Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

RFE/RL Russia Report 05.06.2012 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 .

 

Clinton Backs Strong Georgia Defenses U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has met with Georgian officials for talks on bolstering the Caucasus nation's defense capacity. More   Arrests As Russian Antiprotest Bill Debated Russian police have arrested some 20 activists denouncing a bill that would dramatically increase fines on protesters. More   Ukrainians Protest Language Bill Thousands of protesters have demonstrated outside the Ukrainian parliament after lawmakers gave initial approval to legislation that would make Russian an official language in some regions alongside Ukrainian. More   Syria In Focus At EU-Russia Summit Syria is expected to dominate the agenda when Russian and EU leaders hold talks in St. Petersburg on June 4. More   Profile: Vladimir Medinsky, Russia's Controversial New Culture Minister Russia's new culture minister has been called a plagiarist, a propagandist, and a falsifier of history. Just who is Vladimir Medinsky? More   Internet Sensation 'Mr. Trololo' Dies A Russian singer who became a viral Internet sensation in 2010 has died aged 77. More   In Russian Republic, An Online Effort To Tackle Public Grievances Organizers of a new e-government project in southern Russia to act on public complaints are trumpeting the success of their "People's Control" website, which puts republican authorities on the trail of poorly performing local officials. More   Podcast: Economic Turbulence And Russia's Jittery Elite In this week's "Power Vertical Podcast," we discuss what would happen if Russia's political turmoil is compounded by an economic downturn. More   Prokhorov 'Mulls' Moscow Mayor Bid Mikhail Prokhorov, who came in third in Russia's March presidential election, is reportedly considering becoming a candidate for the post of Moscow's mayor. More   Chechen Adversaries Unveil Rival Concepts Of Jihad The two men who embody the ongoing struggle for control over Chechnya and the North Caucasus both draw on Islamic theology, in particular the concept of jihad, to lend legitimacy to their efforts. But their approaches to doing so could not be more different. More   Police Disperse Anti-Kremlin Rallies Police in Moscow and St. Petersburg have dispersed small anti-Kremlin rallies and detained some 120 opposition activists. More   Moscow Police Disperse Anti-Kremlin Rally Police in Moscow dispersed some 300 people attending an anti-Kremlin rally on Triumph Square and detained dozens of opposition activists. Activists from the Strategy 31 initiative hold rallies in Moscow and other Russian cities on the last day of every month that has 31 days. Article 31 of the Russian Constitution guarantees freedom of assembly. More   Russia's Next Crisis What would happen if Russia's current political turmoil were compounded by an economic crisis? More   Choose Your Favorite Prison Warden! Police in Russia's Tatarstan region have had a rough few months, following a flood of reports of the brutal treatment of prisoners in custody. How to change that public image? A popularity contest! More   Russian Bill Turns Screw On Protesters A key committee of Russia's parliament has approved a raft of amendments to a controversial draft law intending to curb street protests. While lowering new fines on protesters, the amended bill considerably expands the list of actions that would be punishable by law. More   Tatarstan Elections Are Back, But What About Federalism? Russia's new law restoring the direct election of regional executive-branch heads comes into effect on June 1. In Tatarstan, the process has become part of a larger tug-of-war with Moscow over basic issues of federalism. More   President Romney's Foreign Policy With his win in the Texas primary on May 29, Mitt Romney finally crossed the finish line in the race to become the Republican Party’s nominee for president of the United States. RFE/RL looks at what President Romney would do on some of the country’s most pressing foreign policy issues. More   Ramzan Kadyrov: Chechnya's (War)Lord Of The Dance When he's not batting away allegations of corruption and human rights abuses, Chechnya's authoritarian leader Ramzan Kadyrov rarely misses an opportunity to open his jacket and cut loose with some dance moves while his sizable entourage claps along. Here's a quick look at Kadyrov strutting his stuff in recent years. More   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   Journalist Stabbed In Moscow Moscow police say an investigation has been launched into the stabbing of a journalist who works for a radio station known for its coverage of Russia's political opposition. More   Russia's 'Sunspot Revolution' If you thought it was the result of anger over falsified elections and an increasingly confident middle class becoming discontented with President Vladimir Putin's authoritarian rule, think again. More   Rape Case Tests Afghan Justice A teenage Afghan girl's allegation that local police kidnapped and raped her in northern Kunduz Province has prompted the Afghan president to personally intervene. But whether his order that the police unit be disarmed is enough to guarantee her safety and ensure justice is an open question in a region where the central government holds little sway. More   Russia's Summer Frost Whistle blowers losing libel cases. Activists rounded up on the streets. Can we call it a crackdown yet? More