The Kremlin is spinning domestic protectionism and anti-West food sanctions as a way to help Russia’s farmer. But it’s really just a recipe of pure politics – and bad economics.
Tag: russia
Though Belarus is part of a Customs Union with Russia and Kazakhstan, it is cooling toward Moscow. As Minsk hosts Russia-Ukraine talks, much is at stake in the old Soviet orbit.
The Russian hacking community is as ambigious as the country itself: admired and feared, all at once. A reformed hacker takes us into the bowels of the criminal Deep Web.
Move the shot glasses aside and make way for some stemware. One expert characterizes the Russian wine market as one of the “most promising in the modern world.”
MOSCOW — The war in eastern Ukraine is being fought on several fronts — with deathly weapons and munitions on the one hand, and with competing interpretations of reality on the other. As the conflict drags on, it’s increasingly becoming a propaganda war. From the beginning, the Russian media has taken an active part in […]
A five-year economic agreement in the works between Russia and Iran signals efforts by both countries to protect themselves from global isolation. Of course, it’s mostly about oil.
Russian travel agencies are going bankrupt as the Ukraine crisis clips the wings of tourism and keeps Russians at home. Many who have ventured abroad have found themselves stranded.
Reactions are coming in after the U.S. and Europe doubled down on economic sanctions against an ever more defiant Moscow.
MOSCOW — Finally, an engagement that Vladimir Putin could enjoy. Wearing dark aviator glasses against the bright sun, the Russian president attended the Russian “Navy Day” parade last Sunday at the Norwegian sea port of Severomorsk. A warship recently put into service fired some salvoes, and sailors responded to Putin’s greeting with three cries of […]
YEREVAN — There used to be trains that connected Moscow and Armenia’s capital of Yerevan. But for different reasons, mostly an array of regional tensions in former Soviet republics, Armenia is no longer connected to Russia by rail. To get to Yerevan from Moscow, you can either drive for 48 hours through the North Caucasus […]
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Babushka And Matryoshkas
Up on Moscow’s Sparrow Hills, newlyweds take pictures and tourists buy souvenirs. Grand-Mère (a.k.a. babushka) was contemplating a vast array of matryoshkas; we brought a couple of these Russian nesting dolls back — they don’t take much space in your luggage!
The country’s old imperialist ambitions are back. If you are inside or outside, and trying to understand Vladimir Putin’s 21st century Russia, keep that in mind in making your calculations.
A Russian settlement in remote Norway has impressive roads, schools and monuments. But not a soul lives in this ice-preserved community, after its residents mysteriously left one day in 1998.
The downing of Malaysia Airlines’ flight MH17 may change Putin’s hand in eastern Ukraine, but a weak and divided Europe is still no match for the well-armed Russian poker player.
SAINT PETERSBURG — It is two steps away from the Hermitage Museum, a few steps more from the Kazan Cathedral, at the corner of Nevsky Prospect, Saint Petersburg’s principal avenue. This is, in other words, a prestigious address. The spacious premises exude comfort and money and are seemingly designed for welcoming businessmen rather than students […]
KLAIPEDA — The entrance to this Lithuanian city’s port is a lesson in geopolitics. Klaipeda is the major transit hub for Russia on the Baltic Sea, but there’s no overlooking the huge semi-domes of the new terminals for LNG (liquefied natural gas) which Lithuania hopes will free the country from its energy-dependence on Moscow. There […]
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Discount Russia
Ten years had passed since the collapse of the Soviet Union, yet there was still something end-of-an-era-esque in the imposing GUM, the State Department Store near Moscow’s Red Square. The banner reads “Summer Discounts, Up To 50% Off.”
It is said that Russian parents start thinking of ways to get male children out of required military service before they are even born. Can Moscow change the system without weakening defense?
MOSCOW — Earlier this week, all of Russia’s ambassadors were called home from their stations abroad to attend an event with members of the Russian Parliament and, of course, President Vladimir Putin. The only ambassador missing at the event was Mikhail Zurabov, ambassador to Ukraine. Apparently, the time he spent in Moscow after being recalled […]
Ukrainian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Volodymyr died on Saturday. The showdown between Kiev and Moscow makes picking his successor more than a religious event.
Crossing borders in and out of post-Soviet Russia is about to get more complicated, especially for Ukrainians.
The new Ukrainian president’s attempt at peace has failed. What now?
DAMASCUS — In Syria, it’s business as usual. Despite the desolate landscape of destruction that loyalist troops leave behind and the sanctions imposed by Western countries, a few entrepreneurs in the power’s sphere of influence are still amassing profits, say experts of the Syrian regime. They are lifting the veil on part of this occult […]
What’s been counting around the world…
MOSCOW — Upon getting the news that the United States and European Union wouldn’t issue travel visas to certain senior officials as part of the continuing sanctions in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, no one in Moscow complained out loud. Indeed, several prominent officials publicly declared that they would vacation in Russia, even if […]
MOSCOW — According to a recent poll, the number of Russian citizens who would be prepared to vote for President Vladimir Putin if he were up for reelection now has been increasing every month since Russia annexed Crimea. In April, his approval rating was 62%, in May it increased to 73%. At the beginning of […]
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Ghosts Of Winter Past
Were these the ghosts of relatives of Catherine the Great, chatting in front of Saint Petersburg’s Winter Palace? Probably more likely employees of the city’s visitor center, as the residence of the Russian Tsars and emperors is now home to one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, the Hermitage.
From a once-contested region in the Russian Federation, anti-Kiev forces are spotted in the battleground eastern region of Ukraine. They are “more Russian than the Russians,” says one.
BRUSSELS — There is no shortage of good advice for Europe. The United States recommends becoming independent of Russian gas supplies — Vice President Joe Biden, on a recent visit to Romania, passed that tip on to Prime Minister Victor Ponta. “We have to make certain that Russia can no longer use its energy resources […]
Empirical research suggests that economic sanctions are at best ineffective and at worst counterproductive. But Russia may yet pay a hefty price for its Ukraine aggression.
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Slavic Soul
During our 2001 cruise on the Volga, we got to see some of the many faces of Russia, including the famously melancholic tunes that Slavic music is famous for. It’s a pity the photograph doesn’t allow you to hear the tear-jerking balalaikas and accordions.
Lower visibility, a falling ruble and rising inflation: The Ukrainian crisis is taking its toll on the Russian economy.
Somewhere between war preparations and street theater, the barricades along the roads in Ukraine offer a sign of where the country may be heading.
The Russian leader’s propaganda machine attracts all sorts of extremist movements in the European Union, on both sides of the political spectrum.
Using rumors and references to the Soviet past, the Russian media propaganda bears a clear responsibility in the Ukraine crisis.
Since Crimea became part of Russia, China is the first foreign country looking to invest. In light of Moscow’s standoff with the West, this is about much more than money.
MOSCOW — Russia’s deteriorating relationship with the West could lead to a complete restructuring of Internet policy in the country, Kommersant has learned. The Kremlin is currently holding internal discussions about instituting complex methods for tightening the control over Internet access providers. This means filtering content at all levels of content, forbidding the registration of […]
An accusation, later withdrawn, by French cosmetics giant Yves Rocher stands at the center of the case of against celebrated anti-Kremlin blogger Alexei Navalny. Who’s pulling the strings?
Before Kiev or Kharviv, Moscow’s new cold war with the West meant would-be American parents were banned from adopting Russian orphans. The effect can only now be tallied.