08/21/2000

Here we go again — another round of anti-Americanism from the Kremlin and state-controlled media. Blaming outside forces for Russia's woes has a long history in the country. The closer we get to the March 4 presidential election, the more intense the anti-American hysteria becomes.

President of state-controlled bank VTB Andrei Kostin on Thursday called for business to support the government ahead of next month's presidential election, hinting that entrepreneurs' participation in opposition protests could be hazardous to their health.

Supporters of presidential candidate Vladimir Putin plan to hold a march Feb. 23 and expect that 200,000 people will come.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday proposed shortening the length of the 10-day New Year holidays and adding extra vacation days later in the year.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev says Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has "exhausted himself" as Russia's leader and that his inability to change the Kremlin's political system might prompt more massive protests.

A United Russia party website was knocked offline Thursday after hackers from the group Anonymous claimed to have directed a denial of service attack on the site.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin set the bar for Russia's population quite high Thursday, saying the country's goal should be a population of 500 million — more than triple its current size.

Prominent blogger and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny on Thursday accused the Chechen Interior Ministry of illegally spending millions of rubles in federal money on expensive cars and other goods.

Serial murderer Vladimir Mirgorod was given a life sentence for the killings of 15 women and children in the north and northeast regions of Moscow from 2002 to 2004.

Aeroflot said it will file a countersuit for slander and defamation against a U.S. tour company that has accused the airline of bribery and extortion.

In Tuesday's second presidential debate of the campaign season, firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky harangued Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's levelheaded proxy over her patron's refusal to debate and alleged desire to rule for life.

A schmaltzy music video hailing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as Russia's savior became a hit on the Russian Internet on Tuesday, with many bloggers and YouTube users poking fun at the song's hyperbolic lyrics.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus on Tuesday, sending a clear message that Russia intends to stand by its strongest ally in the Middle East amid an international outcry over the country's response to a civil revolt.

Hungary's state airline Malev stopped flying after 66 years on Friday, citing bankruptcy, amid debts to creditors that include 100 million euros ($130 million) owed to VEB.

U.S. Senator John McCain has again angered supporters of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin by describing Russia's nascent protest movement as an extension of the Arab Spring uprisings that have shaken and toppled governments across the Middle East.

Here we go again — another round of anti-Americanism from the Kremlin and state-controlled media. Blaming outside forces for Russia's woes has a long history in the country. The closer we get to the March 4 presidential election, the more intense the anti-American hysteria becomes.

If politics is a dirty business, then Russia is no exception.

The Federal Security Service paid over 2 million rubles ($67,000) for an order of nearly 100 typewriters, or about 22,000 rubles per machine.

Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the famous spy exchange between U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers and Soviet spy Rudolph Able on the Glienicker Bridge in Potsdam, Germany.

Communist Gennady Zyuganov and businessman Mikhail Prokhorov kicked off the presidential campaign season on Monday with a testy TV debate that centered on Zyuganov's political accomplishments and Prokhorov's connection to the chaotic 1990s.

In a city that was once the cradle of Russian democracy, an unprecedented new campaign kicked off over the weekend to install web cameras in every polling station around the country in an effort to prevent voting fraud.

Pussy Riot, a feminist punk collective from Moscow, creates protest through its dissident songs and unsanctioned performances, including a brief unauthorized concert in late January on Red Square.

If Putin gave up power at any age, he and dozens of his friends and colleagues who have become millionaires and billionaires over the past 10 years through their Kremlin-connected businesses could face serious corruption charges. This is why the best, and perhaps only, way for Putin to preserve immunity is to stay in power until death.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin got very angry last Wednesday when he met with the editors-in-chief of Russia's top media outlets.

A Russian state commission investigating the crash of the Fobos-Grunt Mars probe will conduct tests to see whether U.S. radar played a role in the spacecraft's failure.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin proposed a radical rollback of his own social and fiscal policies in a draft of his presidential program, which touts economic modernization and strengthening rule of law.

U.S. President Barack Obama caused considerable damage to the Kremlin during a visit to the Pentagon last week when he announced a decisive reduction in the military ambitions of the United States. This was a serious blow to Russia's propagandistic stereotype that Washington is still determined to dominate the world, with Russia being at the top of the U.S. list of targets.

Demographics make it a candidate’s market, but foreigners have to offer something unique to find their place.

The history of successive authoritarian regimes in Russia reveals a recurring pattern: They do not die from external blows or domestic insurgencies.

In Tuesday's second presidential debate of the campaign season, firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky harangued Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's levelheaded proxy over her patron's refusal to debate and alleged desire to rule for life.