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Russia Blog
Russia Blog presents up-to-date news, facts and commentary on the state of events in Russia and the former Soviet Union. The blog is managed by Yuri Mamchur, Director of Discovery Institute's Real Russia Project.

Matching entries from Russia Blog
Finding Quid Pro Quo with Russia
President Bush and President Putin at the 2006 G-8 Summit in St. Petersburg In case you missed it, Dimitri K. Simes published an interesting op-ed in the Los Angeles Times on March 22, 2007. In addition to serving as...
Posted by Charles Ganske on April 15, 2007 4:00 PM

Russia as Friend, Not Foe
By Nicolai N. Petro Why We Misread Putin’s Russia Rarely has Russia’s leadership been so widely reviled in the West, yet rarely has the West needed Russia’s friendship more. The most obvious reason why the West needs Russia is the...
Posted by Yuri Mamchur on February 19, 2007 3:30 AM

Putin Meets with Russian and Foreign Journalists
“I do not rule, I simply do my work” – Vladimir Putin February 1, 2007 – Kremlin, Moscow – President Vladimir Putin met with 1,200 journalists and gave a speech summing up events of the last year. For the...
Posted by Yuri Mamchur on February 2, 2007 10:12 PM

Fear of a Chinese Planet?
Chinese police at a border crossing with Russia Many foreign policy analysts in America and around the world perceive a growing alliance between Russia and China to counter U.S. influence. By looking at the diplomatic statements of the Shanghai...
Posted by Charles Ganske on December 7, 2006 11:31 AM

Georgia: More Unintended Consequences?
President Bush and Georgian President Saakashvili in Tblisi in 2005 On Saturday, November 4, the Doha, Qatar-based Gulf Times newspaper reported that Georgian officials are considering importing natural gas from Iran via Azerbaijan in the event Russia cuts them...
Posted by Charles Ganske on November 6, 2006 2:39 PM

Putin Again Rules Out Third Term
This week President Putin answered questions from Russians across the country for 2 hours and 54 minutes. Citizens submitted their questions via e-mail, radio, television studios, and cell phone text messages. People had a chance to ask questions live...
Posted by Yuri Mamchur on October 27, 2006 11:18 AM

Chinese Migration into Russia - Fear vs. Opportunity
Location of Khabarovsk Krai on the Manchurian border The Russia Profile website has two excellent articles this week on the relationship between Russia and China, between the former superpower and the rising superpower. Here at Russia Blog, we have...
Posted by Charles Ganske on October 18, 2006 7:01 PM

“Slander” – The Wall Street Journal Misinforms on Extremism Legislation
Yesterday someone gave me The Wall Street Journal article from Sunday, July 29, 2006, titled “Putin Signs Law Against Slander Of Public Officials” by Alan Cullison. My first response upon reading the title was “I haven’t heard of such...
Posted by Yuri Mamchur on August 2, 2006 11:17 AM

Russian Diplomats Have 48 Hours to Live; Chechen Terrorist Commander Killed
The Mujahadeen Shura Council in Iraq logo To my great surprise, none of the major U.S. networks are reporting at this hour about the four Russian diplomats kidnapped earlier this month in Iraq. Today their kidnappers announced that the...
Posted by Yuri Mamchur on June 19, 2006 5:47 PM

Sochi - Russia's Black Sea Riviera
Sochi is the southernmost city in Russia and is located on the Black Sea. The airport is easily accessible from Moscow or St Petersburg via a three hour flight. The seawater is rather dirty, and the environment isn’t nearly...
Posted by Yuri Mamchur on June 5, 2006 3:17 PM

Russian "Accidents" of the Day
Rostov, Russia – Private Shpinev was found hanged after committing suicide at the Rostov Tank Academy. This news did not receive much coverage in any Russian media outlet, because these kind of incidents happen all too frequently. The reasons for...
Posted by Yuri Mamchur on February 23, 2006 5:10 PM

Ignoring the Sources of Russian Conduct
Alexandros Peterson of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies has an article at Tech Central Station today about Russia reasserting itself in the former Soviet "near abroad" to resist U.S. pro-democracy initiatives in Georgia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan. Peterson...
Posted by Charles Ganske on February 16, 2006 4:22 PM

Changes for the Better?
After the recent appointment of two new deputy prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev (former chief of presidential staff) and Sergei Ivanov (defense minister), things started changing at the fast pace. Medvedev started executing the first part of his social plan, “The...
Posted by Yuri Mamchur on November 18, 2005 4:48 PM

Media utters nonsense, won't call enemy out
BY MARK STEYN SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST From Thursday's New York Times: ''Nalchik, Russia -- Insurgents launched a series of raids today in this southern Russian city, striking the area's main airport and several police and security buildings in large-scale, daytime attacks...
Posted by Yuri Mamchur on October 17, 2005 11:06 AM

"Our grandfathers told us the USSR would collapse one day. I'm sure that Russia is going to fall apart too."
Here is a deep and insighrful article from the Christian Science Monitor. Russia Struggles to Keep Grip in Caucasus Conflict are growing in the troubled region, where emotions still run high over the Beslan school massacre. By FRED WEIR -...
Posted by Yuri Mamchur on September 13, 2005 1:48 PM

Moscow's Shrinking "Shadow"
The last three days have brought two significant developments in Russia's international relations: the opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, and Moscow's agreement to withdraw troops from Georgia. When Mikhail Saakashvili (President of Georgia, former Soviet republic) came to power...

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