The Russia Blog
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
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
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
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
Phobos-Grunt, the Russian space probe intended to explore Mars, crashed back to earth late on Sunday evening.
Defense Ministry official Alexei Zolotukhin told reporters tersely that “Phobos-Grunt fragments have crashed down in the Pacific Ocean”. There’s not much official news from the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos yet though, other than information narrowing down the… Read the rest
The Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) today announced that no-one will be able to establish military bases on the territory of a CSTO member state without the express agreement of all other member states.
In practice, this is a setback for the United States, who will find it next to impossible to establish… Read the rest
Russian space agency Roscosmos today announced that it had agreed in principle to undertake a number joint missions with the European Space Agency. The agreement was reached at a meeting in Moscow between Vladimir Popovkin, the head of Roscosmos and Jean-Jacques Dordain, the ESA’s Director General.
The first, and most headline-worthy, is a mission to… Read the rest
France has begun work on building the first of two Mistral class warships for Russia. French naval defence company DCNS confirmed that it had received initial payments from the Russian Government of $1.2 billion, which enabled it to begin construction.
In a statement, DCNS said: “The advance payment was received several weeks ago and… Read the rest
In an embarrassing setback for the British Government, a British court has today ruled that Ekaterina Zatuliveter is not a Russian spy, and that she should be allowed to remain in the UK.
The British Government had been trying to deport Zatuliveter, who had had an affair with her employer – the British MP… Read the rest
The Russian Navy has confirmed that its aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, will visit the Syrian port of Tartus, where Russia has its only Mediterranean naval base.
The Kuznetsov and its small supporting battle group is currently in port in Murmansk and Severomorsk, but will shortly set sail for the Mediterranean. As well as Tartus,… Read the rest
While everyone’s focus is on the Russian Duma elections (due in December 2011) and the Russian Presidential election (due in March 2012), I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some of the other election news from around the former Soviet Union.
From what I can tell, there are elections taking place,… Read the rest
Vladimir Putin, Russia’s premier pacifist, has racked up yet another global accolade – the world renowned Confucius Peace Prize.
The organisers awarded the prize to Putin for his outstanding contribution to world peace – namely opposing the bombing of Libya. Qiao Damo, a member of the organising committee told reporters that “this April or… Read the rest
Russia today condemned the Arab League’s decision to suspend Syria’s membership. Even China has now moved to support the League, though, leaving Russia as one of the isolated regime’s few remaining supporters.
Russia’s unmanned Phobos-Grunt mission to Mars has hit trouble, just minutes after launch.
“It looks like the engine system has not worked,” Vladimir Popovkin, the head of Roscosmos (the Russian Space Agency), told reporters. Read the rest…
It has emerged that Katia Zatuliveter, who has been accused of spying for Russia and is currently fighting deportation from Britain, not only had an affair with British MP Mike Hancock, but also had affairs with a senior German diplomat working at NATO and a Dutch diplomat.
A clear pattern is emerging – Zatuliveter has,… Read the rest
Rumours have been swirling around runet for years about how some Russian political bloggers are being offered payment to write posts that are supportive of the Russian Government, or of a particular politician. There are similar rumours about blogging in China.
Global Voices this weekend reports on a Georgian blogger, Yuri Yakunin who was… Read the rest
Russia has criticized a US court’s decision to convict Russian arms dealer Victor Bout, and resolved that it will do all it can to persuade US authorities to hand him over to Russia.
“Our goal is to achieve his return to the motherland,.” said Alexander Lukashevich, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign… Read the rest
