Discussions over the Kuril Islands in Russia have become quite practical: is it necessary to transform the old Soviet 18th machine gun artillery division into a “modern style” motorised rifle brigade and fortify the anti-aircraft defence...

The 150th anniversary of the abolition of serfdom in Russia is a big red-letter day for the liberal community and for historians. The nation’s leaders, however, neatly sidestepped the topic. What does an episode from the school textbook...

One of Russia’s political culture rules of thumb is that ranking officials must travel as far as possible from the ancient Kremlin walls in order to be able to share their innermost thoughts, to places like Davos, or the Krasnoyarsk forum,...

As Novaya Gazeta has written previously, the 2012 presidential race will be won by the member of the duumvirate who launches his official campaign first. This will mean the internal solution has already been found to the equation with two...

Natalia Vasilieva, spokeswoman and aide at the Khamovnichesky Court in Moscow, gave an interview to Gazeta.ru and the TV station Dozhd, stating that Judge Victor Danilkin had been acting under orders from above when preparing his verdict...

Natalia Vasilieva gives an interview to Novaya Gazeta. As she requested, our conversation lasted for just 30 minutes. It was a painful and difficult dialogue. Several times we had to take a break: going through the recent events, Natasha...

Elections are to be held in Chukchi Peninsula (Chukotka) on 13 March. Roman Abramovich, the most celebrated speaker of Russia’s regional parliaments, is once again running for Duma deputy and by law must disclose to voters information...

Editorial NoteIn 2008, Yevgeny Kolesov, a juror in the Anna Politkovskaya murder trial, managed to right the judicial machine set to review the case of the journalist’s murder in secret: Kolesov gave an interview to radio station Ekho...

On Monday, Novaya Gazeta published documents concerning construction of a Black Sea coast “palace for Putin,” which St Pete businessman Sergei Kolesnikov described in his letter to President Medvedev (Novaya Gazeta No. 16 of 14 February...

Who sacked you? The Kremlin Personnel Department? Nobody ever sacked me. There is not even an entry in my work record to the effect. I have not been dismissed from my post as General Secretary of the CC CPSU. I just stopped working. I made...

Vladivostok and surrounding areas are all abuzz with rush construction projects in connection with the APEC 2012 summit. There is one, however, which for some reason does not feature in the regular press releases of the Primorsky District...

The murder of Anna Politkovskaya in October 2006 dealt a heavy blow to the law enforcement system that had taken shape during the Chechen wars and, in some ways, drew a line under the historical period of open confrontation between Russia...

St. Petersburg businessman Sergei Kolesnikov, who wrote to President Medvedev on New Year’s Eve that a sumptuous palace was being built on the Black Sea coast for Prime Minister Putin’s “personal use”, did not choose a very auspicious time...

A statement issued by the Council of Judges on the impermissibility of public expert evaluations in high-profile court cases throws into bold relief the condition of our court system and the phase of the crisis into which the second...

It was confirmed on 9 February that Yuri Kovalchuk purchased a 25% stake in Channel One. Reports that Roman Abramovich had sold a portion of his shares to Kovalchuk appeared in the press back in the spring of 2010; however, until recently...