· October, 2012

Stories about Russia from October, 2012

Russia: Assessing Predictions About the Coordinating Council Election

RuNet Echo  29 October 2012

As RuNet Echo readers know well, the Coordinating Council's elections took place last week, and that body has already convened virtually through Facebook and once again in person. Weeks in advance of the vote, Global Voices offered projections based on Yandex's blogger rating index. Here, we've assessed those predictions against the actual results and another forecast model

Russia: the Scuffles of the Moscow Literati

RuNet Echo  27 October 2012

Most online conflicts in the RuNet remain virtual. Sometimes, however, members of the Moscow creative class feel that fisticuffs are their only recourse, as a recent Twitter spat between blogger Maksim Kononenko and Pussy Riot lawyer Mark Feygin demonstrated.

Russia: Facebook Insults Lead to a Fight at the Bolshoi

RuNet Echo  27 October 2012

Earlier this week, an online spat between the chief editors of Russian GQ and Russian Tatler magazines came to physical blows on the steps of the famous Bolshoi Theater. First, Tatler's Eduard Dorozhkin insulted GQ's Michael Idov in a Facebook post that had anti-Semitic overtones [ru]. Idov, a Jewish emigre whose parents fled...

New Realities of the India-Russia Defence Partnership

  24 October 2012

India has traditionally enjoyed warm defense ties with Russia. However, New Delhi’s recent tilt towards Washington has prompted Moscow to enhance its defense and diplomatic states with other South Asian countries, most notably Pakistan.

Russia: DDoS Attacks Cripple Opposition's Online Vote

RuNet Echo  20 October 2012

Eight hours after online voting for the Russian opposition's “Coordinating Council” began, unknown assailants launched a sustained Denial-of-Service attack against the Election Commission's website, disabling the primary voting portal.

Russia: A Ponzi Scheme to Destroy the Opposition's Coordinating Council?

RuNet Echo  19 October 2012

There are storm clouds rolling in for the Coordinating Council's coming elections, and the promise of a democratic triumph for the protest movement could be faltering, thanks mainly to the unsavory scheming of one of Russia's most infamous and odious characters: Sergei Mavrodi, the founder of the MMM series of pyramid schemes

Russia: Regional Governor Holds Twitter Q&A

RuNet Echo  18 October 2012

Two days ago Alexander Tkachev, governor of the the southern Kradnodarskiy Krai (one of Russia's 87 federal regions), announced a “twitter-conference” [ru], soliciting questions from his followers. Today he spent a few hours answering several dozen of them. The new-media-savvy public relations move met with hundreds of “trolling” questions like “how...

Russia: Candidates Drop Out of Opposition Elections

RuNet Echo  17 October 2012

On October 16 two high profile candidates in the opposition's Coordinating Council elections announced they are withdrawing from the campaign. Economist Irina Yasina and writer Liudmila Ulitskaya published a statement [ru] on Yasina's blog, explaining that there are other “younger” and more “active” “young people” involved in the process, and that...

Russia: Politics of the Nobel Peace Prize Nominations

RuNet Echo  7 October 2012

On September 27th the three imprisoned members of Pussy Riot wrote a letter [ru] which registered their desire to nominate their lawyers for the Nobel Peace Prize. This predictably caused outrage [ru] from pro-government bloggers. One of the lawyers, Mark Feygin, tweeted [ru] that the move was political — a nomination would create a protective...

Russia: Apple Logo Branded As Unchristian by Orthodox Activists

RuNet Echo  3 October 2012

Interfax new agency reported [ru] today that a fringe group of Russian Orthodox activists (including some priests) has “on a number of occasions” staged public protests against the maker of the iPhone and iPad, Apple Inc., on the grounds that the company's logo (a monochrome “bitten” apple) constitutes an anti-Christian symbol.

Russia: Echo of Moscow Pokes Fun at Environmentalist Dissident

RuNet Echo  3 October 2012

Earlier today, oppositionist blogger Oleg Kozyrev took issue [ru] with an apparent gag that graced the website of Echo of Moscow. In an article titled “Leader of the Khimki Ecologists and Mayoral Candidate Evgenia Chirikova Complains About Interference In Her Election Campaign,” the accompanying photo [ru] features Chirikova against the background of...