Stories about Russian from April, 2010
Ukraine: Russian Black Sea Fleet Stays On in Crimea
236 Ukrainian MPs (UKR) have voted in favor of the ratification of an agreement allowing the Russian Black Sea Fleet to extend its stay in Crimea until 2042. Ukrainska Pravda posts a selection of photos and video (UKR) of fighting and egg-throwing inside the parliament building this morning. On Twitter,...
Kyrgyzstan: Keeping the Calm
The role played by online independent media organizations such as Kloop.kg is crucial to separating fact from disinformation in Kyrgyzstan.
Russia: “The Sirens of Russia”
A Good Treaty posts a YouTube video of a Moscow driver's encounter with a high-ranking official's BMW and explains why “the special road status of the elite is a sore point with the Russian public.” (A few more related links in Russian are here.)
Russia: Authorities Inspect Major Social Network
Russia authorities started inspection of the country's major social network Vkontakte.ru, rbcdaily.ru reported. The authorities claim the social network became popular with neo-Nazi, xenophobic and extremist groups. But the inspection can also be an attempt to extract users’ private data.
Russia: Internet Development in Regions
Yandex.ru published report [RUS, .pdf] on Internet development in Russian regions. Report concludes that the drastic increase in Internet penetration during 2009 was in Russian regions. The average speed of the Internet there is 1,100 kbs. The most active bloggers are in the Far East.
Kyrgyzstan: The aftermath of public uprising
In the past week, the attention of Kyrgyzstani bloggers has been very firmly centred on political events in this small, mountainous Central Asian country. All over the country, memorials have been held for those people who died in clashes between government and opposition on April 7 and April 8. Sergei...
Russia: The ‘Little Blue Buckets’ Protest
The Little Blue Buckets mock protest, initiated (RUS) by LJ user cook, took place in Moscow Sunday, as drivers fitted their cars with blue plastic buckets (siniye vedyorki) to protest the impunity of state officials who routinely use blue flashing lights (migalki) on their vehicles to violate traffic rules and...
UK: Krakow Funeral Broadcast in London's Trafalgar Square
Rosie Walunas writes that London's Trafalgar Square “was nearly filled to capacity” on Sunday, as people gathered to watch TV Polonia's coverage of the funeral of late Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria in Krakow. Mark Grigorian (LJ user markgrigorian) posts more photos from the live broadcast and...
Russia: Volcanic Eruption Provokes Cooperation and Jokes
Two days passed since Mother Nature showed its power to mankind letting the Icelandic volcano with unpronounceable name “Eyjafjallajökull” fill the European aerospace with ashes. As the ash cloud went east, more and more airports were closing, which led to European-wide transport collapse. Russian bloggers – also affected by the...
Kazakhstan: Birds, Polish tragedy and Governance
Discussions of the Kazakhstani bloggers this week were centered around three topics, all related to the deep-rooted problems of governance in the country.
Russia: New Book About Livejournal Announced
Russian magazine “Ogonyok” published an interview with Andrey Podshibyakin, a former executive editor of Livejournal. Podshibyakin tells about his new book “Po-zhivomu: 1999-2009. Livejournal in Russia.” The book covers a decade in the history of this popular blogging platform in Russia.
Russia: Facebook to Open Office
Russian daily Vedomosti reports [RUS] that Facebook is going to open its office in Moscow and develop cooperation with local cellular companies. So far, most Russians have been using local social networking platforms (e.g., Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki, Moy Mir). The article's translation is published [ENG] in The Moscow Times.
Kyrgyzstan: A Photo Report From Bishkek
Photos and commentary (RUS) on the recent unrest, looting and poverty in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – by LJ user zyalt (Ilya Varlamov).
Russia: Eyewitness Story Of Polish Plane Crash in Smolensk
LJ user elena-pushistay shares [RUS] an eyewitness story about the Polish plane crash near Smolensk, told to her by a local woman named Lyudmila, who lives just 3 km from the military airport where the tragedy took place.
Russia: Reactions to the Polish Tragedy
April 10, 2010, the day that should have started a new era in the Russian-Polish relations, brought tragic news instead. Airplane with the highest Polish establishment on board crashed in the Smolensk forest. The reaction of the Russian blogosphere was divided as usual when it comes to the Russian-Polish relations.
Russia: Bloggers Discuss Andrzej Wajda's “Katyń” Movie
For the first time in Russian history, Andrzej Wajda's “Katyń” (2007) has been aired on Russian public television channel “Kultura” -- thus leading to online discussions on Stalin regime, historical truth, humanism and Russian-Poland relations.
Kyrgyzstan: Social Media Create and Fight Information Overload
The coverage of recent bloody events in Kyrgyzstan by online and traditional media caused information overload that made it very difficult to create a consistent picture. That is why bloggers who focused on monitoring the information, checking its credibility and creating consistent picture of events, played an important role in an adequate coverage of the protests.
Kyrgyzstan: The “Archived” Revolution
On April 6th, Kyrgyzstan was hit by mass protests which eventually led to the overthrow of the government as well as many deaths. While the internet did not play a major role in mobilizing the protests, it has been used to document what happened in detail.
Kyrgyzstan: Photos of Bloody Protests
LJ user drugoi published a selection of photographs from the recent violent protests in Kyrgyzstan.
Russia: Expat Bloggers List
Ru_travel community tries to make a list of expat bloggers who live in the most distant parts of the world. Russophone bloggers found in New Zealand, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia and even Antarctica.
Russian Government to Develop National Search Engine
Why would the Russian government try to develop its own search engine? Bloggers and Internet experts in the country attempt to come up with explanations and possible implications of that ambitious plan.