Responding to efforts to formulate a concept of public-service broadcasting in Russia, legendary television personality Anatoly Lysenko quipped: "The authorities tossed the public a bone, and rather than chew on the bone members of the public began gnawing on one...

The city-run Moscow Center for Children's and Family Leisure and Health, or MCC, might receive 500 billion rubles ($16 billion) to build kindergartens, housing, schools and medical facilities. The city-run Moscow Center for Children's and Family Leisure and Health, or MCC, might receive 500 billion rubles ($16 billion) to build kindergartens, housing, schools and medical facilities. The center will be renamed the Civic Construction Department. City construction head...

Tabloid news website Life News did not break the law in publishing private telephone conversations of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, because the information contained in the recordings served the public interest, Life News lawyer Tatyana Khokhlova said Wednesday. Tabloid news website Life News did not break the law in publishing private telephone conversations of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, because the information contained in the recordings...

... back to work and repay Europe's debts. Understandably, there is a debate about how to achieve recovery. Advocates of austerity argue that debt has a negative impact on growth. Proponents of further stimulus counter that it is low growth that generates public debt, not the other way around, and that austerity in times of recession only makes things worse. But Europeans do not have to agree on everything to find a common course. We can disagree about the long-term effects of liquidity injections, but...

Today's Moscow is unlovable and unlivable, overdeveloped, underserved by public utilities and choked by traffic. You can't drive, you can't breathe, there is no place to park and walking is impossible thanks to giant SUVs lining the sidewalks. Even a short visit to Moscow is enough to convince anyone that Russia is...

... preferred not to delve too deeply into that topic. Macroeconomic policy was characterized by an equally broad consensus. Because of the unexpectedly high oil price in 2011, Russia ended up with a budget surplus of 0.8 percent of gross domestic product. Public debt remains minimal, while international reserves hover around $520 billion. Since the Central Bank has embraced full-fledged inflation targeting with a floating exchange rate, inflation has fallen as it should to 5 percent in January. Russia...

... bloggers on both the right and left, dubbed the group's "vilest enemies." The list included television host Vladimir Pozner, liberal expert Igor Yurgens and A Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov. Neither Yakemenko nor Potupchik has commented publicly on the matter. Analysts say all signs suggest that Yakemenko will soon leave his post at the youth agency, which has been widely criticized for turning into a political machine favoring Nashi and other youth groups. Legal experts told The Moscow...

... sacked. Riot-gear clad OMON police forcibly evicted Sukhodolsky from his St. Petersburg office, after storming the building as Medvedev delivered his address to officers in Moscow. Police sources told Kommersant that the firing was made into a highly public display after Sukhodolsky failed to attend the Moscow meeting. "I was kicked off after 22 years of service," Sukhodolsky told Moskovsky Komsomolets in an interview published Saturday. "If things like that can be done with a colonel...

... countries. Growing mistrust of government officials is an emerging trend across the world, and "the falling trust in authorities and nongovernmental institutions is most visible in Russia," Edelman said in a statement. Edelman, an international public relations firm, has included Russia in the survey since 2007. This year, it surveyed 1,000 members of the general public and 200 representatives of the elite who influence public opinion, aged 25 to 64, across the country. One reason behind the...

Winning Russia's March presidential election could be the easy part for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has called for a "decisive tax maneuver" to put the country's increasingly oil-dependent public finances on a more sustainable footing. Winning Russia's March presidential election could be the easy part for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has called for a "decisive tax maneuver" to put the country's increasingly oil-dependent...

... addresses these changes in more details. General comments The description of new administrative offenses is similar to that previously found in the Criminal Code, except one new specialized offense was introduced: failure to prevent defamation/insult in publicly displayed work or mass media. Changes to offenders According to the new regulations there are three categories of possible offenders in defamation and insult cases — natural persons, legal entities and officials — while previously...

Voting has already begun in the presidential election in Moscow, in one coffee chain at least, which allows drinkers to publicly declare their presidential preference before the March 4 election. Instead of a white slip, the ballot paper is in the form of cinnamon powder sieved onto your drink. Voting has already begun in the presidential election...

Vkontakte, the largest Russian social-networking website, has put plans for an initial public offering on hold. Vkontakte, the largest Russian social-networking website, has put plans for an initial public offering on hold, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The Internet company, which was evaluating initial public offering...

Vkontakte may sell a small stake ahead of an initial public offering in 2012 or 2013, its co-founder told Gazeta.ru on Wednesday, as it seeks to cash in on the huge popularity of Russian Internet initial public offerings. "We think it will be possible to proceed with an IPO in 2012 or 2013," Pavel...

... boost after correspondence between the leaders of the Federal Youth Agency was hacked by an anonymous group. This is already being called "Potupchik-gate" after Kristina Potupchik, the agency's press secretary whose fateful e-mail was made public. While hacking the e-mail of Russian opposition leaders has almost become routine, this is the first time the ploy was used against the purported hackers. The result was what the journalist Oleg Kashin called on his LiveJournal blog "the most...

... into a chicken-and-egg problem. It is impossible to build such institutions without a large class of private owners. In the second half of the 2000s, the authorities, who had complete control over the state bureaucratic machine, did not build effective public institutions or implement serious reforms. It was not because they were unable to do so, but because there was no demand for institutional reform. In the 1990s, it was private business that provided the main support for the reforms implemented...

... have registered with the Central Elections Commission. But candidates cannot start campaigning in the mass media until Feb. 4. Putin also has been promoting his bid through the All-Russia People's Front movement, which was founded on the basis of his public offices, which amounts to the unfair use of his position, Golos officials said. "The work of the leading mass media is directed at promoting one candidate under the guise of covering his professional activities," Golos said in a 16-page...

... said Wednesday that it expects to rake in almost $40 billion in last year's profit, a big increase from 2010 but not enough to stop ExxonMobil from spurting into the lead again as the world's most profitable publicly traded energy company. Gazprom said Wednesday that it expects to rake in almost $40 billion in last year's profit, a big increase from 2010 but not enough to stop ExxonMobil from spurting into the lead again as the world's most profitable publicly...

... take over the development and enforcement of professional business education standards, after which the government will give up its role as regulator of this area, said Sergei Myasoyedov, dean of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration's Institute of Business and Business Administration. Representatives of Russia's largest business associations will be included in the consortium so as not to favor the interests of any certain market players, Myasoyedov said. Market's...

The liberal opposition Yabloko party and the Moscow Helsinki Group are creating a public organization to finance the training of monitors for the March 4 presidential vote and other elections. The liberal opposition Yabloko party and the Moscow Helsinki Group are creating a public organization to finance...