Moscow News

Tributes to Stalin’s victims at a remebrance meeting in Moscow © RIA Novosti

16/11/2009 | Moscow News №44 2009

Anna Arutunyan
At Memorial, relatives of his victims finally learn the truth – but much is still buried

Vladimir Putin gets down with the kids at Muz TV’s Respect competition for hip-hop performers © RIA Novosti

16/11/2009 | Moscow News №44 2009

Andy Potts
Prosecutors say there is no clear evidence linking Andrei Lugovoi’s associate, Dmitry Kovtun, to the polonium trail

16/11/2009 | Moscow News №44 2009

Tweet that, NATO!

Ed Bentley and Anna Arutunya
Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, has joined the Twitter craze - bringing bite-sized chunks of the alliance's work to a wide audience.

Singer Nikolai Baskov (right) paying his respects to Kalmanovich © RIA Novosti

09/11/2009 | Moscow News №43 2009

New gang wars rock underworld

Andy Potts
Mafia turf wars could be on their way back - but unlike the carnage of the 90s, the new model is likely to be restricted to specific rackets, such as gambling and drugs.

09/11/2009 | Moscow News №43 2009

Thinking small – to help those in need

Andy Potts
American doctor Juliette Engel believes Russia is getting community projects right, just when the West is turning bureaucratic

Soldiers in winter uniforms, carrying old-style guns, marching on Red Square to mark the anniversary of the Nov. 7, 1941 wartime parade © RIA Novosti

09/11/2009 | Moscow News №43 2009

The week in review 10 – 16 November

Andy Potts
One of the suspects held in the killings of campaigners Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova has confessed, the FSB says

Vladimir Krivchenko, director of Avtotop, Opel’s Kaliningrad plant, at the wheel with regional Governor Georgy Boos © RIA Novosti

09/11/2009 | Moscow News №43 2009

Auto rescue on the skids

Ed Bentley
The scrapped Opel deal leaves thousands of GAZ workers facing an uncertain future

A Moscow region conscript undergoing a medical inspection © RIA Novosti

02/11/2009 | Moscow News №42 2009

Draft dodgers face new crackdown

Ed Bentley
Military top brass vow to track down conscripts – even at grandma’s dacha

02/11/2009 | Moscow News №42 2009

The week in review - From one rippling torso to another

Andy Potts
Arnold Schwarzenegger is about to get a sculpture of fellow-action man Vladimir Putin

A memorial service in Lubyanka Square on Friday for victims of Soviet repression. The day refers to a protest by Gulag prisoners in 1974 © RIA Novosti

02/11/2009 | Moscow News №42 2009

‘No excuse for Stalinism’

Anna Arutunyan
President Dmitry Medvedev condemns Stalin’s repression in his most strongly-worded video blog yet

Mayor Yury Luzhkov talking with Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa © Ria Novosti

02/11/2009 | Moscow News №42 2009

Parties hope for bold reforms

Anna Arutunyan
Following Kremlin criticism of last month's regional election results and widespread allegations of fraud from several pro-Kremlin and opposition parties, all eyes are on President Dmitry Medvedev's upcoming state-of-the-nation address for signs of bold democratic reforms.

HRH Prince Michael of Kent and Anne Fyfe Pringle, the Ambassador of Great Britain in Russia © RIA Novosti

26/10/2009 | Moscow News №41 2009

Russia tries a British reset

Anna Arutunyan and Ed Bentley
Moscow and London look to business deals as they seek to bury the hatchet

26/10/2009 | Moscow News №41 2009

Moby Dick! It’s a whale of a ride

Andy Potts
What crisis? – a Russian firm offers a Bond car (with seats of whale penis leather) Georgian gangsters, say crime experts

Communists protesting against alleged election fraud on Saturday © RIA Novosti

26/10/2009 | Moscow News №41 2009

Silvio in Piter, Saako goes Hollywood

Andy Potts
Berlusconi offers Putin birthday wines, while actor Andy Garcia gets to keep the president’s chair warm for Georgia’s tie-munching leader

A record haul of seafood has the fishing industry scambling to find new ways to sell its piscatorial produce © RIA Novosti

26/10/2009 | Moscow News №41 2009

Chippies come to Moscow

Vladimir Kozlov and Nathan Toohey
The seafood industry hopes to hook people on fish ’n’ chips to shift a bumper catch

26/10/2009 | Moscow News №41 2009

Air conditioners under fire

Ayano Hodouchi
City authorities threaten to target ugly fixtures on building facades

Putin at Eurovision in Moscow © RIA Novosti

19/10/2009 | Moscow News №40 2009

The week in review 20 – 26 October

The opposition camp flounces out of parliament, Clinton and Luzhkov erect a statue to Whitman and Putin ponders an eastward thrust for Eurovision

Children at Saturday’s demonstration urge the authorities to “save Avtovaz” © RIA Novosti

19/10/2009 | Moscow News №40 2009

Avtovaz on the brink

Ayano Hodouchi and Anna Arutunyan
Union chiefs call for a return to full employment at ailing car plant

Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev, seen here with Nicolas Sarkozy, is under fire over human rights © RIA Novosti

19/10/2009 | Moscow News №40 2009

Russia, Kazakhs challenged over OSCE

Anna Arutunyan
Human rights activists are protesting over Kazakhstan’s planned chairmanship of the organization

Vladimir Putin hosting a gathering of writers on his birthday, including Alexander Arkhangelsky (far left). © RIA Novosti

12/10/2009 | Moscow News №39 2009

Poems, politics and ponies on Putin’s birthday

Andy Potts and Anna Arutunyan
It’s business as usual as the premier marks his birthday with a literary lunch, an ironic ode and a paean of praise from Ramzan Kadyrov