Free Republic

On October 15 in Moscow, officials from the presidential administration and other Kremlin-connected figures hosted a "Forum on Democracy and Multiculturalism in the Euro-East." The participants included representatives of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria, and Karabakh, activists of pro-Russia parties and associations from several post-Soviet countries, and Moscow figures who -- according to Kremlin consultant Gleb Pavlovsky, speaking at the Forum -- "play a major if often shadowy role in developing Russia's real policy" (Regnum, October 15). Outlining geopolitical challenges and opportunities to Russia, Pavlovsky noted that the United States is focusing its hostile attention on Belarus, "our basic military-political ally."...

Yushchenko: Russian poison link 27/02/2005 08:53 - (SA) Kiev - In a bizarre twist to the mysterious poisoning that disfigured the face of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, investigators in Kiev are probing a new lead that involves a Russian political consultant. Prosecutors are studying an audiotape of a conversation which alleges a role in the dioxin poisoning by Kremlin-connected spin-doctor Gleb Pavlovsky, a spokesperson for the prosecutor general told AFP. Pavlovsky, a key campaign advisor to Yushchenko's defeated Moscow-backed rival Viktor Yanukovich, dismisses the claims as a "fabrication". "The prosecutor has said he knows whose voices are on the tape....

As Viktor Yushchenko prepares for his inauguration as Ukraine's third president, he knows that Ukraine-Russia relations will be one of the most difficult issues he faces. The Economist (December 29) advised Yushchenko, "to kiss and make up with Russia and Vladimir Putin, who backed Mr. Yanukovych and has thus been humiliated by his defeat." Such reconciliation will be far easier said than done. Russia is reportedly behind two attempts on Yushchenko's life, one through poisoning and a second with a bomb. Yushchenko alluded to the latter plot when he said, "Those who wanted to blow myself up did not undertake...

Putin's Fifth Column in the West While from differing sides of the political spectrum, I admire Jake Rudnitsky a lot. He prints the truth for an alternative newspaper inside Putin's Russia. He's just put out a great column about Russia and the anti-Yushchenko critics in the West. Some of it will be familiar to readers of Le Sabot, but he adds a lot of new information. For example, he has this about Jonathan Steele, Kuchma concubine: "Steele has gone on at least two 5-star Kremlin-sponsored junkets in the last four months, and not surprisingly, he is also taking the Kremlin's...

MOSCOW, December 28, (RIA Novosti) - Although relations with the American administration and the European Union are normal, international politicians have begun airing the idea of restricting Russia's influence, Gleb Pavlovsky, president of the Fund for Effective Policy (FEP), noted at a news conference on Tuesday. He called the idea the "Kwasniewski doctrine", because the Polish president was the first to voice it. "Russia rejects this doctrine - we are not accepting in any degree the policy of curbing Russia's influence. This is beyond the boundaries of geopolitical correctness," Pavlovsky said. The expert believes that Russia passes through "periods of...

MOSCOW, Dec. 1 - The Kremlin's words reached a shrill peak on Wednesday over the election crisis in Ukraine, as Russian officials here dusted off cold war vocabulary and summoned bitter visions of lost imperial ambitions and fears of Western meddling in Russia's sphere of influence. The words began flowing in earnest over the weekend, as a Kremlin political strategist, Gleb O. Pavlovsky, voiced what many Russians fear is the true cause of the Ukrainian political crisis: that the West is using Ukraine as a testing ground for a "revolution" that may subsequently spread to Russia. "We will have to...