Archive for February, 2007

Thursday, February 8th, 2007

Alexander Lukashenko: the Past and the Future of Russia-Belarus Relationship

One of the essential objectives of Russia’s foreign policy lies in retaining influence in the post-Soviet territories, which are now independent since the collapse of the Union in 1991. Among these, the Baltic states: Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia seek to eradicate any connection with Russia, joining the European Union and NATO. Most of the remaining […]

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Tuesday, February 6th, 2007

Khodorkovsky’s Trial: New Allegations

Yesterday the infamous YUKOS trial has taken a brand new turn. Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business associate Platon Lebedev were charged additionally with theft of 23 billion dollar worth of oil. The charges were brought up in a provincial city of Chita accompanied by severe security measures. As described by Kommersant: “Swarms of police closed […]

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Friday, February 2nd, 2007

01.02.2007 Presidential Press-Conference

On the 1st of February President Putin held a press-conference in Kremlin. It has been the longest conference to date (3.5 hours) and had over a thousand approved journalist participants. The event was long awaited, as it was assumed that Mr. Putin could name his successor in the course of the discussion. The question of […]

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Thursday, February 1st, 2007

Freedom House report and the Vertical of Power

According to the annual ranking as calculated by the Freedom House (http://freedomhouse.org) Russia is holding its position among the group of not-free countries. The political freedoms in Russia, according to the study are similar to those in Gabon, Pakistan and Angola. Moreover, for the civil freedoms Russia has received the lowest grade possible, along with […]

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