Julie Corwin

Also by Julie Corwin

• February 25, 2005

  Analysis: The Oligarchs Strike Back?

  Mikhail Kasyanov Former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov told reporters in Moscow on 24 February that he is not ruling out running for the presidency in 2008. Kasyanov's remarks follow a series of recent talks he has given in New York and Washington, D.C., where he reportedly said similar things off the record. In Moscow, Kasyanov said that after reviewing the situation in the country last year, "one can draw the conclusion that the country is moving in the wrong direction," RIA-Novosti reported. He declared himself "ready to facilitate and help consolidate democratic forces" and called for the creation of a unified democratic party. When asked if he would be ready to head such a project, he declared such talk "premature since there are no unified democrats yet."

• February 22, 2005

  Analysis: Can Bush-Putin Friendship Heal All Wounds?

  As Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush prepare for their meeting in Bratislava on 24 February, officials on both sides might be hoping that the two leaders' much-heralded personal friendship reemerges.

• February 10, 2005

  Analysis: From Censorship To Content Filtering In Russia

  Last month, the management of a poetry website based in Russia (http://www.stihi.ru) instructed authors to observe certain political censorship requirements, REN-TV reported on 26 January. Authors were forbidden to write about the war in Chechnya or the ongoing protests over the reform of social benefits. They were admonished not to criticize President Vladimir Putin, the government, members of the pro-Kremlin Unified Russia party, or the pro-Putin youth movement Moving Together. Poet Vladislav Sergeev predicted that no one would publish on the site anymore because of the restrictions.

• January 26, 2005

  Analysis: Moscow Does Not Believe In Pensioners' Tears

  Demonstrators in St. Petersburg last week Skepticism -- or even cynicism -- has been a common reaction in Russia to the recent Orange Revolution in neighboring Ukraine, and the pensioners' protests that have shut down streets in dozens of Russian cities over the past month are eliciting much the same reaction -- at least within Russian officialdom.

• January 13, 2005

  Analysis: Pensioner Power

  A protest against the benefits reform in Moscow last year For four days in a row, pensioners across cities and towns in Russia have staged public protests -- in many cases blocking major thoroughfares -- demanding that a new system of cash payments for social benefits such as free medicine be overturned. The new system took effect on 1 January, but due to the long New Year's holidays most Russians didn't feel the pinch until 10 January. According to Andrei Makarkin of the Center for Political Technology, their resulting anger has sparked a wave of public protests on the scale of which Russia hasn't seen since the 1998 coal miners' strikes, "Vedomosti" reported on 12 January.

• January 12, 2005

  Volga Journalist Joins Long List Of Targets

  On the evening of 7 January, three men attacked RFE/RL correspondent Yelena Rogacheva in the capital of the Marii El Republic, Ioshkar-Ola, as she was walking along a street. They struck her several times, including in the face, but did not ask for money or take her purse. Rogacheva told RFE/RL's Moscow bureau that her assailants warned her that if she told anyone about the incident, they would kill her.

• January 06, 2005

  Analysis: Moscow Ponders How Ukraine Was 'Lost'

  Despite Putin's support, Yanukovych still lost As Ukraine's former Prime Minister and defeated presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych clears out his government office in Kyiv, pundits, journalists and political analysts back in Moscow continue to ask what went wrong. With so much financial backing from Russian businesses and political support from Russian President Vladimir Putin, why did Yanukovych lose?

• January 01, 2005

  Analysis: Goodbye To All That

  Russia wound up its latest -- and soon to be last -- batch of gubernatorial elections on 26 and 19 December 2004 with the expected results. A bevy of incumbents and candidates supported by the current party of power were reelected by the usual means -- physical attacks, last-minute court decisions, disqualifying their opponents, and the distribution of compromising materials in the press.

• December 29, 2004

  Analysis: A Year Of Writing Dangerously

  An undated photo of Veranika Charkasava, who was found slain in her Minsk apartment Two media watchdogs have concluded that 2004 was among the deadliest years for journalists in recent history. The Committee to Protest Journalists (CPJ) made the most recent assessment, announcing in early December that 2004 has been the deadliest year for journalists in a decade. Fifty-four journalists had been killed as of 10 December -- the highest death toll since 1994, when 66 were killed, many in Algeria's civil war, Rwanda, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The World Association of Newspapers noted in November that 10 more journalists had died working this year than in all of 2003.

