The Interpreter and the Institute of Modern Russia present a special report by Peter Pomerantsev, author of Nothing is True and Everything is Possible: the Surreal Heart of the New Russia, and our editor-in-chief, Michael Weiss, on the Kremlin’s weaponization of information, culture and money to achieve foreign policy goals and undermine opponents. In recent […]
Tag: RIA Novosti
Russia Update: The Media’s ‘Sputnik Moment’
Welcome to our new column, Russia Update, where we will be closely following day-to-day developments in Russia, including the Russian government’s foreign and domestic policies. A mysterious toxic gas spreads across Moscow, and the Kremlin’s promise to reorganize the Russian media landscape is several steps closer to completion. Still No Clear Explanation on What Caused […]
Andrei Stenin and His Fellow Travelers: How Russian State Media Help Fight the War Against Ukraine
When the remains of Andrei Stenin, a RIA Novosti photographer who had been missing for weeks, were finally identified and he was confirmed dead, the Kremlin’s top propagandist Dmitry Kiselyev solemnly commemorated him and angrily denounced the Ukrainian armed forces who he believed had killed him. Russian state news media gave saturation coverage to the […]
Putin May Not Get His Single History Textbook
Staunton, August 27 – Vladimir Putin’s April 2013 call for the creation of a single school history textbook lest variations lead to “the violation of the humanitarian space of our multi-national nation” has sparked objections from Russian nationalists and the Russian Orthodox Church who say it downplays the Russianness of the state and from non-Russians […]
What’s Really Behind Putin’s Expansionism?
Was the Crimean referendum legitimate? Is Russia going to invade Ukraine? Moldova? Did NATO provoke Russia into aggressive expansionism? Is the Russian media changing its tune on how it defines the Ukrainian revolution? Is what happened in Ukraine a blow to efforts to combat nuclear proliferation? This week, Boston College Professor Matt Sienkiewicz and Interpreter […]
Twenty-Five Questions for Putin
In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a very long press conference. However, many organizations were not allowed to attend, and the kind of hard-hitting questions we’d expect if there were freedom of the press in Russia were not asked. Three days before the event, The New Times published this brave piece of journalism – […]
Vladimir Putin Set His Sights On Conservatism
The course towards conservatism highlighted strategic interests of Vladimir Putin. The president has had several impressive occasions to present to the society his vision of the ideological foundations of the state. In June, at the Popular Front Congress, where Putin was elected the leader of the movement, a conservative UPF manifesto was adopted, and veterans […]
Gazprom Holding Corporate Party Olympic Facilities in Sochi
The state-owned oil giant, Gazprom, will host its holiday party at an Olympic facility, paid for by Gazprom. Other state-owned corporations have not pay for holiday parties. This was originally published in the state-owned RIA Novosti, which is soon to become “Russia Today,” or Russia Segodnya. — Ed. The gas monopoly will time its Christmas corporate […]
Why All the “Decent People” Never Turn Away from Putin
The state-owned media giant RIA Novosti is being restructured, and its editor Svetlana Mironyuk has been replaced by a well-known Putin mouthpiece, Dmitry Kiselyov. Slon.ru, a liberal online magazine, weighs in on the recent development. — Ed. The fall of RIA Novosti is a drama that was deliberately made into a serial. Everyone saw the […]
Video of Dmitry Kiselyov’s First Speech at RIA Novosti
Dmitry Kiselyov, general director of the news agency Russiya Segodnya [Russia Today] promised to preserve all of RIA Novosti’s brands on the base of which a new media will be created. He announced this at a meeting with the RIA Novosti collective, a videotape of which was published on 12 December on Youtube. On 9 December, […]