Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Russia

Rybkin Withdraws From Russian Presidential Race

Moscow, 5 March 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Russian presidential candidate Ivan Rybkin announced today he is quitting the presidential campaign.

TEXT SIZE - +

March 05, 2004

Rybkin told a news conference in Moscow that he no longer wants to participate in what he termed "a farce."

Rybkin made the comments after returning from a trip abroad. He cited security reasons for that trip, prior to which he had disappeared for several days.

Rybkin repeated his claims that he was the victim of politically motivated persecution, citing his fierce criticism of President Vladimir Putin as the reason.

Rybkin was one of six candidates competing with Putin for 14 March presidential elections. His campaign was backed by self-exiled businessman Boris Berezovskii.

Syrians in the northwestern town of Kfar Nubul pose with a cartoon depicting Russia

Angry Over Syria, Arab World Threatens Russian Boycott

Groups in a number of Arab states, angry over the Russian-Chinese veto of a UN resolution aimed at stopping the violence in Syria, have called for a one-day boycott of Russian and Chinese goods on February 12. More

Alla Dzhioyeva attends a protest by her supporters in Tskhinvali on January 28.

South Ossetian Opposition Leader Hospitalized After Raid

Alla Dzhioyeva, the opposition candidate whose victory in a runoff ballot in November for de facto president of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia was swiftly annulled by the republic's Supreme Court, was taken to a hospital after a raid by some 200 masked security personnel on her headquarters in Tskhinvali. More

Protesters gather behind a banner reading "Honest Elections" during a demonstration in Moscow on February 4.

How To Rig An Election

A whistle-blower in Samara explains how the authorities fixed the Duma elections in December -- and plan to do the same in the presidential vote in March. More