Russia
Modified 17 January 2008
Their internetworking people can't decide if they're really in
the ru (Russia) or the su (Soviet Union) domain,
although the USSR hasn't existed since what, 1992?
I've been to Russia a number of times,
and have seen local area networks there with domain names drawn from
a random mix of ru or su.
I don't know if the indecision says more about the degree of chaos
or the political views of the system administrators.
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Russian Intelligence and Security Organizations
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Federal'naya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti --
Federal Department of Security.
The FSB, new name for
Komityet Gosudarstvyenoy Bezopasnosti,
the Committee for State Security, or the KGB.
http://www.fsb.ru
Rapidly absorbing the Border Guards and everything
else they can.
June 1998 legislation requires Russian ISP's to provide FSB
with full access to their servers, and to provide and maintain
monitoring hardware for digital eavesdropping.
[``Segodnya'' and RFE/RL Newsline, 22 July 1999]
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Institute Kryptographiy, Cvyazi, i Informatiki --
Institute of Cryptography, Signals, and Informatics.
Run by the ``Academy of the FSB,'' the KGB training academy.
I'm not sure how this relates to FAPSI,
Fyedyeral'noye Agyenstvo Pravitelstvyennoi
Svyazi i Informatsii,
or Federal Agency for Government Communications
and Information,
which was formed out of the 8th Chief Directorate and
the 16th Directorate of the KGB in 1992.
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Sluzhba Vneshni Razvedkiy Rossii (SVR) --
Russian Agency of Foreign Intelligence
http://www.svr.gov.ru
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Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh dyel Rossiskoy Federatsiy (MVD) --
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation --
http://www.mvd.ru/
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Russian Government
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Russian Military
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Ministry of Defense -- note that one or more of
these may redirect you to one of the others
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Russian Navy --
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Voeynniy Institut Pravitel'stvennoy Svyazi
(Military Institute of Government Communication) --
http://www-vips.icn.gov.ru/
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Russian Defense Industry
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http://www.iemz.ru/ --
Izhevskiy Elektromekhanicheskiy Zavod ``Kupol'' --
``a leading enterprise in manufacture of air defense
missile systems''
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http://www.topol.ru/ --
Votkinsky Zavod --
produces SS-20, SS-23, and SS-25 ballistic missiles.
Wanna buy a SCUD?
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http://www.guns.ru/pvo/ --
Vyestnik PVO --
produces major arms, including surface-to-air missiles.
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http://www.izhmash.ru/ --
Izhmash --
makes the AK-74 and other infantry rifles,
sniper rifles, submachine guns, aircraft cannons for
the MiG-29 and Su-27, and artillery systems.
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http://www.mehzavod.ru/ --
Izhevsky Mechanichesky Zavod --
producer of small arms, Makarov, Izh-75, etc.
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http://www.vpk.ru/ --
Russian Teleinformation Network of the
Defense Industry Complex
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http://www.rbs.ru/vttv/ --
Russian weapons and military technology exhibition
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http://www.milparade.ru/ --
claims to be ``the only national publication of
the military-industrial complex of Russia'' and
is run ``by decision of the Russian Government.''
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http://www.vpk.ru:8082/index.htm --
Another ``military-industrial complex'' site, claiming at
least semi-official status.
Also has links to the Ministry of Economics,
Krasnaya Zvyesda (Red Star) magazine, etc.
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Also see the great directory at:
http://weblist.ru/english/Government/Military/
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``Alpha'' Spetznaz Special Anti-Terror Force --
an Alpha veterans' group is at:
http://www.alphagroup.ru/
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A movement to re-establish the Soviet Union (really!) --
http://www.northstarcompass.org/
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Russian political parties --
See the current list represented in the Duma at
http://www.duma.gov.ru/deputats/fraction.htm
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Pravda -- Russian for ``Truth'', with which that
paper was traditionally uncontaminated.
http://www.pravda.ru/
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Pamyat -- That's Russian for ``memory'', but the
group's main focus seems to be violent anti-semitism and xenophobia.
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Loge/8461/
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Bellona -- A Norwegian environmental group that Russia says is
``exposing state secrets'' such as Russia's nasty environmental
disasters.
The FSB has jailed Bellona people indefinitely
for exposing Russia's reckless dumping of nuclear waste.
http://www.bellona.no/e/index.htm
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Political Opposition Movements --
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Breakaway Republics --
There are a number of semi-independent avtomniyeh respubliki
which Moscow is willing to let go their own way and, to some extent,
pretend to be independent countries.
Some have even started printing their own money.
