The Russia Blog
Time for the second edition of our resurrected roundup of what’s been happening in Russia blogs over the past seven days.
To my mind, the most intriguing story of the week has been that of the chaos surrounding the annulment of South Ossetia’s Presidential election. And that’s where my top blog post of the week… 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
There was more unrest and behind the scenes politicking in South Ossetia today, following the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday to annull the results of the election and ban Alla Dzhioyeva – the opposition candidate who looked to have secured victory – from participating in a re-run.
Dzhioyeva has refused to accept the Supreme Court’s decision,… Read the rest
The South Ossetian Supreme Court has dramatically and controversially annulled the results of its Presidential election. In announcing its verdict, it also banned Alla Dzhioyeva – the opposition candidate who appeared to have won the election – from competing in a re-run of the election scheduled for March 2012.
RIA Novosti reports that
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
The South Ossetian Presidential election looks like it will descend into bitter recrimination as both candidates have claimed victory.
With more than 85% of the votes counted, opposition candidate Alla Dzhioyeva is reported to have secured 56.74% of the vote. If correct, this would leave the Emergencies Minister, and leader of the Unity… Read the rest
Now that I’m back to blogging more regularly, I thought it was about time to resurrect the weekly roundup of my favourite posts from around the Russia blogs. Rather than keep calling it by its original dull name (Russia Blog Roundup), I thought it was time for a cool and dynamic new name.
So, without… Read the rest
Opposition to legislation designed to outlaw the promotion of homosexuality to minors is gathering pace, both around the world and in Russia itself.
The bill, which would punish any “public activities promoting sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality and transgender identity” with a fine of up to $1,600 (50,000 roubles) was passed by an overwhelming majority in… Read the rest
Outside of Russia and the former Soviet Union, the name Tupolev is probably more widely connected with commercial, passenger aircraft. However, the company has always played a vital role in Russia’s overall defence strategy and the Tupolev bear is ageing, but still shining star of the country’s military fleet.
Early Origins
The Tuploev Bear… Read the rest
In an odd piece of news, Marina Smirnova, a candidate for the A Just Russia party, has been barred from standing as a candidate in this year’s Russian Duma elections. The story is notable because Smirnova is the daughter in law of Igor Smirnov, the leader of Transnistria (the breakaway Moldovan republic that has,… Read the rest
The Western press has been gleefully reporting that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was booed when he addressed the crowd after Russian Fyodor Emelianenko beat American fighter Jeff Monson.
US paper the Washington Post called it a “rare show of public disapproval”, while British paper the Daily Mail explained the event as an… Read the rest
I was amused to see RIA Novosti reporting the arrest of a con-man who had attempted to sell government posts to gullible businessmen.
In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that: “the suspect offered to sell senior government posts to interested parties, such as the post of deputy governor of St.… Read the rest
After a slow start, Russia has now officially got the largest number of web users in Europe.
According to the latest Comscore report, 50.8 million Russians have access to the internet through either a home or work connection. This means that, for the first time, Russia has more internet users than Germany, which… 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
A couple of weeks ago I went back to my home town to watch the annual Bridgwater Carnival.
For the uninitiated, the Carnival is a massive procession of illuminated floats, each carrying enough lightbulbs to be seen from space and blasting out music loud enough to wake the dead. Atop each float (known… 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’s Soyuz rocket blasted off today, with a crew of two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronaut, to resupply the International Space Station (ISS).
Unusually even for Russia, the launch took place in blizzard conditions – you can see more in the video to this post.
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.
In a startling display of sycophancy, the Russian Defense Ministry has just announced that it will buy 10,000 badminton rackets and shuttlecocks – all because Russia’s President loves the game.
“Playing badminton uses the same muscles as throwing grenades, knives or other objects,” said Colonel Alexander Shchepelev.
