Did Russian president Vladimir Putin just throw his prime minister Dmitry Medvedev under the bus? That’s how this article, published in the up-and-coming independent media outlet Dozhd (TV Rain), characterizes the latest statements from Putin. The pro-Kremlin outlet Ria Novosti, which first published Putin’s statements, makes no mention of Medvedev being the intended target of the […]
The Bolshoi Ballet Company is one of the most renowned dance troupes in the world, but recently is has been rocked by one scandal after another. In January, Bolshoi director Sergei Filin had acid thrown in his face, severely burning his face and neck, by a man who was hired by a former dancer to […]
The United States cut off arms shipments to Egypt several months after the Egyptian military launched a coup that removed the democratically-elected President Mohamed Morsi. This move was not in reaction to the coup, but rather in reaction to the violent crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood’s supporters and officials launched by the Egyptian military. This […]
Russia laws against “gay propaganda” make it a crime to promote homosexuality, or perhaps even gay rights, but they stop short of outlawing being gay. The explanation given by the government is that promoting homosexuality is an attack on children. Many have also worked to conflate homosexuality with pedophilia, despite the fact that social scientists […]
The West and Russia continue to bicker over who can attend the much vaulted Geneva II peace summits, and the death and destruction has not stopped in Syria. While it seems that, for the moment, Syria is adhering to dismantling its chemical weapons programs, thousands of civilians continue to be killed by Assad, through a […]
A campaign has been launched in Dagestan to forcibly extract DNA samples from “unreliable” citizens, particularly Salafists. The campaign seems to be primarily aimed at women, in the wake of the October 21st bus bombing in Volgograd, conducted by the spouse of an established Dagestani militant. There are concerns that the terrorism threat is growing […]
On October 21, a bus bombing killed six people in Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad. The perpetrator of the crime was, according to Russian authorities, Naida Asiyalova, wife of 22 year old Dmitry Sokolov, a known Dagestani militant and bomb maker. This incident was the latest chapter in what is essentially an insurgency moving at a near-glacial […]
Galina Starovoitova was a pro-democracy activist in the 1990s, a prominent member of the Moscow Helsinki Group and a defender of ethnic minorities. She was assassinated in 1998, soon after becoming the leader of “Democratic Russia,” a registered opposition party, she was assassinated outside her apartment building in St. Petersburg. Two men were arrested for […]
On October 21, a bus bombing killed six people in Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad. The perpetrator of the crime was, according to Russian authorities, Naida Asiyalova, wife of 22 year old Dmitry Sokolov, a known Dagestani militant and bomb maker. This incident was the latest chapter in what is essentially an insurgency moving at a near-glacial […]
The Interpreter’s Elena Sevettaz, a Russian-French journalist, has published a book about Sergei Magnitsky, whose death in prison, and post-mortem trial and conviction, sparked protests around the world, eventually leading to the Obama administration passing sanctions against Russian officials involved in the case. The Russian government responded by blocking American adoptions of Russian children. The new […]
