TODAY: EU chief has faith that Russia will not stand in the way of sanctions against Iran; US reproaches Russia on human rights; hope for WTO bid?  Yushchenko suggests NATO bid would receive popular backing; ethnic haters charged; new accusation for Berezovsky; chess matches and political clashes. Drama at the Bolshoi. EU foreign policy head Javier Solana has said that he does not believe that China and Russia will oppose new sanctions against Iran.  US diplomat Douglas Griffiths has told the UN Human Rights Council that 'in Russia we are concerned about killings with impunity of human rights defenders and journalists in the North Caucasus'.  First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov has said that Russia ...

Robert Amsterdam has a new by-lined article on the latest developments in the Mikhail Khodorkovsky trial published on the legal news website JURIST.

Rejection of appeal is latest example of due process failures in Khodorkovsky caseRobert Amsterdam [Counsel for Mikhail Khodorkovsky]: "This summer, a second trial is being carried out by the Russian government against Mikhail Khodorkovsky - once Russia's most successful oil executive and opposition financier. As may be expected, the good news continues to come from outside of Russia, where some rule-of-law courts are able to fairly view the evidence. On May 21 the European Court of Human Rights issued a decision to admit a complaint from Khodorkovsky that Russia had violated three articles of the European Convention on Human Rights in their ...

TODAY: EU critical of South Ossetia elections; Israeli foreign minister in Moscow; START talks underway in Geneva; court rules against Khodorkovsky appeal; journalist seeks asylum in Finland; order of parental glory ceremonyThe EU has joined Georgia in claiming that the election in South Ossetia is illegal and 'represents a setback in the search for a peaceful and lasting settlement of the situation in Georgia'.   The Telegraph analyzes the victory of the pro-Kremlin Unity party: 'South Ossetia has gone on the United Russia path. A decisive role (in Unity's victory) was played by their active use of the methods of United Russia'.  Russia will stick to its pledge to offer a $500 million loan to Belarus, but has warned that the Belarusian government ...

On this blog we have followed very carefully the ups and downs of the clan wars, which has pitted a group of hardline siloviki led by Igor Sechin against another a collection of other groups within the Kremlin power structure. Earlier this fall, the economic crisis appeared to prompt some interesting movements from within this confusing internecine struggle, as a Moscow court suddenly relented and decided to release of former deputy finance minister Sergei Storchak, who is generally seen as finance minister Alexei Kudrin's #2 man. Whether or not this meant that Kudrin's stock vis-à-vis Sechin was rising or falling, or whether the release of this clan war hostage meant that certain bailouts from the federal piggy bank would end up destined for friends of Sechin's choosing, is difficult to say for sure. But what we do know is that ...

RIA Novosti and TASS are both reporting that a jury at the Moscow City Court has reached a guilty verdict for the former businessman and banker Alexei Frenkel, who stands accused of organizing the murder of central banker and money laundering crusader Andrei Kozlov. Kozlov was gunned down on Sept. 13, 2006 on his way home from a soccer match. He had earlier initiated money laundering investigations into Frenkel's group, VIP Bank, and eventually suspended their operating license. Prosecutors are arguing that Frenkel organized the hit for $300,000 as "revenge" for Kozlov having put him out of business. Despite my complete lack of faith in the Russian judicial system and the investigative abilities of the politically controlled procuracy, Frenkel may very well be guilty of the murder for all we know (broken clocks are right twice a day, after all...). ...

The European Court of Human Rights has satisfied the application of former deputy director of the first department of Asia of the MFA of Russia Valentin Moiseyev, sentenced by the Moscow City Court in the year 2001 for state treason to 4.5 years of deprivation of liberty with confiscation of property. Valentin Moiseyev was taken into custody in July of the year 1998. They had brought charges of espionage in favor of South Korea against him. The FSB accused Moiseyev of having supposedly worked for the special services of South Korea from the year 1994 through the year 1998, passing on to them information comprising a state secret. According to the data of the investigation, he had conducted around 60 meetings with a representative of South Korean intelligence and had «passed on to him copies of 23 documents» concerning cooperation between ...