YouTube Suspends "Russia Today"

RT’s main YouTube channel was suspended for about eight hours. YouTube ascribed the temporary blackout to a “technical mistake.” During the temporary suspension, anyone who attempted to access RT’s main YouTube channel was greeted with a startling message: “This channel has been suspended due to multiple or severe violations of YouTube’s policy against spam, scans, and commercially deceptive content.” In 2007, RT became the first Russian media outlet to open its channel on YouTube. Now RT is the most popular news broadcaster present on YouTube, having racked up about 700 million views and 275 thousand subscribers since the channel’s inception. The blackout sparked frenzy among RT viewers. Viewers speculated that everything from censorship to a hacker attack could have been behind the incident. Some of them said this is “ACTA in action”, while others focused on the timing, which coincided with an NYPD crackdown on an OWS protest in New York which was being covered by the channel.

http://rt.com/news/blackout-rt-youtube-suspended-847/

Russian Oil Companies Suspected of Collusion

Russian top ten oil company Bashneft is suspected of colluding with LUKOIL and illegally obtaining a license for the Trebs and Titov oil fields. State Duma deputy Sergei Karginov has appealed to the government seeking to return the oil field under public control. Bashneft stated that Karginov's information is false and damages the company's business reputation and the investment climate in Russia in general. Bashneft President Alexander Korsik has alleged that some people decided to bad mouth his company in order to manipulate its share prices at the stock exchange. Meanwhile, Bashneft shareholder filed a lawsuit with the Moscow Commercial Court seeking to invalidate an order to register the development license for the oil field to Bashnefts subsidiary Bashneft-Polyus.

http://rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20120319/262202373.html

Belarus Barres Former Leader from Leaving Country

Belarus first post-Soviet leader, Stanislau Shushkevich, says authorities have prevented him from leaving the country by removing him from a train bound for the capital of neighboring Lithuania. Shushkevich said he was taken off the train heading to Vilnius early on March 18 by border guards who offered no explanation. He called it a sign of "lawlessness" and added that, since he earns part of his income by working abroad, it was also an infringement on his economic rights. Several prominent journalists and opposition members have been barred from leaving the country in recent weeks. The government has refused to comment on the existence of a suspected blacklist of people barred from leaving the country.

http://www.rferl.org/content/ex_leader_shushkevich_barred_from_leaving_belarus/24519612.html

Belarus Executes Subway Bombers

The EU and human rights groups have strongly condemned the execution of two young men in Belarus following their conviction for a deadly attack on the Minsk metro last April. Late on Saturday, state television reported that Vladislav Kovalyov and Dmitry Konovalov, both 26, had been put to death. In Belarus, execution is performed by a shot to the back of the head. Kovalyov's mother said she had received a note from the authorities saying the death sentence on her son had been carried out. European governments said they were dismayed by the sentence and described the men's trial as deeply flawed.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/18/belarus-executes-two-metro-bombing

EU Parliament: Russian Elections Neither Free Nor Fair

The European Parliament has condemned shortcomings and irregularities in the preparation and conduct of Russia's 4 March presidential elections. In a resolution passed on Thursday, it called on Vladimir Putin to tone down his rhetoric against the protestors and begin a "sincere dialogue" with them. Russia's Central Election Commission (CEC) has come out in heated condemnation of the European Parliament resolution. "This is a super tendentious and groundless statement,” CEC Deputy Chairman Stanislav Vavilov stated. “Everything is just the opposite – the election was free and fair."

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pressroom/content/20120315IPR40870/html/Russia-MEPs-want-Mr-Putin-to-engage-in-dialogue-with-protestors
http://www.rferl.org/content/eu_lawmakers_criticize_russia_kazakhstan/24517112.html
http://rt.com/politics/russia-eu-resolution-elections-665/

Russian Oppositionist’s Husband Gets 5 Years in Jail on Economic Charges

A court in Moscow sentenced businessman Alexei Kozlov to five years in prison for stealing shares. Kozlov was placed under detention in the courtroom. Kozlov's case has been one of the most high-profile in Russia in recent years. Investigators maintain that Kozlov used fake documents to steal shares in a company producing imitation leather. Kozlov pleaded not guilty. Kozlov and his wife, journalist and well-known opposition leader Olga Romanova, claim he was framed. In 2009 Kozlov has already been sentenced over the same charges, but the Supreme Court reversed; now the court has convicted Kozlov again on remand.

http://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20120315/262065342.html
http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1892859
http://youtu.be/Mw3OqjNBRAk (video)

Russian Female Group Jailed over “Punk Prayer”

Charges of hooliganism were filed against two suspected members of the all-female punk group Pussy Riot over a protest at the Russian capital's largest cathedral. The charges carry up to seven years in prison. Meanwhile, a court ordered suspects’ pre-trial detention for two months. Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were arrested following Pussy Riot's performance of what they called a "punk prayer" at the altar of Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral last month. Four members of the group, clad in bright balaclavas, bowed and crossed themselves as they sang an acapella version of a song entitled “Holy Sh*t” at the cathedral. The lyrics included lines such as “Holy Mother, Blessed Virgin, chase Putin out!” Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin demonstrated a very “negative” reaction when told about Pussy Riot’s performance, his spokesman said last week. The Orthodox Church demands to bring criminal charges of "inciting religious hatred" against the group members. In addition, a leading Orthodox Church official suggested that Russia should make blasphemy a criminal offense.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120313/172130097.html
http://en.rian.ru/society/20120314/172158569.html
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20120222/171464066.html
http://youtu.be/VtYw-d1CSxQ (video)

Electronic Procurement Bid Rigged

Russia's Federal Anti-Monopoly Committee (FAS) announced what it called the first discovery of collusion in an electronic government procurement tender.  Eight companies refrained from bidding for a road work contract in the Moscow area in order to enable another company to be the only contestant, bidding slightly below the maximum.  FAS has referred the matter for possible criminal prosecution.

http://www.clj.ru/news/72148.html

Russia Boots Out Biggest NGO

Russian Justice Initiative (RJI), Russia’s largest foreign non-governmental organization providing legal assistance to Russians in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), was excluded from the list of authorized NGOs. Since 2001, RJI has won about 10 million Euros (almost $13 million) in the Strasbourg court on complaints from residents of Chechnya. In late 2010, it won a record lawsuit of 1.72 million euros (about $2.3 mln) against Russia over the killing of at least 24 Chechen villagers in an operation against militants in 2000. The Russian Justice Ministry ruled in February 2011 to exclude the organization from the list of authorized non-governmental organizations over an overdue report, effectively barring it from operating on Russia’s territory. “It looks like they [the authorities] are deliberately finding faults with us,” the organization’s executive director Vanessa Kogan said. Russia accounts for more than 26 percent of ECHR cases, a larger share than any other country. It has lost the majority of its cases.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120312/172109488.html