Recent efforts to regulate the Internet could jeopardize not only its vibrancy, but also the benefits it brings to the world. Nations from across the globe met at the December 2012 World Conference on International Telecommunications in Dubai to consider changes to the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs). The treaty negotiations …
Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently released a scathing new report focused on the crackdown on Russia’s civil society. Since December 2011, the Kremlin has committed to squashing nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that promote democracy and are alleged conduits of Western influence, HRW says. The report, titled “Laws of Attrition,” focuses on …
KYIV, UKRAINE—Russia’s leading anti-corruption blogger, attorney and political activist Alexei Navalny, appeared in court Wednesday accused of embezzlement. On Thursday, federal prosectuors slapped him with additional charges for alleged price gouging. However, his real crime is exposing corruption and opposing the current political regime. Prosecutors charged Navalny, a moderate nationalist …
The Departments of State and Treasury have released their public version of the “Magnitsky List”—18 Russian nationals who have committed gross human rights violations and were involved in the unjust imprisonment and death of Sergei Magnitsky. The list was required by the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law and Accountability Act, …
On March 28, Vladimir Putin, returning home from the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) Durban summit, ordered Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu to mobilize the Black Sea Fleet—immediately. More than 7,000 troops, and some 36 warships, 250 armored vehicles, 50 cannons, and as many as 20 fighter jets were …
As Cypriots come to grips with this week’s agreement to bail out its banks, Russian policymakers need to think about why their citizens are involved in this crisis. Around 40 percent of Cyprus bank deposits belong to Russian individuals or businesses, and accounts with more than 100,000 euros now face …
Vladimir Pekhtin, chairman of the Duma Ethics Committee, hid undisclosed luxury properties in Florida valued at nearly $2 million while proclaiming his anti-American credentials, according to Russian anti-corruption crusader Alexei Navalny. As early as 2007, Pekhtin and his son bought an oceanfront luxury apartment in Miami. Navalny’s staff searched Miami-Dade …
The Russian government is set to posthumously try the brutally murdered whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky for tax fraud. While working for Hermitage Capital, formerly one of Russia’s largest foreign investment firms, Magnitsky uncovered a massive fraud and accused Russian police and tax officials of embezzling $230 million from the Russian treasury. …
On Sunday, the Russian New Year’s Eve (in the old-style Julian calendar), tens of thousands of Muscovites poured into the city center to protest the new law banning adoption of Russian children by Americans, known as the “Dima Yakovlev law.” Despite the nasty January weather, people of conscience did not …
