Latest Monitor Articles
SPAIN REFUSES TO EXTRADITE GUSINSKY.
Vladimir Gusinsky finally won one yesterday, when a Spanish judicial panel voted 2 to 1 to reject a request from the Russian Prosecutor General's Office that he be extradited to face charges of large-scale fraud. The Russian case against Gusinsky was that his Media-Most holding... MORE
TV-6 MAY WIND UP IN THE HANDS OF LUKOIL.
A large number NTV journalists, led by Yevgeny Kiselev, the channel's ousted general director and chief editor, having quit the channel to protest its takeover by Gazprom, have set up shop at TNT, a smaller regional network belonging to Gusinsky, and at TV-6, the Moscow... MORE
RUSSIAN DEFENSE SHUFFLE: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
Roughly three weeks after President Vladimir Putin launched his reshuffle of the Russian Defense Ministry leadership, commentators in Russia remain divided over its meaning and significance. Some have bought into the Kremlin's interpretation of the move, seeing the appointment of former Security Council Secretary Sergei... MORE
MORE CHANGES LIKELY TO FOLLOW.
If Russian commentators are divided on the reasons for--and consequences of--President Vladimir Putin's reshuffle, they seem to be more unified in their belief that his March 28 appointments were only the first in what is likely to be a much broader shakeup of Russia's military... MORE
SEGODNYA CLOSED DOWN WHILE ITOGI’S STAFF IS REPLACED.
The campaign against Vladimir Gusinsky's Media-Most group accelerated yesterday, when Gazprom-Media pulled the plug on the Segodnya newspaper and removed the existing editor and team of journalists at the weekly magazine Itogi. The decisions were made by Dmitry Biryukov, head of the Seven Days publishing... MORE
YABLOKO DECLARES SOLIDARITY WITH MEDIA-MOST’S EMBATTLED JOURNALISTS.
Grigory Yavlinsky's Yabloko today called on Russia's Supreme Court to rule on the legality of the actions to--as the group put in a statement--"crush" NTV. In the statement, released by Yabloko's central council, the movement expressed solidarity with the Media-Most journalists experiencing "the pressure of... MORE
WILL MOLDOVA’S COMMUNISTS JOIN THE RUSSIA-BELARUS UNION?
During their recent, successful electoral campaigns, Moldova's Party of Communists and President Vladimir Voronin promised to initiate Moldova's accession to the Russia-Belarus Union and to call a national referendum on that issue. The Party leaders correctly calculated that such a promise would help solidify their... MORE
SENIOR IRAQI OFFICIAL EXPECTED IN MOSCOW THIS WEEK…
Approximately a week after a meeting between top Russian and U.S. diplomats signaled the possibility of a positive new trend in bilateral relations, the Kremlin is set to host a visit in Moscow this week which will likely set Bush administration officials' teeth on edge.... MORE
…TALKS EXPECTED TO EASE ANY BAGHDAD-MOSCOW TENSIONS.
Russia's status as Baghdad's number one backer has not precluded the appearance of tensions between the two countries, however, and Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan's upcoming visit could highlight the fact that Moscow's difficulties with regard to Iraq may not be limited to the... MORE
GUBERNATORIAL RACE WIDENS IN PRIMORSKY KRAI.
The gubernatorial election in Primorsky Krai, in Russia's Far East, is set for May 27. The poll was occasioned by Yevgeny Nazdratenko's decision to step down as regional governor. After years of doggedly resisting attempts by both the federal authorities and Russia's energy bosses to... MORE