Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: Soviet Union

Soviet Union stories: 41 news summaries

21 - 40 of 41 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 Next >>

Switch to grid view »

Commies See Red Over Indiana Jones Film

St. Petersburg's Communist Party says a big 'nyet' to latest Indy adventure

May 24, 08 12:52 PM CDT
(Newser) - Indy's new Cold War adventure has infuriated St. Petersburg's Communist Party, the London Times reports. The angry apparatchiks say Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull's depiction of ruthless KGB spies who send terrorists to the US is pure propaganda intended to “slander Soviet Communists” and poison... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Russia • Indiana Jones • Soviet Union • Communist Party • St. Petersburg • Cate Blanchett • Harrison Ford • Communists

 Russia Parades Its Might,
With Soviet Echoes

Red Square display, marking defeat of Nazis, puts revived military on display

May 9, 08 1:46 PM CDT
(Newser) - Russia marked the 63rd anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany today with a parade of Soviet-era of tanks, missile launchers, and columns of foot soldiers, the New York Times reports. President-turned-prime-minister Vladimir Putin and his successor, Dmitry Medvedev, looked on, surrounded by the contrast of communist ritual with symbols... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Russia • military • Vladimir Putin • Soviet Union • Soviet • Nazi • World War II • Dmitry Medvedev

 Ex-Soviet Monkeys
 Survive 15-Year Limbo

Breakaway republic can barely support survivors from better times

Apr 12, 08 5:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - Traumatized monkeys once the subjects of Soviet experiments are odd remnants of a more prosperous time in Abkhazia, an area of Georgia that calls itself independent, the Los Angeles Times reports. The area was crippled in its effort to break away from Georgia, but the 286 primates living in a... More »

MORE ABOUT:
science • Soviet Union • Georgia • independence • research • USSR • monkey • former Soviet state

 NATO Bars Former Soviet States in Blow to US

Ukraine, Georgia, Macedonia blocked

Apr 3, 08 4:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - In a blow to the US, a divided NATO has refused to permit membership bids by former Soviet states Georgia and the Ukraine. The decision is an indication that Europe is wary of antagonizing an increasingly belligerant Russia, Bloomberg reports. Germany and France led the opposition to membership. In another... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Russia • NATO • US foreign policy • Vladimir Putin • Soviet Union • Georgia • Croatia • Albania • Greece • Cold War • Macedonia • Ukraine • Balkans • George W. Bush • Jaap de Hoop Scheffer • Former Yugoslavia

Gorbachev Admits He's Christian

Ex-Soviet prez publicly atheist, but Reagan sensed 'closet believer'

Mar 19, 08 9:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Nearly 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union's atheist empire, Mikhail Gorbachev has admitted he is a Christian, reports the Daily Telegraph. On a visit to Italy the last president of the Communist state prayed at the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi, and later told priests the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Christianity • Italy • Soviet Union • religion • Mikhail Gorbachev • Ronald Reagan • Communists

Gorbachev: Russia Needs Real Democracy

Medvedev, Putin need
to change process, ex-Soviet leader writes

Mar 5, 08 2:21 PM CST
(Newser) - Mikhail Gorbachev is pushing Russia's leaders to change their ways. Writing today for the Times of London, Gorbachev praises Vladimir Putin’s accomplishments as president, and acknowledges the soon-to-be prime minister's popularity. But Russia still faces big problems, which “can only be solved in an environment of real democracy.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Russia • democracy • Vladimir Putin • Soviet Union • Mikhail Gorbachev • Dmitry Medvedev

OPINION

US Should
Have Hugged Castro to Death

Dictator relied on
angry giant to the north to keep people afraid

Feb 19, 08 12:23 PM CST
(Newser) - Fidel Castro has left power, but his legacy endures because the US never did what it took to eliminate his regime: embrace it. Fidel survived for decades because his people were afraid of the angry superpower to the north, writes Newsweek’s Christopher Dickey. Had America embraced him, the Cuban... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Iran • Syria • Fidel Castro • Cuba • Soviet Union • Cuban embargo • isolation

Mao Offered US 10M Chinese Women

He joked to Kissinger
in 1973 that his nation had way too many

Feb 13, 08 9:54 PM CST
(Newser) - China’s Mao Zedong once jokingly offered the US 10 million women from his poor, overpopulated country to kickstart bilateral trade, the BBC reports. Other talks covered the Soviet threat, but during one chummy meeting with Henry Kissinger in Beijing in 1973, Mao said China’s female influx produced too... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • Soviet Union • Henry Kissinger • Chinese women • Mao Zedong • bilateral trade

NY Philharmonic to Play N. Korea

Musical diplomacy may help, says ambassador

Dec 10, 07 9:01 AM CST
(Newser) - The New York Philharmonic plans a historic Pyongyang concert in February, giving Kim Jong Il occasion to dig out his fanciest tracksuit—and further defrosting US relations with the onetime axis of evil member. “We haven’t even had Ping-Pong diplomacy with these people,” said ambassador Christopher Hill.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • North Korea • diplomacy • Soviet Union • Christopher Hill • Pyongyang • Kim Jong Il • New York Philharmonic • Ping Pong diplomacy

Gorbachev Goes Easy on Putin, for Now

Ex-leader defends prez, even as
Kremlin rolls back democracy

Dec 1, 07 8:13 PM CST
(Newser) - Gorbachev remains pals with Putin, even as the Russian prez pares back reforms that Gorbachev holds dear, the Wall Street Journal reports. The former leader reserves his blame for the Kremlin, and spares Putin, calling him "a very normal person"—even after Moscow shut down Gorbachev's political party... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Russia • Boris Yeltsin • Vladimir Putin • Soviet Union • Mikhail Gorbachev • Ronald Reagan • Cold War • Margaret Thatcher • Communism • Stalin • Russian democracy • perestroika

