Arresting foreigners and the Kremlin’s search for leverage PRO Members Public
Hello! This is Alexandra Prokopenko with your weekly guide to the Russian economy — brought to you by The Bell. Although it doesn’t fit our economics-focus, given recent developments, I believe it is most appropriate to start this week’s newsletter with the arrest of our friend and colleague, WSJ
Former president Medvedev, once a critic of Stalin, now uses his speeches to motivate factory directors PRO Members Public
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who devoted his presidency to promoting civil and economic freedoms, has reinvented himself as one of Russia’s main war hawks. This week, he invoked Stalin’s spirit to motivate directors of factories producing equipment for the military to work harder. Interestingly, just 13 years
Russian state propaganda hails Xi’s visit to Moscow PRO Members Public
Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping traveled to Moscow, where he spent two days with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russian state propaganda hailed Xi’s visit as a sign that Russia and China are uniting in opposition to American hegemony. However, the two parties didn’t sign any important new
“Leaked” audio of Russian elites slamming the Kremlin makes a splash on social media PRO Members Public
Unexpectedly, the hot news item over the weekend was the leak of what appears to be a half-hour telephone conversation between Iosif Prigozhin, a famous music producer and Putin’s confidante during the last presidential elections, and Farkhad Akhmedov, a businessman and former senator. The pair sharply criticized Russian authorities
How Rostec cleaned up anonymous Telegram channels — a joint investigation by The Bell with Meduza PRO Members Public
Over the past year, Russian state corporation Rostec has been waging a war on two fronts. In addition to supplying weapons for the Russian military, it’s also fighting to rid Telegram of any criticism of its head, Sergei Chemezov, its former PR chief Vasily Brovko, and his wife Tina
THE BELL WEEKLY: How Putin's friend cleans up Russian media space PRO Members Public
Hello! This week our top story is about how Vladimir Putin's old friend, the influential head of state conglomerate Rostec Sergei Chemezov wages a war on Telegram, a messaging app which has become the most influential social network in Russia. We also look at a “leaked” audio of
Russia has too few workers PRO Members Public
Hello! This is Alexandra Prokopenko with your weekly guide to the Russian economy — brought to you by The Bell. In today’s newsletter, we focus on the dynamics of the Russian labor market where there is a growing staff shortage. We also look at how Russia became the biggest foreign
Cops threaten customers in a Moscow bar, force them to sing patriotic songs PRO Members Public
Russia is already used to the idea that anti-war protests and even critical comments on social media can land you in jail. Now, it seems that official pressure on opponents of the war is getting even more demonstrative — and sinister. This weekend, police raided two fashionable bars, hitting customers and
Guest list scrutiny as Putin meeting with billionaires PRO Members Public
At his second meeting with major business leaders since the start of the war, Putin last week praised those who “stayed here and didn’t leave.” Behind closed doors, there were discussions of a 300 billion ruble “voluntary contribution” that most businessmen still hope to see presented as a tax
How Russia propaganda tried to explain away an arrest warrant for Putin PRO Members Public
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s arrest on Friday. He is suspected of war crimes — in particular, the illegal deportation of children. This news presented an unexpected challenge to Russian propaganda – for a long time state media struggled to work out its
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The Bell was founded in 2017 by journalists Elizaveta Osetinskaya, Irina Malkova and Peter Mironenko as a news outlet independent from the Russian authorities, after its founders have been sacked as top editors at the largest Russian news website RBC because of pressure from the Kremlin.
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