Russian Constitutional Crisis- Day 18, afternoon: Battle for Mayor's Office
Supporters of Russian Parliament seize Comecon building in Moscow.
Zaryadye Park | Urban Projects (Moscow, Russia)
Moscow is a home to numerous parks and green zones, but a few years ago the city initiated a new ambitious project - the largest new park in Moscow in 50 years, to be built completely from scratch.
For 40 years this was the location of “Rossiya” - a 3000-room hotel that was one of the biggest in Europe. It was one of the most iconic landmarks of the late Soviet Union. The building became outdated in 21st century, and was torn down in 2006.
Everyone was sure that a prime location like this - right next to Kremlin, facing the river - would be used either for a brand-new hotel, or yet another hi-tech office building.
Surprisingly enough, in 2012 Sergey Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, suggested turning this site into a park.
A design competition was announced, and architecture firms from around the world submitted their vision of what the new park could look like. The winner was DS+R, a New York firm with a great record of designing public areas around the world. Unlike some other more conservative firms, they didn’t try to create yet another Central Park in Moscow. They’re application was a futuristic landscape with elements approaching the surreal.
DS+R, partnering with local firms, proposed planting flying carpets of greenery above a large restaurant, a food court, a museum of Moscow history and a nature education center.
According to their plan, Zaryadye Park, named for the surrounding neighbourhood, would feature a boomerang-shaped bridge that would extend far out over the Moscow River.
But even that wasn’t the most ambitious part of the project; Zaryadye Park was meant to provide its guests with a taste of four key Russian ecosystems - tundra, steppe, forest and marsh - arranged in zones from the hilly side down to the river.
The goal was not just to bring plants representing those 4 terrains, but to provide the feeling of being in those zones. For example, a cave containing an ice sculpture would provide a feel of the tundra all year long. A huge glass bubble covering the grass roof of the concert hall would create an atmosphere of warmer climates, even in winter.
Overall it seemed like one of those sci-fi architecture projects that are never built, but not this time. The city provided the funds - equal to about 420 million US Dollars, to make the project come true.
Not everything went smoothly though - some innovative ideas like underfloor hydronic heating were cut out to save money. The boomerang bridge was also close to being eliminated from the plan due to safety concerns, but it was later decided to build the bridge regardless.
The park was opened to the public in September of 2017, and it is a great piece of modern urban design that defines what a 21st century park can look like.
Putin at inauguration of Moscow Mayor
(17 Dec 2003)
1. Exterior Moscow Mayor's office
2. Russian president Vladimir Putin and Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov entering room to applause
3. Guests applauding
4. Men placing mayorial chain on Luzhkov
5. Wide shot, inauguration
6. Luzhkov's family
7. SOUNDBITE (Russian): Vladimir Putin:
I hope that Yuri Luzhkov and everybody who has been working with him for many years will put all their resources to benefit Muscovites whose riches will greatly contribute to the development of Russia as a whole. All the best.
8. Guests applauding
9. Luzhkov's daughters congratulating Luzhkov and shake hands with Putin
10. Guests congratulate Luzhkov
11. Wide shot, reception
STORYLINE:
Yuri Luzhkov was inaugurated to a new term as Moscow mayor on Wednesday in a ceremony attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Luzhkov is already into his second decade at the helm of Russia's biggest and richest city,
He won nearly 80 percent of votes cast in the December 7 mayoral contest, according to preliminary results from the balloting, which was held along with elections to the Russia's lower parliament house.
The 67-year-old political veteran has led the city since 1992, when he was promoted from deputy mayor by then-President Boris Yeltsin after his boss, the liberal Gavril Popov, resigned in frustration early in his five-year term over blocked reform efforts.
Luzhkov was re-elected in 1996 and again in 1999, benefiting from the concentration of wealth that has transformed Moscow into a thriving city since the Soviet collapse, a change that is far less striking in many areas outside the capital.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Putin expressed hope that Luzhkov and his team will continue to benefit Russia's capital and that will contribute to the development of the whole country.
Muscovites credit Luzhkov with being a strong manager who has attracted investment to the city, although opinions about its fast-paced development are mixed as new buildings crowd neighbourhoods and traffic jams become an increasingly serious problem.
