The producers of the “Stolichnaya” vodka posted a message on their official Facebook page supporting LGBT rights and criticizing the Russian laws that restrict the rights of homosexuals. It was a response to the call by international LGBT organizations to boycott the Russian vodka. In addition, an open letter signed by Val Mendeleev, the CEO […]
Russian Railways is under considerable scrutiny of late. Its President, Vladimir Yakunin, has been accused of fraud by opposition leader Alexei Navalny. In a recent ruling, Russian Railways managers will have to report their income and expenditures to the government, which meets some demands of the opposition, but perhaps only in appearance. Russian Railways is also […]
The Ministry of Finance has cut funding of Roscosmos (the Russian Space Agency) by almost 63.5 billion roubles. These figures were announced at the meeting (of which Izvestia has the minutes) of the State Duma in mid-July with the participation of Vladimir Popovkin, the head of the Federal Space Agency, and the ranking members of […]
“Our everything” is rapidly melting away, so far at least in the eyes of potential investors in the shares of the largest Russian company. According to the 2013 Financial Times Global 500 rating issued yesterday, Gazprom took 57th place after sliding down by 26 notches in just one year. It is no longer one of […]
British authorities have classified the documents of the investigation of the murder of Alexander Litvinenko; there will be no public judicial proceeding. Below is an interview with Litvinenko’s wife, Marina. – Ed. The judicial investigation into the case of the death in London in 2006 of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Federal Security Service (FSB) officer, […]
The Oboronservis case was opened in the fall of 2012. According to the investigation, real estate and land owned by the Ministry of Defense was sold off at reduced prices through a holding company (“Expert”) created to hide the officers’ economic activity. Today, the CEO of another company, Mira, has been sentenced in the case. […]
A group of prominent representatives of the legal community issued an open letter about the growing threat to the rule of law in our state. We publish the text of the letter. The lawyers who signed the letter are listed in the order they signed it. We, the people who are professional lawyers, have to […]
Vladimir Yakunin, the head of Russian Railways, has been accused by opposition leader Alexei Navalny of spending more money than he makes each year. Now, the government has approved a list of organizations whose managers will report their income and major expenses. Of the major state-owned companies only Russian Railways is on that list. – […]
The Defense Ministry is preparing a new offensive on irresponsible young people who shirk military duty. The government has drafted a decree devoted to the new rules for medical examination of recruits, and the General Staff reports that it is developing a new procedure for delivering draft notices. Experts are mixed in their assessment of […]
The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic has been dismissed for poor performance. Anatoly Karibov, a former Deputy Prime Minister, has been appointed as an acting Prime Minister. Acting Governor of Dagestan, Ramadan Abdulatipov, sacked the whole government of the republic, claiming poor performance. This happened on Monday at a meeting on the socio-economic situation […]
