Stories about Russian from January, 2010
Russia: Opposition Blogger Finally Gets Permission To Leave Country
An opposition blogger Oleg Kozlovsky tells his story [EN] on how his blog helped his to finally receive a passport allowing him to leave Russia. The country's Federal Security Service (FSB) refused to issue a new passport to Kozlovsky but quickly changed its decision after he published a blog post...
Russia: Book Written Using Collective Efforts Online
Russian writer Evgeny Popov decided to create his new book using online input from readers of his blog. The author publishes every chapter of the book [RUS] online with several questions at the end. The readers’ answers and feedback shape the next chapter. Popov plans to publish the book along...
Russia: Newspaper Blog Covers Practices Of Trolling
A recent post on the blog [RUS] of a famous Russian oppositional newspaper “Novaya Gazeta” covers general practices of political trolling on the Russian Internet.
Russia: Political Dossier Web Site Shut Down
Compromat.ru, a notorious Web site that publishes controversial dossiers on various Russian politicians and businessmen, has been allegedly closed following a court order, Elena Tokareva (a.k.a. LJ user elena-tokareva2) reported [RUS]. There are no further details on the issue but a mirror site kompromat.ru has been launched with some of...
Russia: Prosecution Against Opposition Blogger Stopped
The first criminal case against a blogger in Russia with a happy ending unfolded over a long period of time. After two years of investigation and three socio-linguistic assessments, experts didn't find any evidence of "incitement hatred against police and Russian Security Service officers." But the blogger's victory, however, is rather an exception than a rule.
Russia: Newspaper Web Site Hacked
The Web site of a popular Russian newspaper “Novaya Gazeta” has been hacked today, RIA news agency reported [EN]. Allegedly, the attack has been provoked by the article [RUS] about a controversial demolition [ENG] of houses at the luxury Rechnik neighborhood in Moscow.
Russia: Editor Of Major Newspaper Says Police Treats Internet As Traditional Media
Commenting on the recent arrest of a former Russian police officer who used a video blog to expose police corruption in the country, an editor of a major Russian newspaper “Vedomosti” said that Russian police “treats Internet as an extension of traditional media and fights bloggers as they do journalists.”
Russian Blogger Harassed For Marrying Chinese
Maria Gromakova became a victim of comprehensive virtual attacks of Russian extreme nationalists. Online harassment eventually turned into a real-life nightmare forcing Maria and her family to leave Russia. She tells her story to GVO.
Russia: Gamer, Cat And Intellectual Are Most Popular Memes On RuNet
“Hero of the Runet” prize is awarded this year to the following Internet memes of Russian Internet: computer games reviewer Ilya Maddison, cute Cat Manul and Russian flamboyant intellectual Anatoly Vasserman.
Ukraine: Citizen Media and Political Forecasting
There was no lack of interest in the outcome of the presidential election in Ukraine, and, as a result, the blogosphere was overflowing with political forecasting attempts on the eve of the Jan. 17 first-round vote. Below are summaries of a selection of polls and forecasts that appeared on Ukrainian and Russian blogs.
Russia: Project Aims To Translate Popular Blogs Into Russian
The World Wide Web now hosts a new project that aims to make English-speaking blogosphere more accessible to Russians. Inoblogger [RUS] is a Web site that will be translating the most popular IT-related blog posts from all over the Web into Russian.
Ukraine: Bloggers Discuss Presidential Election
Ukrainians went to the polls on Jan. 17 to choose their president from the 18 candidates running for the post this year. Opposition leader Victor Yanukovich received 35.32% of the vote; prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko is in second place, with 25.05%. As neither won 50% of the vote, they face a runoff vote on Feb. 7. Below are some of the reactions from the Ukrainian blogosphere.
Russia: Story About Paid Bloggers Appears On TV
Paid bloggers became a topic of a segment [RUS] in a popular Russian TV program “Vesti.” The story depicts mechanism of blog marketing and shows interview with a popular paid blogger in Russia sholademi.
Russia: Company To Pay $300K For Illegaly Taking Forbes Domain
Russian cybersquatter company “Landmark VIP Service” will have to pay $300,000 penalties for illegally taking domain Forbes.ru, forbesrussia.ru reports [RUS] . It is the largest fine for cybersquatting in the history of RuNet.
Uzbekistan: War of the monuments
14th January is celebrated as the Day of Defender of the Motherland in Uzbekistan. On the eve of this day, a grand opening ceremony of the monument “Oath to the Homeland” took place in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. The monument depicting an oath-taking soldier and a benedictory woman behind...
Russian Bloggers React to Haiti Earthquake
Reaction of Russian bloggers to the devastating earthquake in Haiti is diverse and sometimes unexpected. The cataclysm provided an opportunity for sorrow, support, contemplation and self-observance.
Russia: Businessman in Exile Uses Blog to Answer Questions
One of the youngest Russian millionaires Yevgeny Chichvarkin [EN], who escaped Russian authorities and currently resides in London, UK, used his blog [RUS] as a platform for a virtual press conference. This live Q&A session attracted thousands of bloggers.
Russia: Largest Political Community Online Removed And Restored
The recent case of the most popular political online community demonstrated how easy it is to limit free expression on RuNet and revealed the willingness of online audience to defend free speech.
Russia: Quarter of Households Use Broadband
A recent report [RUS] shows that 23.6 percent of households in Russia use broadband Internet access. Analysts also predict the increase in wireless Internet usage in the country within the next few years.
Russia: Mobile Operator Upset With Mockery Online
Russia's largest mobile telecommunication company Mobile Telesystems [ENG] demanded to remove a blog post [RUS] that mocked the company's new ad campaign, adme.ru [RUS] reports. Russian blogosphere is boiling with indignation (here and here ).
Russia: Details of Arrested Blogger Case Emerge on RuNet
LJ user beri_llii published [RUS] details of Irek Murtazin's [ENG] criminal case. Murtazin has been arrested last year on defamation charges when he reported on rumors about the death of Tatarstan president.