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General
Background
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Kremlin
This is Russia's official English-language Web site for
the government's executive branch. It includes archived
speeches of President Vladimir Putin, descriptions of
state policy priorities and the Constitution of the Russian
Federation.
The
Bucknell Russian Program
Bucknell University hosts a comprehensive Web site on
Russia, providing background on the country's history,
culture, language and society as well as links to dozens
of other Russia-related Web sites.
World
Factbook: Russia
This country profile, compiled by the U.S. Central Intelligence
Agency, includes information on Russia's geography, people,
government, economy and more.
The
Commonwealth of Independent States
This is the official source for statistical information
on the social and economic situation in the Commonwealth
of Independent States, whose members are the states of
the former Soviet Union, including Azerbaijan, Armenia,
Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.
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Life
in Russia Today
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The
Putinite System
This March 2003 report by the Conflict Studies Research
Center in Britain outlines the current political scene
in Russia and the main groups within it, from pro-Putin
parties to communist and democratic opposition parties.
The
Pew Global Attitudes Project
This 2002 survey of public views in 44 countries includes
interviews with Russians, of whom 85 percent reported
that economic difficulties were the most pressing personal
problem in their lives. The chief advisor for the poll
was former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright.
Russia's
New Rich Live It Up
New York Times Russia correspondent Sabrina Tavernise
reports on the children of Russia's new rich and ruling
class, who came into their fortunes during Russia's property
grab in the early 1990s. Because the origins of their
wealth are questionable, most of these nouveaux riches
live hidden behind mansion walls while the majority of
the country subsides on modest earnings. (New York
Times, July 29, 2003.) (Registration required.)
Generational
Aspects of Human Development
This 2001 United Nations report charts Russian human development,
including progress and declines in public health, employment
and participation in civic life. It especially emphasizes
younger generations' economic and social status, values,
and priorities.
Transparency
International Corruption Perceptions Index 2003
(Adobe Acrobat file) This index charts perceived levels
of corruption among politicians and public officials in
133 countries, including Russia and other former Soviet
states. Russia scored 2.7 on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt)
to 10 (clean). Transparency International is the leading
international nongovernmental organization devoted to
curbing corruption.
Russia
Meeting 2003
This Web site surveys the World Economic Forum's 2003
meeting in Russia to assess the country's current business
and political climate. It contains summaries of the forum
discussions-- in which business leaders and key members
of Russia's government and civil society participated
-- on tax reform, corporate governance and other economic
issues.
The
Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program
This Web site details and supports efforts to reduce the
threat of nuclear proliferation and terrorism in the former
Soviet Union. Started by U.S. Sens. Sam Nunn and Dick
Lugar in 1991, the program has deactivated nearly 6,000
nuclear warheads, destroyed hundreds of ballistic missiles,
bombers and other dangerous weapons, and employed thousands
of scientists formerly employed in Russia's weapons of
mass destruction programs.
Human
Rights Watch: Russia and Chechnya
The international human rights organization has recorded
various humanitarian law violations committed by both
Russian and Chechen forces in the war in Chechnya. Its
various reports online include documentation of the disappearances
of Chechens, the arbitrary arrests of displaced Chechens
in Ingushetia and the forcible conscription of young Russian
men into the armed forces.
Dead
Souls
This 1999 Atlantic Monthly feature by prominent
demographer Murray Feshbach warns of the increasing spread
of tuberculosis and AIDS in Russia. Feshbach examines
the security implications of the demographic change as
Russia's military, civilian police, border guards and
other security forces are being drained of young men plagued
with health problems.
Russia's
Kinder, Gentler Komsomol
This 2001 article by Christian Science Monitor
reporter Scott Peterson explores the post-Soviet generation
of Russia known as the "lost generation" and examines
the efforts of youth organizations to restore a lost sense
of pride and discipline.
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Soviet
History and Russia's Transition to Capitalism
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Soviet
Legacy
This 2001 CNN.com in-depth special commemorating the 10-year
anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union includes
reports in three areas: society in transition, the 1991
coup and culture.
Ten
Years After the Coup
The Moscow Times' 2001 special report includes
dozens of articles about the failed Communist coup attempt
of 1991 that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
"The
Russian Devolution"
In this 1999 New York Times Magazine story, writer
John Lloyd examines Russia's widening wealth divide and
the failures of the Kremlin's "shock therapy" -- shorthand
for a method of economics meant to simultaneously stimulate
and "shock" the economy into a market-driven recovery.
Lloyd draws on numerous interviews with leading economists,
former financial advisors to the Russian government and
Kremlin insiders. (The New York Times Sunday Magazine,
Aug. 15, 1999.) (Registration required.)
Return
of the Czar
This Web site was created to accompany the PBS FRONTLINE
documentary Return of the Czar, which examines
the failures of U.S. policy and Boris Yeltsin's leadership
during Russia's tumultuous 1990s post-Soviet transformation.
Online features include excerpts from interviews with
political analysts, former Kremlin insiders, Russian scholars
and journalists. Material about President Vladimir Putin
includes a chapter from his autobiography, First Person,
and a treatise he wrote in December 1999.
