09.11.2009
Russian Society
Culture, Demographics, Politics
October, 2009The following resource is meant to quickly introduce the reader to everyday life in Russia: how Russians live, study, relax, and worship. This news review is part of SRAS's monthly "obzor" publications. For more reviews, see the newsletter for this corresponding month. To receive the free monthly newsletter and obzori by email, simply sign up. Civil Society One Russia Demands Resignation Of Prominent Rights Champion
Ella Pamfilova, head of the Council for Promoting the Development of the Institutions of Civil Society and Human Rights under the Russian president, has said she is not afraid of threats from One Russia, which is demanding her resignation. Russia's Memorial Rights Group Awarded Sakharov Prize
The European Parliament has awarded its annual Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Memorial, the prominent and embattled Russian human rights group. UN panel faults Russia's support for human rights
From Russia's North Caucasus to the streets of Moscow, those who find themselves at odds with authorities can wind up as targets of deadly violence. So increasingly, some are working quietly or have abandoned their efforts altogether. A new U.N. Human Rights Committee report on Russia called for a series of sweeping legal reforms, saying the country is still struggling to guarantee some of the most basic rights, including to a fair trial, freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Experts Puzzled by UNESCO Tolerance Prize for City
The city’s human rights community had a mixed reaction to the news that St. Petersburg has been awarded the UNESCO Tolerance Prize for what the United Nation’s cultural wing regards as a major achievement in promoting tolerance. Crime and Corruption Russian court says rights activist defamed Chechen strongman
A Moscow court handed a moral victory to Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov on Tuesday, ruling that the head of one of Russia's most respected human rights organizations had smeared his reputation. Life or death: will Russia resume death penalty
Russia’s moratorium on the death penalty expires early next year. While some want capital punishment outlawed completely, many still believe there are criminals who deserve it. The Hunt for General Shamanov
The Russian press was consumed last week with the case of General Vladimir Shamanov, the commander of Russia’s airborne troops. According to reports first published in Novaia Gazeta, Shamanov carrying out a search of a factory owned by his son-in-law, who is wanted for attempted murder and is currently in hiding abroad. Ethnic crimes in Russia down on last year
Since the beginning of the year 59 people have died and 235 have been injured in the Russian Federation as a result of crimes on ethnic grounds and, in total, 181 attacks have been committed "on the grounds of aggressive xenophobia.” Three Reasons Why Russia's Police Remain Unreformed
While so much else in Russia has changed, its police force is still strikingly unreformed since the late Soviet era. From time to time, this is recognized as a problem and promises are made to modernize the Interior Ministry (MVD). Rarely do they come to anything. In Russia, Anti-Graft Crusade A Dangerous Business
President Dmitry Medvedev has said Russia's biggest problem is that corrupt officials run the country, and he has urged the public to help fight the endemic graft. But for those who do join the fight, it can be dangerous. In Khimki, a suburb of Moscow, at least three journalists and one civil rights activist have been savagely attacked in the past year. Have Russia’s Dirty Generals Turned On Shamanov
Lieutenant General Vladimir Shamanov, commander of the airborne forces, sent special-forces (spetsnaz) troops into Moscow to block a criminal investigation. The Investigations Committee of the Prosecutor-General’s Office (SKP) suspected Shamanov’s son-in-law, Aleksei Khramyshin, of trying to have a business rival murdered in 2006. Russian Jewelry Retailer Chief Arrested For Smuggling
Moscow police have arrested the general director of the Altyn jewelry company. The arrest of Valentina Shadrina was initiated by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) after a warrant was issued by Moscow's Lefortovo court. Will New Laws Help Russia Take Down the Mafia
The raid looked like something out of a Hollywood action movie. On July 7, Russian special forces dropped down on ropes from a helicopter to storm a luxury yacht on the Pirogovsky reservoir outside Moscow, arresting three dozen mobsters, including the group's alleged ringleader, Tariel Oniani. Hard Times For Russia's Crime Bosses
One of the highest-profile members of the traditional criminal fraternity of the "vory v zakone" (thieves within the code), Yaponchik was a violent, brutal man with a string of convictions in the Soviet Union, Russia, and the United States. His death highlights rising tensions within the Russian underworld, a product of both long-term divisions and the more immediate pressures of the economic slowdown. Chechen terror family chief turns on sons
AT the sight of his son on the television screen, dressed in a camouflage jacket and cradling an AK-47 assault rifle, Buhari Barayev was overcome by emotion. Tears welled as the young terrorist declared that he had taken hundreds of innocent people hostage and would die a martyr unless the Kremlin halted the war in Chechnya. Whatever happened to judicial reform
There have been no major changes for the better in the Russian judicial system since the summer of 2008. This is clear from an analysis both of the way the courts operate and of trends in Russia's legislative policies. The country's new president, Dmitry Medvedev, came to office declaring the need to tackle corruption and "legal nihilism" in the Russian Federation's judiciary and system of law enforcement. Culture Moscow traffic: jam today and more jams tomorrow
