... the authorities is difficult because of the Russian practice of "telephone law" — or telefonnoye pravo — in which officials or other influential people call judges and dictate the outcome of a court case, she said. Next Front Demographic pressures have now pitted kindergarten construction against park preservation. On April 11, the city passed Law No. 12, which amends laws from 1995 and 2008 to allow city-funded preschool and kindergarten facilities to be built in "nature...

... photograph by Moscow Times reporter Kevin O’Flynn from inside a police van: 7:18 p.m., Putin Signs More Than Dozen Orders Within Hours of Taking Office: Newly sworn-in President Vladimir Putin has signed more than a dozen decrees on topics ranging from demographic policy and housing issues to the defense industry and economic policy. Most of the orders give specific deadlines for work to be done by the next government, expected to be led by former President Dmitry Medvedev. Many of the instructions...

... to the same period in 2011, Golikova said, Interfax reported. But the figure still outpaced the birth rate, as it has annually for more than a decade. President-elect Vladimir Putin and outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev have both identified Russia's demographic situation as one of the biggest challenges facing the country. In one of Putin's campaign articles published in the run-up to the March 4 presidential vote, he pitched a strategy to increase the population from the current 143 million to 154...

... government financing. Several elements of Putin's populism are reminiscent of the utopian Communist Party program under Nikita Khrushchev in 1961, when he promised that the final stage of communism would be reached in 20 years. For example, in the sphere of demographics, Putin signed a presidential decree to increase average life expectancy to 74 by 2018. As for economic policy, Putin promised that in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business ranking Russia would jump from 120th place in 2011 to 50th place...

... Bergseth, who had custody of her 4-year-old son awarded to her former husband in Norway despite him being charged with pedophilia in Russia. One mother, Rimma Salonen, who is fighting to win back custody of her son from a Finnish ex-husband, suggested that demographic shortfalls in Western countries might be behind their desire to take Russian children. Of the 18 countries involved in the cases brought to the group’s attention, Finland took 44 children from 34 families and Norway 15 children from...

... government website. He will also oversee statistics and interact with the court system and prosecution agencies. Apart from that Surkov will continue to be in charge of innovation, but he passed the social issues portfolio to Olga Golodets, who will oversee demographics, health care, education and labor, as well as youth policy and tourism. Arkady Dvorkovich will answer to Medvedev concerning agriculture, transportation, telecommunications, environmental issues, energy and industry — excluding defense...

... Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind." This quote from Albert Einstein is a very convenient explanation for the surge of nationalist sentiment in Russia. Post-Soviet Russia, age 20, is a young country. The migration and demographic shifts that we are seeing today are unprecedented in Russia's history. For the first time, foreign languages are heard on the streets of the country's ancient towns, and Moscow has turned into a Babylon inhabited by many nationalities and...

... Putin gave a 5-minute speech in which he said the country faced problems of "a new nature and scale," referring indirectly to areas of concern and ambition he has touched on frequently in recent months, including Russia's oil-based economy, demographic problems, development of the Far East and the country's role as a regional leader. "And we all must understand that the lives of future generations, the historical prospective of government and our nation, depend now on us, on actual...