Staunton, April 6 — Tajikistan is being pressured to shut down the Islamic Rebirth Party, something that will drive its members into the underground and make the Islamist threat there greater; and Dagestani leaders want to adopt an earlier Tajik policy and call home those from that republic now studying in Muslim schools abroad, something […]
Staunton, April 2 — No Crimean Tatar media outlet could ever do as much harm to Russia’s reputation and its ability to attract any members of that nation to its side as Moscow’s decision to shut down ATR and other Crimean Tatar broadcasters and publications already has, according to Anatoly Baranov, a Moscow commentator who […]
Staunton, February 22 — As elsewhere in the Russian Federation, people are leaving rural areas in the North Caucasus and adjoining areas, leaving villages deserted or half-deserted, undercutting prospects for agricultural growth, and changing the security situation in many places. Indeed, in many of these places, the only things that remain are cemeteries. In an […]
Staunton, December 15 – Many in the West assume that Russians who turn to the Internet instead of government-controlled media will become more liberal as a result, but in fact, a new study finds, Internet use by Russians has an impact much like that in other countries: by their choice of sites, surfers seek and […]
Staunton, September 19 – Many people connected with international broadcasting have lamented the passing of shortwave broadcasting because it means that it is difficult if not impossible to engage in radio broadcasting to populations except on from stations located on the territory of the country such stations wish to reach. That gives the governments of […]
Updated Daily. Prime Minister Medvedev’s Twitter account was hacked with a claim he was resigning in shame and protests against the Crimean annexation and robbing of pensions to pay cost of forcible annexation. Following confusion and wishful thinking that new regulations regarding Internet access will not be so restrictive, Russia’s Minister of Communications clarifies that […]
Staunton, August 10 – Seventy-one percent of Russians watch television almost every day, 43 percent regularly use the Internet, 26 percent read newspapers and journals, and 20 percent listen to radio regularly, while TV use is nearly constant, Internet use is growing rapidly, and radio and print media use are falling, according to a new […]
Staunton, July 29 – Many in Moscow and the West, seeing the ways in which Russian television has mobilized Russians in support of Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, believe that the Internet can transform Russians into opponents of the Kremlin. But the editors of Nezavisimaya gazeta warn that the web on its own does not […]
Updated Daily. The Russian finance minister has admitted that the government has raided the pension savings of ordinary Russians to pay for the forcible annexation of the Crimea — and will not be returning the funds. Opposition blogger Alexey Navalny continues to be harassed with libel suits and fabricated criminal cases — as well as […]
Updated Daily. Yet another provocation against State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki, this one involving an outright fabrication of quotes. Will the Russian government end up blocking Twitter or will the American social media company’s executives manage to make a workable deal? The killing of two Russian state TV journalists has sparked a debate about reporters’ […]
