Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned that emotions should not interfere with Russia-Belarus relations. Lavrov was speaking as Belarus paid off its $21.16-million debt to Russian energy export monopoly Inter RAO, a day after Moscow cut electricity supplies to the country. “It is in our interests that any emotional outbursts should be removed from [...]
Tag: Soviet Union
June 30, 2011
June 30, 2011
Video Catches Medvedev in Driving Gaffe
Memo to President Dmitry Medvedev: Next time you plunge into a crowd, don’t forget to park your car first. Medvedev took his “Go, Russia!” motto a bit too far in an incident captured on video, stepping from the driver’s seat of an SUV and then frantically trying to hold the vehicle back as it kept moving toward a group of people waiting to greet him. Burly bodyguards swiftly came [...]
June 29, 2011
Ex-Spymaster Convicted Of Betraying Chapman
Ex-Spymaster Convicted Of Betraying Chapman ‘Mary, try to take it calmly. I’m leaving … forever,’ Poteyev wrote. By Alexander Bratersky The St. Petersburg Times Published: June 29, 2011 (Issue # 1663) MOSCOW — A senior intelligence official was sentenced in absentia Monday to 25 years in prison for betraying Anna Chapman and the nine other sleeper agents in the United States who [...]
June 29, 2011
Russia: From empire to great power
To start off, independence brought different things to different republics. The Baltic countries became EU and NATO members and their future is now linked with European and Euro-Atlantic institutions. In Central Asia, the former Soviet republics each have a very different status. Some of them, like Kazakhstan, have managed to score impressive results in economic [...]
June 29, 2011
June 29, 2011
In Soviet Relapse, Critics Sent to Psychiatric Hospitals
A woman adjusting her hat as she walks with other people on Red Square on Tuesday. The view of the square is through Voskresensky (Resurrection) Gate. Editor’s note: This is the first article in a series on punitive psychiatry. In the Soviet Union, dissidents were labeled schizophrenics, thrown into psychiatric hospitals and drugged just for questioning the government. It wasn’t until the Soviet demise [...]
June 29, 2011
Who Really Won World War II?
Who Really Won World War II? By Alexei Bayer Published: June 29, 2011 (Issue # 1663) Russians react nervously to any narrative about World War II that differs from their own. When the United States, Britain or France pay tribute to their countrymen who fought and defeated Adolf Hitler, it is seen in Moscow as [...]
June 29, 2011
Sexy Wendy for Russian Opening Surprises Wendy’s
Sexy Wendy for Russian Opening Surprises Wendy’s By Khristina Narizhnaya The St. Petersburg Times Published: June 29, 2011 (Issue # 1663) Igor Tabakov / The St. Petersburg Times Models posing at the new outlet. MOSCOW — The Wendy’s models in trademark pigtails who greeted reporters outside the U.S. hamburger chain’s first standalone Russian restaurant on Thursday didn’t resemble your [...]
June 29, 2011
U.K. Sees No Decline in Number of Russian Students
U.K. Sees No Decline in Number of Russian Students By Sam Marriott The St. Petersburg Times Published: June 29, 2011 (Issue # 1663) FOR SPT Well-off Russians with ambitions for their children see British public schools as a launchpad to prestigious universities such as Cambridge University (above). In the 1970s and 80s, the literacy rate [...]
June 28, 2011
Ex-Spymaster Convicted of Betraying Anna Chapman
A senior intelligence official was sentenced in absentia Monday to 25 years in prison for betraying Anna Chapman and the nine other sleeper agents in the United States who flew to Moscow in a spy swap last summer. The Moscow District Military Court said Colonel Alexander Poteyev, who oversaw the sleeper agents as deputy head of the “S” department of the Foreign Intelligence Service, fled Russia shortly [...]
June 27, 2011
China Sovereign Wealth Fund Likes Sberbank
BEIJING — China Investment Corp., the country’s $300 billion sovereign wealth fund, is tipped to buy a 5 percent stake in Sberbank, a Chinese newspaper reported, citing sources. The 21st Century Business Herald reported that an unidentified investment bank that is arranging the partial privatization of Sberbank has contacted CIC for a possible deal. “The investment bank and CIC have made initial contact and if everything is smooth, [...]
June 25, 2011
The Sound of Music
RussiaProfile.Org, an online publication providing in-depth analysis of business, politics, current affairs and culture in Russia, has published a new Special Report on the performing arts in Russia: Bodies in Motion. Twelve articles by both Russian and foreign contributors examine the current trends in theater, music and adjacent forms of art both as creative activities [...]
June 24, 2011
Our 70th anniversary: From Sovinformburo to RIA Novosti 7.0
RIA Novosti marks its 70th anniversary today. Established on June 24, 1941, the Soviet Information Bureau, commonly known as Sovinformburo, has evolved into one of the world’s largest media holdings. RIA Novosti has held on to the best traditions of its past while at the same time remaking itself, expanding, and moving confidently into the [...]
June 24, 2011
Sexy Russian Wendy Surprises Wendy’s
Two models dressed as a more risque version of Wendy’s symbol posing for the camera Thursday on the Arbat. 1 of 5 The Wendy’s models in trademark pigtails who greeted reporters outside the U.S. hamburger chain’s first standalone Russian restaurant on Thursday didn’t resemble your traditional Wendy girls. Instead of the wholesome freckle-faced redhead in old-fashioned pantaloons, these long-legged women wore [...]