· October, 2011

Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from October, 2011

Macedonia: Lead Smelting Factory Problem in Veles

  31 October 2011

Jovan Petrov provides an overview of the problem with the lead and zync smelting factory in Veles, after the court rejected a suit against the state from the municipality and local NGOs, demanding cleaning of pollution which will affect “10 generations to come” in this impoverished community.

Russia: The Data Leak War and Other Pre-Election Surprises

RuNet Echo  31 October 2011

Current online political activity in Russia points to information warfare occurring between independent civil-society groups or remnants of 'traditional' political opposition, against various government officials and pro-government youth movements.

Russia: Alternative Voting Portal Launched

RuNet Echo  31 October 2011

Habrahabr-user uhaby writes [ru] about otdamgolos.ru, a web-portal that offers users to propose alternative parliamentary and presidential candidates as well as to vote for them. The author claims that within 10 days his website attended 137,500+ visitors. In the virtual parliamentary election three parties received most votes: 1. The Pirate Party,...

Russia: Izhevsk City Manager Caught on Camera Talking About Election Bribery

RuNet Echo  31 October 2011

Udmurtia.tv publishes a video [ru] of Denis Agashin, Izhevsk city manager, telling the representatives of veteran organizations that the next year's financial support will depend on the results of “United Russia” party in their district. As Alexander Kynev, a prominent political analyst, points out: “Progress it's not only forcing students...

Russia: Pirate Flag Over Novosibirsk City

RuNet Echo  31 October 2011

LJ-user dedmaxopka publishes [ru] pictures of himself placing a pirate flag over Novosibirsk city administration. “We just wanted to make nice pictures of the city,” explained the blogger to the police that identified him the same day. Blogger was charged with ‘petty hooliganism’ and had to pay a small fine.

Russia: Retired Tennis Star Marat Safin to Run for Parliament

RuNet Echo  30 October 2011

Russian tennis phenomenon, Marat Safin, has announced that he will run for the Russian State Duma in the December 4 elections. However, his public image, as illustrated by citizen media outlets, has until now not been focused on public service. Donna Welles reports.

Ukraine: “We Are Europeans”

  29 October 2011

Ordinary Ukrainians are using citizen media and social networks to voice their commitment to European values and organize rallies in support of Ukraine's European orientation. Veronica Khokhlova reports.

Ukraine: Best Ukrainian Blog Awards Competition Launched

  28 October 2011

Watcher.com.ua [uk], a Ukrainian Internet business and social media marketing website, launches [uk] Best Ukrainian Blog Awards (BUBA). Participants may be nominated and voted for by Internet users between Oct. 26 and Nov. 18, 2011. Winners will be announced on Nov. 19 at Microsoft Blogfest 2011 [uk].

Russia: Fake ‘Crowd Sourced’ Election Monitoring Portal Launched by the Ruling Party

RuNet Echo  28 October 2011

Gazeta.ru writes [ru] about government-sponsored NGOs that help simulate legitimacy of the election process. Among others authors mention ktonarushil.ru, a fake crowdsourcing monitoring portal launched by “United Russia” party. Not only it reminds kartanarusheniy.ru [an authentic monitoring website run by independent election monitor “Golos.org”] but it also doesn't allow to file...

Russia: Crowd-Sourced Citizen Lawmaking Platform

RuNet Echo  28 October 2011

The Economist writes about WikiVote (e.g. see projects dedicated to the laws on education, Sberbank, state-owned bank), Russian croudsourcing platform to comment and contribute to the creation of the laws. Pavel Burov, creator of the platform, claims his project can ‘prevent idiocy [in lawmaking] from happening.’

Russia: Pre-Election Scandals, YouTube Videos and Semi-Anonymous Protest

RuNet Echo  27 October 2011

Anna Arutiunova at Russia Profile covers recent pre-election RuNet scandals (see also this week's GV coverage here and here). “RuNet has become an essential platform for the dirty business of political campaigning. It’s just that unlike the press or television, where pseudonyms are not the order of the day, the...

Russia: Author of “the Barracks Blog” De-Anonymized, Allegedly Threatened

RuNet Echo  26 October 2011

Vasiliy (@sosigusyan [ru]), military conscript and the author of “the Barracks Blog,” a Twitter-account telling about the life in the army (see transcripts of his tweets here [ru] and here [ru]) had been de-anonymized by the military authorities. The content of the micro-blog had been deleted and someone else started...

Russia: Site of Political Phone Pranks Launched

RuNet Echo  26 October 2011

politicprank.ru, website dedicated to the phone pranks with politicians has launched on October 26, 2011. The first prank [ru] has been conducted allegedly with the head of the security of Vladimir Putin. Authenticity of the recording, however, is not proved yet.

Russia: Hacked Mailbox of Anti-Corruption Blogger Published Online

RuNet Echo  26 October 2011

Private mailbox allegedly belonging to Alexey Navalny, famous anti-corruption blogger, has been hacked and published at navalnymail.kz by an attacker nicknamed onenavnav [ru]. Navalny hasn't confirmed the authenticity of the leaked e-mails yet. Observers suggest that the leak might be connected to the plan of Navalny's discreditation.

Ukraine: Turning into a European Pariah?

  26 October 2011

Jonathan Hibberd of Chicken in Kiev addresses how Ukrainian politicians are increasingly becoming a pariah in the European Union, following the verdict of opposition leader Yulia Timoshenko.

About our Eastern & Central Europe coverage

Filip Stojanovski
Filip Stojanovski is the Central Europe editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.

Daria Dergacheva
Daria Dergacheva is the Eastern Europe editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.