Stories written by Kester Kenn Klomegah
Kester Kenn Klomegah is the IPS Moscow correspondent. He covers politics, human rights issues, foreign policy and ethnic minority problems. His research interests include Russian area studies and Russian culture. Kester has worked for several years with the Moscow Times. He has studied social philosophy and religion and spent a year at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. He is co-author of ‘AIDS/HIV and Men: Taking Risk or Taking Responsibility’ published by the London-based Panos Institute. In 2004, he was awarded the Golden Word Prize for excellence in journalism by the Russian Media Union, a non-governmental media organisation in Moscow.

HEALTH: That Special Winner in a Contest of One

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
Svetlana Izambayeva won a beauty contest in Moscow last week. She was the only one who had turned up to participate, but it is not this that made her a winner like no other.

RUSSIA: New Constraints on ‘Religious Extremism’

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
The Russian parliament is preparing new legislation to restrict missionary work suspected of sparking religious extremism.

RUSSIA: Foreign Students Under Attack

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
Students from developing countries are coming under increasing attacks from extremist groups in Russia.

RUSSIA: Chechnya Faces Election, and Looks at Hope

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
Parliamentary elections scheduled in Chechnya Nov. 27 will mark the final stage of the Kremlin's peace plan for the troubled republic.

RUSSIA: Bureaucracy Grows, Corruption With It

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
Bureaucracy has significantly expanded under President Vladimir Putin, and is now perceived as more corrupt, a new study says.

RUSSIA: Strong Steps to Contain Bird Flu

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
The Russian government is taking extensive measures to contain the spread of bird flu.

RUSSIA: Burying Lenin Will Not Be Easy

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
A political storm over proposals to bury the embalmed remains of the leader of the Bolshevik revolution Vladimir Lenin shows no signs of subsiding.

DEVELOPMENT: Doubts Rise Over New Money for Russians

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
On the face of it the Russian government's promise to spend new oil riches on social needs sounds good. But many are asking how long this money will last, and how effective it can be.

RUSSIA: Khodorkovsky Moves to Contest Election

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
Leading opposition groups are backing a move by former oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky to contest a parliamentary by-election in December.

RUSSIA: Sights Set on Fighting Terrorism

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
As the United States is blamed for shifting the focus of the United Nations summit last week away from development, Russia as much as the Bush Administration is focused on the war on terror..

RUSSIA: A Year Not Enough to Calm Beslan Anger

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
Thousands of Russians gathered to mourn the Beslan dead Thursday, a year after the deadly school siege.

RUSSIA: Women Driven to Prostitution Abroad

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
Driven by family poverty and low pay, Katrina finally accepted a job offer as waitress at a restaurant in Bangkok. The job turned out to mean striptease and prostitution.

HEALTH: Russians Abandon HIV-Positive Patients

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
Thousands of children born to HIV-positive mothers are being abandoned, new data shows.

HEALTH-RUSSIA: Bird Flu Soars in Siberia

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
Russia is struggling to cope with an outbreak of bird flu in central Siberia. Researchers say it is the same virus that spread in southeast Asian countries earlier.

POLITICS: Putin Fights Opposition in the Shadows

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
State prosecutors have launched a criminal case against former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov barely six months after he hinted that he might run for presidential elections due 2008.

DEVELOPMENT-RUSSIA: People Want Oil Money Flowing Their Way

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
The Russian economy is riding high on booming oil prices, but disputes arise just where this new money should be spent.

DEVELOPMENT-RUSSIA: People Want Oil Money Flowing Their Way

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
Most Russians want new oil money spent on social projects, a new survey shows.

POLITICS: United Against Terrorism, Divided Over What It Is

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
Russia has initiated new measures to strengthen an alliance against terrorism, but remains in conflict with Western governments on what constitutes terrorism.

RUSSIA: Army’s Culture of Violence Killing Soldiers

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
Nearly 350 Russian soldiers died from accidents and "crime" in the first half of 2005 according to official figures, but critics charge the actual numbers are much higher.

CHECHNYA: ‘Dark’ Record on Disappearances Brought into the Light

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
"Recognition by the Russian or Chechen authorities that disappearances and abductions are going on is a good start, but we are calling for the immediate stop and the prosecution of everyone responsible for these acts," a regional expert with human rights watchdog Amnesty International told IPS.

RUSSIA: Foreign Adoptions Under Fire, Despite Need

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
Some 700,000 impoverished children eligible for adoption now live in deplorable conditions in orphanages across Russia, according to the Education and Science Ministry.
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