Great references for these republics,
their cultures, and
their Internet presences are:
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And now, the list of avtomniyeh respubliki i rayoni:
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Adygeia Republic --
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Aga-Buriat Autonomous Area --
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pjrc/rus/aga/main.html
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Altai Republic -- On the Russian side of the border
right where Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Turkestan
(eastern People's Republic of China) come together.
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Altai Territory --
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pjrc/rus/att/main.html
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Bashkortostan -- just north of east-central Kazakhstan.
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Buryatia -- Centered on Ulan-Ude, near Lake Baikal.
The Ust-Orda Buryatian Autonomous Okrug government is
considering restoration of the Buryatian-Mongolian Republic,
which existed in 1937.
[RFE-RL Newsline, 8 Sep 1998, Dec 1998,
http://www.rferl.org/;
``Delovoi Vtornik'' 1 Dec 1998.]
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Chechnya -- they fought the Russian army to a
standstill in 1995 and controlled the region independently
of Moscow, until the Russians sent in military forces
in late 1999.
Russia seemed to consider it as an independent country
1995-1999, although few other countries did.
Overview from "New York Times" 25 Oct 2002 pg A8:
| Year |
Political/Military events |
Terror events |
| 1990 |
|
Chechen separatists hijack Russian Tu-154 |
| 1991 |
Local communist governor is ousted.
Soviet general Dzhokhar Dudayev
declares Chechnya independent.
Russia rejects this claim,
but lets Dudayev rule. |
Two more planes hijacked |
| 1994 |
Russian president Boris Yeltsin sends
troops.
They meet strong resistance.
Soviet general Dzhokhar Dudayev
declares Chechnya independent.
Russia rejects this claim,
but lets Dudayev rule. |
|
| 1995 |
Separatists abandon capital city Grozny.
Grozny is largely destroyed. |
Over 100 die in hostage crisis in
Budyonnovsk, Russia. |
| 1996 |
Yeltsin admits Chechen campaign is a
"mistake" but rules out withdrawl.
General Dudayev killed in rocket
attack, replaced by Zelimkhan
Yandarbiyev.
Yeltsin and Yandarbiyev agree on truce.
Chechen rebels seize Grozny.
Russian General Aleksandr Lebed signs
a truce deferring sovereignty 5 years.
Alsan Maskhadov, former leader of
rebel forces, becomes interim prime
minister.
|
Dozens die in hostage crisis in
Kizlyar, Russia. |
| 1997 |
Last Russian troops leave.
Maskhadov elected president.
Peace accord is signed, but Russia says
Chechnya must remain part of Russian
Federation.
|
Two Russian journalists seized in Chechnya,
first in long series of abductions
for ransom. |
| 1998 |
Chechen warlords demand Maskhadov quit,
calling him "too conciliatory". |
Around this time, groups like Sakhina
Security Services begin openly
advertising on the Internet,
seeking "fighters for Jihad in
Chechnya".
Schoolroom training in the UK,
supposedly followed by firearms
training in the western U.S.,
then shipment to Chechnya and/or
Afghanistan.
|
| 1999 |
Maskhadov narrowly escapes assassination.
Russian army invades (again). |
|
| 2000 |
Russians take Grozny (again).
Moscow announces end of military
operations in Chechnya.
Attacks on Russian army increase
New Russian President Vladimir Putin
announces Chechnya is under "direct
presidential rule". |
|
| 2002 |
Moscow no longer recognizes Maskhadov
as Chechen president.
Two Russian military transport
helicopters are downed by rebels.
First kills two generals
and 12 soldiers, second kills 121. |
Group of 50 Chechen militants smuggles
rifles and mines into Moscow.
Seizes theatre with 850 hostages.
118 hostages are killed. |
As this conflict heated up since the fall of 1999,
more sites came on line supporting both sides.
Note that many ``Chechen supporters'' are
generalized Jihadists,
al-Qaida,
and others, either covertly or overtly.
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Pro-Chechnya Sites
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Pro-Russia Sites
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http://www.infocentre.ru -- Rosinformcenter, or Russian
Informational Center, set up by the Russian government and
``coaching Russian officials on the politically acceptable
way to report the war.'' (New York Times,
28 Nov 1999, pg 10, a good article discussing both sides
of information control in this conflict).
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Chukchi Autonomous Area --
The very north-eastern tip of Siberia --
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pjrc/rus/chk/main.html
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Chuvashia -- Central Russia, not too far from Moscow.
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Dagestan -- Sandwiched between Chechnya and the
Caspian Sea. Like Chechnya, Caucasian/Islamic, and
violently attempting to split off from Russia.
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Donetsk Republic --
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/5823/
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Evenk Autonomous Area --
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pjrc/rus/eve/main.html
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Ingushetia --
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Jewish Autonomous Region --
A Stalinist leftover, a remote far eastern ghetto along
the Manchurian border for Russian Jews,
who (to no one's surprise) did not emigrate there in droves.
