The Russia Blog
Protests took place in Moscow on Monday as people unhappy at United Russia’s manipulation of Sunday’s Russian Duma election took to the streets.
Numbers are difficult to judge, but it appears that around 5-6,000 people protested earlier in the day, breaking off into a smaller group of around 1,000 that then went on to… Read the rest
United Russia won 49.54% of the popular vote in this weekend’s Duma Election, which was just enough to secure it an overall majority in the Duma.
By and large, election observers felt that the ballot itself was run fairly across the country, BUT, there were a few ballots in which the results were just absurd.… Read the rest
Ruud Gullit has caused the biggest footballing shock of the 21st century by signing an 18 month deal to manage Terek Grozny, Chechnya’s number one football team.
A violent confrontation between the motorcades of President Ramzan Kadyrov and Badruddi Yamadayev threatens ignite yet more conflict in Chechnya.
Tonight, for the first time in more than a decade, top-flight Russian football will be played in Chechnya. After years of playing in exile, Terek Grozny have finally been granted permission to play at their home city.
Captain’s Quarters wonders what’s behind the recent spate of nuclear ‘incidents’ that can be traced back to Russia in one way or another:
A couple of scenarios could be in play. The first is that Putin has decided to gain hard cash by putting fissile material on the black market, which is not only
Oh, this is going to just thrill the boys at the Kremlin – Iran is training Chechens in terror techniques:
Iran is secretly training Chechen rebels in sophisticated terror techniques to enable them to carry out more effective attacks against Russian forces, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal.
Teams of Chechen fighters are being trained
I’ve held back from commenting on yesterday’s Chechen parliamentary elections, mainly because I’m pretty sure they’ll be… how can I put this?… unrepresentative. For anyone who hasn’t already worked out the lie of the land – pro-Kremlin party United Russia currently leads the way with a (clearly representative) 60% of the vote, from a 66%… Read the rest
Charlie Ganske at Russia Blog has a thoughtful post about whether Russia should focus its energies on maintaining a nuclear arsenal, or on preventing the breakup of the Motherland.
Today’s Washington Times features a story on Russia’s successful test of a maneuverable re-entry warhead. While this may bolster the national pride of Russian scientists
Sometimes it seems as if terrorism in Russia is a phenomenon of the North Caucasus. But Moscow has been hit almost as hard over the last five years:
Moscow�s police chief Col. Gen. Vladimir Pronin has said that 354 people died in terrorist attacks in Moscow over the past five years, the Interfax news agency
Pavel Felgenhauer’s regular Defense Dossier column wasn’t published in the Moscow Times this week. By the looks of things, his views on the Nalchik raid were considered unacceptable to the editor, who rejected it.
Felgenhauer sees conspiracy, both in Nalchik, and at the Moscow Times, and has sent his version of events to Johnson’s… Read the rest
It looks like the dust is beginning to settle after yesterday’s raid on the Southern Russian city of Nalchik, and the city is securely in the hands of the Russian military. In this post I’m just going to restrict myself to a roundup of news and views that have been published over the last few… Read the rest
Reports are coming out of a major raid – presumably by Chechen militants – on Nalchik, a Southern Russian city. It looks like the raid, by approximately 150 gunmen according to reports, has been beaten back and up to 60 people – mostly militants, according to government reports – are believed to have been killed.… Read the rest
On Friday I wrote briefly about a brewing conflict between Chechens and Kalmyks in the Buddhist Russian Republic of Kalmykia, promising to update when I got back from my weekend away.
Well, judging by the lack of news reports, the situation seems to be more or less under control, with tensions – for… Read the rest
Chechenpress has just published a copy of the transcript of ABC’s interview with Shamil Basayev (note: site no longer exists, so link removed). It makes hideous reading, particularly Basayev’s delusional comments (whether he believes his own words or not, I’m not sure) about who is to blame for the deaths of those hundreds of… Read the rest
Hmmm, so after all the stink that the Russian government kicked up over the ABC decision to air their Shamil Basayev interview it certainly is… interesting… to note that RIA Novosti had no qualms about interviewing Abdulla al-Jenabi the leader of one of Iraq’s largest armed guerilla groups.
Their decision to publish the interview… Read the rest
ABC’s decision to nationally screen an interview with Shamil Basayev on Nightline last week (see here for details) has caused a furore in Russia, prompting the Russian Foreign Ministry to call the US embassy’s top official (the US is currently between Ambassadors) for a few stern words, and for the Defence… Read the rest
The trial of Nur-Pashi Kulayev begins today. Kulayev was the sole surviving member of the group of terrorists that took hostage and killed hundreds of children in a Beslan school last September.
That Kulayev took part in the raid is beyond doubt. He was dragged out… Read the rest
Abu Havs, or Abu Hafs, according to the Sunday Times is, with Shamil Basayev, in effective joint control of the Chechen rebel movement. Newly appointed leader Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev is merely a figurehead.
Abu Hafs was thought to have been heavily involved in the planning of both the Beslan school hostage taking, and last year’s… Read the rest