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Kremlin Fires Defiant Moscow Mayor Luzhkov
Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has lost his job after 18 years in office. He was fired by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.. (Sept. 28)
Russia: Yeltin's Stormy Relationship With Congress, White House Occupation
(31 Dec 1993) RUSSIA:
map of commonwealth of independent states; large communist flag across screen;
May Day clashes between pro and anti-Yeltsin demonstrators:
crowd advancing towards wall of police shields;
crowd pushing against bus to turn it over;
police launching into crowd, militiaman kicking and hitting demonstrator;
truck ramming firefighting vehicle against railings (with firemen inside);
demonstrator with stick confronting militiaman;
burning vehicle;
(Yeltin's stormy relationship with congress)
ruslan khasbulatov,parliamentary speaker,speaking at podium in parliament;
special session of congress voting to cancel Yeltsin's referendum on Yeltsin's new constitution;
Yeltsin walking out with a glum expression;
Yeltsin at podium granting himself special presidential powers;
sot english delegate of course I understand clearly what he was saying, but he was drunk;
(White House occupation)
night shot of White House;
night shot demonstrators milling around;
Ruslan Khasbulatov, by candlelight from inside the surrounded White House, sot russian;
police attempting to break up crowd of communist sympathisers outside White House;
parliamentary supporters storm mayors office and television centre through broken glass door panels;
man raises red flag;
assault on White House; night shots of firing;
van ramming door, tank being driven against truck breaking vehicle barricade;
tank through barricade;
ms White House being hit, explosion, smoke, falling debris;
zoom White House, broken windows, smoke;
cu window, fire;
snipers shooting;
soldiers behind barricades, shooting;
cu black smoke billowing out of White House windows;
pullout ws white house, smoke
rebels surrendering: group of men, walking, hands raised behind their heads;
old lady being helped across ladder assisted by soldier;
Khasbulatov and Rutskoy emerging from White House, getting into vehicle;
cu Rutskoy & Khasbulatov sitting in bus;
ls White House, smoke-blackened top floors;
soldiers pulling down communist flag draped over statue;
Moscow curfew: Moscow streets empty
Gorbachev criticising press censorship;
Pravda; man reading Pravda newspaper
Pravda edition rolling out of presses
soldier ripping communist flag
embalmed body of Lenin, cu Lenin's head;
Lenin's tomb, guard of honour;
Lenin's mausoleum doors, no guards;
Russian flag
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RUSSIA: MOSCOW: POTENTIAL DEPUTY MAYOR INJURED IN BOMB BLAST
Russian/Nat
A candidate for the post of Moscow's deputy mayor, Valery Shantsev, has been seriously injured in a bomb blast at his home.
A Moscow government spokesman says the blast was an assassination attempt and a deliberate move to disrupt this month's mayoral elections.
It is the first serious case of violence in the run-up to the Russian capital's polls on June 16 - the same day as Russia's presidential election.
This is the aftermath of the explosion in Moscow which seriously injured a candidate for the city's deputy mayor, Valery Shantsev.
Shantsev, who is the running mate of the incumbent Mayor Yuri Luzhkov - an ally of President Boris Yeltsin - was injured as he opened the door to his apartment.
The radio-controlled bomb exploded as Shantsev was leaving his home for his office in the centre of Moscow.
Police investigators searched for evidence at the scene of the bombing in a prestigious neighbourhood of the Russian capital.
Shantsev was injured in the back by shell fragments and suffered burns.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
An explosion ripped through this building this morning leaving Shantsev very badly injured.
SUPER CAPTION: Sergeant Stas Fomin, Moscow Police
A Moscow government spokesman says the bomb blast was an assassination attempt and a deliberate move to disrupt the June 16th polls.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
This is clearly a terrorist act aimed at eliminating Luzhkov from the mayoral race.
SUPER CAPTION: Vasiliy Shakhnovsky, Business Manager, Moscow Government
If Shantsev had been killed, Mayor Luzhkov would have had to withdraw from the elections because they were running on the same ticket.
Moscow police say they are looking for two men who were spotted near Shantsev's apartment around the time of the crime.
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Moscow mayor vote pits Kremlin candidate against major Putin critic
Muscovites this Sunday will vote for the first time in direct elections for their mayor. Acting...
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Muscovites this Sunday will vote for the first time in direct elections for their mayor. Acting mayor Serguei Sobyanin, appointed by the Kremlin in 2010, called the poll early and surveys give him a comfortable lead. His campaign has been highlighting the tens of millions of euros in investments he has directed into the Russian capital.
Refusing live debates with rivals, he has pointed to a modern look he's ushered in, with walkways, better parking and bikes for hire. He said: Moscow is living through a renaissance now, including the restoration of historic buildings.