"Handful
of Corporate Raiders Transform Russia's Economy"
New York Times Russia correspondent Sabrina Tavernise
reports on the transformation of Russia's economy after
the era of Boris Yeltsin. She illustrates the political
and financial might of Russia's eight largest business
groups through the takeover of Russian paper mill Ilim
Pulp Enterprises. (The New York Times, Aug. 13,
2002.) (Registration required.)
Russia's
Big Eight
In this Moscow Times commentary, Moscow-based economists
Peter Boone and Denis Rodionov, of Swiss investment bank
UBS Warburg, chronicle Russia's eight largest business
groups -- the Big Eight -- and their control over the
majority of the nation's fortunes. The commentary examines
the Big Eight's lobbies for radical tax reform, land privatization,
state recognition of property rights and a realignment
of foreign policy toward the West. ("Reformed Rent-Seekers
Promoting Reform?" The New York Times, Aug. 23,
2002.) (Registration required.)
The
Face of Russia
This 1998 PBS series, presented by WETA/Washington, D.C.,
is a personal interpretation of Russia's cultural history
by one of America's pre-eminent Russian scholars, James
H. Billington. The companion Web site includes an interactive
timeline that traces 10 centuries of Russian art, architecture,
music, dance and cinema; Russia's Cyrillic alphabet; and
a glossary of Russian cultural terminology.
The
Russian Chronicles
In 1995, photojournalist Gary Matosa, teamed up with freelance
journalist Lisa Dickey for a 5,000-mile journey through
Russia, following the Trans-Siberian Railroad from the
eastern maritime city of Vladivostok to the northwestern
city of St. Petersburg. They filed weekly road stories
and photo essays of the people they encountered on the
journey, and those stories and photo essays are archived
online here.
Soviet
Archives Exhibit
This U.S. Library of Congress exhibit covers Soviet history
from the October Revolution of 1971 to the failed coup
of August 1991. It includes official documents and materials
of the former Communist Party's Central Committee, the
presidential archives and the KGB that were only made
public by the Russian Archival Committee after the fall
of the Soviet Union. The first section covers aspects
of Soviet reality that were hidden or falsified in official
propaganda and provides information on the repressive
activities of the Soviet security organs charged with
controlling literary freedom and organized religion. The
second section is dedicated to Soviet-American relations,
with paper archives revealing cooperative as well as confrontational
periods in the two countries' relationship.
The
Gulag Collection
This online gallery features 50 paintings of Ukrainian
artist Nikolai Getman, who in 1946 was imprisoned in the
Soviet Union's gulag. Getman's paintings are believed
to be the only visual record of the Soviet system of repression
and terror, which claimed the lives of 50 million people
under the dictator Joseph Stalin.
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Media
in Russia
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Freedom
of the Press 2003
Russia's media is "not free," according to the Freedom
House's 2003 Global Survey of Media Independence. This
report includes details of the Russian oligarchs' control
of national publications, and the mysterious deaths and
killings of nearly 40 Russian journalists over the last
three years. It also discusses the Russian parliament's
passage of a law restricting media coverage of emergency
or national security operations. The law was passed subsequent
to critical reporting of the October 2002 Moscow theater
hostage standoff with Chechen rebels.
Moscow
and the Media
The Web site of PBS's NewsHour With Jim Lehrer
archives news on Russia and the media.
The
Struggle for Media Freedom in Russia
This transcript of a 2000 speech given by Thomas A. Dine,
president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, details
various Russian government crackdowns on journalists and
free speech.
The
Glasnost Defense Foundation
The Russian nonprofit, founded in 1991, advocates for
journalists' rights in Russia, acts as a lobby and publishes
reports on media rights.
Exile
This is Moscow's alternative newspaper.
Information
Telegraph Agency of Russia (ITAR-TASS)
In existence since 1904, ITAR-TASS is the successor to
the Soviet's TASS news agency. It was renamed in 1992,
but has retained its status of being the state's central
information agency.
Interfax
News Agency
Although this major Russian news service is privately
owned, its editorial slant is generally pro-government.
Internews
Russia
This nongovernmental, nonprofit organization provides
support to independent Russian television broadcasters
and the Russian media industry. Its Web site includes
news about Russian media, from reports on the treatment
of journalists to changes in ownership of enterprises.
Johnson's
Russia List
Johnson's Russia List is a daily email newsletter with
information and analysis about contemporary Russia, from
news sources worldwide. Subscription is free.
The
Moscow Times
This is Russia's leading English-language daily newspaper.
Prima-News
This independent news agency distributes news, in Russian
and English, relating to the human rights situation in
Russia, the former Soviet Union and abroad. The agency's
editor-in-chief is Alexander Podrabinek, who was convicted
in 1978 for slandering the Soviet regime in his book Punitive
Medicine, about the use of psychiatry for political
purposes.
Radio
Voice of Russia
This state-owned radio company broadcasts in Russian and
31 foreign languages.
RFE/RL
Russian Political Weekly
Published by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty,
this site archives weekly reports on Russian domestic
politics.
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