When I read on Friday that the BBC was being knocked off the FM airwaves in Russia, I was puzzled. What was it about the British broadcaster's work that had caused its Russian distributor to deem it "foreign propaganda"?

OK, I'll concede that I may not be the most impartial person to render such a judgment. I love the Beeb. When I moved to Belgium, I walked my radio around the apartment until I found the spot that got the clearest BBC reception. That became... more

There were no more accreditations announced this week, which is not entirely surprising since August is traditionally a slow month for government work in Russia. Instead, this week's news is all business and politics.

The latter first. On Friday, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is reviving long-range patrols by bomber aircraft. Reuters said the move, which was a Soviet-era practice, was in response to "security threats". A White House spokesman... more

Sakhalin Island was hit by a strong earthquake on Thursday morning, killing two people and leaving two people dead and several dozen others injured. Reports on the quake differed on its magnitude, with some accounts putting the first shock at 6.4 and others at 6.6 or 6.8. Nevelsk, on the southwestern side of the island, was closest to the epicenter, but the quake was also felt in Kholmsk and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. According to the Itar-Tass... more

Russia's effort to stake a larger claim to the Arctic Ocean has sent shivers through international observers.

Last week, an expedition that included a nuclear-powered ice breaker and submersible vessels left Murmansk bound for the North Pole. Their mission: To prove that a large part of the Arctic is actually connected to Russia's far northern region and, hence, fair game for Russian oil and gas exploration.

On Thursday, the submersibles dove two miles... more

It's too early to be thinking about the three "Rs" here, but four areas of Russia have revealed school curriculum plans for the fall that may surprise you.

According to a feature story on Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty last Friday, it will be mandatory for schools in four regions to teach the Russian Orthodox religion this fall. Ten other regions will have the choice of teaching about the religion or not.

The four mandatory regions are Belgorod,... more

Global warming was in the news this week in Russia. The Voice of America and several other news sources are reporting that a Russian naval expedition is headed to the North Pole to secure Russia's rights to oil and natural gas under the Arctic Ocean. The VOA says that while an icebreaker is now sailing ahead of the research ship, global warming is melting the Arctic ice, which would make it easier to drill for oil in the region. The Russians apparently want to prove that a... more

Only July 19, five more American adoption agencies were accredited to work in Russia. The decision by the Ministry of Education brings the total number of accredited American agencies to 12. Two agencies from France and one each from Spain and Israel have also been accredited. Let's hope that the MoE keeps working on this through the traditional August slow season and gets the rest of the waiting agencies their paperwork soon.

In political news, on... more

What a great way to end the week: Five more U.S. adoption agencies have been accredited by the Russian government. The July 19 round of accreditations also included one agency each in Israel, Spain and France.

The American agencies are Pittsburgh-based Adopt-A-Child, Adoption Associates in Jennison, Mich., European Adoption Consultants of Strongsville, Ohio, Rhode Island-based Gift... more

The big media outlets slowly woke up to the accreditation news this week. There was this story in USA Today and another in the Chicago Tribune, and even a brief notice in the Moscow Times. The New York Times didn't weigh in, but it did have a nice... more

Over the weekend, The New York Times ran a front-page piece on Nashi, a Russian youth movement that supports President Vladimir Putin.

It's not the first Western news organization to take a look at the group. Newsweek had a profile less than a month ago. The BBC had a story last summer, and both the text and an accompanying video are still available on its Web site. Blogs... more