Snowden Enters Russia: Live Updates

August 1, 2013

The United States is waking up to hear the news that Edward Snowden, the fugitive NSA leaker, has reportedly left Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport and has entered Russia, according to Snowden’s lawyer. The latest updates: 12:38 EST: Wikileaks has confirmed that the pictures we’ve posted below do in fact show Snowden leaving the airport. They have already […]

What is the “Russian-American Initiative” for Syria?

July 29, 2013

On July 25, Russian Prime Minister Sergey Lavrov met with a Syrian government delegation headed by Qadri Jamil, Assad’s Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs. The meeting came at the same time that representatives of the Syrian opposition met with the UN Security Council for the first time. Lavrov opened with an introductory speech. The statement contains […]

Co-opting the Russian Opposition

July 25, 2013

Last Wednesday, we went to bed with the knowledge that opposition figure Alexei Navalny could be headed to prison while we slept. This thought did not escape Navalny, either. The investigative-blogger-turned-Moscow-mayoral candidate did what he did best in the final days before his sentence. His last blog post, translated by The Interpreter, was a heartfelt call to action, […]

Snowden Liveblog: Temporary Asylum in Russia?

July 24, 2013

10:48 EST: Snowden’s lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, continues to speak to RT. Snowden is in good spirits, and has thanked, through Kucherena, the journalists who are covering his story “in an objective way.” Kucherena stressed again the real concerns that he and Snowden share about security, even after Snowden receives asylum. Kucherena then went on to […]

The UK is Granting Russia ‘License to Kill’

July 23, 2013

In what resembles a real-world James Bond plot gone wrong, a former Russian agent-turned-dissident was killed in 2006 while in England. Alexander Litvinenko, a former FSB secret service member, died of Polonium-210 poisoning after moved to the UK following his disclosure that the FSB was engaged in assassinations, had ties to the mob, conducted terrorist […]