Fighting Corruption, One Bribe at a Time
MONOCLE: A new app available in Russia is designed to collect anonymous reports of illicit payments and visualize them online – with the goal of quantifying the country’s rampant corruption problem.
Pussy Riot: From ragtag artists to global icons of dissent
REUTERS: Three members of the Russian all-girl punk band Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in prison for “hooliganism” after playing in an Orthodox church. Reuters photojournalist Thomas Peter, who first met the artists in 2008, recalls his time with the group.
How Lenin and Red Square ended up in NYC
MONOCLE 24: In the mid-1990s, a bronze statue of Lenin suddenly appeared on New York's Lower East Side – and became an unlikely symbol of gentrification in this gritty urban neighborhood.
Kiss and run: new film casts light on pro-Putin youth movement
OPEN DEMOCRACY: Masha Drokova was a rising star of the pro-Kremlin youth movement Nashi, yet she was also friends with Oleg Kashin – a critical journalist who was nearly killed by assailants allegedly connected to her organisation. A compelling new documentary captures this moral dilemma.
Clinton’s Legacy on US-Russia Relations
Bill Clinton was heavily criticised for failing to produce a positive foreign policy legacy, especially on relations with Russia. Analyse this view in terms of the extent to which three key factors – the president, his advisors and the actions of Moscow itself – shaped the direction of US policy in this area.
RTÉ Radio – Moscow Terror Aftermath
Reporting on a suicide attack that targeted Domodedovo Airport in the Russian capital, taking 35 lives.
Can rap change Russia?
GLOBAL POST: Hip-hop artist Noize MC challenges the Russian authorities with provocative rhymes – and in summer 2010 he found himself locked up for it.
Moscow’s White-collar Fight Club
While you won’t see Brad Pitt getting a bloody nose from some anonymous office face with chronic insomnia, Moscow’s new October Boxing Club hints at a similar concept...
Terror Reflections
Monday, March 29 was just the start of another working week in Moscow. Huge crowds of people descended into the metro system – a rumbling, winding maze of tunnels, walkways and escalators. Within a single hour, two suicide bombers struck at the heart of the Russian capital. Blasts shook key stations on the busy red...
Downhill with a Difference: Moscow’s Real Wacky Racers
An unclassified dispatch from the 2009 'Tazovy Downhill' annual bowl race, a colourful event organised by Muscovites to raise their dreary winter spirits.
Requiem for a jazz great
George Garanian, 1934-2010 On January 11, Russian jazz icon George Garanian – a musician who nourished jazz as part of Soviet culture – suffered a fatal heart attack while on tour with his popular big band. He was 75. A productive career spanning more than half a century has ensured that Garanian, a highly renowned...
