[The New Times recounts a court hearing in response to a legal petition for early release by the imprisoned Pussy Riot musician Maria Alyokhina, and her decision to begin a hunger strike—Ed.] Today at Bereznik City Court, the petition was heard for parole of Maria Alyokhina, defendant in the Pussy Riot case. The convict asked […]
The New Times has gone to London, Moscow, Tel-Aviv and Damascus to learn about the new diplomatic duel between the Kremlin and the West, the Russian missile systems provided to Assad and its impact on regional dynamics. The talks between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian President Vladimir Putin with Russian Foreign Minister […]
[The recent brutal murder of Vladislav Tornovoy, a 23 year-old gay man, in the Moscow suburbs has once again brought the subject of homophobia in Russia to the fore. Below is a blog post by Pavel Svyatenkov examining cultural definitions of homosexuality, and how Soviet-era propaganda has been carried into the post-Soviet era. — Ed.] The […]
[Veteran activist and Litvinenko friend Alex Goldfarb explains the next steps for Marina Litvinenko following the news that the UK government has hamstrung the inquest by requesting that crucial evidence remain classified. –Ed.] Today [May 17] Sir Robert Owen, the British coroner who is performing the inquest into the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, in part […]
[Vladimir Markin, head of media liaisons for the Russian Federation Investigative Committee, has recently become the main supplier of political news. His commentaries and interviews not only lead to feverish discussion about who’s in and who’s out in the Kremlin, they arguably result in the immediate firings of the ill-favored: That’s what happened after Markin […]
The editors of the Amur.info news agency have received a report from concerned Amur resident Gennady Uvarov, who sent links to a video in which children were being brutally beaten. He indicated that this was taking place at an orphanage in the village of Pionersky in the Mazanov district. According to Uvarov, he received the […]
The trial of Aleksey Navalny in the Kirovles case resumed in Kirov on Wednesday. Judge Sergei Blinov heard the testimonies of 12 witnesses. Although they were all announced on the side of the prosecution, their testimonies frequently sounded as though they were in favor of Navalny. The opposition leader himself was puzzled after the hearing […]
Vladislav Surkov’s dismissal from the post of vice premier and head of the government bureaucracy was the main political event of the past week. In this article, The New Times explores who or what forced the once-powerful Kremlin political guru to finish his nearly 14-year career in the highest bodies of the government. “Surkov felt […]
[The strange case of Ryan Fogle, a US diplomat arrested by the FSB on charges of espionage, continues to preoccupy the Russian media. Below is state-controlled Channel One, relying on FSB sources, quoting from alleged telephone conversations Fogle had with a Russian intelligence officer he was trying to recruit. –Ed] The American ambassador visited the […]
Today’s announcement that a US “spy” working in the American embassy in Moscow had been captured by the FSB has raised more than a few eyebrows about not only the details of this case (the alleged spy’s Get Smart paraphernalia) but also the timing. I asked Professor Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russian intelligence, what […]
