Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Russia

Russian President Arrives In Austria

Austrian police talk to Chechen activists before their protest (AFP)

May 23, 2007 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Vienna for an official visit.

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May 23, 2007

Putin was welcomed by Austrian President Heinz Fischer, and he is scheduled to hold talks with Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer and Austrian businesspeople.

Approximately 60 members of Austria's Chechen community gathered near the office of the Austrian president to protest Putin's visit.

Approximately 1,000 police officers on duty in Vienna to provide security for the visit, which concludes May 24.

(Interfax, AFP)

Islam In The North Caucasus

Madrasah students in Khasavyurt, Daghestan (RFE/RL file photo)

SIMMERING TENSIONS: Fatima Tlisova, former North Caucasus editor for the Regnum news agency and a former North Caucasus-based freelancer for RFE/RL, AP, and others, told an RFE/RL briefing that the Russian government is cracking down hard on mosques and Islamic organizations throughout the region.

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Listen to the entire briefing (about 70 minutes):
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Filmmaker Documents Chechen Villagers' Sad Fate

Rights Activist Discusses Difficulties Of Working In Chechnya

Ministry Admits Chechen Resistance Still Poses 'Serious Threat'

RFE/RL's complete coverage of Russia's war-torn Republic of Chechnya.

CHRONOLOGY

An annotated timeline of the Chechnya conflict.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin covers his face during a conference of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Moscow on February 9.

Administrative (Resource) Breakdown

Administrative resources make up the glue that holds authoritarian structures like Putin's power vertical together. And there have been plenty of signs recently that this glue is weakening. More

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