Well, I'm not sure what to call what happened in Russia yesterday.

In a nutshell, President Vladimir Putin announced he was running for the December parliamentary elections and hinted that he could be prime minister after his term as president expires next year. The announcement was made at a convention of the pro-Putin United Russia party and, according to this report in The New York Times, it was a masterpiece of political... more

Russia's new prime minister, Viktor Zubkov, got off to a strong start in his new job even as the head of Russia's upper house of parliament was indicating Zubkov could be a candidate for another job.

According to news reports, Zubkov made a trip to Penza oblast, warned the governor of Arkhangelsk oblast that economic development in the region wasn't keeping pace and wagged a finger at Russian banks for not lending enough to industry. But the week got off on an interesting foot when Reuters... more

Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov finally unveiled his new government--and it looks a lot like the government of his predecessor, Mikhail Fradkov.

Here's who's back: Most importantly for those of you waiting to complete an adoption in Russia, Andrei Alexandrovich Fursenko, minister of education and science. Fursenko has held that post since May 2004, and it is good to see him back in charge of this key ministry. Minister of the Internal Affairs Rashid Gumarovich Nurgaliyev is also back. A former KGB officer, he has also held his current post since May 2004.

But it... more

No word yet on the composition of the new Russian government, but President Vladimir Putin, speaking at an economic forum in Sochi, said it would be announced "soon". The only one who may definitely be out is Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, who reportedly handed in his resignation on Tuesday because he is the son-in-law of the new prime minister, Viktor Zubkov. Speaking of Zubkov, hegave ministers in the old cabinet... more

Since former Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and his entire government resigned last week, there's been a lot of buzz on Russian adoption chat boards and blogs about what exactly is going on over there.

Some of the confusion is quite understandable. We in America are used to have a White House official or cabinet member resign from time to time. But we only have a complete housecleaning when a new presidential term begins. Having an entire cabinet resign mid-stream isn't quite such a foreign idea... more

Small World Adoption Foundation of Missouri has been re-accredited! The decree is dated September 12, and was posted to the Ministry of Education's Web site today.

President Vladimir Putin's choice for a new prime minister, Viktor Zubkov, was easily confirmed by Russia's lower house of parliament on Friday. Its approval had been expected. The entire government of former Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov ... more

Just when everything was beginning to look rosy in Russian adoption comes this: The entire government of President Vladimir Putin resigned today. Yes, that includes Andrei Aleksandrovich Fursenko, the minister of education, and the heads of all the ministries on which we have all been hanging our hopes for a swift resolution of the re-accreditation mess. The move, which came at his request according to news sources, paves the way for a fresh government ahead of the December legislative elections and perhaps an answer to the question of who will succeed Putin in the presidential elections... more

There were no new accreditations of adoption agencies issued this week, but plenty of news in business, politics and sports. I'm going to start with the latter, because there was a sporting event in Russia this week that included children in orphanages.

According to the RIA-Novosti news agency, there was going to be a soccer tournament today in the western Siberian town of Nefteyugansk involving teams made up exclusively of orphans. City officials said 65 children would take place in the matches, which were to... more

Early in the week, Russian authorities announced 10 arrests in the murder of a Russian newspaper reporter last October. But the government's contention--that someone outside Russia had ordered the murder of Anna Politkovskaya--was met with a large amount of skepticism in and out of Russia, according to news reports. And on Friday. Both the BBC and Voice of America were reporting that two... more

Vacation season has slowed the flow of news about adoption in Russia, but there are interesting developments in business and politics.

In an intersection of both, Russia surprised the world financial community by proposing a former Czech central bank governor to head the International Monetary Fund. What was the surprise? The financiers thought they had a done deal in a French candidate (a former finance minister) who had been proposed by the European Union and seemed to have U.S. support. In nominating Josef Tosovsky, Russian officials... more