• December 21, 2004

  Analysis: Is Russia Ripe For An 'Orange Revolution'?

  "Will Ukraine's 'Orange Revolution' spread to Russia?" may seem like an odd question to ask in the absence of any competitors to Russian President Vladimir Putin. After all, Putin easily won reelection this year. Yet, a virtual torrent of ink has been spilled in the Russian media in recent weeks posing exactly that question. The answers reflect not just how the authors view of events in Kyiv, but the desirability of participatory democracy in Russia.

• December 10, 2004

  Analysis: A Sign Of The Times

  Two weeks ago, Natalya Dymytruk, an interpreter for the deaf on the Ukrainian television channel UT-1, launched a mini-uprising among her fellow journalists. During a morning news program, Dymytruk signed on 25 November that she was "disappointed to have to interpret lies," adding that viewers "might not see her in the future." Her colleagues at the station responded by demanding that television coverage of events in Ukraine be unmuzzled.

• December 08, 2004

  Analysis: If You Can't Beat Them, Disqualify Them

  Last chance to vote for a governor? Six regions of Russia held gubernatorial elections on 5 December, and second rounds will be required later this month in four of the six.

• December 06, 2004

  Analysis: Russia's 'Nontraditional' Faiths Could Be Left Out In The Cold

  Visit RFE/RL's new Religion And Tolerance --> /specials/religion/ webpage for stories of religious tolerance in our broadcast region, biographies of leading religious figures, and profiles of religious minorities.

• November 12, 2004

  Analysis: Pskov's Last Try

  Even as the State Duma is considering a bill that would cancel gubernatorial elections in general, the northwest region of Pskov Oblast is preparing to hold what could be its last such race.

• November 04, 2004

  Analysis: Battling For Ukraine's Middleground

  Ukraine's 31 October presidential election has more in common with the U.S. presidential vote than just taking place around the same time. How central and southern regions voted was of huge importance to both races.

• October 20, 2004

  Analysis: Putin's Secret Plan To Combat Corruption?

  Vladimir Putin (file photo) This week, Russia wound up again at the top of another international ranking of corruption. Russia shared the 90th slot with India and Gambia in a ranking of 146 countries, with the countries perceived to be the least corrupt on top, according to a survey by Transparency International. Last week, Russia got another vote of no confidence, when it finished fifth in terms of corruption, according to a survey of business leaders in 104 countries conducted by the World Economic Forum. Only Madagascar, Ukraine, Macedonia, and Chad registered higher levels of corruption. That survey concluded that corruption is Russia's greatest economic weakness.

• September 18, 2004

  Analysis: Will Putin's Latest 'Reform' Further Destabilize Russia?

  Putin wants greater regional control (file photo) In an interview with RFE/RL's Russian Service on 16 September, independent State Duma Deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal on 13 September to overhaul regional-level elections could work at cross purposes with his desire to strengthen the state in response to the recent wave of terrorism.

• September 16, 2004

  Analysis: Why Are Elected Leaders In Russia Ready To Give Up On Elections?

  While the average Russian citizen might not be able to see an immediate connection between the Beslan hostage tragedy --> http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2004/9/94E355D2-B747-4EE3-AB9D-28A2CBE53429.html and regional elections, President Vladimir Putin apparently can; and that is why he has chosen this week to announce another overhaul of Russia's election system.

• September 09, 2004

  Analysis: Organizing Spontaneity

  Vladimir Putin (file photo) If the "Kursk" submarine disaster of August 2000 caused a short-term dip in President Vladimir Putin's popularity, it's not difficult to imagine that the trio of terrorists acts in the past three weeks might also erode -- if only temporarily -- the 70 percent-plus approval ratings of Russia's commander in chief. After all, Putin came to power promising to "rub out" Chechen terrorists in the outhouse. Now, he -- rather than they -- appears to be on the run.

• August 18, 2004

  Analysis: Samara Governor In Limbo

  President Putin shaking hands with Governor Titov in 2000. Samara Oblast Governor Konstantin Titov finds himself in a curious position: The Russian Supreme Court, along with the local prosecutor's office and oblast court, all believe that his second term ended last month on 2 July, but a new election has not yet been scheduled. The head of the department for monitoring the observance of federal legislation at the Samara Oblast prosecutor's office, Lyudmila Gorozhanina, clarified the situation this way: "We are not confirming that Titov is not governor," she said. "The answer to this question will be given later," "Kommersant Daily v Samare" reported on 17 August.

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