Don’t let the smooth forehead, rosy cheeks and wrinkle-free eye area fool you – rumours of Vladimir Putin‘s use of Botox have long swirled around Russia. As Putin launched an annual televised question and answer programme, those rumours went global. Top trending on Twitter during the marathon event wasn’t #putin or it was #botox (in [...]
Tag: Dmitry Medvedev
December 16, 2011
December 16, 2011
Russia’s Baltic radar to be fully operational by 2014
Russia’s new anti-missile radar station in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad will become fully operational by the middle of 2014, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily. “According to our estimates, it will take about one and a half years to put the facility into full operation,” Serdyukov said. The facility was opened [...]
December 16, 2011
Brussels Raises Election Concerns At Russia Summit
BRUSSELS — The European Union used a summit with Russia today to highlight concerns over claims of massive fraud during this month’s Russian parliamentary elections. Russia’s December 4 State Duma elections and their aftermath — including the detention of demonstrators — were not officially on the agenda of the summit, which otherwise focused on economic [...]
December 12, 2011
Billionaire Prokhorov to run for president, pledges to create new party
Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov announced on Monday he would run for presidency at the upcoming presidential elections next March and create a new political party. “I made probably the most serious decision in my life. I am running for president,” Prokhorov told a press conference, adding that he would have to collect signatures and register [...]
December 12, 2011
Pro-Kremlin response rally draws 25,000 in Moscow
More than 25,000 supporters of President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gathered just outside the Kremlin on Monday in response to the biggest opposition demonstration in Moscow in years, police said. Members of the country’s pro-Kremlin youth movements chanted pro-government slogans and brandished banners including “We PUT IN our Votes!”, “We have voted! [...]
December 12, 2011
Putin’s party launches Facebook group ‘for fair elections’
A group entitled “United Russia for fair elections” has been launched on Facebook on the behalf of Russia’s largest political party amid a wave of protests against the alleged fraud in its favor in last week’s parliamentary polls. “We, United Russia members, call for fair elections!” a post on the group’s Facebook page reads. “We [...]
December 12, 2011
EU Plans To Raise Election Issue At Upcoming Russia Summit
EU officials plan to raise the issue of Russia’s recent parliamentary elections, which the opposition claims were rigged, in talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev this week. Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU foreign-policy chief Catherine Ashton, said she expected the issue would be raised at the EU-Russia summit due to take place on December 14-15 [...]
December 12, 2011
Kremlin Offers Minor Concessions To Protesters
MOSCOW — In the days since Russia witnessed the largest antigovernment demonstrations since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Kremlin has made what appear to be a series of conciliatory gestures. On December 10, as tens of thousands took to the streets to protest electoral fraud, state media surprised viewers by airing full, straightforward, [...]
December 12, 2011
Nets’ Mikhail Prokhorov to run for Russian presidency
MOSCOW — After a week of surprising challenges to his authority, Vladimir Putin faces a new one from one of Russia’s richest and most glamorous figures — the billionaire owner of the New Jersey Nets says he will run against Putin in March’s presidential election. Mikhail Prokhorov’s announcement Monday came just hours after another Russian [...]
December 12, 2011
Main news of December 11
WORLD * South Ossetian opposition leader Alla Dzhioyeva asked her supporters to stop demonstrations on the main square of the republic’s capital, Tskhinvali, under a deal reached with the incumbent authorities * Residents of Moldova’s breakaway Transdnestr region voted to elect their leader for the next five years RUSSIA * President Dmitry Medvedev disagreed with [...]
December 12, 2011
Russian ex-finance minister says may establish new political party
It is an ideal time for establishing a new Russian right-wing party as the country’s “political landscape” is changing, former Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said in an interview with Vedomosti business daily published on Monday. New Russian party to be established In the first interview after his scandalous dismissal, Kudrin, who fell out with [...]
December 12, 2011
Russian Vologda region’s governor resigns over lack of trust
The Governor of Russia’s Vologda region Vyacheslav Pozgalev wrote on his Twitter account on Monday that he had filed for resignation to President Dmitry Medvedev because of a lack of the people’s trust. “I have filed a resignation petition to the president. I consider it impossible to run the region with such a level of [...]
December 12, 2011
Russia’s Medvedev Rejects Demand For New Vote, Orders Inquiry Into Fraud Claims
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says he disagrees with demands made at nationwide protests for a rerun of parliamentary elections. But Medvedev said on his Facebook account on December 11 that he had nevertheless asked officials to look into reports of possible violations at polling stations during the December 4 vote. The ruling United Russia party [...]
December 11, 2011
Medvedev disapproves of rally’s slogans, but orders election probe
President Dmitry Medvedev ordered an investigation into alleged vote rigging, but stressed the messages voiced at the opposition demonstration Saturday did not carry his support. “I disagree with both the slogans and statements made at the rally. Nevertheless, I have given instructions that all reports from voting stations be checked to ensure compliance with election [...]