Stories about Russian from November, 2013
VIDEOS: Ukraine's Police Brutally Beat #Euromaidan Protesters to “Clear” Square
In citizen photos and videos, police are seen beating protesters with batons, chasing unarmed protesters, and even kicking protesters that fall trying to escape.
VIDEO: Kazakh Students Sing Love Songs for President
After a massive rally in which some 3,000 students expressed their love for Kazakhstan's president, netizens compare the country to North Korea.
A Bird's-Eye View of Russian Corruption
Blogger Alexey Navalny has launched a new attack against five prominent Russian politicians, accusing them bribe-taking and failing to declare vast property holdings that include opulent mansions located outside Moscow.
Red Square's Makeover: Goodbye, Lenin. Hello, Louis Vuitton!
Lenin’s Mausoleum is no longer the most imposing structure in Moscow’s Red Square. From now until January 19, that honor belongs to a 20-foot-tall Louis Vuitton advertisement.
Ukrainian pro-EU Protest Pleases the Russian Opposition
But no consensus on whether Ukraine should continue the long process of EU accession or whether it should forge yet closer ties with Russia.
Uzbekistan's “Twitter Warrior” Gulnara Karimova Is Back
After disappearing from Twitter yesterday, Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of Uzbekistan's “enduring dictator“, has returned to the micro-blogging service. In a flurry of angry tweets, Gulnara is blaming [ru] her mother for using intimidation and arbitrary arrests against her colleagues, allies, and business partners. Gulnara also suggests that her mother is...
Ukraine Suspends EU Deal, Protesters Fill Kyiv's Independence Square
On the eve of their Orange Revolution anniversary, Ukrainian citizens take to the streets to protest a suspended EU deal that would help their country grow closer to the West.
Closure for Russian Terror Victims?
Was the mastermind behind the Volgograd bus bombing killed by Russian special forces or captured by Dagestani civilians?
Gulnara Karimova Ends Provocative “Twitter War” in Uzbekistan
Uzbek president's glamorous daughter has deactivated Twitter account she used to expose power struggles in Uzbekistan and feuds within the first family.
“Catalan Independence” Explained in 16 Languages
The debut video of The Catalan Project (@Catalan_Project) features Fernando de Castro, “a Catalan from Galicia and Spanish”, presenting the project and explaining why some Catalans want independence from Spain using the 16 languages he is able to speak. Subtitles are available in English, French, German, Spanish and Catalan. The Catalan Project, an...
LGBT-Friendly Coloring Books for Russians
Activists from the LGBT equality T-shirt company FCKH8.com are planning to send 10,000 copies of a pro-gay coloring book titled “Misha and His Two Mothers” to families with children in Moscow and Sochi, prior to the 2014 Winter Olympics. The book's core message, captured by the catchphrase “Gay Is Okay!”...
Russian Social Conservatives & Economic Liberals Want to Cut Abortion Funding
Russians have consistently opposed measures aimed at restricting access to abortion. Despite this, there are indications the Russian government is moving to introduce restrictions on the practice.
Cushy New Job for Sacked Russian Defense Minister
Is former Minister of Defense Serdyukov's new appointment a reward for his silence in a large-scale corruption scandal?
Anglophone Bloggers Parse Russian Nationalism
Ethnic nationalism now seems to be enjoying a renaissance in Russia. The nationalist theme is especially pronounced in RuNet commentary, and Anglophone Russia bloggers have noticed this trend, too.
As Twitter Use Rises in Tajikistan, Who Should You Follow?
Although Twitter's popularity in Tajikistan still lags far behind that of Odnoklassniki or Facebook, the number of Tajikistani voices on the social network is rising. Nilufar Shukrikhudo observes: It makes me quite happy to see twitter gain momentum in #Tajikistan. I've been waiting for a while for that to happen. —...
Will Russia’s Scrotum Revolt Join Pussy Riot in Prison?
Petr Pavlensky, the political artist who recently nailed his scrotum the pavement in Red Square, now faces the same “hooliganism” charges at the center of the Pussy Riot trial.
“I have Dreams of My Own”: Revolting Against Patriarchy in Kazakhstan
A Kazakhstani blogger writes [ru] about her transformation from a “wife and mother”, the role that the patriarchal society reserves for women, to a “free woman”. She calls the process a “revolution in my head”: And then I realized it… I have dreams of my own, the dreams that have little...
Russia's Potemkin Hospitals?
Are modern hospitals shown on television fakes rolled out to bamboozle VIPs like Prime Minister Medvedev?
Kazakhstan's Facebook Rival Groups Members by Tribe
How do you create a social networking platform that would be popular in society dominated by Facebook and Odnoklassniki? In Kazakhstan, the answer is tribe. Rulas [Kazakh for “tribemate”], a new social network that has already attracted several thousand members, groups users according to their clans and tribes. Although tribal identities...
Pussy Riot's Tolokonnikova Transferred to Krasnoyarsk
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova's exact whereabouts were unknown for the past three weeks, after prison authorities announced that the Pussy Riot icon would be transferred from a prison in the Republic of Mordovia to an unknown location. On November 12, 2103, authorities finally revealed some information about Tolokonnikova's new home. The federal human rights...
Soviet Environmental Posters
Skyfall presents [ru] a collection of environmental posters from the Soviet period. The blogger who often writes about environmental problems in Kazakhstan and some of his readers are nostalgic about the “environmental education and awareness-raising programs” of the Soviet era. Below are some of the posters collected by the blogger: