The state-owned oil giant, Gazprom, will host its holiday party at an Olympic facility, paid for by Gazprom. Other state-owned corporations have not pay for holiday parties. This was originally published in the state-owned RIA Novosti, which is soon to become “Russia Today,” or Russia Segodnya. — Ed. The gas monopoly will time its Christmas corporate […]
The liberal magazine Snob.ru has collected quotes on today’s amnesty bill from various thinkers across the political spectrum. Note that some of the differences in numbers and facts can be attributed to the fact that the full effects of the amnesty bill are not yet known. See our liveblog for updates and additional details. — […]
The man recently installed to head Chechnya’s Investigative Committee — a body tantamount to Russia’s FBI — has been sacked by Vladimir Putin in a high-profile embarrassment for the Committee’s overall head, Alexander Bastrykin. It appears that Sergei Bobrov has been relieved of his duties for attempting to do his job properly in Kadyrov’s murky […]
This editorial ran in Vedomosti, a Russian business news agency started by the Dow Jones, the Financial Times, and the owners of the Moscow Times. — Ed. The upcoming Olympics in Sochi creates new opportunities for the struggle for political influence and financial flows in the North Caucasus. In addition to the usual news about […]
The state-owned media giant RIA Novosti is being restructured, and its editor Svetlana Mironyuk has been replaced by a well-known Putin mouthpiece, Dmitry Kiselyov. Slon.ru, a liberal online magazine, weighs in on the recent development. — Ed. The fall of RIA Novosti is a drama that was deliberately made into a serial. Everyone saw the […]
On December 12, 1993, Russia adopted its current Constitution. To celebrate the 20th anniversary, the President and the State Duma will pardon a significant number of criminals. There has been a significant amount of speculation as to whether Pussy Riot, the Bolotnaya Square prisoners, the Greenpeace activists, and other high-profile convicts will be included in […]
Earlier, the U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, said that before the end of the year Washington could expand the “Magnitsky list”, which includes individuals who have been denied entry into the U.S. and whose property and accounts in U.S. banks are to be frozen. Moscow will respond in kind in case the “Magnitsky list” […]
Dmitry Kiselyov, general director of the news agency Russiya Segodnya [Russia Today] promised to preserve all of RIA Novosti’s brands on the base of which a new media will be created. He announced this at a meeting with the RIA Novosti collective, a videotape of which was published on 12 December on Youtube. On 9 December, […]
This week, the Russian government announced that it was shutting down respected news outlet RIA Novosti and rebranding it as Russia Segodnya (Russia Today). The new head of this venture will be Dmitry Kiselyov, one of the most vocal pro-Kremlin pundits in Russia, notorious for his homophobic comments. He’s said that the goal of Russia Today […]
All the factions of the State Duma endorsed the statement on the situation in Ukraine. In this statement the legislators express dissatisfaction with the actions of the opposition, including riots and destruction of monuments, as well as with meddling by western politicians in Ukraine’s affairs. In its statement the State Duma warns that “unauthorized rallies, […]
