Welcome to our column, Russia Update, where we will be closely following day-to-day developments in Russia, including the Russian government’s foreign and domestic policies. The previous issue is here, and see also our Russia This Week stories ‘Anti-Maidan’ Launched by Nationalists, Cossacks, Veterans, Bikers and The Guild War – How Should Journalists Treat Russian State […]
Tag: NSA
Interview with Snowden’s Lawyer: ‘Of Course He’s Homesick’
Rossiyskaya Gazeta (RG.ru), the Russian state newspaper of record, has published an interview with Anatoly Kucherena, the lawyer of Edward Snowden, titled Snowden Awaits his Fiancé: Anatoly Kucherena Describes How the Most Mysterious American Lives and Works. The interview was conducted by Boris Yamshanov, a journalist who has authored a number of articles on legal […]
Russia This Week: Gorbachev Confirms There Was No NATO ‘Non-Expansion’ Pledge (October 13-19)
Updated Daily. This week’s issue: – Soldiers’ Mothers Activist Arrested, Had Pressed Cases of Russian Soldiers in Killed in Ukraine – Gorbachev Confirms There Was No NATO ‘Non-Expansion’ Pledge – Poland Arrests Russian Lt. Colonel and Lawyer on Suspicion of ‘Espionage’ – Two American Journalism Professors Detained in St. Petersburg at Workshop – Harassment Continues […]
Russia This Week: Low Turnout in Moscow Municipal Election, Opposition Loses to Ruling Party (September 8-14)
Updated Daily. This week’s issue: – TV Rain’s Chief Producer Assaulted in Moscow – In Moscow City Legislature Race, United Russia Leads with Close Vote Between Independent and Nationalist – Low Turnout in Moscow Municipal Elections, Difficulties for Opposition Candidates – Gay Tango Instructor Found Murdered in St. Petersburg – Leading Russian Human Rights Group […]
Russia This Week: Opposition Protests Vote Fraud at Civic Chamber (26-30 May)
Updated Daily. A critical review of Glenn Greenwald’s book No Place to Hide by noted Russian intelligence and cybersecurity expert Andrei Soldatov reveals how little is known about Snowden in Russia. Another NGO has lost its court case attempting to challenge the prosecutor’s designation of “foreign agent,” even as the Russian Constitutional Court ruled that […]
Skype Prepared to Provide Data About its Users to Russian Law Enforcement
The Microsoft Corporation (which owns the internet telephone service Skype) is prepared to store information on conversations and correspondence for six months, in order to provide it, along with user data from within the Russian Federation, to Russian law enforcement agencies, according to a response from Microsoft’s press service to a request from ITAR-TASS. “Microsoft […]
Snowden in the Kitchen
Anatoly Kucherena, the Chairman of the Civic Chamber Commission on Citizens Security and Cooperation with the Judicial System and Law Enforcement, and the Chairman of the Public Council under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, has recently become widely known also as someone who takes care of our American guest Edward Snowden. Mikhail Barschevsky, a member […]
Human Rights Watch Slams Russia (and Snowden)
Edward Snowden is a man who gave up the life he had in order to “blow the whistle” on the work of the National Security Agency (NSA). The NSA programs that have been exposed in the process have raised serious concerns about secret surveillance programs and internet spying. Many rights groups, free speech advocates, and […]
Trapped in Sheremetyevo
By now, almost everyone has made jokes about Edward Snowden’s story being a sequel to The Terminal, the Tom Hanks movie. On their Facebook and Twitter pages, people are sharing the picture of The Terminal 2, starring Snowden and directed by Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama. Putin seems to have done even more for this […]
Russian Media Reactions to Edward Snowden
Russian media outlets are reporting that Edward Snowden, the former Booz Allen Hamilton contractor and National Security Agency employee, is spending his third day in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. Moskovsky Komsomolets says Snowden is likely staying in a Japanese “capsule” hotel without windows to ensure privacy, and likens him to a legendary Indian who was said […]