Moscow's roads aren't just congested at rush hour, but even during the day. However much the roads are widened, however many new interchanges are built, the speed of traffic drops from year to year. At the moment it is 22 km per hour. Scrambling for Space in Life, and Afterward
Of the 71 cemeteries in the Russian capital, only one is open to new burials. The shortage of space has left relatives without room in family plots to choose between burial far from the city and cremation, a practice that is frowned upon by the Russian Orthodox Church. A Palpable Dose of Art
This year’s Biennale brought together some 100 artists from all corners of the world to display their work at more than 50 different locations around the city. If this was said about the Venice Biennale, Documenta in Kassel or San Paolo in Brazil, it would have been nothing new. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with leading Russian writers
Literature has always been an essential intellectual component of the Russian mentality. It was truly a brand of our country, Russia. Russian World Cup bid has 'good chance'
FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Thursday said he thought that Russia had "a good chance" of winning the right to host the 2018 World Cup. The posthumous victory of socialist realism
When I gave talks at literary conventions in the 1990's, interested people would ask me what was happening in Russian literature and whether it was in as terrible a state as the economy. It used to give me great pleasure to reply that, on the contrary, Russian literature was flourishing to an enviable degree. A Hypnotizing Hunt Leaves Russians Bewildered
It happens every mushroom season. Russians are passionate about gathering mushrooms, an ancient pastime they call the “quiet hunt,” and routinely become so hypnotized that they get hopelessly lost. St. Petersburg’s ‘gas-scraper’ saga: culture turns political
Everyone in St.Petersburg who is even remotely interested in politics was talking about the TV programme Vremya and its coverage of the Okhta Centre issue. The Okhta Centre may not be a government matter, but its coverage has turned it into a political sensation of national importance. Review of Okolonolia: Gangsta fiction
Close to Zero is the tale of a Russian publisher operating in a murky political system featuring paid-off media, corrupt officials, dubious politicians and law enforcement agencies on the take. Demographics Marriage to a Foreigner No Longer a Russian Dream
Women have grown more sophisticated as they travel the world and pore over Western women’s magazines like Cosmopolitan, sociologists say. In fact, one new poll indicates that only 9 percent of single women want to marry a foreigner nowadays, compared to 46 percent just four years ago. Russia must adapt to shrinking population
Russia's population has fallen by 6.6 million since 1993, despite the influx of millions of immigrants and by 2025 the country could lose a further 11 million people. The result could be labor shortages, an aging population and slower economic growth. Mini baby boom won’t end crisis
The government has touted a modest baby boom as evidence that its stimulus measures aimed at raising the birth rate are working. But demographers say there is little way to tell what exactly has caused a yearly increase of 7 per cent to 8 per cent in the last few years - maternity benefit packages, improving economic conditions, or something else entirely. U.S. Invites Russians To Take Part In Immigrant Visa Lottery
The U.S. Embassy in Russia has announced that "persons born in Russia will be eligible to participate in the 2011 Diversity Visa Program," an annual U.S. government-administered lottery for immigrant visas known as "green cards." Russia Transitions To Time Shift
Border guards at the easternmost Ratmanov Island were the first to have moved back the hands of the clocks. Education Medvedev Calls for an Intellectual Breakthrough as Russian Education Declines
In his highly publicized article “Forward Russia!” published by Gazeta.ru on September 10, the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called for a sweeping modernization of the Russian economy, politics, social realm, etc. In fact, he called for the total overhaul and upgrade of his ailing country. Environment From ecological Soviet-era ruin, a sea is reborn
The Aral Sea was once the world's fourth-largest body of fresh water, covering an area the size of Ireland. But then the nations around it became part of the Soviet Union. With their passion for planned economics and giant, nature-reversing projects, the communists diverted the rivers that fed the inland sea and used them to irrigate vast cotton fields. Health Russia reports first swine flu deaths
Two women diagnosed with swine flu have died in eastern Siberia's Chita, but official confirmation of the causes of death would only be available in 21 days. So Much for Preventive Care
Russia’s campaign against the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic relies too stop the spread. History Hundreds march in Moscow to honor 1993 dead
Hundreds of communists and opposition activists have marched through Moscow to commemorate those killed when then-President Boris Yeltsin sent troops to crush a rebellious parliament 16 years ago. Russian historians fear crackdown on sensitive research
When the police stopped Mikhail Suprun's car last month, he did not expect to be questioned over his research into mass deportations that took place in Russia more than six decades ago.
But Suprun, a history professor in the northern Russian city of Arkhangelsk, discovered that his research into the 1940s deportations had drawn the interest of the FSB. To Russia with love. The lost film that shows how Hollywood and Washington embraced the Soviets.