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Kabarda-Balkharia -- a.k.a. Kabardino-Balkarian Republic,
yet another neighbor of Chechnya and Georgia.
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Kalmykia -- Just north of Chechnya and Dagestan,
with a short coast on the Caspian Sea.
Kirsan Ilumzhinov, the president, is subject of the most
bizarre cult of personality in existance.
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Karachai-Cherkess Republic --
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pjrc/rus/kch/main.html
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Karelia --
Along the Finnish border, fairly Finnish and Saami in
culture and language --
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Khabarovsk --
Much of the coast north of Vladivostok --
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pjrc/rus/xtt/main.html
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Khakasia -- Just north of Altai Republic
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Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area --
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Khazaria -- southern Russia.
http://www.khazaria.com/
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Komi Republic -- A big far-northern region north-east
of Moscow. The capital is Syktyvkar, and it extends north
and east from there.
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Komi-Permiak Autonomous Area -- Much smaller than
the Komi Republic --
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pjrc/rus/kmp/main.html
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Koriak Autonomous Area -- The neck of Kamchatka --
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Krasnodar Territory --
On the Black Sea and Sea of Azov
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pjrc/rus/dtt/main.html
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Krasnoyarsk Territory --
A large region extening north-south in west-central Siberia --
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pjrc/rus/ytt/main.html
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Mari El Republic -- In the foothills of the Urals,
settled by a Finno-Ugric people.
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Mordova --
South of Moscow --
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Nenets Autonomous Region --
Along the Arctic coast, and Novaya Zemlya --
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Primore Territory --
Vladivostok and surroundings --
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pjrc/rus/ptt/main.html
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Sakha Republic -- Also known as Yakutia,
a vast region in far north-eastern Siberia,
rich in diamonds and other mineral resources.
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Sakhalin and Kurile Islands --
Japan and Russia have been disagreeing over the Kuriles
since 1945 --
http://www.sakhalin.ru/
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Stavropol Territory --
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pjrc/rus/stt/main.html
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Taimyr Autonomous Area --
A large region along the Arctic coast --
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pjrc/rus/tai/main.html
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Tatarstan -- East of Moscow, home of the Tatar hordes
feared ever since there was a Russia.
South-east of Moscow.
When Russia and Belarussia signed what appear to be preliminary
unification treaties in December, 1998, the president of
Tatarstan announced that Tatarstan wants equal standing
with other republics, including Russia, in any greater
Russian empire [see RFE/RL Newsline,
http://www.rferl.org/]
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Tyva (Tuva) --
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Udmurtia -- East of Moscow
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Ust-Orda Buriat Autonomous Area --
A small area east of Lake Baikal --
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pjrc/rus/ust/main.html
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Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area --
A large region around the Obskaya Guba,
where the Ob River flows into the Arctic Ocean --
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pjrc/rus/yam/main.html
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Regional governors -- touting their own cause, or
being lampooned by the opposition.
See RFE/RL news, vol 2, no 27, 26 July 2000,
http://www.rferl.org/
for details
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Kemerovo governor Aman Tuleev
http://www.tuleev.ru
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Samara governor Konstantin Titov
http://www.titov.samara.ru
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Sverdlovsk governor Eduard Rossel
http://www.rossel.ru
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Primorskii Krai governor Yevgenii Nazdratenko
http://www.nazdratenko.ru --
As per RFE/RL,
``Nazdratenko's site is perhaps the most fun
with its unabashed self-promotion, its opening
photo of Nazdratenko posed pompously over a city
skyline, and frequent references to Nazdratenko's
"manliness."
The photo is at least realistic, since not a single
light appears to be on in the city'' (referencing
the continued electrical shortages in Nakhodka and
Vladivostok).
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Tatarstan president Mintimer Shaimiev--
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Russian Mafia --
Having been to Russia a number of times,
I would say that it would be very difficult indeed to find any
business or government operation that wasn't in some way
influenced by organized crime.
Practially all businesses pay for a krisha, or ``roof,''
which is protection money.
Some real estate agencies finding apartments for western businessmen
would find a desired place, murder the occupants, and thus show amazing
success and speed at finding ``wonderful housing opportunities.''
I haven't come across anything explicitly advertising criminal services
yet, but I'll keep looking.
Meanwhile, I'll suspect everything commercial
in the ru and su domains.
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Lenin Mausoleum Home Page -- Not particularly a threat to
anyone, but too bizarre to pass up.
http://koi.aha.ru/~mausoleu/.
Apparently the author left his keyboard in Cyrillic mode when
entering some of the HTML, so the links didn't work when I checked.
Also see:
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