Tag Archives: Dmitry Medvedev
Tone deaf
Journalist Oleg Kashin lay in an artificial coma after a savage beating left everything that could possible be broken, broken. President Medvedev spoke firmly of the need to punish the perpetrators, the investigative foot soldiers of the Interior Ministry were … Continue reading
Ratings schmatings
I get the sense that you people don’t care much for ratings. Nor do I, really, except for when they hit on something true, as they often do. Take today’s release of Forbes Magazine’s Powerful People rankings. The (non) surprise … Continue reading
One TRILLION rubles
Last week, Transparency International released its annual Corruption Perception Index. Despite President Medvedev’s long battle against corruption, Russia has slipped down the greasy pole of corruption rankings once again to finish the year at 154th out of 178. (Last year, … Continue reading
Happy birthday, Mr. Mayor
Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov celebrates his 74th birthday in exile today just as Russian news reports hint — nay, state — that the Kremlin has given the mayor up to three weeks to leave voluntarily. If he does this, he’ll be … Continue reading
Told you so
I hate to say it, but I told you so. Yesterday, I wrote a piece about the Khimki miracle for Foreign Policy, in which I reckoned that this is not the end of the story and that the forest is … Continue reading
Who’s in charge, part 843
The Russian state statistics agency has just published some fantastic numbers. They show, once again, why things are the way they are in Russia, and the “why,” of course, has everything to do with money. Remember that poll of Russian … Continue reading
Proof in the charred pudding
For days now, the proverbial Russian roof has been on fire. By Tuesday, there were 23,000 forest fires across Russia that have singed 650,000 hectares across the country. That’s 57,000 more burning hectares than there were on Monday. 48 people … Continue reading
Plot twist: Battle against corruption produces more corruption
The Interior Ministry’s Department of Economic Security reports today that as President Dmitry Medvedev’s war on corruption heats up, so has corruption. In the first six months of 2010, the size of the average bribe has nearly doubled, from 23,000 … Continue reading
Ffffffresh
Courtesy of my buddy Mike Schwirtz, we have this little ditty because it’s too damn hot in Moscow to think of a proper blog post: [youtubevid id="i-k9Dq0Yazs"]
