Stories about Russian from February, 2011
Ukraine: Choosing to Leave
With Ukraine hit hard by the economic crisis and most citizens disappointed with the overall economic and political situation, more and more discussions about emigration alternatives have been appearing online. Tetyana Bohdanova translates some of the netizens' views on the issue.
Russia: Police Receives Right to Close Websites Without Court Order
Starting March 1, 2011, new law “On Police” [RUS] grants Russian police the right to order the heads of hosting companies to terminate the activity of those Internet resources that infringe Russian or International law or endanger individual or public security. Previously, police needed a court order to close a...
Russia: Internet Freedom As Cold War 2.0
Gregory Asmolov analyzes bloggers' reactions to the Internet Freedom speech by Hillary Clinton.
Russia: One-Person Rallies by the Embassy of Libya
LJ user notavailablenow reports (RUS) on an hour-long series of one-person pickets held across the street from the Embassy of Libya in Moscow on Tuesday by two citizen activists, who took turns holding up a poster that read “Stop state terrorism.” First, however, the activists had to educate and argue...
Russia: Ulyanovsk News Portal Under Attack for Exposing Politician
73online.ru had been DDOS-ed for publishing compromising materials on Igor Bulanov, deputy speaker of Ulyanovsk legislative assembly. The portal published details on police detaining Bulanov and finding drugs in his car's glove compartment. After Bulanov was refused to remove the compromising publication, journalists started to receive threats while their website...
Russia: Blog Mapping Project Launches
Creators of crowdsourcing mapping service blog-map.ru ambitiously aim to “unite all bloggers on one map.” Despite many incorrectly mapped blogs, the service offers quite unusual experience of finding Russian bloggers even in the most distant places [RUS].
Russia: Photos of “Putin's Palace” Published by Bloggers
Krasnodar environmentalist group “Open Shore” published a photo report that illustrates how a number of huge villas have been built on a place of a relict forest on the shore of the Black sea. One of the villas shot by activists is the so-called “Putin's Palace,” a 3-storey luxurious manor...
Ukraine: Kiev architecture in decay
Sistemny deriban writes about [RUS] the decay of prominent architectural sites in Kiev and how Ukrainian politicians ignore the issue.
Russia: Photos From Coal Miners’ Towns in Perm Region
Alexander Belenkiy (LJ user macos) posts photos (RUS) taken in the neglected – but not yet fully deserted – coal miners’ towns in Perm region, where the first mine appeared in 1797 and the last one closed in 2000: “All this resembles today's Abkhazia or wartime Grozny.”
Russia: Recreating a Traditional Village Hospital
Mikhail Shlyapnikov (LJ user michael-077) writes in detail (RUS) about plans to set up a communal village hospital – old-style, but functional – in Kolionovo, Moscow region: “This, perhaps, is a rare case in contemporary history of rural Russia when, contrary to the general tendency, a village hospital is not...
Russia: Blogger Pays for Badmouthing Putin Online
Rapid development of RuNet in recent years has only stared testing the limits of what one can say online. But the army of bloggers and their enthusiastic efforts to defend the online freedom paint an optimistic picture of the blogosphere's future.
Russia: “Danilkingate” – or “Parfyonov/Volochkova Syndrome”
Power Vertical reports on Natalya Vasilyeva, “Russia's latest whistleblower” – who “[revealed] that the judge in Mikhail Khodorkovsky's recent fraud trial was pressured from on high […].” LJ user stas-kucher calls (RUS) the scandal “Danilkingate” (after Viktor Danilkin, the judge). Journalist Andrey Loshak notes (RUS) on the “Parfyonov/Volochkova syndrome,” referring...
Russia: 2011 State Budget Funding for Media Companies
LJ user sart posts info (RUS) from the Russian Federation's 2011 budget (RUS, .zip, 322MB) on the state funding allotted to media companies: e.g., VGTRK gets nearly 19 billion rubles (approx. $628 million), and TV-Novosti, a company that owns RT (Russia Today), gets over 11 billion rubles (nearly $380 million).
Russia: Government Officials Dismissed for Compromising Online Photos
Government officials in Russia start to feel the pressure of ‘Privacy 2.0.’ 2 policemen have been dismissed [RUS] in Chita after anonymous commenter published pictures [RUS] of them drunk at a local forum. Almost simultaneously in Buryatia, Irina Levandovskaya, a regional judge, has been dismissed for compromising photos [RUS] found by...
Russia: Blogger Detained for Spreading Bombing Rumors
Masha Egupova analyzes the cases of Ilya Korol, Far East blogger who got detained for a terroristic act rumor, and the new government initiatives that are aimed to monitor and control such "dangerous content."
Ukraine: Netizens Criticize Chaotic Construction in the Nation’s Capital
Tetyana Bohdanova reviews online and offline debates and initiatives inspired by the chaotic construction in Kyiv’s historical center.
Belarus: 2,600 People Vouch for Political Prisoners
Gomel-based activist Pyotr Kuznetsov is one of 2,600 Belarusians who have publicly vouched for those who remain jailed after the Dec. 19 presidential election protests. He addresses (RUS) the Belarusian president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, among others: “[…] [Is he] prepared to accuse 2,600 people of a conspiracy to change the constitutional...
Belarus: House Arrest, with KGB Officers Stationed Inside
According to LJ user ng68 (RUS) and to this RFE/RL story (ENG), KGB officers are stationed inside – not outside – the homes of former presidential candidate Uladzimer Nyaklyaeu and journalist Iryna Khalip, who were released from jail on Jan. 29 but placed under house arrest.
Belarus: Photos of Turau and Other Locations
Photos from the town of Turau and other locations in Belarus – by LJ user xadnight (RUS, ENG)
Russia: Citizen Bloggers of 2010
After a decade in the wilderness, Russian civil society is finding a powerful voice online. Alexey Sidorenko and Oliver Carroll profile seven citizen bloggers who are leading this charge. A co-publication with openDemocracy Russia
Azerbaijan: Support site for arrested youth activist
Following news of the arrest last week of a political youth activist in Azerbaijan, a blog, Freedom Jabbar Savalan!, has been set up in English, Azerbaijani and Russian.
