Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

RFE/RL Russia Report 23.10.2012 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 .

 

The Seizure Of Leonid Razvozzhayev How badly did Russian authorities want to nab Leonid Razvozzhayev? To answer that question, you will need to separate the Kremlin's virtual reality from, well, actual reality. More   EU Lawmakers Back 'Magnitsky Sanctions' The European Parliament has overwhelmingly approved a proposal recommending common visa-restriction regimes and asset freezes to target Russian officials involved in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. More   Duma OKs Wider Definition Of Treason Russia's lower house of parliament has overwhelmingly approved a new bill widening the definition of high treason in what critics say is part of the Kremlin's crackdown on dissent. More   Georgia's FM Nominee Stays The Course The woman expected to become Georgia's next foreign minister says the new government's position on Abkhazia and South Ossetia would "remain unchanged." More   Russian Opposition Elects Leaders Online Supporters of the Russian opposition to President Vladimir Putin have elected new leaders in an unprecedented online vote. More   Chechen Insurgents’ Appeal Circulated in Grozny Over the past six days, some 1,000 copies of an appeal by the Islamic insurgency have been distributed and passed from hand to hand in Grozny, according to the independent Europe-based website Daymohk, which received a copy via e-mail. More   Homecoming For A Russian Oil Baron Why is Gennady Timchenko returning to Russia? More   Interview: Anne Applebaum Discusses 'The Crushing Of Eastern Europe' In a long-awaited history due to be published this week, American journalist and author Anne Applebaum draws on firsthand accounts and previously unpublished archival material to describe how the Kremlin established its hegemony over Eastern Europe at the end of World War II. More   A Decade On, Still No Closure for Families Of Russian Theater Siege Victims As relatives and friends prepare to commemorate the 130 victims of the hostage crisis at Moscow's Dubrovka theater, anger is still simmering over what many see as a protracted cover-up by Russian authorities. Ten years after the tragedy, grieving families say they are still waiting for the truth about the botched rescue operation that ended the siege. More   BP Sells TNK-BP Stake To Rosneft The British oil company BP has agreed to sell its 50 percent stake in TNK-BP to Russia's Rosneft for $17.1 billion plus 12.84 percent of the shares in Rosneft. More   Want To Understand Russia-Ukraine Relations? Follow The Money Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych arrives in Moscow for another round of talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. But relations between the two countries -- which were supposed to improve markedly after Yanukovych replaced the pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko in 2010 -- seem to be stalled. More   Russia Criticizes U.S. Rights Record The Russian Foreign Ministry has issued a critical report on the human rights situation in the United States. More   Pussy Rioters Moved To Prison Camps Two members of the feminist punk performance-art group Pussy Riot who were convicted of religiously motivated hooliganism in August are being transferred to a penal colony to serve the rest of their two-year sentences. More   Russian Activist Reportedly Detained In Kyiv Now 'In Moscow' Leonid Razvozzhayev, an aide to the A Just Russia parliamentary deputy, Ilya Ponomaryov, has been brought to Moscow from Kyiv after being apprehended in Ukraine, according to opposition activist Sergei Udaltsov. More   Rivals Dispute United Russia's Election Victory In North Ossetia The leadership of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party (ER) convened on October 18 to assess the results of the elections four days earlier to the legislatures of six federation subjects, including the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania. North Ossetia was the only region where ER garnered a substantially lower share of the vote than during the December 2011 elections to the Russian State Duma. More   Scores Killed In Caucasus Security Op Russia's National Antiterrorism Committee (NAK) says a large operation in the North Caucasus involving forces from the Federal Security Service and Interior Ministry resulted in the deaths of 49 militants and bandits More   Opposition Election Held In Russia Hundreds of people have gathered in Moscow in support of elections for the Opposition Coordination Council. More   Manual For Migrants Raises Hackles In St. Petersburg A new manual designed to help migrants from Central Asia has caused a storm in Russia's second city because of its apparent racist content. More   Podcast: Russia's Autumn Frost Is the criminal case against Sergei Udaltsov a harbinger of a broader crackdown? Listen to the latest Power Vertical podcast to find out. More   'With A Heavy Heart...' -- Secret JFK Speech Could Have Signaled Start Of WWIII Historians say the world has never been closer to nuclear conflict than it was during the Cuban missile crisis. So close, in fact, that then-U.S. President John F. Kennedy actually drafted a speech announcing military strikes against Soviet installations in Cuba -- a move that could have triggered World War III. That document is the highlight of an archive recently released to the public to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the crisis. More   'Chemical Warfare' And Other Fun Soviet Board Games We're not the first to share these images of Soviet board games manufactured in the 1920s and '30s, and we likely won't be the last. They're just too weird and wonderful. More   Tatar Imam Charged With Extremism Police in Russia's republic of Tatarstan say the imam of the Al-Ikhlas Mosque in the capital, Kazan, has been charged with organizing extremist activities in line with the banned Hizb-ut Tahrir group. More   Siloviki TV If you end up being the subject of discussion on an NTV talk show, trouble could be on the way. And if you happen to find yourself featured in an NTV documentary, then you'd best watch your back. More   With Pussy Riot Moving To Penal Colonies, Misery Of Russian Prison Camps Gains Fresh Focus In the coming days, Pussy Riot members Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova are expected to find out where they will be sent to serve out their two-year sentences for their February protest in a Moscow church. The transfer has raised questions about the safety and living conditions in Russia's penal colonies for women, where dozens of women can share a single cell and violence and abuse are rife. More   Russia's Orthodox Church Reintegrates Youth Through Parkour The Russian Orthodox Church is teaching troubled teenagers the popular yet risky urban sport of parkour, where runners jump, climb and run using the city’s urban landscape. More