Claire Bigg covers Russia, Ukraine, and the post-Soviet world, with a focus on human rights, civil society, and social issues.
After Belarus, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez heads to Russia to conclude a $1 billion arms deal likely to raise eyebrows in Washington.
The St. Petersburg G8 summit is over. It appears that the Mideast crisis did not prevent a confident Russian President Putin from ensuring that Russian agenda goals were met.
International charity groups have called on the world's richest nations to honor past commitments to tackle poverty in developing countries and put this topic at the top of the G8 agenda in 2007.
Hundreds of activists have converged in St. Petersburg to protest against the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrial economies, which is holding a July 15-17 summit in the city. But police have taken extraordinary measures to keep them from demonstrating.
ST. PETERSBURG, July 14, 2006 (RFE/RL) --Russia is putting the finishing touches to preparations for the summit of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized economies to be held July 15-17 in St. Petersburg.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is poised to play host to world leaders during the July 15-17 G8 summit in St. Petersburg, the first ever to be held in Russia. On the formal agenda are energy security, the fight against infectious diseases, and education. But a range of other issues are expected to dominate the talks.
Russia has adopted a confident tone as it prepares to host a G8 summit for the first time. With some justice: Western leaders seem to have few levers to press their own agenda.
Opposition figures and activists have gathered for a conference on combating the Kremlin's tightening grip on politics, civil society, and the economy. But the gathering underscores the rifts dividing the opposition.
Religious leaders from around the world tell the G8 that the "voice of religion" needs to be heeded in efforts to counter terrorism and end armed conflicts.
Foreign ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrialized countries descended on Moscow for a meeting ahead of the G8 summit in St. Petersburg on July 15-17. Topping the agenda were Iran's nuclear program and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A new government program encouraging "compatriots" living abroad to return to Russia, under which repatriates will receive cash and social benefits, is part of an effort to reverse the country's dramatic population decline.
Doudou Diene, the United Nations special rapporteur on racism and xenophobia, spent this week visiting officials, activists, and members of ethnic minorities. He spoke to reporters about his findings.
As the Georgian and Russian presidents prepare for a frosty summit, many Russians are nostalgic for the days when Georgian culture was an honored aspect of Soviet life.
The Kremlin has always prided itself on being a self-sufficient operation. But now Moscow has hired a Western firm to manage its image as it prepares to host the annual G8 summit.
Some 1,700 editors, publishers, and other media leaders from over 100 countries are in Moscow this week to attend the World Association of Newspapers' 59th annual congress.
Russia's upper house of parliament has accepted the resignation of Prosecutor-General Vladimir Ustinov. The move follows the recent dismissals of senior security and law enforcement officials, which the authorities say are part of a drive to eradicate government corruption. But some observers have suggested that the sackings are connected more with the Kremlin's desire to purge government structures ahead of the country's 2008 presidential election.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised the growing international stature of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization -- but it may also soon become more controversial, as its members consider whether to welcome Iran into the fold.
Russian lawmakers on May 24 gave initial approval to a bill that would slap fines on businesses that list prices in U.S. dollars or euros. The legislation would also punish ministers who cite sums in dollars instead of rubles.
Plans to hold Russia's first-ever gay-rights march have sparked a rare public debate on homosexuality, with gays and lesbians determined to parade down Moscow's main street in defiance of an official ban.
MOSCOW, May 20, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Last year, Svetlana Izambayeva became the first person to hold an unusual Russian title: Miss Positive. Izambayeva is HIV-positive, and the contest she won was widely seen as a rare instance of Russia attempting to highlight, rather than cover up, the country's growing problem with HIV/AIDS.
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