Stories about Russia from July, 2009
Russia: Riot Police Break Up Opposition Rally
Some 100 protesters gathered for an unsanctioned opposition rally in central Moscow on Friday. At 6 PM, hundreds of riot police broke up the rally, detaining 47 people, some of whom were said to be journalists and passerby.
Russia: Vasily Krima, aka the “Volgograd Obama”
Sean's Russia Blog writes about Vasily Krima, “the first Afro-Russian to run for public office” – here and here.
Russia: Putin on Solzhenitsyn
Eternal Remont writes about PM Vladimir Putin's recent interaction with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's widow.
Russia: Unsold iPhones
Profy writes about the situation with iPhone sales in Russia.
Russia: Activists Appeal To Iranian Opposition
On July 26, LJ user dobrokhotov wrote (RUS) about a rally in front of the Iranian embassy in Moscow, organized by the Russian democratic youth movement “We” in support of Iran's opposition: “[…] The main thing is we'd like the Iranian opposition to go on chanting ‘margbar putin’ – but,...
Belarus, Russia: Bloggers React to Graphic Chechen War Video
On July 3, Belarusian blogger Tatsiana Elavaya posted a provocative video showing the assassination of captive Russian soldiers by Chechen guerrillas during the 1999 war in Chechnya. The video had been available elsewhere before, but when Tatsiana posted it on her blog, the reaction of the Cyrillic blogosphere was unprecedented.
Russia: Oleg Yankovsky
Mumin Shakirov of OpenDemocracy.net writes about actor Oleg Yankovsky, who died of cancer in Moscow earlier this year.
Czech Republic, Russia: “Putin Goes To Pikalyovo”
CzechFolks.com and Scraps of Moscow write about a Russian YouTube rendition of a 1970s Czech song, which mocks PM Vladimir Putin.
Russia: “Russian Software” Project
Profy writes about the Russian Software project, whose “idea is to provide high-quality alternatives to proprietary international software titles and to make sure that these alternatives will also be much less expensive than the Western products.”
Russia: Mourning Natalya Estemirova
A Step At A Time translates LJ user kutuzov‘s comment “on the political background to Natalya Estemirova’s murder” and links to Prague Watchdog's photo report on “the vigil-cum-rally that was held in Moscow on July 23 to remember the murdered human rights activist.” Oleg Kozlovsky writes about and posts a...
Russia: Notes From Samara
Sergei Khazov's Notes from Samara – at OpenDemocracy.net.
Russia: Stalin
Sean's Russia Blog writes about “the protest against Stalin haters worldwide,” launched by some of Russia's communists.
Russia: Making (Some) Sense of LiveJournal
A number of studies of the Russian blogosphere have been produced in the past by various entities. Russian bloggers, too, are trying to make sense of the space they operate in. Recently, LJ user fritzmorgen has drawn a list of issues that, in his opinion, tend to cause controversy among LJ bloggers. He has also assessed his own views, and, in the process, sketched explanations of some of the Russian realities.
Russia: One Day in the Life of Doctor Liza
LJ user drugoi documents (text in Russian+photos, some of them graphic) one day in the life of Elizaveta Glinka (LJ user doctor_liza), who heads a volunteer effort to help Moscow's homeless, poor and drug addicts by providing them with food, clothing and medical aid, and who is also the founder...
Russia: Markets Shut Down
Scraps of Moscow writes about Moscow authorities’ recent decision to shut down Cherkizovsky and Izmailovsky markets: “It is a shame that Luzhkov and others favoring the reconfiguring of Moscow markets to exclude for'ners have failed to understand that such pockets of other-ness always added to Moscow's richness. And even operating...
Russia: “Leaving the Caucasus, a Taboo Subject”
Robert Amsterdam's Blog links to Kerkko Paananen's translation of an article by Igor Averkiev, “which argues that Russia would be stronger, more secure, and better off if it pulled out of the Caucasus.”
Russia: Medvedev and Sick Babies in Gelendzhik
LJ user baxus writes a letter (RUS) to president Medvedev, in which he describes how his infant son and many other kids got sick in Gelendzhik, a Russian Black Sea resort town, and what an ordeal it was to move around the area on the day of Medvedev's visit, due...
Russia: Social Networking
Profy writes about social networking in Russia.
Russia: Channel “2×2″ censors Putin episode of South Park
The recent decision by Russian television channel “2×2″ to cut a scene in an episode of the US cartoon series ”South Park” has sparked anger in the Russian blogosphere. Ruth Collins reviews some of the bloggers' reactions.
Russia: Rallying the youth
Sean's Russia Blog writes about President Medvedev's efforts to rally the Russian youth to politics.
Russia: Scoring partly free in Freedom of the Net report
Karina Alexanyan of Internet & Democracy Blog accounts for Russia labeled partly free in a recent Freedom House report on Freedom on the Net.
