foreman Into Top Urals Post Not long ago, Igor Kholmanskikh was a foreman at the UralVagonZavod tank factory in Niznhy Tagil in Russia's Sverdlovsk Oblast. Today, he is President Vladimir Putin's envoy to the economically vital Urals region. More   A Few Things Not To Say If You're Serbia's President-Elect It's an inauspicious way to begin a presidency, by anyone's measure. Even before his inauguration as Serbia's new president on May 31, Tomislav Nikolic has already offended the government in neighboring Croatia and raised a few red flags in Georgia. More   Gay Activists Arrested In Moscow About a dozen gay rights activists -- along with Orthodox Christian activists who oppose homosexuality -- have been arrested during a gay pride parade in Moscow. More   Sweden Wins Eurovision In Baku Swedish singer Loreen triumphs at the 57th Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, outscoring entries from her nearest rivals from Russia and Serbia. More   Popular Russian Search Engine Outstrips State-TV Audience Russian search engine Yandex has for the first time outperformed the country's leading state-controlled television channel in viewer numbers. According to a recent study, Yandex attracted a million people more per day last month than the popular Channel One television station. More   Podcast: Russia's 'Deep State' Can the inner core of Russia's elite, its 'Deep State' hang onto power in today's hyper-charged political environment? More   Russian Protest Leader In Court The leader of Russia's opposition Left Front, Sergei Udaltsov, has arrived at a court in the city of Ulyanovsk to face charges that he assaulted a female journalist. More   Putin Wants To Party Like It's 2007 This week's appointments suggest Vladimir Putin wants to turn the clock back to 2007. A newly energized -- and creative -- civil society has other ideas. More   In Annual Rights Report, U.S. Warns Of 'Instability' Following Arab Spring In a new report, the U.S. State Department calls last year’s uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa “inspirational," with citizens in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, and Syria standing up and demanding their universal rights, greater economic opportunity, and participation in their countries’ political future. More   Dolphin Deaths Alarm Black Sea Ecologists Dolphins have been dying in large numbers along the Black Sea coast in Russia and Ukraine. Local officials have blamed the cold winter, poachers, and a possible infectious disease for the mysterious die-off. But local environmentalists say pollution, particularly around the Olympic construction sites in Sochi, is the real culprit. More   Brzezinski Calls Putin Rule 'Anachronism' Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former U.S. national security adviser and longtime advocate of human rights in Eastern Europe, says Russian President Vladimir Putin's rule "may in fact already be a form of anachronism." More   Freed Putin Critic Wants National Demo Two key figures in the ongoing street protests against Putinism and Russian political stagnation -- Sergei Udaltsov and Aleksei Navalny -- have been released after serving two-week jail terms because of a demonstration. More   Amnesty Says Gov'ts 'Failing To Lead' Amnesty International says courage shown by rights protesters during the past year has been matched by an "endemic failure of leadership" from local and international authorities. More   Russia Joins NEA The NEA is an agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that promotes the safe, environmentally responsible, and economical development of nuclear energy. More   Russian Republic Bans Alcohol Sales (Except During Working Hours) If you want to buy spirits between the hours of 8 p.m. and 2 p.m. in the Russian republic of Yakutia, you're out of luck. More