The Kremlin backs Sobyanin. Yet Moscow is also braced for expressions of anti-President Putin opposition. Foremost critic Alexei Navalny is among the six candidates running for mayor's office. That's in spite of a five-year prison sentence, suspended on appeal, hanging over the dissident-lawyer for what his supporters say is an embezzlement charge trumped up by the state.
He tells them: We have managed to destroy the main Kremlin idea that no one ever can lead an election campaign and gather more than three percent (of votes) without the Kremlin's money and the Kremlin's television.
The anti-corruption activist was a key organiser of the unprecedented protests against Putin last year and in 2011. This and his outspoken blogging have won growing support, though critics call him a populist, xenophobic nationalist.
Analyst Maria Lipman at the Moscow Carnegie Center stresses his strength: The political system Putin built had to be risk- averse. It had to be virtually a political monopoly with no uncertainty, with no surprises. I think one of Alexei Navalny's achievements is that he has managed to force authority to allow an element of uncertainty in Russian politics.
Backed heavily by state media, Sobyanin, 55, is confident that Navalny, 37, has no chance of beating him. Yet many political observers say the Kremlin is playing with fire; letting Navalny run suggests that it is an open race. But even if Sobyanin is denied a first-round win and has to clinch the second, according to his main rival's campaigners that should alarm the Kremlin.
With nearly 12 million people, Moscow is Russia's biggest and wealthiest city, its main financial centre and the seat of most big Russian companies. The mayor controls an annual budget worth more than 40 billion euros. The Kremlin can't very well ignore him.
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One Tower ( Moscow ) TALLEST RESIDENTIAL BUILDING IN RUSSIA & EUROPE!!! ( Skyscraper Video #349 )
One Tower is a residential and office building currently under construction in Moscow International Business Center, Moscow, Russia. It will have the height of 405 metres | 1,220 ft & 101 floors. The construction started in 2019 and estimated completed by the year 2024. Upon completion, it will be the tallest building in Moscow, 2nd tallest building in Russia and Europe behind Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. Besides, it will also be the tallest residential building in Europe overtaking Landmark Pinnacle in London. The building is designed by Sergey Skuratov Architects and owned by Mosinzhproekt. It will have the form of a isosceles triangle with 32 metres wide truncated on the side that faces the Moskva river. The architects said that the building resembled the 'wing of an aeroplane'. Glass-facade of the apartments will be equipped with smart home technology. A shopping centre and office space will be located at the first 12 stories while upper section will be mostly residential. There will be a observation deck at 100th floor of the building by offering a panoramic view of Moscow to the public. Former Deputy Mayor of Moscow Marat Khusnullin said that It's a very complex and ambitious project.
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Thousands rally in Moscow in support of candidates barred from city council election
Throngs of opposition activists showed up at Sakharov Avenue on Saturday, where an opposition rally – permitted by the mayor’s office – is taking place. Russia’s interior ministry estimated that over 20,000 people attended the event, while crowd-monitoring NGO White Counter put the number at 40,000.
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Russians struggle to save Moscow's avant-garde buildings
Campaigners in Russia are fighting to save what's left of Moscow's world-renowned Constructivist buildings. The avant-garde landmarks often lack legal protection and many are in a state of disrepair and risk being demolished to make way for new developments.
Moscow residents react after Yury Luzhkov is fired; file
(28 Sep 2010)
Moscow - 28 September 2010
1. Wide shot exterior the Moscow mayor's office
2. Mid shot statue to Yuri Dolgoruky, the founder of Moscow
3. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Alexei Gorlo, local resident, Businessman:
When Yuri Mikhailovich (Luzhkov) is gone, Moscow will be robbed. Of course, he is a rich man, and his wife is even richer, and, of course, they did take something for themselves, but, despite all the talk about them stealing, for me personally, for my family living in Moscow, they have done much more. I live in an almost European city.
4. Wide shot pan from street to mayor's office
5. Closeup the official coat-of-arms of Moscow
6. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Olga Savelieva, resident:
We've been waiting for this decision for a long time. Big thanks to (president Dmitry) Medvedev that he has finally made us so happy. This (firing) is a birthday present for (Yuri) Luzhkov, which he truly deserves. He shouldn't have such an attitude to the city, to the historical heritage, to the Muscovites. He shouldn't think only about his own wife and the family pockets that need to be filled up (with money).
