Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

RFE/RL Russia Report 04.09.2012 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 .

 

EU Opens Gazprom Antitrust Probe The European Commission has opened an antitrust investigation into Gazprom's dominant position on natural-gas markets in Central and Eastern Europe. More   Ingushetia Leader Criticizes Kadyrov The head of Russia's southern republic of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, has accused his Chechen counterpart Ramzan Kadyrov of "provocations" because of remarks Kadyrov made about their border. More   Embattled Russian Lawmaker Says Kremlin Behind Bid To Remove Him Russian prosecutors have appealed to the State Duma to revoke the mandate of a prominent Kremlin critic, lawmaker Gennady Gudkov, accusing him of being involved in commercial activity in violation of government rules. Gudkov says the charges are part of a Kremlin drive to "shut down" political opponents ahead of a planned opposition march later this month. More   Crusading Anti-Kremlin Ecologist Sets Sights On Russian Politics Crusading Russian ecologist Yevgenia Chirikova is preparing to run for mayor of Khimki, the small town outside Moscow where she made her name battling the construction of a highway through a nearby forest. More   Aliyev Faces Flak For Ax-Murder Pardon Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev faces growing international criticism for pardoning an Azerbaijani army officer who was sentenced to life in prison for the 2004 ax murder of an Armenian military officer. More   The Tragedy At Beslan On September, 1, 2004, 32 Chechen militants stormed School No. 1 in the North Ossetian town of Beslan and held 1,100 pupils, their relatives, and teachers hostage for three days. The militants demanded the withdrawal of federal forces from Chechnya. In the end, more than 330 of the hostages died, including 186 children, after a rescue attempt by Russian security forces. (Photo gallery originally published in 2009) More   Russian Activists Accuse Kremlin Of Trying To 'Forget Beslan' As Russia marks the eighth anniversary of the tragic hostage-taking at a school in the North Caucasus town of Beslan, advocates for victims say the government has stalled the investigation into the handling of the case. They say Moscow's attitude is essentially to "forget Beslan." More   Bows, Bells, Balloons, And Butterflies -- It's Back To School The first day of school -- a time of butterflies in the stomach and big bows in the hair. RFE/RL photographers went back to school themselves to capture children in some of our broadcast countries on their first day back after the summer holidays. Even though September 1 fell on a Saturday this year, schools in countries throughout the former Soviet Union still welcomed students, while in other regions children started the school year on September 3. More   Has Daghestan Reached A Point Of No Return? The Daghestani wing of the Riyadus Salikhiin suicide battalion, formed by renegade Chechen field commander Shamil Basayev in 1999, has claimed responsibility for the killing on August 28 by a female suicide bomber of Sufi Sheikh Said Efendi Chirkeisky, Daghestan’s most respected cleric. More   Postcards From The Edge: Daghestan In Pictures Russia's restive province of Daghestan has had a tough time of late. The assassination last week of a moderate Muslim leader threatens to add new fuel to a cycle of insurgent attacks and government crackdowns, which have seen scores of people die in recent months. Nonetheless, as Reuters photographer Maria Turchenkova discovered on a recent visit, life goes on for inhabitants of the troubled Caucasus region, despite the precarious security situation. More   100,000 Watch Reenactment Of Russia's Battle Of Borodino On September 2, thousands of French and Russian actors re-created the 200-year-old Battle of Borodino, which led to the defeat of Napoleon's forces and a rise in Russian patriotism. Nearly 100,000 onlookers were on hand to watch the reenactment of the critical battle, fought on September 7, 1812, as Napoleon's forces advanced on Moscow. The outnumbered French forces won the bloody battle but lost the war after being driven out of Moscow by Russian forces after local residents had torched and abandoned the city. Napoleon's defeat led Russian to replace French as the dominant language of the Russian aristocracy. Speaking at the reenactment, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that together with World War II, the Battle of Borodino was "proof of the unparalleled patriotism of our people." More   Putin's Top Foe Faces Expulsion One of Russian President Vladimir Putin's most vocal parliamentary critics has said that