Just an hour and a half before she was murdered, Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya gave her last interview to the regional news site Caucasian Knot, describing corruption under Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
Watching Russia
Attacks on Russian Journalists Indicate Return to Soviet Practices, New Forms of Repression in the Internet Age
Attacks on Russian Journalists Indicate Return to Soviet Practices, New Forms of Repression in the Internet Age 2016-10-04 18:20:35 President Vladimir Putin has been steadily dismantling the independent press since coming to power in 2000. Some outlets have completely lost their independence and others still proclaiming independence are under immense pressure. In recent weeks, both […]
What Has Kadyrov Been Up To? Quietly Cultivating Regional and Kremlin Officials; Now a Meeting with Putin
It’s been many weeks since Ramzan Kadyrov, acting president of the Chechen Republic, has been in the news. Now late tonight after months of quietly rallying his own troops and cultivating regional and lower-level Kremlin officials, he has obtained an audience with President Vladimir Putin himself,
Russian Parliamentary Elections Round-Up: Open Russia’s Baronova Registered; Shevchenko Disqualified
The Russian parliamentary elections are only a month away, but there has been little Russian mainstream media coverage of them this past month; the opposition’s struggles are mainly over with only a few registered.
‘What Would Boris Do?” Opposition Struggles with In-Fighting on Eve of September Elections
Disarray and lack of unity among Russian opposition groups has caused some to invoke the memory of their leader Boris Nemtsov, assassinated in February 2015, asking what he would have done.
‘Russia Today’ Has Its ‘Dewey Defeats Truman’ Moment As It Praises Austria’s Far-Right Candidate
RT gets the headline wrong but demonstrates how Russian propaganda supports ultranationalism and Euro-skepticism.
NATO Got Nothing From Conceding To Russia In the Past, Why Should It Cave To The Kremlin Now?
NATO invited Montenegro to become its 29th member, a chance to examine NATO-Russian relations and to debunk Russia’s claims about NATO.
Who is Hacking Russians?
In recent weeks, public figures from both the Russian opposition as well as the Russia state and pro-Kremlin media have been attacked by hackers who spilled their private communications out to social media or paralyzed their sites. Who are the hackers and how are they able to gain access?
Does It Matter If the Russian Opposition Stays United?
The Russian liberal opposition Democratic Coalition fell apart yesterday as anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny and Vladimir Milov, former deputy energy ministe broke ranks with former finance minister Mikhail Kasyanov and his colleagues in Parnas. Behind their differences, however was the relentless pressure, organizing restrictions and privacy-busting of Putin’s intelligence service – factors that won’t go away even if people paper over differences.
Will the Russian Opposition Make it to the September Parliamentary Elections?
The Russian opposition made their first test of the upcoming fall elections in Barvikha, a prestigious suburb of Moscow where top Russian officials have their homes. When they uncovered obvious fraud there, they felt that Ella Pamfilova, the new head of the Central Elections Commission proposed by President Vladimir Putin