Friday 19th March

Kafka’s Castle is collapsing

Andrei Loshak, 19 March 2010
You can’t reason with the absurd, as IKEA found when it tried to build a model business in Russia. Institutional corruption is out of control. Kafka’s Castle is finally collapsing. This is good news, as Russians, ordinary Russians are losing their fear. Now they’re just angry, says Andrei Loshak.
Wednesday 17th March

The Battle for Khimki Forest

Yevgenia Chirikova, 17 March 2010
The plan to construct a section of the new Moscow-St.Petersburg motorway through the legally-protected Khimki Forest Park will destroy a rare eco-system. Dogged local resistance has turned this into a national, even international issue. But it has not derailed the plan
Tuesday 16th March

Arthur Koestler: 20th century man

Masha Karp, 16 March 2010
Arthur Koestler, whose turbulent life charts the intellectual history of the 20thc in the West, has finally found a worthy biographer in Michael Scammell. A youthful communist and survivor of Franco’s prisons, Koestler developed into one of the West’s most persuasive crusaders against communism.
Friday 12th March

Is Russia’s judicial system reformable?

Alena V Ledeneva and Oliver Carroll, 12 March 2010
In this interview for oDRussia, Prof.Alena Ledeneva talks to Oliver Carroll about the prospects for judicial reform in Russia. Medvedev’s efforts amount to far more than rhetoric, argues Ledeneva. Her ongoing research into the subject suggests that they strike at the heart of Russia’s informal system of government.
Thursday 11th March

Tackling Russia’s legal nihilism

Olga Kudeshkina, 11 March 2010
Olga Kudeshkina made headlines in 2004 as the first Russian judge to flag up political interference in the judicial system. Dismissed for her resistance, she took her case to the European Court of Human Rights and won. Kudeshkina outlines the continued political pressure felt by the judiciary and the barriers in the way of President Medvedev’s intentions to reform.
Wednesday 10th March

Grozny: Rebuilt, Fearful and (Almost) Forgotten by the West

Tanya Lokshina, 10 March 2010
Downtown Grozny, Chechnya’s capital, is ablaze with lights and full of chic shops now. But the paralysing fear remains. Human Rights Watch’s Tanya Lokshina and her Memorial colleagues tell a rare visitor from the West about the kidnappings, about the relatives too fearful to complain...
Tuesday 9th March

Dedovshchina: bullying in the Russian Army

Rodric Braithwaite, 9 March 2010
While bullying (see our Soldier’s Tales) is common to all armies, the aberration that is dedovshchina in Russia’s army has a specific history and causes, argues Rodric Braithwaite. Military reform is needed to root it out.

A Soldier's Tale 9: changed, but not utterly dehumanised

Tolya's Letters, 9 March 2010
In his final letter home from the army our conscript Tolya “finds” a mobile phone, is pursued by a mad officer and wonders what kind of man the army’s made of him
Monday 8th March

Women’s day makes a lot of cents

Lisa Surnacheva, 8 March 2010
On Women’s Day in Russia you really get to see what your price tag is

Olympean blow at the Kremlin

Dmitry Travin, 8 March 2010
Russian national pride has been badly dented by poor performance at the winter Olympics. It is being widely read as a political failure, reflecting the effects of corruption, and a regime which promotes PR over professionalism
Friday 5th March

Partition Ukraine? I think not

Adrian Karatnycky, 5 March 2010
It is irresponsible to fan the flames of partition as Ethan Burger does in his openDemocracy article ”Could partition solve Ukraine’s problem?” Neither the facts nor opinion polls support such wild speculation, says Adrian Karatnycky
Wednesday 3rd March

So what do Russia’s people think?

Alexei Levinson, 3 March 2010
In the first of his regular monthly reports for odRussia, Alexei Levinson of Russia’s prestigious Levada Centre offers a round-up of Russian public opinion at the start of 2010. Even when the economic crisis lead people to judge their government, he notes, approval of Prime Minister Putin remained high. Nor do people seem particularly bothered by Russia’s imaginary elections
Tuesday 2nd March

Stepan Bandera: a divisive national icon

Roman Kabachiy, 2 March 2010
Viktor Yushchenko has left his successor a ticking time bomb. His name is Stepan Bandera. Should Yanukovych strip him of the official status of hero, which he has been accorded?
Monday 1st March

Life and death of an independent newspaper in Oryol

Elena Godlevskaya, 1 March 2010
In 2004, some local journalists in Oryol founded an independent newspaper ‘for those who want the truth’. Although it sold well, members of staff were subject to threats, bribes, attacks and arson. Still, it lasted four years.
Friday 26th February

Saving the Amur tiger

Mumin Shakirov, 26 February 2010
With the Amur tiger population facing extinction, organisations from Russia and abroad have been working to save them. They don’t always agree as to how this should be done. Then there are the politics, Mumin Shakirov observes. Perhaps the Year of the Tiger will be auspicious for the Amur big cats…
Thursday 25th February

Netanyahu and the sanctioning of Iran

Thomas S Evans, 25 February 2010
Israel’s attempt to rally support for energy sanctions against Iran look like failing, for good reason. They would be likely to work to the detriment of the West’s and Israel’s goals.

Drug crisis on Russia’s borders

Elena Strelnikova, 25 February 2010
Russia’s drugs problem has reached crisis point in Orenburg Region. It borders on Central Asia and is used as a transit point. Government measures against trafficking and addiction are hampered by lack of money and official attitudes
Wednesday 24th February

A Soldier’s Tale 8: violence is no joke

Tolya's Letters, 24 February 2010
Our conscript Tolya continues his study of violence in his airborne division of the Russian army
Tuesday 23rd February

Ukraine: preserving nationhood

Valery Kalnysh, 23 February 2010
Russian-Ukrainian ties may have deteriorated during Yushchenko’s presidency, but his successor Yanukovych is determined to redress that balance. It is crucial that Ukrainians continue to feel they are a sovereign nation, maintains Valery Kalnysh.
Monday 22nd February

IKEA in Russia: Now 'Everything is Possible'...for a price

Jesse Heath, 22 February 2010
IKEA, which has publicly railed against corruption in Russia, has itself been caught paying bribes there. Could President Medvedev's anti-corruption campaign really turn Russia into a place where foreigners can do business, wonders Jesse Heath?
Syndicate content