7. Wide shot Moscow street
++FILE - Moscow - dates unknown
8. Close up of Yuri Luzhkov smiling and laughing
9. Luzhkov being given award
10. Luzhkov with former Russian President, current Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin
10. Various of Luzhkov playing football
11. Various of Luzhkov at beer festival
12. Wide of Luzhkov speaking at meeting of Otechestvo (in Russian means motherland) political party, shot from top
STORYLINE:
Russia's president on Tuesday fired Yury Luzhkov, ending the 18-year rule of the Moscow mayor who gave the crumbling capital a glamorous facelift but was maligned for outdated values and bellicose posturing, and for continuing his vacation while smog from forest fires choked his city.
Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree relieving the 74-year-old mayor of his duties because of a loss of confidence in him, according to the Kremlin website.
There was no immediate reaction from Luzhkov.
After a series of minor scandals that followed years of controversy, speculation over the future of the flat-cap-wearing mayor had swirled in recent days, forcing him to declare on Monday that he wouldn't quit.
A spokeswoman for Medvedev said that the Kremlin had given Luzhkov the chance to step down voluntarily, according to Russian news agencies.
For years Luzhkov had remained in place despite rumours that his days were numbered, with many attributing his sticking power to his ability to deliver the Moscow vote for Putin's United Russia party, which he helped create.
His removal now gives the Kremlin time to appoint a successor who can also guarantee loyalty a year before parliamentary elections and two years before the next presidential vote.
Luzhkov, meanwhile, leaves a considerable legacy.
Luzhkov's long tenure saw Moscow undergo an astonishing makeover from a shabby and demoralised city into a swaggering and stylish metropolis.
However, much of the new construction work in the city was awarded to the company headed by Luzhkov's wife, Yelena Baturina, who is believed to be Russia's only female dollar billionaire.
Suspicions swirled consistently of corruption by Luzhkov to feed his wife's wealth.
Anger against the mayor rose further when he remained on vacation in Austria in August even as Moscow suffered through weeks of smog from nearby forest and peat-bog fires.
But the final blow apparently was a spat not even on Luzhkov's turf.
Controversy had brewed for several years about plans to build a highway through a forest just outside of Moscow, which environmentalists wanted to protect.
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1993 Crisis in Moscow: Rutskoi orders attacks
Real Time 'live' coverage Mass Rally at Russian Parliament. Alexander Rutskoi orders attack on Comecon building and Ostankino on October 3 1993
Young people, combat ready men, everybody should be forming detachments and we should now attack the Mayor's office and Ostankino and we should assault those two buildings and win! Everybody who's strong enough, I'm asking old men and women to stay away from this operations all the other ones who are combat ready get together attack the mayor's office and then let's go on attack the Ostankino television centre. Don't worry all the scum of society will be put behind the bars. On behalf of everybody who issued orders to beat up the demonstrators, I was listening to these orders via the police radio. I am now appealing to the law enforcement agencies, you have just seconds before you can take the side of the people, I would like to warn everyone who is in these detachments all your names are listed, you will be held responsible before the law. I ask you to defect to the people and all the demonstrators I'm asking you to do this. Stand up, take positions on the left hand side. let us form detachments now and attack the Mayor's office, please be as disciplined as you can. It should all be an organized matter.
RUSSIA: MOSCOW: MEMORIAL SERVICE HELD FOR MURDERED BANKER
Natural Sound
Russia's Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin attended a memorial service Tuesday for the latest victim of the Mafia.
He was paying his respects to Ivan Kivelidi a top banker murdered by the mob reputedly by cadmium poisoning.
More than 40 of Russia's leading businessmen have been killed this year.
They gathered to bury Ivan Kivelidi the most prominent businessman to be killed in Russia this year.
Prime Minister Chernomyrdin joined hundreds of mourners at the mayor's office in Moscow where Kivelidi's body lay in state.
Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and senior aides to Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Georgy Satarov and Alexander Livshits, also attended.
Yeltsin sent a message of condolence.
Security for Russia's political and business elite who arrived in shiny Volvo and Mercedes sedans was strict, with dozens of bodyguards and policemen standing nearby.
Kivelidi died Friday in a poisoning attack that also killed his secretary. Newspapers reported that the poison was slipped into their tea and smeared on a telephone.
Businessmen have angrily criticised the government for its failure to stamp out gangland murders. A failure that Chernomyrdin himself acknowledged in calling for a crackdown on organised crime on Monday.
Kivelidi, 46, headed both Rosbiznesbank, a leading bank, and the Russian Business Round Table. It's the country's most influential business organisation and has close ties to Chernomyrdin.
