Staunton, August 21 – Photographer Aleksandr Belensky has documented what many observers feared: despite spending more than 50 billion US dollars on the Sochi Olympics, Vladimir Putin has left Sochi not the vital place he promised but a ghost town where there are almost no tourists and where much of the infrastructure is already decaying. […]
Staunton, 2 June – In a classic example of how international attention can restrain Russian officials and how the end of such attention frees them to resume what they were doing, an animal rights activist reports that Sochi officials have restarted their campaign to kill homeless animals since Western journalists left following the Olympiad. Tatyana […]
Russians continue to protest the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, and suffer backlash themselves. Cases of those arrested last week in solidarity with the sentenced defendants in the Bolotnaya Case continue to be processed. Some of those who protested during the Sochi Olympics last month, such as the Circassians, are still suffering the consequences. And the […]
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, along with several other performers, activists and journalists, have been attacked by Cossack paramilitary police while attempting a protest performance in Sochi this afternoon (RT has removed their video so we have replaced it with video from the Associated Press). The group attempted once again, having been detained yesterday, to […]
Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot have been detained in Sochi while preparing for a demonstration. They have been detained as suspects for a “theft” in their hotel. The two were planning to perform a song called Putin Will Teach You To Love Your Motherland but were arrested “with force” along with several other […]
This is the second part of an article published by Lenta.Ru on how foreign journalists perceived the Olympics opening ceremonies (read the first part here). The criticism of the Lenta piece is that some readers believe that many of the quotes from the Western authors have been cherry picked, segments critical of Putin and the […]
The Sochi Winter Olympics is underway. This week, The Interpreter’s managing editor James Miller is joined by Boston College Professor Dr. Matt Sienkiewicz and a Northeastern University professor Max Abrahms, a terrorism expert, to discuss the state of security at the Olympics. Will there be a terrorist attack? Did Russian security agencies adequately prepare for the threat? Will holding the Olympics […]
Due to the high price of the construction at Sochi, some investors are worried that they will not be able to recoup their costs. In order to avoid default, some have advocated for the construction of casinos and the creation of a “gambling zone.” However, President Putin is against the idea. — Ed. Russian President […]
Pravda, the official paper of the Communist Party, says that the coverage of Sochi has been unfair to Russia, as Western journalists mirror the biases of their countries against the Russian state, the Russian people, and the Russian leader. – Ed. Perhaps never before in history news about the upcoming Olympics had less to do […]
The Sochi Winter Olympics start in just two days. This week, The Interpreter’s managing editor James Miller speaks to Boston College Professor Dr. Matt Sienkiewicz about whether Russia is ready for the Olympics, what to look out for during the Olympics, and whether or not the games will be safe from terrorism. Also see today’s liveblog of the run-up to the […]
