 RFE/RL Russia Report 8/17/2010 7:46:56 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 . |
 Romania To Expel Russian Diplomat Romania has declared a Russian diplomat persona non grata a day after a Romanian diplomat was ordered by Moscow to leave Russia for spying. More Local police say an explosion today at a cafe in the spa town of Pyatigorsk in southern Russia has injured at least 20 people. More  1 Dead In North Ossetia Blast At least one police officer was reported killed and two others wounded in a suspected suicide bombing in North Ossetia, in Russia's troubled North Caucasus. More  Russian Accused Of Heading Neo-Nazis Russian prosecutors say a teacher at a Federal Protective Service (FSO) academy heads a neo-Nazi group accused of several violent attacks in the southwestern city of Oryol this summer. More Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) today detained the first secretary of the Romanian Embassy's political department, Gabriel Grecu, on charges of spying. More  Analysts: Impact Of Russian Drought, Fires Will Be Offset Russia-based analysts say the economic impact of this summer's destructive fires and drought will be offset by government spending and higher oil prices. More  Rap Against The Machine The face of the state for most citizens is the police. And when a hip 25-year-old rapper and a 56-year-old Russian everyman reach the same conclusion -- that the police are out of control -- it is a pretty good sign that the state has a big problem on its hands. More  Russia Ruling Party Ousts Governor Russia's ruling party has decided not to reappoint the governor of a Russian region that saw an anti-Kremlin protest earlier this year because he was not sufficiently popular. More  Armenian Remittances Rise In 2010 Following a sharp fall caused by the global recession, large-scale cash remittances from Armenians working abroad rose by about 10 percent in the first half of this year, contributing to Armenia's ongoing economic recovery. More  Russian-Armenian Pact 'Finalized' A diplomatic source told RFE/RL's Armenian Service that the Russian and Armenian governments have finalized a far-reaching agreement that will prolong and upgrade Russia's military presence in Armenia. More  U.S. Fire Aid Arrives In Moscow Three U.S. aircraft carrying firefighting aid have arrived in Moscow to help Russians battle wildfires of historic proportions. More  Russian Grain Export Ban In Force The ban -- which is to run from August 15 until at least the end of the year -- was ordered in a bid to keep down domestic food prices after a severe drought and wildfires devastated Russian crops. More  Iran's First Nuclear Plant Set To Open Russia has said it will begin putting nuclear fuel into Iran's first atomic power station reactor on August 21 by launching the Bushehr plant after an almost 40-year delay. More  Interview: Igor Sutyagin Discusses 'Spy Swap,' Life In England Former Russian nuclear researcher Igor Sutyagin was among the four Russian prisoners accused of spying for the West who were exchanged for 10 suspected Russian spies in U.S. custody. Sutyagin spoke with RFE/RL's Russian Service correspondent Natalya Golitsyna about his trial, imprisonment, and the exchange. More  Russia, Belarus Trade Barbs Russia and Belarus have traded barbs in a row that is raising questions about the future of their post-Soviet alliance. More  Military Base Attacked In Ingushetia Unknown assailants today launched an attack on a military base in the Sunzhensk district of Ingushetia in southern Russia. More  Russian 'Day Of Wrath' Activists Detained Two Russian opposition activists remain in police custody a day after being detained ahead of an unauthorized "Day of Wrath" protest in Moscow. More  The Duel We'd Like To See Earlier this week “The Moscow Times” had an article whose opening sentence really caught my eye: “An ongoing tussle over the Khimki forest is raising fears that media freedoms are in jeopardy, with the police pressuring journalists into collaborating or revealing their sources of information, media freedom activists said Monday.” More  Chechen Commanders Rebel Against Umarov The contradictory statements posted to the Internet earlier this month in which Doku Umarov first announces and then retracts his decision to step down as commander of the North Caucasus insurgency have resulted in a split in its ranks. More  Russia 'To Load Fuel' At Iran Reactor Rosatom spokesman Sergei Novikov said that loading the reactor with fuel would be a key step toward starting up the reactor at Iran's first nuclear power plant, though the reactor would not be considered operational from that date. More  Russia Battles Fires As Crops Wither Russia is trying to halt wildfires near its main nuclear research site, as President Dmitry Medvedev said a quarter of crops had been lost in a record heat wave. More  Interview: Russian Forest Ranger Discusses Challenges Of Firefighting As they work to help contain the wildfires plaguing Russia, the country's forestry workers are short of manpower and equipment. RFE/RL spoke to Aleksandr Rovnov, a forest ranger in Nizhny Novgorod's Vyksunsky district, about