Last week’s big news was president Putin’s sharp criticism of the United States at the Munich security conference and his shuffling around of defense minister Ivanov. As to the first, personally, I commend Putin for his remarks. He made many strong arguments about double standards which the United States has set up in the international arena. Having said that however, I couldn’t help but wonder about two things. 1) Why did Putin decide to make such a politically faux pas speech now? and 2) Why did he not present any suggestions about what the U.S. should do to make things right? Only Mr. Putin Read more »

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Summarized/translated from Echo of Moscow and REGNUM

The criminal case against directors of Sofex, a chemical manufacturing and distribution company, is in its seventh month. Aleksyei Protskii and Yana Yakovlyeva were arrested in July of 2006 and charged with making illegal narcotic substances. They are charged with 36 counts of making ethyl ether, lack of licenses, money laundering of 15 million rubles, and forgery of documents. Officials from the State Office of Control of Narcotic Substances allege that the accused sold ethyl ether to drug dealers who used it to make synthetic narcotics.

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Summarized from VCIOM press release 2.7.7.

According to the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center - VCIOM, Russians are more fond of communism today than they were 15 years ago. Respondents were asked to say whether they feel “positively” or “negatively” about “communism,” “capitalism,” “market,” “private property” and “national sovereignty.” The results showed that many Russians changed their opinions since the poll was first conducted in 1992. Whereas “communism” elicited a “negative” response (15% positive, 49% negative) 15 years ago, today, it draws an equal share of both “positive” and “negative” feelings: 39% “positive” and 39% “negative.” In contrast, “capitalism” fell in popularity from Read more »

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Translated from Novgorod state television and radio company

Ivantyeyevo (Novgorod Region) — In Ivantyeyevo, the house of Maria Sokolova is the main attraction. The locals are proud of it, as if it were a monument. Passers-by always look back and wonder, what’s this beauty made of: buttons or coins? In reality, it’s made from regular bottle caps: from vodka, lemonade and mayonnaise.

Maria Sokolova receives bottle caps from as far away as Moscow and St. Petersburg. Her favorites are not the colorful ones, but ordinary vodka caps. When sunlight fills the village, they make her house glisten. All her life, Maria was a craftswoman, and so decorating her house with colorful ornaments became for her as common as sewing a quilt. Unfortunately, Maria Aleksandrovna’s eyesight is getting worse each day. She has no money for expensive surgery, which is why her most fervent wish is to decorate the remaining walls of the house with flowers in the next 2 months. When spring arrives and the snow subsides, Maria Sokolova will go wandering the village streets in search of plastic snowdrop flowers and will decorate the porch with her findings.

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Based on stories from RTVi News and Vedomosti

Yekatirinburg

In an effort to increase his chances of becoming the next president of Russia, presidential contender Valerii Panov, a deputy of the “One Russia” government majority party decided to go after the youngest of constituencies yet. Mr. Panov decided to spice up the popular children’s magazine “Murzilka” which follows the adventures of a white puppy Murzilka and his owner the boy Petya, by lobbying the Editor-in-Chief to replace the main puppy character with a cute bear - Yedinorosik (think Winnie the Pooh Russian-style), reflecting the title of his party “Yedinnaya Rossiya” (”One Russia”).

Surprisingly (or perhaps not so surprisingly), his idea met no resistance and was quickly approved. A pageant was held to introduce the new friendly bear who wears a scarf which sports Russia’s national colors. Singing and dancing children and the distribution of 10,000 copies of the magazine completed the spectacle. Communist party members have already spoken out about the character calling it an unfair ploy. In the mean time, “One Russia” has announced that it is launching a public discussion campaign called “Russian Project” in order to attract the support of nationalists in the upcoming elections to the State Duma.

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The following letter appears on Mihail Gorbachev’s Foundation www. gorby.ru website. It was also published in “Novaya Gazeta” (”New Newspaper”) on 2.5.7 and distributed to mass media outlets.

Dear Mr. Gates!

You probably know about a high-profile criminal case in Russia, in which the defendant is your company. The gist of the matter is that the Russian District Attorney’s office is prosecuting Aleksandr Ponosov, a teacher from a provincial middle school, who supposedly intentionally used unlicensed copies of Microsoft software. A teacher who dedicated his whole life to teaching children and who receives for his work rather modest compensation, a fraction of what a regular employee at your company receives, is threatened with incarceration in Siberian prison camps.

