Archive for the 'AP Russia' Category
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
A bill to extend the presidential term from four to six years has been backed by Russia’s upper house of parliament after regional assemblies endorsed it.
All the Federation Council senators present backed the assemblies’ decision to lengthen the term, the last step in the legislative approval process.
Last month, both the lower house and upper house approved the bill.
The bill’s rapid progression is being seen as a sign Vladimir Putin may return to the presidency soon.
The changes needed the backing of at least two-thirds of the country’s regional legislatures but were approved unanimously, according to Russian news agencies.
Read on from the BBC
Posted in AP Russia | No Comments »
Sunday, March 29th, 2009
MOSCOW — President Dmitri A. Medvedev replaced the governor of a northwest region on Saturday, apparently seeking to ensure that the ruling party remained in control there after it suffered a surprising defeat in local elections.
Mr. Medvedev’s move in the region, Murmansk, suggested that the Kremlin wanted to clamp down quickly on hints of disloyalty among its cadre of governors as it faces possible discontent at the regional level over the financial crisis.
The dismissed governor, Yuri A. Yevdokimov, is a member of the ruling party, United Russia, but he had been feuding with party leaders lately. And in the mayoral election this month in the city of Murmansk, Mr. Yevdokimov supported an independent candidate, who triumphed easily over United Russia’s nominee.
The loss in the city, which is the region’s capital and has about 320,000 people, was a rebuke to United Russia. It led to a round of recriminations that reached all the way from the Murmansk region, which borders Finland and Norway, to party headquarters in Moscow.
Governors in Russia used to be elected, but are now appointed by the president, under a system that was put in place by Russia’s paramount leader, Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, when he was president in 2004. The change was widely seen as an effort by Mr. Putin to centralize power in the Kremlin.
But many mayors continue to be elected, and these elections have become a test of the ruling party’s strength.
At least three well-known candidates, for example, are expected to vie next month to become mayor of the southern city of Sochi, which is to host the Winter Olympics in 2014.
The Kremlin announced Mr. Yevdokimov’s replacement on its Web site on Saturday and, as is typically the case, the statement said he had voluntarily resigned. It seemed clear, though, that if he had not done so, he would have been dismissed.
The statement also said Mr. Medvedev had nominated Dmitri Dmitrienko, a senior federal fisheries official, to serve as governor.
Posted in AP Russia | No Comments »
Friday, February 27th, 2009
Opening with a personal anecdote from his experience on the USA Olympic basketball team playing against the Soviet Union, former Senator Bill Bradley provides his thoughts on the past, present, and future of Russia.
Watch Bill Bradley’s assessment of U.S. – Russian relations
Posted in AP Post AP Seminar, AP Russia, World Civ-Post Cold War | No Comments »
Saturday, February 21st, 2009
If you want to take the pulse of Russia as its oil and gas boom of the past few years comes to a sudden and wrenching stop, leave behind the garish consumerism of Moscow and drive 220 miles (355 km) southwest to the small Russian town of Lyudinovo. For the first part of the five-hour trip, the road is a smooth four-lane highway that whisks you past gleaming gas stations and a brand-new Samsung TV factory. Then everything slows down. The highway turns single-track and becomes progressively rougher. For the last 20 miles (32 km), you bump along the ruts, distracted only by the swaying rows of silver birch trees that flank the road.
Read on from Time Mag
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Sunday, January 18th, 2009
This thoroughly revised and updated edition of the classic text provides the most current and authoritative assessment of Russia available. Distinguished scholars offer a full-scale assessment of Putin’s leadership, exploring the daunting domestic and international implications of Putin”s reign.
Read selected essays (on topics of domestic policy, the economy and foreign policy) from this books for free at Google Books. I particularly impressed by Petrov and Slider’s essay, “Putin and the Regions”.
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Sunday, January 18th, 2009
Russian gas monopoly Gazprom was supposed to have restarted the flow of natural gas to Europe via Ukraine Jan. 13. How much is actually getting through is uncertain at this point, but one thing is certain: Eastern Europe has been left in the cold ever since Gazprom ceased gas flows…
View the Foreign Policy Magazine Photo Essay
Posted in AP Russia | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
The Economist offers keen insights into Russia’s past, present and future in this 2008 survey. The introductory and concluding articles are especially noteworthy. Enjoy it here.
Posted in AP Russia | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
Tanks rolling into neighbouring countries, the media back under state control and Kremlin policy shrouded in secrecy … Luke Harding reports on why Russia seems hellbent on reverting to its Soviet past. Read on from The Guardian
Posted in AP Russia, World Civ-Post Cold War | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
Obeying orders from the top, Russian television has banned the use of words such as “crisis”, “decline” and “devaluation”. Coverage of the mayhem in the country’s stock market, where shares have fallen by 75 per cent since August, is scant.
Instead, just as in Soviet times, Russians are told how bad everything is in the West. The US, Russians are told, is in irreversible decline, while desperate Britons are throwing themselves into the Thames. The Queen, facing imminent penury, has been forced to pawn her diamonds and, according to one tabloid front page, we can no longer afford to bury our dead…
On November 4, Dmitry Medvedev, the protégé Mr Putin shoehorned into his old job as president in May, announced that he would seek a constitutional amendment extending the standard term of office from two consecutive terms of four years to two terms of six.
Read on…
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Sunday, September 7th, 2008
Remember the mammoths, say the clean-cut organisers at the youth camp’s mass wedding. “They became extinct because they did not have enough sex. That must not happen to Russia”.
Obediently, couples move to a special section of dormitory tents arranged in a heart-shape and called the Love Oasis, where they can start procreating for the motherland.
With its relentlessly upbeat tone, bizarre ideas and tight control, it sounds like a weird indoctrination session for a phoney religious cult.
But this organisation – known as “Nashi”, meaning “Ours” – is youth movement run by Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin that has become a central part of Russian political life.
Read on
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