Andrew Meier has penned an epic, wide ranging profile of the second trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky in The New York Times Magazine, which captures a sense of the courtroom, the personalities, and the historical context of the affair.  For readers of this blog it is unlikely to have new information, but it represents an important item of reference for those who want to learn about the case. Moscow would soon grow famous for operatic oligarchs and Byzantine intrigues, but Khodorkovsky never got caught in a compromising position -- never snared at an Alpine resort, a Moscow casino or on a Riviera yacht. Girls, power, even the money, seemed to hold no magic. Where others basked in pomp, he was shy and painfully soft-spoken; ...

Adrian Pabst, an academic from the University of Kent, has a well written if not entirely surprising opinion article in The National arguing that a real separation emerging between the Medvedev and Putin camps - "a growing split within the ruling regime on ideology and policy that presages a vigorous contest over how Russia should be ruled." I'm glad to see at least someone found something to talk about from the president's big speech.  Wouldn't it be great if it actually mattered what the president of Russia said he wanted to do?

The question is why Mr Medvedev has not yet delivered on his promising overtures. There are two rival hypotheses. He may indeed be part of a managed democracy and merely provides the liberal cover that helps legitimate Russia's increasing authoritarianism. Or Mr Medvedev does have his own ideas but lacks internal support

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Looks like we're not done having fun with this one yet.  From the Associated Press:Putin did not technically rap -- but he did deliver his speech clutching a mike to the backdrop of a hip hop groove. He clapped his hands while listening to the rappers, standing by the stage with the show's mostly teenage audience.Rappers meanwhile sang Putin's praises and declared they would welcome the chance to record a track with the Russian prime minister, who has cultivated a bad boy image over the years with cutting wisecracks and occasional rude language."For this is Putin, he is our idol," rapper Roma Jigan said in one improvised flow. "Let's give him a shout out so that the whole world hears it."

The ruble hit an 11-month high yesterday, just after warnings against bets that the currency would continue to mount. The government has apparently decided to abandon some of its more ambitious pre-crisis goals for the 2012 economy, admitting that growth will be more reserved than previously hoped. Billionaire Alisher Usmanov is apparently negotiating with the government to possibly exchange his 31.1% in mobile operator MegaFon for a stake in Rostelecom, once the latter has undergone a planned restructuring. TeliaSonera has reportedly agreed with Mikhail Fridman-led Alfa Group to combine holdings in mobile operators MegaFon in Russia and Turkcell in Turkey. Despite planning 67,000 job cuts, Sberbank is apparently optimistic that profits will recover next year. VEB is planning to sell foreign currency bonds, the term and size of which will be decided according to market ...

TODAY: Youtube policeman faces slander investigation; Omsk students threatened with expulsion; Committee to Protect Journalists urge global attention to threats against media in Russia. Merkel thanks Gorbachev; Medvedev approves new military bill; advocates abolition of death penalty. Delay for Gazprom eyesore?; Nobel Prize winning physicist dies; Kalashnikov goes on; gangsters' idea of cemetery chic. Corruption-highlighting policeman Alexei Dymovsky is now facing three investigations after posting a video address to Putin lamenting the state of the police, including an Investigative Committee examination of whether the policeman's accusations hold any truth; another investigation is against Dymovsky himself, for slander.  Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev has already ordered an investigation into the Novorossiisk police force and suspended Dymovsky ...

It felt as if negotiations would go on for an eternity, with months of stalling: search this site for 'Opel bid' and the stories of stops and starts come thick and fast.  Now, just as it seemed that the deal was finally coming to a close, comes the spectacular announcement that GM will not in fact sell off its loss-making European unit Opel to the consortium of Canadian part-maker Magna and Russia's Sberbank, preferring to restructure it itself as the economic climate warms.  German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had pledged €4.5bn in loans may well be fuming and apparently Prime Minister Putin has chimed in with his consternation over the abortive deal, which had promised ...

Winter is upon us, and the last couple of days have seen rumors rumbling about the possibility of another gas interruption - due to payment problems at Ukraine's end.  It is alleged that Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko alerted Vladimir Putin to the fact that President Viktor Yushchenko was impeding 'the normal partnership between the Central Bank, which had the gold reserves at disposal, and the government', thus jeopardizing payment.The good news for those in Europe looking forward to a toasty winter is that analysts are suggesting that this talk is more hot air fueled by political rivalry between Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko (who will race each other ,along with Victor Yanukovych, to the post of ...

An appeal from Russian citizen and ecologist Andrey Zatoka, residing in Dashoguz, Turkmenistan, to you, to me, to our dear readers, to anyone listening.

I, Andrey Zatoka, ask for your help with regard to law enforcement agencies that are repressing me.

Если Вы хотите прочитать оригинал данной статьи на русском языке, нажмите сюда.

At the moment, I am in detention and being investigated as part of an entirely fabricated case. I am accused of causing bodily harm to someone who assaulted me without cause in a bazaar. It is obvious to me that the assault was set up with the help of a non-staff assistant to the police and that everything from the apprehension to the accusation charges were planned and organised

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In the New York Times Ellen Barry writes about the outcry among academics St Peterbsurg University (alma mater of Putin and Medvedev) who are concerned about new legislation that may require their work to be submitted to the authorities before it can be published overseas.  Whilst defenders of the order, such as the university's rector, Putin-Medvedev friendly Nikolai M. Kropachev, say it is a standard move to defend intellectual property, detractors claim that the project recalls the Soviet-era censorship program and suggest that those interested in controversial topics, such as human rights, will be the first to suffer from its restrictions.In an interesting footnote, under the rector's leadership, the University has, says Barry, strengthened in the league tables, ...

Tracing the policy movements of Presidential power-handler Vladislav Surkov is rather like witnessing a three-point turn in a dark alley - as a piece in the Power Vertical points out today.  Whilst transparency is the last thing once can expect from the Kremlin's shadowy ideologue, his moves of late are dizzying analysts.  Brian Whitmore identifies some of Surkov's recent twists - from the motives for his alleged involvement in the Duma walkout - to the matter of his oscillating stance on liberalizing political structures to aid economic development.Whitmore quotes from a Stratfor.com analysis, which suggests that Surkov's maneuvring is underpinned by a familiar motive: power rivalry.  In a recently published four-part series titled "The Kremlin Wars," Stratfor.com offers up one possible answer.According to Stratfor, the Kremlin is divided into two roughly ...