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Articles by Alec Luhn

Dutch Soccer Club to Train Kids Outside Moscow

The Dutch team Ajax will open in June the first kids soccer camp in Russia run by a foreign club, organizers said at a press conference Friday.

Navalny Denies Plan for Communal Services Project With City

A high-ranking federal official said Wednesday that Moscow City Hall would cooperate with opposition leader Alexei Navalny's communal services project...

Magnitsky List Counterpart to Stress Adoption Deaths

A United Russia lawmaker on Tuesday proposed that legislation in response to the U.S. Magnitsky Act be named in honor of a Russian toddler who died...

Prosecutors: 1.7M Rights Violations in 1H 2012

The Prosecutor General's Office said Monday that it had discovered more than 1.7 million human rights violations over the first half of 2012, as European...

Mirzayev Victim's Family Seeks Appeal

The family of Ivan Agafonov, who died after being punched by mixed martial arts champion Rasul Mirzayev, on Thursday appealed Mirzayev's conviction...

Corruption Index Keeps Russia in 'Zone of Shame'

Even as the government wages a high-profile anti-corruption campaign, Russia remains in the bottom third of Transparency International's corruption...

Chechen Charged With Killing Budanov Pleads Not Guilty

A Chechen native who prosecutors say killed disgraced military colonel Yury Budanov last year to avenge the death of his father pleaded not guilty...

Shuvalov Says Magnitsky Response Won't Affect Trade

First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov assured investors in New York on Tuesday that Russia's response to the Magnitsky bill would not affect trade...

Journalist Questioned in Mass Disorder Case

Investigators have questioned a Novaya Gazeta journalist over a February blog post that they say incited mass riots.

World Cup Cities Draw Hotel Brands

Now that FIFA has finished choosing the host cities for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the race is on to build hotels there.

Construction Blooms in Bureaucratic Chaos

Recent efforts by Moscow region Governor Sergei Shoigu to streamline construction rules and property zoning could bring greater order to Wild West-style...

Ambient Rock Fest Full of International Names

Muscovites will have a chance to turn on, tune in and drop out this weekend, escaping the commotion of the capital for atmospheric instrumental music...

DJ Kraviz Feted All Over Europe, but Not in Russia

Nina Kraviz doesn't scream for ice cream, she asks for it with a wink and a smile.

Up-and-Comers, Old Favorites Save Afisha Picnic

Afisha Picnic, the annual Moscow summer music festival that will be held in Kolomenskoye Park Saturday, came under a cloud in May when headliner Bjork...

Husky Rescue Headlines Electronic Music Festival

Ever since the days of the famous Rolling Stones Mobile Studio van, many bands have retreated to a secluded location like a remote farmhouse or abandoned...

City Fetes Viktor Tsoi's Would-Be 50th Birthday

Looking back on accounts of Viktor Tsoi's life, it seems the Soviet rock martyr celebrated friends' birthdays more loudly than his own. Books of remembrances...

Luxury Hotels Compete to Raise Service

In 2007-10, the Radisson Royal Hotel, Moscow (formerly the Hotel Ukraina) underwent a $300 million transformation from Soviet behemoth to internationally...

IP Rights Get a Boost


Emerging economies like Russia have long been the bane of industries dependent on intellectual property rights, such as the software industry. Sixty-five...

Lawyers Greet WTO Warmly


Not everyone is happy that Russia will likely join the World Trade Organization this summer, and a referendum drive is under way to question the country's...

Airlines Race to Recruit Pilots Amid Shortage

Russia has been widely touted as the world's most deadly place to fly after a series of air crashes. The Russian aviation industry faces another pressing...

Sounds of Space Rock to Take Off at Club Milk

Russia’s space industry may be languishing after a series of failed launches, but space rock is on the rise here, if this weekend’s Astral 2 music...

"The Miz," Wrestling Raw Show Set to Go

Michael "The Miz" Mizanin entered the news conference the same way he enters the ring. Dressed to the nines in a tailored suit, the wrestler strode...

Jones, Tszyu Outshine Lebedev-Cox Fight at Crocus

You could be forgiven for thinking that Wednesday's boxing match at Crocus City Hall will be between ex-world champions Roy Jones, Jr. and Kostya Tszyu...

