Moscow
Fictional Russian hopefuls in 2012 elections
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?
moscow, corruption, politics, elections, literature, vladimir putin, russian federation
Russian art collective Voina: 'Zhlobs are in power in today's Russia'
The Moscow-based self-styled 'street art gang' formed in 2005. Its four main members consist of president Leonid Nikolaev - who was arrested at an 'election fraud protest rally' on 5 December - ideologist Oleg Vorotnikov, coordinator Natalia Sokol and her son and Voina's youngest activist, two-year-old Kasper Can't-Take-Our-Eyes-Off-Him Sokol. Part one of an exclusive interview marks their brief history
moscow, university, protest, ideology, best of cafebabel.com, culture, voina
Strategy 31: Russians protest for right to demonstrate
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
moscow, democracy, politics, dmitry medvedev, vladimir putin, russian federation
Russian art group Voina boycotts Moscow contemporary art biennale
It's not the country that you'd expect to celebrate activist art. Held until 20 October, Moscow's fourth contemporary art biennale is not exactly a step towards the freedom of expression, especially since the famous Russian protest collective are paradoxically protesting against the biennale’s 'international festival of activist art'
moscow, contemporary art, moscou, graffiti, culture, voina, culture calendar
Kaczynski crash investigation: Russia blames Poland, Poland sees red
Scandal, mockery, insult. These were the words with which millions of Poles greeted the official report by Russian investigators on the crash of the Polish presidential aeroplane, made public on 12 January. The Russians see Poland as solely to blame for the accident. Warsaw is not issuing denials, but claims the investigation is incomplete
moscow, jaroslaw kaczynski, poland, lech kaczynski, smolensk, politics, russian federation
Flying coffins and Polish president plane crash: in search of answers
Russia and Poland have announced they are taking control of the Polish president Lech Kaczyński’s plane crash under their control. The shared investigation is one of many rapprochement strategies between the two countries, But more than six months after the investigation of the Polish national tragedy began, will the Russians be as transparent as they promised?
moscow, poland, warsaw, lech kaczynski, moscou, warsaw, security
Conversation with Leo Tolstoy on centenary of his death
20 November 2010; the Russian writer famed for his masterpieces War and Peace and Anna Karenina is about to die for the hundredth time. We meet him before he takes his last train
moscow, best of cafebabel.com, leo tolstoy, culture, literature, brunch
Dym and dozhd: useful vocabulary for a smog summer in Moscow
Two words have been used more than any others in Moscow this summer. The smoke that has been periodically engulfing Moscow from over 500 wildfires burning across Central Russia for the past few weeks, and the long-awaited rain. Today, the city resembles a scene from a zombie film; it'll be like this until mid-August, forecasters say
moscow, health, cities, summer, natural disaster, smoke, russian federation
Hear the one about the six men on a Mars500 space shuttle in Moscow?
They'll be closed off from the world for 105 days - but it's all in the name of research. The Mars500 experiment simulates the journey to the Red Planet and focuses on the effects of isolation
moscow, mars, esa, euweek, rocket, astronauts, european astronauts
G8 summit: whilst Brown meets Medvedev, the British build Russia
As the British and Russian prime ministers meet for the first time since the latter's March election in Japan between 7 – 9 July, a look at the foundations of a new renaissance in British-Russian relations
moscow, st petersburg, g8, uk, russie, architecture, world affairs
Putin did not pull a Sarkozy love story
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’
moscow, uzbekistan, video gallery, men and women, nicolas sarkozy, love, vladimir putin
Roland Lipp on Moscow, the dirtiest city in Europe
The German engineer from Brandenburg plans roads which run along house roofs. He is trying to save the metropolis from gridlock. The inventor of these ‘street houses’ is holding talks with German firms, who should be joining him on the project
moscow, germany, road safety, europe, environment, society, traffic
Zhenya Strigalev: 'London's jazz scene is more open than Moscow's'
At 28, the prodigious composer and late-night jam-session organiser is the only Russian alto-sax player active on the London scene. We catch him at the launch of his new fusion set ‘Findamorale’ at the London jazz festival
moscow, music, zhenya strigalev, united kingdom, cd, london, western eu
UK, Russia: a new Iron curtain?
Two out of three British Council offices were deemed 'illegal' and closed down in Russia in January. A reflection on ties between the Kremlin and London
moscow, photogallery, nationalism, education system, internet, life-long learning, saint petersburg
Arkady Babchenko: ‘Russia is the Germany of 1934’
Sent to the Chechen front at 18, the Russian ‘Novaya Gazeta’ columnist and colleague of murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya, 31, lays bare the nightmares he endured in his semi-autobiographical 'One Soldier's War in Chechnya'
moscow, literature, balkans, discrimination, anna politkovskaya, war, arkady babchenko
Putin: a (filmic) kiss for Valentine’s Day
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
moscow, cinema, non-eu countries, love, vladimir putin, post-soviet states, world affairs