prosecutors have formally asked lawmakers to expel him from the chamber. More   Kremlin Pans Putin Property Report Russian President Vladimir Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, has dismissed a report regarding property presumably possessed and controlled by Putin that was published recently by an opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. More   Podcast: Russia's Gathering Storm Russia's political season is set to resume after a summer recess that was anything but quiet. And the autumn promises to be an even wilder ride. More   Not So Fearsome: Grozny Tops Poll As Russia's Happiest City It might seem strange for a city that was only recently the epicenter of two detrimental and demoralizing wars, but a new survey by the NewsEffector website indicates that Grozny is now Russia's "happiest" city. More   Grozny: Russia's 'Happiest' City Chechnya's capital, Grozny, has surprised many by topping a recent "happiness index" for Russian cities. The poll's organizers have attributed Grozny's success in the survey to the fact that many of its denizens are hopeful about the direction their city is taking as it gradually emerges from decades of war and chaos. More   Police: 'Pussy Riot' Written To Mislead Russian investigators say a suspect in the killing of two women in the city of Kazan tried to mislead police by writing a message at the crime scene about the Pussy Riot feminist punk band. More   Plights Of Blogger, Pussy Riot Highlight Church's Political Ambitions Members of Pussy Riot aren't the only Russians facing prosecution after offending the Orthodox Church. A blogger who criticized the church online has fled the country and is seeking asylum in Estonia to avoid criminal charges. More   Russia's Pussy Riot Frenzy (Updated) Earlier this week, Vsevolod Chaplin, head of the Orthodox Church's social affairs department, issued a dire warning in response to vandals chopping down crosses in Arkangelsk and in the Chelyabinsk Oblast. More   Blowing Smoke? Classic Russian Cartoon May Become Victim Of New Law The classic Soviet-era children's cartoon "Nu, pogodi!" features a hapless wolf trying to catch a crafty rabbit, sort of like Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner from those old Looney Tunes shorts. But just imagine Wile E. Coyote with a lit cigarette dangling from his lips. More   Daghestan Leader Wants Vigilante Groups The leader of Daghestan has ordered all local officials across the Russian North Caucasus republic to create self-defense and vigilante groups to help police bolster security in the violence-torn region. More   'Free Pussy Riot' Scrawled At Murder Scene Russian investigators say the message "Free Pussy Riot!" was scrawled above the bodies of two women who were found slain in the city of Kazan. More   Saakashvili Vows To Maintain Stability As details emerged of a hostage taking in eastern Georgia, President Mikheil Saakashvili pledges to stop any attempt from neighboring countries to destabilize Georgia. More   A Victory Of Courage And Coercion: British Historian On Stalingrad's Legacy This month marks the 70th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Stalingrad, a ferocious and brutal siege that proved to be a major psychological and military tipping point in World War II. RFE/RL's Coilin O'Connor talks to the prominent British historian Antony Beevor -- author of "Stalingrad" -- about how this engagement between two totalitarian armies helped turn the course of the global conflict. Beevor also discusses the enduring legacy of Stalingrad seven decades after the event and looks at some of the popular misconceptions associated with this famous battle. More   Assassination Of Daghestan's Sufi Spiritual Leader Raises Specter Of New Violence The death of Daghestan's Sufi spiritual leader, Said Efendi Chirkeisky, in a suicide bombing threatens to add new fuel to the cycle of violence in the North Caucasus republic. More   Ocean Physicist Says Current Clean-Up Methods Useless In An Arctic Oil Spill New research suggests that global warming is causing the Arctic ice sheet to melt away at a record speed. For oil companies, the development means previously inaccessible parts of the Arctic can now be reached during summer months for exploration and possible drilling. RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz speaks with ocean physicist Peter Wadhams -- head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group at Cambridge University -- about the environmental risks of drilling for oil in the Arctic. More   Arctic Oil Rush Poses Environmental Risks And Challenges An Arctic oil rush is on. But analysts and ecologists say Arctic drilling presents enormous environmental risks and challenges. More