PHOTOGALLERY
Artist Aleksandr Terent’ev has lived for 20 years alone in the remote Siberian village of Kozlovo. Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin was punished with 3 years political exile in a neighboring village, but Terent’ev has withdrawn from society of his own free will. (Current Time TV)
VIDEO REPORTS
Protesters In Moscow Demand Justice For Attack On Colleagues
Journalists and activists gathered in front of the presidential administration building in Moscow on March 10 to demand that Russian President Vladimir Putin find and punish those responsible for attacking their colleagues, who were ambushed by men with knives and and clubs while trying to cross into Chechnya from Ingushetia on March 9. (Russian Service)
Serb War-Crimes Suspect Burns EU, NATO Flags In Belgrade
Hard-line Serbian nationalist leader and war-crimes suspect Vojislav Seselj defied the Hague tribunal with a public appearance in the Serbian capital.
Daily Vertical: The Masters Of Nothing
The Kremlin continues to attribute everything to conspiracy theories and foreign agents, raising questions about what it does control.
Everyone’s Leaving: Kazakhs Relocated Among Claims Of Pollution Poisoning
Kazakhstan has relocated hundreds of people from a village near one of the world’s largest oil and gas fields, but authorities deny it’s related to mass fainting incidents among children.
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Russia, Iran To Discuss Oil Output Freeze
Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak will meet with Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh on March 14 in Tehran, fueling reports that Iran might be willing to freeze its output at around 4 million barrels a day.
Putin Backs Serbia Claim To Kosovo
Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic says he has received assurances from Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow will continue to back Belgrade's claim to Kosovo.
Trilateral Contact Group On Donbas Meeting In Minsk
POW exchange tops the meeting’s agenda. 124 Ukrainian citizens are documented as being held in separatist-controlled prisons, although the Ukrainian Security Service says it considers 692 people to be missing. The case of pilot Nadia Savchenko will not be discussed, as Ukraine considers it to be the subject of international discussion. (In Ukrainian)
Shelling Rocks Nagorno-Karabagh
Azerbaijan and its breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh have accused each other of violating a cease-fire with intense shelling late on March 10.
Worst Of Lustration Yet To Come
Ukraine’s anti- corruption committee is lustrating officials who served under former President Viktor Yanukovych during the Soviet period, to date banning 80 percent from government positions. Few officials from the Prosecutor-General’s office, Fiscal Service, and the Security Service have yet been banned. (Ukrainian Service)
The Latvian scientist who developed the drug made famous this week by tennis megastar Maria Sharapova's admission that she used it, told RFE/RL, "Mildronate is not doping in the correct sense of the word.”
New Details in Death Of Former Kremlin Media Chief May Suggest Murder
Former Russian Press Minister Mikhail Lesin, who was found dead in a Washington hotel room in November after sustaining “blunt force injuries” to his head, was the subject of a 2014 inquiry by a U.S. senator into whether he used illicit funds to purchase several multimillion-dollar homes in the Los Angeles area.
‘Some Are Paid And Some Are Simply Fools’
Cecile Vaissie, the French author of a book on the Kremlin’s influence in France, told RFE/RL that various groups are being paid to repeat rumours and accusations, but a part of the population simply accepts the propaganda as true. (In Russian)
Belarus To Offer Payments In Exchange For Corruption Leads
Authorities in Belarus, where half of corruption cases originate from tips from citizens, will begin offering financial rewards for such information this year. Whistle-blowers will receive $500 for reporting evidence of grave corruption, $300 for more minor cases, and reimbursement of up to $100 for expenses incurred. (Current Time TV)
Reviewing Stalinism And The Orthodox Church
Speaking with RFE/RL in a roundtable discussion, prominent Orthodox priests Vsevolod Chaplin and Vladimir Zelinsky discussed the church’s responses to repressions under Stalin, and compared the concentration of power under Stalin with Russia’s political system today. (In Russian)