The Russia Blog
I’m absolutely baffled by the story coming out of this week of a 20 million rouble ($660,000) lawsuit involving Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian church, and Yury Shevchenko, a former Russian health minister.
The basic story is pretty straightforward, but so odd that there must be something going on below the surface that… Read the rest
As expected, Georgia brushed past a rather inept Russia in their latest European Nations Cup game and with just a re-arranged match against the Ukraine to play, the Georgians now head the table in group 1a.
The result itself came as no surprise but the Bears would have been disappointed with the manner and margin… Read the rest
In the latest round of European Nations Cup games, Russia grabbed their opportunity to turn in a winning performance over the Ukraine as they attempt to climb the 2011 European Nations Cup table. However, the most impressive performance of the weekend came in Bucharest where a physical encounter saw Georgia edge past their Romanian hosts.… Read the rest
Around 10,000 people attended a rally on Moscow’s Novy Arbat Street on March 10, demonstrating their opposition to Vladimir Putin, Russia’s President-elect.
This weekend’s rally was smaller than many of the protests seen in Moscow recently. Rally organizers put attendance at around 25,000, but police estimates said the crowd was closer to 10,000 in size.… Read the rest
After all the fuss, Putin actually won the Russian Presidential Election pretty comfortably. As I write this, 99.3% of the votes have been counted, and Putin got 63.75% of them and his nearest challenger (Gennady Zyuganov, of course) scored a mere 17.19%.
There’s a lot to think about after the election, and I thought… Read the rest
While Russia would have been buoyed by their performance against Portugal in the last round of European matches, coach Kingsley Jones will have been bitterly disappointed with the manner in which they surrendered to a strong but beatable Romanian side at the weekend.
Georgia however rebounded from their own setback against Spain last time out… Read the rest
Dmitry Medvedev has submitted a draft law proposing the formation of new electoral districts to the Russian State Duma.
However, his initiative comes amid signs that his ambitious proposals for electoral reform may be coming up against sustained opposition within the Duma.
225 new electoral districts
The draft law is the latest of… Read the rest
Moscow is gearing itself up for more protests and rallies on 23 February. Approval has already been given for two large rallies – one pro-Putin and one pro-Communist – and decisions are due shortly on a number of other rallies.
What are the political parties doing?
If you’ve been grumbling about Russia’s elections, spare a thought for those poor unfortunate souls in the democractic wasteland that is Turkmenistan. For they have apparently re-elected Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov as their President with a spectacular 97% of the vote, based on a 96% turnout.
The result is a dramatic improvement on Berdimuhamedov’s performance in… Read the rest
Portugal 32-33 Russia
Coach Kingsley Jones was indebted to the kicking qualities of Anton Ryabov and Yuri Kushnarev whose collective boots saw Russia scrape home by a single point in their European Nations Cup Tie on the 11th of February. Portugal actually outscored their opponents in the tries department by 4 to 3 but by… Read the rest
After an overlong hiatus, it’s time to get back to publishing my weekly roundup of the best posts of the week from around the Russia blogs. No need for long introductions – click through to discover the best of the past seven days.
Alla Dzhioyeva, who claimed victory in the disputed South Ossetian Presidential elections, has been hospitalised after suffering a small stroke. The circumstances surrounding her hospitalization are confused and, many of her supporters believe, suspicious.
Their suspicions have been aroused by the timing of her hospitalization – less than 24 hours before her planned (and unauthorised)… Read the rest
After 20 years of hard work, Russian scientists this week announced that they had drilled through 2.2 miles of Antarctic ice and finally reached the subglacial Lake Vostok.
A breathlessly excited Alexander Yelagin, head of the Russian Vostok mission, told reporters that “An event that has been keeping the world scientific community on tenterhooks… Read the rest
Saturday saw Muscovites take to the streets in a duelling pair of rallies expressing both support and opposition for Vladimir Putin and his campaign to return to the Russian Presidency.
The rallies attracted between 75,000 and 200,000 people in total, but no-one really knows for sure how many attended. With all the different claims and… Read the rest
Russian Deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin announced yesterday a massively ambitious programme to build submarines and aircraft carriers.
At a press conference Rogozin – Russia’s straight-talking former ambassador to NATO – told reporters that by next year “production capacity will allow us to build six submarines and an aircraft carrier every year”.
He went… Read the rest
The disputed South Ossetian Presidential election took another twist today as Alla Dzhioyeva, the opposition candidate who claimed victory in November’s annulled poll, announced that her inauguration as South Ossitian President would be held on 10 February.
“I will assume office on February 10,” Dzhioyeva told reporters, adding that “I can’t tell you about the… Read the rest
Russia has formally handed over the Nerpa, an Akula class nuclear submarine, to India.
The Nerpa, along with a second Akula submarine to be handed over shortly, will be leased to India for ten years in a deal thought to be worth $2 billion.
Under the terms of the deal, once the ten year… Read the rest
The Central Election Commission (CEC) has confirmed liberal Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky and independent candidate Dmitry Mezentsev will not be allowed to enter the 2012 Russian Presidential Election.
Although both candidates claimed that they had obtained the 2 million signatures needed for a candidate from a party not represented in the Duma to secure a… Read the rest
After Canadian Navy officer Jeffrey Delisle (pictured, left) was arrested, accused of spying for Russia, the Canadian Government moved quickly to expel four Russian diplomats.
Or did they?
The Russian Government has hotly denied that its diplomats were linked to Delisle, and claimed that they left Canada as part of a long-planned rotation… Read the rest
Opposition politicians Mikhail Prokhorov and Grigory Yavlinsky have each announced that they have collected the two million signatures needed for them to enter the 2012 Russian Presidential election race.
Prokhorov, who with $18 billion to his name is Russia’s third richest man, plans to run as an independent candidate with no party backing and Yavlinsky… Read the rest
