Federal Security Service (FSB) agents arrested an alleged CIA agent who was accused of trying to recruit a Russian officer to work as a US agent. Ryan C. Fogle was the third secretary in the political section at the US Embassy in Moscow. As reported by Interfax agency, “Late at night on May 13, FSB […]
Yet another spy scandal is flaring up between the USA and Russia. On the night of May 14, counter-intelligence officers of Russia’s Federal Security Service detained a CIA agent named Ryan Christopher Fogle, who had allegedly attempted to recruit a Russian security service officer. According to the Russian counter-intelligence agency, the U.S. spy had been […]
On Saturday, Givi Targamadze returned to Georgia from Lithuania. This usually normal event turned out to be a sensation for the Russian state-controlled media, which featured headlines such as: “Disorders on Bolotnaya: Givi Targamadze Hides Out in Georgia.” But where should he be? He has a family and a job in Georgia. What is the […]
The independent pollster the Levada Center was recently designed a “foreign agent” under Russia’s new NGO Law. In this Kommersant article, a sociologist opposed to the designation debates a Duma Deputy who supports it. — Ed. According to Valery Fedorov, the Director of the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (WCIOM), sociologists should not be subject […]
The resignation of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov — the Kremlin’s “grey cardinal” — has prompted a raft of articles speculating as to the true cause for Surkov’s departure. This article suggests that his involvement in the corruption-plagued Skolkovo project, inaugurated by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, became Surkov’s pink slip . –Ed. On […]
Award-winning author Mikhail Shishkin withdrew from Book Expo America 2013, an annual book fair held in New York, in protest of the Russian government’s human rights abuses. Shishkin, who had originally accepted the invitation to appear, wrote an open letter to the fair’s organizers saying that Russia has become “a country where power has been seized […]
The photographs showing U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry smiling and slapping palms with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are being circulated by many Syrians opposed to the Bashar al-Assad’s regime as visual obituaries of their cause. Weren’t these men supposed to be on opposite sides of the Syrian conflict? And why does the Herman Munster-ish Lavrov […]
Police conducted a search in Kirov at the support headquarters for blogger Alexey Navalny. The inspection began Wednesday evening, after a complaint was received at the police precinct that extremist leaflets were being printed at the office. “The search began at 10:10 pm and ended at 4:45 am. This is the longest broadcast in my […]
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived on 7 May for his first visit to Moscow. The Russian capital met him with tanks — a dress rehearsal was under way that day for the parade to take place on Red Square on Victory Day (May 9). Whether Kerry was intimidated by Russia’s military force or […]
The Prosecutor General’s Office has completed an inspection of the Yuri Levada Analytical Center, an independent non-profit organization and one of Russia’s most respected sociological services. According to the information obtained by Mr. Yuri Chaika’s agency, between December 26, 2012 and March 24, 2013, the Center received about 3.9 million rubles from abroad, a source in […]