Thousands Rally as Political Forces Vie for Advantage

Over 100,000 demonstrators took to the bitterly cold streets of Moscow on Saturday to rally at competing events both for and against longtime leader...

20 Years of Capitalism: Winemaker Foresees Next France in Moldova

Entrepreneur Victor Bostan is on a mission to put Moldova on the map as a wine producer.

Britpop Veterans Suede Set to Headline Blastfest

When Suede plays Moscow this Sunday, it will be the legendary Britpop band's first show in Moscow, as well as its last concert ever. Again.

Budget, Mid-Market Hotels Offer Cheap Sleep

Picture the Moscow hotel market as an upside-down pyramid. There are the five-star luxury hotels — at the top. And there is Moscow's lone budget hotel...

The Most Expensive Apartments in Moscow

After a late start, penthouses have become the standard for luxury, as well as the priciest residential real estate in Moscow. REQ looks inside this...

Intel's Ambassador Knows 102 Recipes

Despite 61 years and travel to 100 countries under his belt, John Davies exudes energy and enthusiasm as he bounces along in the back of a bus from a...

Big Fight Night Sees ‘Rocky IV’ Remake

The plot for Friday's headlining fight at Megasport Sports Palace could be straight out of "Rocky IV": An aging American champion comes to Moscow...

Georgian Entrepreneur Turns Vineyard Into Hydropower Plant

The trickling of wine into barrels at Mikheil Natsvlishvili's farm and vineyard in Georgia has lately been competing with another liquid sound —...

Tatarstan Seeks High-Tech Edge in School With Help of Intel

Google has become a classroom tool in Tatarstan as the republic, already ranked by Forbes as Russia’s best region for business, invests heavily in digital...

Pharma's New Jobs Aimed at Changing Market

When Anastasia Bikineyeva took a recruiter job at AstraZeneca earlier this year, it was a new position both for her and for the Russian arm of the British-Swedish...

For Oil Field Work, New Tech Deemed Critical

In many Russian folk tales, a man is raised from the dead after he is doused in waters. For the lifeblood of the Russian economy — oil and gas...

Pain, Glory for Mozgov in NBA

Timofei Mozgov, at 7 foot 1 and 250 pounds, is a man hard to ignore, but until a night in New York earlier this year he was a virtual no-name in the...

Baltic History Gives Hand to Tourism

Drawing tourists to the city of Kaliningrad is getting serious attention from the region's government, and the history of the area is helping.

More Hotels, Roads 'Key' to Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad’s Baltik-Ekspo is not your standard business exhibition center. The only major conference center in the region's capital city, it is comprised...

Organizers Are '99% Ready' for Championship

How can you do 2 1/2 years of work in one month? That was the question before a working group of Russian officials after the International Skating...

After Earthquake, Japanese Skater Sets Mind on Moscow

When a combination of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster upended Japan's plans to host the 2011 World Figure Skating Championships, a Japanese-born...

Plushenko, Volchkova Speak On the Worlds

The 2011 World Figure Skating Championships are arriving in Moscow with the sweet taste of the successful bid to host — and the bitter aftertaste...

Biz School for Executives Entices Students

Russian business schools continue to start executive programs: The most recent addition is the Graduate School of Corporate Management's offering, which...

Chistiye Prudy Marks Time

If Ostozhenka is for fat cats and Arbat is for eclectics, then Chistiye Prudy is for nostalgics. A neighborhood northeast of the Kremlin, it has a dual...

Many Conferences, Few Halls

Yekaterina Degtyaryova, director of software marketing at Hewlett-Packard Russia, says companies' hands are tied when booking a conference in Moscow.

Trains Chug-Chug to the Far End of the Line

On a drizzly Friday afternoon, the Russian Railways train to Warsaw steams impatiently in its berth at Moscow's Belorussky Station. A few would-be travelers...

Work Working Remotely on the Rise, Study Says

Increasing numbers of Moscow's "office plankton" are swimming out to sea and working remotely. That's the trend pointed to by recruiting agencies...