There have been 90 attacks on businessmen in the past year. 46 were fatal. Nine of senior members of the Round Table's were among those murdered.
There has not been a single conviction.
Most of the 500 contract killings in Russia's cut-throat business circles last year remain unsolved - Including Kivelidi's murder.
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Zaha Hadid’s Dominion Office Building in Moscow boasts a space age-like interior
Zaha Hadid’s Dominion Office Building in Moscow boasts a space age-like interior
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Zaha Hadid has completed her latest avant-garde structure: the neo-futuristic Dominion Office Building that’s also one of Moscow’s most expensive properties per square meter. Inspired by the Russian avant-garde styles of the 1920s, the 21,184-square-meter office building comprises a series of vertically stacked and offset white volumes with alternating glazed bands. However, the most eye-catching feature of the building is not the exterior—it’s the dramatic light-filled central atrium that comprises overlapping black and white forms.
Located in southeast Moscow, the seven-story Dominion Office Building achieves a sense of lightness, despite its large size, due to its long ribbon windows and staggered, cantilevered white volumes. “The Dominion Tower is a kind of critique of mass architecture, where each floor is the same as the other,” said Christos Passas, the project head and associate director at Zaha Hadid Architects to The Moscow Times. “We have tried to break this trend toward standardization, putting into the building’s exterior something more challenging and chaotic. In this case, the selected shape helps to hold a dialogue with the environment.”
Protest held over bulldozing of dozens of buildings in Moscow
A protest has been held in Moscow over what some Russians are calling 'the night of the long diggers'. The reference to a Nazi purge in the 1930s is being used to describe the bulldozing of dozens of buildings.
The mayor's office says the structures were illegal, but the owners insist they had the right to be there.
Al Jazeera's Rory Challands reports from Moscow.
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RUSSIA: MOSCOW GRIPPED BY COLDEST WEATHER IN 115 YEARS UPDATE
Russian/Eng/Nat
Moscow was gripped by its coldest mid-December night in 115 years on Monday, with some 35 victims of frostbite and hypothermia being admitted to hospital in just one day.
Temperatures in the Russian capital dropped to minus 27 degrees Celsius (minus 18 degrees Fahrenheit) and was expected to go still lower in the next two days.
The Red Cross, aware that this winter would be particularly severe, has launched a special campaign to help the (m) millions of homeless in the capital and across Russia.
It looked like a winter wonderland at Barvikha - the government sanatorium where Russian President Boris Yeltsin is said by officials to be recuperating from a flu virus.
He was due to go for a stroll in the woods on Monday, but with temperatures at minus 27 degrees Celsius only the very hardy ventured outside.
It was not just humans who were feeling the chill - an apartment block cracked overnight when temperatures dropped below minus 26, making it the coldest December since 1882.
Wooden supports have been brought in to shore up the building until repair works are complete.
Fifteen families had to be evacuated in the early hours of the morning from the apartment block in an up-market area of the city.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
A decision has been taken to move residents temporarily into a hotel. They can live in safety there. And in the course of three or five days, it depends on the cold, the crack will be repaired.
SUPER CAPTION: Yuri Ferlevsky,Deputy Head of Moscow Construction Department
A touch of frost turned Moscow's usually grey skyline picturesque, but on ground-level the view was not so pleasant.
Those motorists who managed to start their cars then had to struggle with windscreens frosted up from the inside and perilously icy roads.
Power stations were working overtime to make sure that homes and offices were well heated.
Schools were shut and many people decided not to venture out at all.
But this was not an option for the thousands of homeless people and aid agencies realised their services will be needed more than ever before.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
The forecast is for a particularly severe winter. Any winter is tough when you are on the breadline. It doesn't need to be particularly cold outside to realise that you haven't got the necessary vitamins in your diet or that you haven't got the winter clothing to go outside. I think any winter is tough but we fear that this particularly one will be especially harsh.
SUPER CAPTION: Caroline Hurford, Red Cross
The Salvation Army's soup kitchen outside of one of Moscow's mainline stations provides the only warmth that these people will experience this winter.
The soup and bread has to keep them going while they find somewhere to escape from the cold.
Ever since the mayor of Moscow decided to clear the homeless from the streets of the capital without providing them with shelter it has been difficult for many to find a clean and warm refuge.
Already one person has died and several others have been admitted to hospital, suffering from hypothermia.