From Detroit
to Dresden
to Siberia

American memoirist imprisoned in Soviet gulag dead at 84

Nov 16, 07 5:42 PM CST
(Newser) - John Noble, an American who wrote two memoirs about the decade he spent as a Soviet prisoner, including 3 years in the gulag, died last week at 84, the Telegraph reports. Taken into Soviet custody in 1945, Noble and his father were incarcerated in Dresden, Germany, where they had run... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Detroit • Soviet Union • obituary • World War II • Dresden • John Noble • Soviet gulag

Watchdog Won't Monitor Russia Election

European body blames Moscow for 'delays
and restrictions'

Nov 16, 07 2:05 PM CST
(Newser) - An international election watchdog agency has canceled its mission to monitor Russia’s December vote because its delegation's visa applications “have continuously been denied,” reports the Washington Post. The lack of oversight by the agency, part of the 55-member Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, is... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Russia • Moscow • Vladimir Putin • Soviet Union • poll • United Russia • election

Russia Stiff Arms International Vote Monitors

Showdown looms with US & EU in bid to keep observers at a distance

Oct 25, 07 5:11 AM CDT
(Newser) - Russia may be headed for another showdown with the US and the European Union over its proposals to severely limit the authority of international election monitors. The Kremlin wants to cut the number of observers and ban their reports from publication until after elections. The move comes just months before... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Russia • European Union • Vladimir Putin • Soviet Union • United States • Orange Revolution • Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe • Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights • Russian parliament • election monitors • election • Russian elections

Rice to Russia: You're No USSR

Secretary talks tough, warning Moscow about using energy supplies for political leverage

Oct 22, 07 3:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - Condoleezza Rice said today Russia shouldn’t use its oil and gas reserves as a “political weapon,” and that the country should move away from authoritarianism and toward democracy. The secretary of state confirmed a “certain distance” between Russia and the US, Reuters reports, but the Soviet... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Russia • Moscow • Condoleezza Rice • Vladimir Putin • Soviet Union • Cold War

Israel Cracks Neo-Nazi Gang

Police find videotapes of gang attacking observant Jews, others

Sep 9, 07 4:03 PM CDT
(Newser) - Israelis are glued to the TV over news that police have busted a Neo-Nazi gang on Israeli soil, the Daily Telegraph reports. The Russian immigrant group allegedly filmed its attacks on gays and observant Jews and have vowed to "kill them all." A policeman said, "It is... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Israel • police • Jews • Soviet Union • Adolf Hitler • Nazi • immigrant • white supremacism • Law of Return • Neo-Nazi

Starbucks to Get First Sip of Russian Market

Legal hurdles cleared, coffee giant aims at other US brands

Aug 30, 07 2:34 PM CDT
(Newser) - Starbucks will finally open its first Russian store next month, the Seattle Times reports, but the coffee giant will need a jolt of caffeine to achieve the brand recognition of Western rivals who've been in the market for years. Traditionally tea drinkers, Russians have warmed up to domestic coffee purveyors,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Russia • Starbucks • McDonald's • coffee • Moscow • Soviet Union • St. Petersburg • consumerism

Putin Vows
to Boost Production of Military Aircraft

Plan could include new
nuclear bombers

Aug 22, 07 1:33 AM CDT
(Newser) - Russian Premier Vladimir Putin has announced ambitious new plans to revive Russia's military aircraft production, which could include new nuclear bombers for "strategic deterrence," according to a US aide. Appearing at the largest air show in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union, Putin vowed to make... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Russia • NATO • missile shield • Vladimir Putin • Soviet Union • Czech Republic • Russian military

Georgia Claims Russian Attack

Missile fired on ex-Soviet republic lands without exploding

Aug 7, 07 4:53 AM CDT
(Newser) - Georgia has accused the Russian military of launching a missile at a small village in its territory. Reuters reports that the missile narrowly avoided a town west of Tbilisi and landed in a farm. The Georgian interior minister decried what he called an "act of aggression" but the Russian... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Russia • NATO • Soviet Union • Georgia • missile • Tbilisi • Tsitelubani

Russians Flock to New Religions

Followers of the 'new' Jesus head to Siberia to build a town

Jul 17, 07 3:42 PM CDT
(Newser) - Is a former traffic cop named Sergei Tropov really the reincarnation of Jesus? Five thousand devoted followers of the Church of the Last Testament believe so, and they've relocated to a remote corner of the Siberian wilderness, where they are constructing a new town founded on the 18-year-old religion. The... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Russia • Soviet Union • Siberia • religion • church • faith • Sergei Tropov • Church of the Last Testament • worshippers

Billionaires Flee Putin's Russia

For mainly Jewish oligarchs, wealth and power has given way
to prison and exile

Jul 2, 07 4:08 PM CDT
(Newser) - A cadre of 50 or so Russian businessmen struck it rich when the USSR's state-owned industries went up for grabs. But most of these billionaire oligarchs are now in prison or have fled, hounded and hectored by the KGB-style tactics of president Putin. The Guardian profiles 7 deposed plutocrats, who've... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Russia • wealth • Jews • Vladimir Putin • Soviet Union • KGB • Roman Abramovich • Kremlin • billionaire • anti-Semitism

21 - 40 of 41 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 Next >>


from our news partners