Stories related to: Russia

Russia's new president isn't any keener on foreign criticism than his predecessor, the New York Times reports. Dmitry Medvedev told reporters this week that the US, which needs to overcome an economic "depression," should not be criticizing his country's record on democracy and human rights. Medvedev said it was time for an overhaul of the world's economic system—and that it was time American influence be reduced. More »

Spain scored three second-half goals today to beat Russia 3-0 and reach the European Championship final, giving the team a chance to shed its status as one of soccer's biggest underachievers. Xavi Hernandez, Dani Guiza and David Silva each scored to give the Spaniards a shot at their second European title when they play Germany in Vienna, Austria. More »

Russia's soccer team takes the field against Spain today in the Euro 2008 quarterfinals with an unlikely and ardent cheering section—the Kremlin. The team, resurging after years in decline, can thank the hefty monetary backing of an oil magnate afraid to run afoul of Moscow. And, as Josh Patashnik writes in the New Republic , "This is Vladimir Putin's team through and through." More »

Russian officials have denied Maria Sharapova’s request to carry her country’s flag at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, Reuters reports. “I advised against” Sharpova’s wish to be a flag-bearer, the Russian tennis chief said. “We want her to be fresh, not tired, during her matches." Sharapova has also decided to stay in a hotel, not the Olympic village, during the games. More »

Unsettled ex-Soviet republics could become the scenes of proxy battles in a new cold war, the Christian Science Monitor reports, with the breakaway Georgia region of Abkhazia a case in point. The US and NATO are backing Georgia, with Russia supporting the separatists. "Tensions are growing very fast, and we find ourselves on the line of confrontation between Russia and the West," one Abkhazian academic says. More »

Nations once known for extremes of poverty—China, India and Brazil—are now producing more of the world's millionaires and super rich than ever before, according to a new study of the globe's wealthiest entrepreneurs. The US is losing ground to emerging markets when it comes to producing personal wealth, reports the Wall Street Journal . More »

Lithuanians "should be furious" with politicians who have backed the Baltic nation into a "potentially appalling" crisis of energy and policy, the Economist notes. As condition for its admission to the European Union, Lithuania promised to shutter its Ignalina nuclear power plant by 2009—and pols have made no move to replace the energy, raising the specter of bargaining with Russia. More »

Four men have been charged in Moscow in connection with the killing of Anna Politkovskaya, the investigative journalist shot dead outside her apartment in 2006. Authorities believe that her murder was linked to her exposés on human rights abuses in Chechnya. Two of the accused are Chechens, the Guardian reports—both brothers of the suspected hit man, who is still at large. More »

Berlin would finally get a museum dedicated to the Cold War if a group of high-profile politicians get their way. Led by former Czech President Vaclav Havel, the group is urging Germany to build the structure at Checkpoint Charlie, the infamous crossing point that connected the city when it was split by the Berlin Wall. More »

The oil price surge is just like the dot-com boom, analysts at Lehman Brothers tell the Wall Street Journal , and costs will sharply decline once the US dollar strengthens and demand dips in certain countries. Lehman claims oil is experiencing the "classic ingredients of an asset bubble," and points to the "herd" instinct of financial investors in rising prices. More »

The way to pressure Iran into halting its nuclear program is through economic sanctions, Sen. Chuck Schumer argues in the Wall Street Journal . And the key to giving them teeth is to enlist Russia's cooperation. "To bring Putin's Russia on board we must make it an offer it cannot refuse," the New York Democrat writes. More »

Russian TV stations have just the solution for pesky opposition commentary—they simply keep it off the airways, even digitally erasing one anti-Putin analyst, the New York Times reports. Putin’s opponents are included in what some call a “stop list” of figures banned from television coverage. It’s “an excellent way to stifle dissent,” said the erased analyst. More »

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 young Russians against  them. More »

To Britain, he’s a wanted man, a murderer responsible for a diplomatic crisis. To Russia, he’s a respected, successful politician. So it was an unrepentant Andrei Lugovoi who sat down with the Guardian ’s Luke Harding. The ex-KGB man insists he did not poison dissident Alexander Litvinenko by placing radioactive polonium in his tea. Instead, he sees himself as a victim.  More »

Romancing the Saudis and railing against speculators won’t accomplish anything, Gerard Baker tells American pols in the Guardian : A second industrial revolution is driving oil prices up and there’s no turning back. Stop the populism— the "economically illiterate idea for a gas tax holiday," for instance—and the saber-rattling, and instead focus on areas, like energy efficiency, where progress is being made.  More »

It's not only humans who get around the Russian capital by subway these days. Stray dogs are now a common sight on the Moscow metro, and, as the Wall Street Journal reports, their lives are pretty cushy. Muscovites are accustomed to seeing them lounging in stations, waiting for someone to toss a scrap, boarding trains, and curling up on an empty seat.  More »

Anti-Semitism pushed Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s family to leave Russia, he told an Israeli website. “The great suffering put on my parents in Russia because of anti-Semitism was the primary reason that they left. And that has had a major influence on my life,” Brin told TheMarker.com, CNET reports. His family emigrated to the US when he was a child in 1979. More »

It may look like Vladimir Putin has kept Russia stable by sliding into the PM's chair; optimists even predict he'll share power politely with President Medvedev. But these lovebirds are actually destined to fight, writes Ivan Krastev in the Wall Street Journal: Eventually Medvedev will want to exercise power, and not as Putin’s “mini-me.” More »

The final nine members of a Russian doomsday cult holed up in a cave to await the apocalypse (coming this month) have abandoned ship, unable to stand the stench of two people who had died. Thirty-five followers of a self-declared prophet calling himself Father Pyotr climbed into the cave in November and threatened to blow themselves up if police tried to remove them, the BBC reports. More »

NATO is preparing for cyberwar, ComputerWorld reports. Sparked by a cyber attack on Estonia that took some financial systems off-line for hours in 2007, the Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence will open there next year. With the center’s help, NATO will be able to "defy and successfully counter the threats in this area," a commander said. More »