Moscow's homeless say despite the record temperatures officials have been merciless towards them.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
Everyone is heartless towards us and they drive us out and won't let us sleep. We're looking for warm entrances and lofts and cellars. The police come into the cellars and drive us out. They close the lofts and there's nowhere to live. Now there's frost and we remain on the streets.
SUPER CAPTION:Yelena, Homeless Woman
The ice-cold temperatures even hampered the fire brigade on Monday, as one of Moscow's biggest market burnt down after an electric fire ignited a gas cylinder.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
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RUSSIA: MOSCOW SENDING FOOD AND MEDICINE TO SERBIA
Russian/Nat
Moscow is sending food and medicine to Serbia.
Twenty five tons of aid were packed up in Moscow Tuesday, ready to be flown to Belgrade tomorrow.
The Mayor of Moscow and one of Russia's largest banks are financing the aid shipment.
The familiar Balkans aid lorry.
But this one is not headed for Sarajevo or any of the other beseiged Bosnian Muslim towns, but Serbia.
Financed by one of Russia's largest banks and the Mayor's office, these lorries packed with food and medicine - are en route for the Serbian capital, Belgrade.
Three years of crippling sanctions have left Serbians struggling to buy even basic goods in their markets.
Their plight has found sympathy among their Orthodox Christian brethren and long-time allies in Russia.
The sympathy has been deepened by NATO's latest airstrikes on the Bosnian Serbs - airstrikes viewed by many Russians as a one-sided intervention in the Balkans conflict.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
This is aid to Serbs, they have suffered - children and ordinary
civilians, wounded in NATO bomb attacks
SUPERCAPTION: Vasily Doroshin, Moscow Mayor's office
Members of a State Duma delegation just returned from a working visit to the Balkans lashed out at NATO's involvement in the conflict in a press conference Tuesday.
The delegates paraded what they claimed were fragments of NATO rockets.
They also passed around pictures of what they said was the aftermath of the airstrikes on Bosnian Serbs.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
NATO is now a partner in the conflict and certainly not on the side of the Bosnian Serbs.
SUPERCAPTION: Sergei Glotov
Russian lawmakers are split over support for Serbia.
Last week, President Boris Yeltsin vetoed legislation to unilaterally lift U-N sanctions against the former Yugoslavia.
The delegates claimed the Serbs have lost confidence in the Russian Foreign Ministry and view it as trying to force Serb capitulation.
And they singled out Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev for particular criticism.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
Confidence is so low in Kozyrev that he should step down.
SUPER CAPTION: Konstantin Zatulin
The five Russian delegates visited Bosnia with the intention of turning themselves into human shields against the NATO airstrikes.
In the end, their mission merely reinforced their impression that the Western-dominated alliance is playing a one-sided hand in the Balkans conflict.
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1993 Crisis in Moscow: Siege of Russian Parliament Broken
Real Time 'live' coverage of siege of Russian White House in Moscow lifted by Communist Protestors October 3 1993 Running in front of the demonstrators Steve Hurst and Ralph Wenge narrate.
1993 Crisis in Moscow: Battle for Comecon(СЭВ) Building
Real Time 'live' coverage of Communist protestors having a firefight with state security forces to take control of the Mayor's office October 3 1993. Steve Hurst and Ralph Wenge narrate.
Police detain activists ahead of planned Moscow demo
(27 Jul 2019) Russian police on Saturday began arresting people outside the Moscow mayor's office ahead of an election protest demanding that opposition candidates be allowed to run for the Moscow city council.
The dispute comes as the Kremlin is struggling with how to deal with strongly opposing views in its sprawling capital of 12.6 million people.
OVD-Info, an organisation that monitors political arrests, said at least 26 people had been detained by police a half-hour before the protest against the exclusion of opposition candidates from September's ballot was to start.
There was no immediate information on what charges the detainees might face.
Alexei Navalny, Russia's most prominent opposition figure, called for the protest and was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in jail for doing so.
On Saturday, several opposition members were detained throughout the city, including Ilya Yashin, Dmitry Gudkov and top Navalny associate Ivan Zhdanov.
Police presence was heavy at the mayor's office on Tverskaya Street, one of Moscow's main thoroughfares, with police trucks and buses parked in the building's courtyard and other buses positioned nearby to take detainees away.
The decision by electoral authorities to bar some opposition candidates for allegedly insufficient signatures on nominating petitions has already sparked several days of demonstrations this month.
The Moscow city council, which has 45 seats, is responsible for a very large municipal budget and is now controlled by the pro-Kremlin United Russia party.
All of its seats, which have a five-year-term, are up for election on September 8.
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