Tom Balmforth covers Russia and other former Soviet republics from his base in Moscow.
In his first major policy initiative since announcing his bid to return to the presidency, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has called for the integration of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia in a "Eurasian Union."
In a sign of the artistic community's growing disillusionment with micromanaged Russian politics, some leading Russian rock musicians say they will not perform in honor of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin if he wins next year's presidential election.
The glowing coverage that business magnate Mikhail Prokhorov had been receiving from Russia's state-controlled media for months has come to an abrupt end. And in its place, television viewers are being fed critical -- and clearly orchestrated -- investigative reports.
Mikhail Prokhorov has directed an unprecedented verbal attack at top Kremlin ideologue Vladislav Surkov and accused him of meddling in his Right Cause party. Prokhorov has parted ways with the party that he led for three months, and renounced his intention to run in State Duma elections in December.
The crash of the Yakovlev-42 passenger plane on September 7 near the city of Yaroslavl is the fourth in a series of plane crashes in Russia this year, earning the country the unwanted distinction of having the worst air safety record in the world for 2011. The Russian air industry's woes illustrate the major obstacles in the country’s broader bid to modernize itself.
A Russian passenger jet carrying a top local hockey team has crashed in Yaroslav Oblast killing at least 43. The crash has again shone a spotlight on Russia's patchy air-safety record.
Fears abound in Moscow that months of ambivalence over the conflict in Libya, and its reluctance to call for the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi, could cost Russia billions of dollars in defense and energy contracts. Russia's belated decision to recognize Libya's provisional leadership, the National Transitional Council, on September 1 appears to be a last-ditch effort at damage control.
Russian state-owned oil and gas company Rosneft and the U.S. company Exxon Mobil signed a deal on August 30 that will see them explore vast untapped energy reserves in Russia's Arctic Ocean and Black Sea.
Belarusians are quickly losing faith in the country's tightly controlled state media, creating an opportunity for the feisty independent press to shape public opinion. But seizing this opportunity will be difficult for the nonstate media, which survive on a shoestring budget and face constant harassment from the authorities.
Twenty years ago, just days after the failed Soviet coup collapsed, Belarus declared its independence. But rather than marking this milestone with celebrations, the authorities in Minsk are ignoring it. Meanwhile, many Belarusians still yearn for the hope they felt two decades ago when the U.S.S.R. collapsed.
Discontent simmers in Belarus as the economic crisis gripping the unreformed post-Soviet economy shows no sign of abating. And with winter approaching, economists warn that the pain is only just beginning with more hikes on food, utilities and consumer goods on the horizon.
Two decades after the demise of the Soviet Union, Russia still prides itself on providing cradle-to-grave health care for everyone. On paper, that is. In fact, many Russians have to pay for medical care that's supposedly free. Although the government is spending billions of dollars to overhaul the creaking health-care system, there are few hopes of reversing its decline.
Taxi drivers across Russia are protesting against a new law seeking to bring order to the country's chaotic industry. But cabbies say the legislation will impose prohibitive costs and insurmountable bureaucratic hurdles.
Russian bloggers are alarmed after comments by Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev suggesting that there needs to be tighter controls on the Internet, one of the last bastions of free media in the country.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has ratcheted up the anti-American rhetoric in a meeting with pro-Kremlin youth groups, slamming Washington over its national debt, which he says threatens the world economy.
Investigators have launched a criminal probe into flouted safety regulations after a private pleasure boat sank on the Moscow River early on July 31 killing nine passengers, including the captain.
Amid ongoing demographic worries and church lobbying, Russia alarms its fledgling women's rights community by placing restrictions on ads for abortion services that are expected to be followed by much tougher checks in the fall.
Moscow City Hall is repaving large parts of Moscow in a move being scrutinized due to the mayor's wife's supposed ties with the paving business. There is no proof of graft, but the existence of these suspicions underscores deep mistrust in government officials.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed into law new amendments that define beer as alcohol for the first time and place restrictions on its sale. No longer will Russians be able to buy a bottle of beer in a kiosk at any time of the day or night.
The banning of wheelchairs from St. Petersburg subway escalators effectively prevents the city's thousands of already-isolated disabled from traveling. Authorities say the move was made for safety reasons, but the disabled say it typifies the many basic difficulties they face in their everyday lives.
Load more
![The Russian government wants to find out what the country's youth "are listening to, what they are reading, [and] what they are watching."](https://gdb.rferl.org/2a866e34-76bf-4b8b-93eb-7016120378a8_w100_r1.jpg)
![The Russian government wants to find out what the country's youth "are listening to, what they are reading, [and] what they are watching."](https://gdb.rferl.org/2a866e34-76bf-4b8b-93eb-7016120378a8_w66_r1.jpg)
