cafebabel.com

Human rights activist Igor Kolyapin on Chechnya and democracy in Russia

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 13:30:00 -0000

One in five Russians will be a torture victim at least once in their lifetimes. The Moscow-based 'committee against torture' brings these cases to court and is also one of the few NGOs to work in the southern republic of Chechnya. We meet the organisation’s chairman to discuss regional politics and why it's worth bothering to fight

Ode to 6 billionaires and almost 50 millionaires in Russia's Duma

('Language Cat',) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 11:30:00 -0000

The fall of communism signified the loss of purchasing power for millions. In the same year, a select number of oligarchs and shrewd businessmen seized the country’s inexhaustible resources and legally entered the ranks of the richest men on the planet. Analysis of a country that, until a few decades ago, considered it a crime to pursue wealth but is now governed by a parliament that boasts the very wealthy

Anti-Putin protests continue in run-up to March 2012 elections

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:00:09 -0000

Russia’s very public objection to electoral fraud after parliamentary elections in early December was largely forgotten by western media in January. One Brit takes the temperature of the feeling on the streets of Moscow

Fictional Russian hopefuls in 2012 elections

('Annie Rutherford',) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:54:48 -0000

Russia’s presidential elections on 4 March are creeping ever closer. Following demonstrations across Russia in the wake of parliamentary elections in December, the run-away favourite Vladimir Putin is now more of a walk-away favourite. Who else is in this one-horse race?

'What if?': students re-imagine 2011's big events

('Annie Rutherford',) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:31:09 -0000

Protests, eurocrisis and elections: it's all too easy to assume the events we read about in the news are inevitable. Yet so often they are instead the result of chance encounters, spontaneous decisions and personal feelings. We asked four European students to re-imagine the big events of 2011

Reforms and Russians: mapping young people’s stalled futures

('Agata Jaskot',) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:15:00 -0000

On 27 November Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin officially became a presidential candidate for 2012 elections in Russia. Whilst official surveys praise Papa Putin for what he has done for the country, where do the living conditions of young Russians count in the statistics?

Why I like Putin for president: young Russians speak

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:57:35 -0000

Russia will be going to the polls on 4 March 2012. Approval ratings indicate that Vladimir Putin is highly likely to be voted in for a third term as president. The current prime minister’s politics and image makes human rights activists and western politicians shudder. So what is it about him that makes the Russian tick?

Cyril Tuschi’s ‘Khodorkovsky’: 'I’m not so frightened - I’ll be flying to Moscow premiere'

('Annie Rutherford',) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:24:34 -0000

The Berlin-based director on the power struggle between Vladimir Putin and the former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky - who is probably Russia’s most famous prisoner - are depicted in his documentary thriller, which is to be released in Russia on 2 December - if all goes well. Interview

Boo-tin: Russian prime minister Vladimir catcalled in public

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:28:21 -0000

He has an impressive approval rating of 61%, yet life for Putin isn’t all rosy. The favourite for presidential elections in March 2012 experienced his first ever public ‘booing’ on 20 November. Is there a first time for everything, or was that just someone clamouring to be let out to the loo?

Dear granddad, for Christmas I'd like a Eurasian union

('Virag Gulyas',) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 10:23:46 -0000

In October Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin proposed a 'Eurasian union' of former soviet nations that could be a major global player competing for influence with the US, the EU and Asia, creating instant headlines about the threat of Russian expansionism. Is Putin mastering geopolitics? Where are the limits of his modernisation strategy?

Strategy 31: Russians protest for right to demonstrate

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:24:18 -0000

Just a fortnight after the ‘indignant’ protests of Europe, Russians are marching onto their streets and into their squares. However, their motive isn't the greed of those in power but rather the violation of their right to peaceful assembly. Alexandra reports from Saint Petersburg

Elections 2012: glimpses of social network Putin-bashing

('Alexandra',) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:15:13 -0000

On 7 October, the 59th birthday of Vladimir Putin, one pro-kremlin activist composed a couplet with a nod to a soviet-era poem, ending with the words ‘thanks for this Putin’. The rhyme provoked a deluge of tweeted criticism levelled at the Russian prime minister. Could this be the beginning of a protest wave?

Swiss, Spanish, German and Czech media on role-swapping Putin and Medvedev

('euro topics',) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:27:28 -0000

The Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin announced his candidacy for the presidential elections in March. The current Kremlin chief Dmitry Medvedev would take his job in parliamentary elections on 4 December... get it? This swap would cement Russia's reputation as an authoritarian state and bring the country to a political standstill, cry the EU media

WikiLeaks: Europe’s ruling class according to Washington

('victor escandell',) — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:30:00 -0000

The whistleblowing site has turned the skin of international politics inside-out so people can see its capillaries, arteries and cartilages. This bloody network - 250, 000 documents have been taken from the American state department - includes natural portrayals of many European leaders. From the complex and absolutist Sarkozy to Berlusconi’s hangovers, a review of Europe through Uncle Sam’s eyes

The Gulag Archipelago now compulsory reading for 16-year-old Russians

('victor escandell',) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 07:00:00 -0000

The book is both a classic condemnation of Stalinist horror and nobel literature prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s most outstanding work. But why is the book in curriculums if the Kremlin has been softening Stalin’s image in the collective memory

Eurovision 2009: kitsch but politically correct

('Gemma Turner',) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:02:26 -0000

Watching the best party that a flagging Europe is supposed to provide reminds me more of watching the antics at an elderly relative’s birthday party. Extravaganza, my eye. The only aspect that continues to emerge like a beast year in, year out is its political censorship from Spain to Russia

Videos: EU’s powerful but arrogant leaders

('mani sharpe',) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:00:00 -0000

The relationship between EU leaders and the cameras is often an unstable one. It is a way of gaining huge popularity. But it can also bring out the worst side in the leaders - or, to put it simply, display the arrogance of those in power

Putin did not pull a Sarkozy love story

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:00:00 -0000

On 21 April, ‘Moskovsky Korrespondent’ apologised after reporting that Putin was to marry athlete Alina Kabaeva, 24. A look back at a story he termed as ‘snotty noses and erotic fantasies’

Videos: Putin, Sarkozy, Blair and Schröder

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Putin pouts, schnip schnap Schröder, Blair sings and Sarkozy and opposition leader Ségolène snuggle

Putin: a (filmic) kiss for Valentine’s Day

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Two weeks before his handpicked successor takes over, a Russian film released on DVD on 14 February shows a rather different side to a fictional, unnamed outgoing Russian president

Don't laugh. It's (video) politics

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:00:00 -0000

European politicans occasionally star in dramatically hilarious or simply grotesque scenes - are ETA terrorists a great nation? Was the Russian Breznev actually the president of the United States?

Putin, prime minister in 2008?

('Nicholas Dobson',) — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0000

On 26 October, the EU-Russia summit in Mafra, Portugal could reveal the Tsar's energy policy or Kremlin successor ambitions. Poet and art critic Dmitry Golinko provides a Russian reaction

The Kremlin surprise package

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 12:00:00 -0000

In March 2008 Russia's presidential elections will be held. Although no single one seems capable of taking the lead, candidates are appearing at the pace of mushroom growth

Energy - new Russian missile?

Tue, 29 May 2007 03:45:00 -0000

As it plays an increasingly larger role in the relationship between Russia and its neighbours, is energy supply a way of seeing who is in control of the region?