“Mission to Moscow,” after decades in obscurity, turned out to be Warner Bros. most notorious production, an eye-catching jaw-dropper labeled by a critic as a “$2 million love letter” to dictator Joseph Stalin, now best remembered as the No. 2 mass murderer of the 20th century. In Moscow, Lenin Lights the Way to Angry Debate
When a verse praising Stalin reappeared at a renovated Metro station in August, there was an immediate outcry. So the director of the Metro system decided to fix things — by also restoring a verse in praise of Lenin, founder of the Soviet state. Russia Launches Internet Portal To Fight 'Falsification Of History'
A project called Runivers has been launched to counter attempts to falsify Russian history. Media Voice of reason or radio ga-ga
One of the primary achievements of Soviet propaganda during this time was its sheer size and scope: official sympathy and support for the “oppressed” peoples of Western colonial powers necessitated the goal of reaching every person in his or her own language. Today, the station broadcasts in 38 languages – more than any other network – to 160 countries. Court rules against Stalin grandson in libel suit
A Russian court ruled against Josef Stalin's grandson in a libel suit over a newspaper article that said the Soviet dictator sent thousands of people to their deaths. A judge at a Moscow district court rejected Yevgeny Dzhugashvili's claim that Novaya Gazeta damaged Stalin's honor and dignity in an April article that referred to him as a "bloodthirsty cannibal." Clinton speaks out against killings of Russian journalists
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton turned from meetings with top Russian officials to speak to the public on Wednesday, criticizing Moscow over the failure to solve the killings of journalists. New market manipulation laws strike at business media
Politicians, journalists and market analysts could now be jailed if their words drive stock markets up or down, after Russia’s State Duma passed a bill to tackle market manipulation. A False Alarm
Last week, Russia’s liberal establishment was perplexed by the announcement of changes at REN TV and the St. Petersburg Channel Five. The two stations, lauded as the last bastions of independent broadcasting on Russian television, are undergoing restructuring, which could potentially see their news services taken over by another company. But is it a move by the state to bring to heel the last remnants of independent reporting on television, or simply a pragmatic management decision prompted by hemorrhaging advertising revenues? Economic Crisis May Help Moscow Tighten Control Over TV News
Moscow’s “Kommersant” newspaper reported today that beginning next year, the last two all-Russian television channels which currently broadcast news they produce on their own will instead, because of losses arising from the economic crisis, instead broadcast materials produced by the Russian government’s news service, Russia today. Staff at City’s National Channel Fear Mass Redundancies
More than one thousand employees of St. Petersburgs federal TV station, Channel Five, have signed an open letter to President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warning them that the staff of the citys main television channel are facing redundancies Public Opinion Half of Russians See No Changes in Governors' Work After Abolishment of Gubernatorial Elections
About half of Russians are of the view that the transition from gubernatorial elections in Russian regions to the actual appointment of governors has not affected either the efficiency of their work or their feeling of responsibility to the people living in their regions. Polls show Russians back crisis plan: Putin's party
President Dmitry Medvedev endorsed the crushing win by the country's ruling party in local elections that opposition parties and independent observers said were rigged and an omen for the country's future. Confidence in Russian Authorities Remains High – Poll
The rating of the Russian president and premier remains high amid the crisis, a source at the Levada Center told Interfax on Wednesday. More Russians Say Country Needs Opposition
More and more Russian citizens state the importance of political opposition in the country, social surveys have shown. Religion Medvedev visits Cathedral of the Sign in Kursk
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited the Cathedral of the Sign in the city of Kursk where a miracle-working icon of the Mother of God was recently brought. Medvedev spoke to clergy from the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia led by Metropolitan Hilarion of New York and Eastern America. Patriarch Kirill, Pope Benedict not to meet yet
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church's external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared. Science Russian researchers abroad urge steps to halt collapse of science
A group of prominent Russian scientists working abroad have urged measures to end the ongoing brain drain from the country and prevent the collapse of science in the country. Astronauts, Cosmonauts Land In Prague For Planetary Congress
Some 50 astronauts and cosmonauts from across the world have converged on the Czech capital, Prague, for a Planetary Congress. Organized by the international Association of Space Explorers (ASE), the annual weeklong event aims to review the member states' space programs and promote space exploration among the public. Cash-Strapped Russian Science Looks To Government Support
The Soviet Union may have sent the first man into space, but Russian science today is in a dismal state, and it's been generating a lot of talk in recent weeks. Earlier this month, a group of emigre scientists raised the issue in an open letter to President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Russia becomes the world's taxicab to space
Canadian circus billionaire Guy Laliberté floating around the International Space Station wearing a red clown nose. Mr. Laliberté is the seventh space tourist to be sent aloft on Russian rockets. His odyssey shows how much the Russian space program has evolved since the pioneering days of Sputnik, when the country's technological prowess was both the envy – and vexation – of the West. Find out more! SRAS Travel Services
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