Articles by Anastasiya Lebedev



Domestic Fairies to Do the Dirty Work

It's easy to hire a professional cleaner in Moscow -- but be careful not to make friends with them.

City Grapples With Thousands of Strays

The city's four animal shelters can handle 1,000 dogs per year, but 23,000 live on the streets.

77 NGOs Forced to Suspend Activities

Seventy-seven foreign NGOs, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, were forced to suspend activity Thursday after a registration deadline elapsed.

Politkovskaya's Legacy of Courage Lives On

Osman Boliyev met Anna Politkovskaya just twice, but he credits the late investigative journalist with saving his life.

United Russia Dominates at the Polls

United Russia ran away with parliamentary elections in nine regions over the weekend, Central Elections Commission chief Alexander Veshnyakov announced Monday.

Police Seek Lists of Georgian Schoolchildren

  • 09 October 06
  • Staff Writers
Moscow police are asking schools to turn over lists of children with Georgian-sounding last names, raising fears that a state campaign against Georgians is spinning out of control.

Police Raid Georgian Businesses

  • 04 October 06
  • Staff Writers
Moscow law enforcement agents raided Georgian businesses in the city on Tuesday, closing a hotel and a casino, and confiscating alcohol as the federal government severed all transport links with Georgia.

Protesters Push on With Hunger Strike

The demonstration against a fraudulent construction firm stretches into its second week.

Monastery Hopes for Bells by Late 2007

The bells have tolled for Nikolai Gogol and Martin Luther King, Jr., announced football victories, been sold for scrap metal and called congregants to prayer.

Angry Home Buyers Go on Hunger Strike

Dozens of people stripped of their savings by a fraudulent construction firm went on a hunger strike Monday in an unfinished Garden Ring building.

Lesson in Nativity Cards and the Constitution

As Yelena Popova's sixth-graders settled in for their third-period class last week, she greeted them with a distinctly Christian message: ""Happy Nativity of the Blessed Virgin!""

Police Voice Support for Illegal Methods

Using force against detained suspects and planting drugs is acceptable, officers say in a new study.

Putin Orders Reform After 62-Car Pileup

President Vladimir Putin gave the interior minister less than a week to find a way to reduce traffic accidents after a horrific 62-car pileup killed one person and injured 42 others Monday.

Diplomats Pray for Sept. 11 Victims

Candles flickered. The sweet smell of frankincense wafted through the vaulted chamber. And priests in embroidered white robes chanted prayers for the souls of those who perished on Sept. 11, 2001.

President Scores High Marks for Dinner Party

President Vladmir Putin, speaking at a dinner Saturday, impressed Valdai Discussion Club members as sincere and knowledgeable but left them unsatisfied with his answers to questions about democracy and energy markets.

Kremlin Targets the Governors Again

  • 08 September 06
  • Staff Writers
The president will have the power to fire any governor in the country for almost any reason if a bill sent to the State Duma on Thursday becomes law.

Echoes of Kondopoga in Petrozavodsk

Ultranationalists from Moscow and St. Petersburg are streaming into Petrozavodsk, the capital of Karelia, to try to spark ethnic riots, the city's mayor said Wednesday.

Textbook Review Recalls Soviet Scrutiny

India is a continent, the oceans are infested with squid that stretch 20 meters, and the human soul is known to leave the body during sleep. These are just a few of the many, many errors found in grade-school textbooks across the country.

Schools Told to Give Orthodox Lessons

The new requirement to teach about the Russian Orthodox Church in several regions draws protests from Muslim leaders.

$7Bln for Schools, Flats, Parking

Moscow authorities are planning to spend more than 190 billion rubles ($7.1 billion) on schools, housing and parking lots in 2007.

St. Petersburg Buries 8 Crash Victims

Funerals were held Monday in St. Petersburg for eight of those killed on the Pulkovo Airlines flight that crashed in eastern Ukraine, killing all 170 on board.

Foreign NGOs Slow to File Paperwork

The deadline for complying with the new law is Oct. 18. So far, 30 out of 500 groups have submitted the necessary documents.

AIDS Program Reaches Out to Prostitutes

Alfia Novikova nears the women selling themselves by the side of the road. ""Is Lena coming today, the chubby one?"" Novikova says. ""Tell her I have her HIV test results, and she's clean.""

Resolution in Sight for Landmarks Dispute

A 15-year turf war between federal and city authorities will finally be resolved by year’s end, First Deputy Mayor Yury Roslyak said Wednesday.

Tax Breaks Offered to Key Businesses

City Hall on Tuesday gave initial approval to a plan to double Moscow's gross regional product by 2009 by offering tax and customs incentives to innovative businesses and boosting professional education.

Helping People to Uncover Their Ancestry

Genealogy is becoming fashionable, but the search for centuries-old ancestors does not always lead to aristocrats and noblemen.

New Law Redefines Extremist Activity

President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed of on controversial changes to the law on extremist activity that critics say could be used to silence opposition politicians and the press.

NGO Gets $167,000 Tax Bill

The Center for Assistance in International Defense, a nongovernmental organization headed by one of Mikhail Khodorkovsky's lawyers, has been slapped with a bill for back taxes that could force it to close its doors.

State's Child Health Plan Under Fire

Renowned pediatrician Leonid Roshal on Thursday accused the government of fudging infant mortality statistics and proposing inefficient programs for improving child health care.

Paranoia Descends on St. Petersburg

G8 protesters fear undercover police and FSB agents at every turn. Pamfilova declares, ""I want blood.""


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