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By Roland Oliphant, Russia Profile
February 8, 2010
Last night’s exit polls told a consistent story – Viktor Yanukovich seemed to have won a narrow but clear victory of between three and five percent of the vote. But as the actual votes were counted, the real gap turned out to be much smaller – at the time of writing, Yanukovich has only a less than three percent lead. That is a narrow enough margin of error for Yulia Tymoshenko to challenge the results in court, but the public seems to not be in the mood for street protests in favor of either candidate.
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By Svetlana Kononova, Special to Russia Profile
February 8, 2010
With provocative advertising videos featuring nude models at a sauna and a grumpy airport border guard, Burger King, one of the largest fast food corporations in the world, has established a presence in Russia by opening two restaurants in Moscow. The company, which operates more than 12,000 restaurants in 73 countries, is entering the Russian market as a part of its expansion strategy in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
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Introduced by Vladimir Frolov, Russia Profile
February 5, 2010
It has now been a year since the U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden announced a reset in United States-Russia relations, and six months since President Barack Obama’s visit to Moscow. It is time to take stock of whether the much touted reset is working, or whether it is in danger of being gradually set back. Have both sides seized all the opportunities to transform the relationship, or is there more that could be done? Who are the stakeholders in both countries interested in having the relationship progress continuously?
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Interview by Andrei Zolotov, Jr., Russia Profile
February 5, 2010
On February 1, the first anniversary of Patriarch Kirill’s enthronement, his right-hand man and the youngest member of the Holy Synod was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan. A theologian and composer with an Oxford degree, the head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department of External Church Relations, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk has chosen to give his first interview in this new position to Russia Profile.
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By Roland Oliphant, Russia Profile
February 4, 2010
A think-tank close to President Dmitry Medvedev has released a report recommending a radical overhaul of Russia’s political system, including a return to gubernatorial elections, the disbanding of the Federal Security Service and the Interior Ministry, and Russia’s accession to NATO and the European Union. But have the thinkers come up with anything more than a liberal wish list? And could Medvedev implement their recommendations even if he wanted to?
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By Tom Balmforth, Russia Profile
February 4, 2010
On Wednesday, United Russia leaders demanded that Sergei Mironov, the leader of the Just Russia opposition party, be fired from his post of speaker of the Federation Council after he challenged Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s anti-crisis budget plans on national television. This is not the first time Mironov has criticized the proposed budget, but his statements have never elicited such a tough reaction from United Russia’s top leaders. Meanwhile, the Communist Party simply dismissed the barbed exchanges as staged opposition. Is it all pantomime, or are things heating up with the approach of March regional elections?
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By Roland Oliphant, Russia Profile
February 3, 2010
The horror of Kaliningrad is its Baltic temperatures. But that didn’t stop some 10,000 people from showing up for a rally to protest a hike in transportation tax and import duties. Organized by an unlikely alliance of opposition parties ranging from the Communist Party (KPRF) to the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) and the pro-democracy Solidarnost movement, the protest was the largest in Russia in the past ten years.
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Comment by Alexander Arkhangelsky, Special to RIA Novosti
February 3, 2010
The decision to put the paper and pulp mill at Lake Baikal back in operation, which has led many people to pen their signatures on letters of protest, makes one remember the past and think about the future. In the past we have heard all the arguments that cellulose production is safe for the environment and that people need the jobs it creates. But our future seems to be going further away from needing paper and into a realm that our country is yet to contemplate.
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By Tom Balmforth, Russia Profile
February 3, 2010
The heavy-handed break-up of an opposition protest in central Moscow on Sunday evening has become the focus of a new police scandal, after members of a top OMON riot-police unit made public the dubious protocol they are instructed to follow during protests. To make matters worse both the U.S. State Department and the European Parliament have expressed concern that 100 demonstrators were arrested for defending their freedom to assemble. Meanwhile, in Kaliningrad, as many as 12,000 protesters gathered without incident.
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Ukraine election: Viktor Yanukovych claims victory
Viktor Yanukovych, a 59 year-old former convict, said his win opened a new page in Ukraine’s history, promising to unite a country which is deeply split between the Ukrainian-speaking west and the Russian-speaking east. “The Ukrainian people have supported us,” he said, speaking in Russian. “People wanted change.” Pledging to pull the country out of a deep economic crisis, he said he would not conduct a political witch hunt.
Exit polls put Mr Yanukovych between three and five percentage points ahead of Yulia Tymoshenko, his bitter rival and the current prime minister. “I think that Yulia Tymoshenko should prepare to resign. She understands that well,” Mr Yanukovich said. First official results, with five per cent counted, gave Yanukovich 54 per cent against 41 per cent for Tymoshenko
A fuller picture is expected to emerge on Monday, at which point some four fifths of the votes are likely to have been counted. Mr Yanukovych’s victory sounds a death knell for the country’s 2004 Orange Revolution that set it firmly on a pro-Western course but failed to deliver meaningful changes. The big question now is whether Mrs Tymoshenko decides to accuse Mr Yanukovych of fraud and challenges the result.
More...
Source: The Daily Telegraph
New & Updated from Resources Section
Alexander Khloponin
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Stocks Fall on Foreign Fears, Set for Rebound
World markets took a beating last week as problems in several European economies and U.S. jobs data spooked investors, but despite the bad news from abroad, Russian equities are well-poised for recovery. On Friday, the ruble-denominated MICEX posted its biggest single-day drop in more than two months. The index fell 2.9 percent to 1355.64, which followed a 2.5 percent drop Thursday. All in all, the index lost 4.5 percent for the week.
The dollar-denominated RTS did even worse on Friday, tumbling 3.6 percent to 1411.14, leaving the index down 4.3 percent for the week. "It's nothing Russia-specific," Vladimir Savov, head of research for Otkritie Investment Bank, said of the sell-off. That's the case for both big losses and large rallies in general on Moscow's bourses, he added.
Indeed, it appears as though the country's own domestic economic situation is the only thing not affecting its stock markets. U.S. stocks fell sharply on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing 2.6 percent and dropping below the 10,000 mark on mounting fears that south European countries — Greece, Portugal and Spain — may not be able to bring their debt levels under control.
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Source: The Moscow Times
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My War, Your War
By Tom Balmforth
The campaign in Afghanistan is one of the highest priorities of the U. S. foreign policy agenda, and its results could well define Barack Obama’s presidency. But some claim that the fight against international terrorism is no less important for Russia. More..
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