At the same time, the teacher’s culpability appears to be dubious at best - he bought computers for his classroom with already installed programs, which as it turned out later, were unlicensed. However, the Russian Penal code allows the prosecution of even those who use pirated software without knowledge, without suspecting its illegal origins. It is noteworthy that those who sold the computers with the pirated software to Aleksandr Ponosov have remained outside of the scope of justice. Because of this, many in Russia view this scandalous process as having been ordered and for show, instigated by the initiative of the Microsoft Corporation.

We treat with great respect the labor of the programmers at Microsoft who put their talent into the intellectual products of the company, and we in no way are subjecting to doubt the principle of responsibility for breaking authors’ rights. However, in the given situation, we ask you to show leniency and withdraw the complaints against Aleksandr Ponosov. This benevolent step would be taken as a gracious gesture by all those who use Microsoft products in Russia.

With respect,
Mihail Gorbachev
Aleksandr Lyebyedyev, Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation

Aleksandr Ponosov is a lucky man. The former leader of the U.S.S.R. himself is interceding on his behalf. He at least stands a chance of getting the charges dismissed. How many others are not so fortunate? No, I’m certainly not advocating for software pirates who do not deserve leniency, but to make an example of a poor, provincial teacher as an intellectual property thief is ludicrous. Maybe in their zeal to punish the perpetrators, Russian prosecutors should also go after the schoolkids who used the computers? I am confident that Moscow has its share of intellectual property rights violators, perhaps some of them actually knowingly bought pirated software? Might it make more sense to go after them instead? Perhaps not. I’m sure that Microsoft’s shareholders will sleep much better at night knowing that Russian officials are cracking down on pirates by sending provincial school teachers to Siberian prison labor camps.

Update: Read Microsoft’s reply here.

On February 15, 2007, the court closed Ponosov’s case in light of the negligible damage incurred by Microsoft Corp. The accusations against Ponosov were not withdrawn, however the court ruled that the defendant is not to be punished in this case. Anatoly Kuchyeryena, Ponosov’s attorney and member of the Public Chamber of Russia stated that though he is happy that his client will not receive punishment, this resolution is not satisfactory because it does not address the legal issue at the root of the case - the lack of culpability of his client in acquiring pirated software.

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Summarized/translated from RTVi News 2.1.7 and Russian Weather and Climate Page 1.27.7:

A tsunami warning issued by officials fell on deaf years on January 13. The Center for Tsunami Watch, despite being plagued by outdated equipment and technologies, felt that a serious threat existed and decided to issue the warning on public radio to begin immediate evacuation of the area after an earthquake was detected in the Pacific ocean. However, much to officials’ consternation rather than evacuating, people flocked to the shores, in many cases with entire families and cameras on hand to witness the giant wave. When the wave did not come, some people called the service to complain:

“What’s this? You promised a tsunami! We drove the entire family to the shore to see the tsunami, and there is nothing here. It’s not right to deceive the public!” Viktor Shushlin, the head of Kamchatka’s regional Emergency Services Center (M.Ch.S.) for monitoring and prognosis of extreme meterological conditions recounted a typical conversation to the reporter. Read more »

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Summarized from RTVi and Echo of Moscow

This week’s big news was president Putin’s press conference. 3 hours 32 minutes. 68 questions and answers. 1232 journalists, a quarter of them foreign.

Two questions which drew the attention of alternative media journalists were the 2008 presidential elections and Litvinenko, who’s poisoning the president called unnecessary.

The 2008 presidential elections are a source of constant consternation for Mr. Putin. With constant talk of his “preeyemnik,” or successor, which in Russian literally connotes one who directly assumes power/responsibility from another (implying lack of democratic elections), Putin was visibly irritated when he was asked in three different ways about his successor and his own plans after he steps down.

“There will be no successors. There will be candidates for president… as a Russian citizen, and one who is proud of it, I reserve the right to give my support to a particular candidate or candidates.”

Some had speculated that Putin will amend the Constitution (one possible scenario involved Belorus and Russia merging into a single, new country, which would necessitate a new Constitution, though now that option is clearly impossible), or come up with some sort of ruse to stay for a third term. The president enjoys immense popularity, is relatively young and in good health and many groups and citizens have called for him to stay in office beyond his second term. By now, however, the president has stated in unequivocal terms that he will not remain in power when his term is up. A move that is necessary if he wants to be taken seriously by the rest of the world. Some have speculated that he will exert influence on the new president and then run again in 2012, which is not prohibited by the Constitution.

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