the challenges he and his colleagues face as they battle the blazes. More  Demonstrators Arrested In Moscow Russian news agencies report that about 30 people have been detained as they held a "Day of Wrath" demonstration outside the office of the Moscow mayor today. More Medvedev: 1/4 Of Grain Crop Destroyed Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today said one-quarter of Russia's grain crop has been destroyed by drought compounded by a record-breaking heat wave. More  As State Fumbles Fire Response, Russia Discovers A New Strength: People Power Russian officials are foundering in fire-relief efforts. But at ground level, a massive support operation is under way -- organized by ordinary citizens and fueled by the web. More  Closer Military Ties With Armenia To Boost Russia's Regional Clout Russia looks set to strengthen its foothold in the South Caucasus by means of a new defense agreement with Armenia that will formally make it a guarantor of the country's security and pave the way for more Russian arms supplies to Yerevan. More  Interview: 'If Putin Was Told Everything Was Under Control, He Was Deceived' Today Russia marks the 10th anniversary of the tragic sinking of the “Kursk” nuclear submarine. One hundred eighteen crewmembers lost their lives, many of them after being trapped for days hundreds of meters below the surface of the Barents Sea. RFE/RL Russian Service correspondent Viktor Rezunkov asked submarine Captain Igor Kurdin, chairman of the St. Petersburg Club of Submariners, how the catastrophe has affected the Russian Navy. More  Russia Marks 'Kursk' Anniversary The Russian nuclear submarine "Kursk" sunk in the Barents Sea 10 years ago today, killing all 118 men aboard. Official documents state that the Kursk was sunk by its own torpedoes. The tragedy outraged families of the lost submariners and the Russian public itself, who questioned the Russian government's slow response. More  Moldova Shrugs Off Russia Criticism Moldova has rejected Russian criticism over its decision to decorate the members of the "Ilascu group" who were imprisoned for years by officials in the breakaway region of Transdniester. More  Chechen Rebels Claim Gazprom Blast Chechen rebels have claimed responsibility for a small explosion three days ago near the Moscow headquarters of Russia's gas giant Gazprom. More  Medvedev Sacks Daghestan Minister Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has dismissed the interior minister of the North Caucasus republic of Daghestan. More  Fires Could Stir Chornobyl Radiation Wildfires are said to be threatening to stir radioactive particles left over from the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear disaster back into the air over western Russia. More  What Net Neutrality Means In Uzbekistan The U.S. debate about net neutrality -- whether ISPs can discriminate against certain types of content -- has been anything but sensible, with no shortage of hyperbole from both sides. But for much of the world, especially people unfortunate enough to live in repressive societies, net neutrality is an oxymoron. More  A Law On Lawlessness? There has been a lot of ink spilled in recent weeks pondering the proposed new law on the police and, before that, the law on expanding the powers of the Federal Security Service (FSB). Good textual analyses of both bits of legislation can be found on the blog A Good Treaty here and here. More  New Blueprint Proposed For Georgia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia Writing in "The Moscow Times" to mark the second anniversary of the Russia-Georgia war, Moscow Carnegie Center Director Dmitry Trenin proposed a new approach to resolving the deadlock between Georgia and the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. More  Russia Deploys Missiles In Abkhazia Russia says it has deployed antiaircraft missiles in the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia, in a move greeted with alarm in Tbilisi. The move comes just days after a visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to the region, on the second anniversary of Russia's brief war with Georgia. More  Georgia's Lonely Unilateralisms RFE/RL correspondent Ahto Lobjakas argues that Georgia appears resigned to a ritualistic contest of wills with Abkhazia and South Ossetia from which the latter may hope to gain respectability by association -- and taint Tbilisi's in the process. More  Russia Says Fires In Radioactive Region Russian officials have confirmed for the first time the presence of wildfires in contaminated, radioactive areas, a day after Greenpeace accused the authorities of downplaying the blazes' radioactive danger. More  Tatarstan Announces Dramatic Drop In Grain Harvest Officials in Tatarstan say the severe drought affecting the Russian republic this summer will reduce the grain harvest to about one-seventh the total of 2009. More  Moscow Prices Surge Amid Heat, Smog Muscovites and Russian consumer advocates are complaining that stores have raised the prices on key products such as air conditioners, ventilators, and even cold drinks amid the intense heat and smog that is plaguing Moscow. More |
