DDT still the best rock group in USSR and now in modern Russia !!! Yura is a legend !!!

DDT showed to all of Russia that they are the real patriots ! In the most hard times for Russia and Russians, when Russia was in the deep fight with radical Islamic terorism in Chechnia and economical depresion, Yury came to Grozny and sing with soldiers about love and respect for the Russia and it`s people. And he came to tell to soldiers that they must stay strong and fight to defend Russia, like their fathers and grandfathers did in Great Patriotic War. Yury and DDT are real patriots !

He overrates the concept of a free press. Every press agency in the west has an owner, and while some owners are happy to let their media companies do their job, some, like Rupert Murdoc have an agenda to push, which makes them very dangerous. Media influences opinion, and while government control can be seen as something sinister that can be used to manipulate a population for the purposes of control, the fact is that private ownership doesn't change the power of media, it just puts it in unelected hands. The hands of the rich and powerful. The same people this singer claims are the problem with their flash cars and special lights that allow them to drive how they like. Privately owned media is a solution that western countries like to exploit, the CIA loves media outlets they can bribe and coerce. It is a favourite weapon of theirs. Russia has found that communism doesn't work for them, well I can tell you democracy isn't that much better. All political systems have room for corruption and often end in inequality where the managers and leaders end up rich and everyone else who does the actual work ends up relatively poor. Independant media... if it is even possible... wont change that. It is like a police force fighting crime. It is a fight worth fighting but a fight they can never defeat. The problem is not the system, but the human beings within the system that are the problem.

What a ludicrous remark GarryB! I am afraid I have no idea what you are talking about when you say that the CIA bribes and coerces media outlets, such a thing would be very much illegal and involve conspirators from a myriad of places, government positions, and professions. Freedom of speech is outlined in the 1st Amendment of the Constitution. This board is not the place for conspiracy theories. With regard to the article, I think that it was well written and that it raises some very interesting and important questions about the state Russia today.

I respect Yuri for what he does and what he is! It takes real guts to look the, lets be honest, quite fearsome looking president right in the eyes and to tell him in his face what you think about his politics. I mean, most other people, as dissident as they could be, would they be invited to a dinner with Putin, would shut up an nod in agreement to every comment of the President. Interesting to see if more such events will follow and if Vladimir Vladimirovich will invite Yura again....

Hahahahaha... the whole point of the CIA is to break US laws in other countries in US interests. That is why they are not allowed to operate within US borders officially. Plausible deniability. You really think the West would be as successful if it actually played by the rules? You talk about conspirasy theories? The suggestion that the US government might have known anything about 11/9 is laughed at, yet some Russian guy in Britian dies of Polonium poisoning and Putins fingerprints are all over it... clearly Putin did it himself. The CIA is well know to be involved heavily in the illegal drug trade, why would anyone expect them to follow the US constitution or US law when they are not within US borders? Sure their actions cheapen the concept of democracy and freedom of the press, but that is why they exist, plausible deniability.

@Razkolnik - the President? Was Medevedev there too?

Dear mr. Win Dunham There is no state of emergency in Russia today, and there are no such critical things and statistics in Russia that you see on mainstream media. After the decade of living under the current Kremlin elite, we Russians are well aware that welfare, stability and development is waaaaayyy moore important to us than you Westerners, giving us your advices and ideas how we could live much better if we would listen to you and our domestic extremists and populists.

Execuse me, whats your name? - Yura, rockstar! LOL

I respect Yury Shevchuk. He is a smart guy and he is one of those who led the process of liberalization in Russia during 80th and 90th. But, I dare to challenge him to understand one thing -- there are no unidirectional things in this Universe. There is strong dependencies between words and deeds. Nothing comes first. The banner as much important as actions. You cannot be free unless you achieve internal freedom... using words. The propaganda, banners, and stuff help to create free individuals (or take that freedom from them) almost without any actions. The history knows tons of example, where words and propaganda created entire cultures and societies. Pharaoh Ramses using propaganda created image or himself (as super-hero) and country (as super-power) which was materialized over time. The Israelis created their own identity (culture) using a collection of stories and myths (which later laid the foundation of Torah) and emerged as a nation from random and scattered around Babylon individuals (shepherds, pilgrims, peasants, ...). The United States using propaganda created an image of free country, which is not exactly accurate -- the country full of slavery in different forms and its population is sitting on the leash (the System uses such tricks as credit history, mortgages, and "good citizens" who are constantly watching you). Russia? The Communists said that the USSR was the best country in the world and we believed them and we were very proud of our country and felt free. Then, the anti-Communists came and said, that we are not free and for decades we were tortured by the inhuman regime. We, again, believed them and felt themselves being in prison and mud. The word is strong thing -- if you preach Russians constantly that they are free -- and they will be free. At least, feel that way. So, Yury Shevchuk, what can you say about it?

Do not let your selves fooled by this talk about free press and media. There is no such thing. All medias are owned by someone and only way to get a objective view on something is to read informations from different sources. I live in Bosnia and Herzegovina and we are under a protektorate of US and Europe, but we have very low standard and life here is hard. That is because their interest is not to bring wellbeing to us but to use us as cheap work force, exploit our resorses and use us as market for their products. But they have established "free press" (financed by them) which keeps population entertained, while real problems stay unsolved. Be happy with what you have, because Russia is one of the fev souverigen (independent) states on the world.

The west used to have a media that took their job seriously. It was the peoples right to know. These days the money is spent on hair'n'makeup and hiring pretty people that will really only read stories that have a video attached to them. No video = no story. Modern TV media is an infomercial except instead of selling steak knives it is selling itself. If you want the truth don't look at one source as Serbian Patriot says below, the media outlets are not lying as such, but they are not giving you the full picture. They show their perspective, if you want a clear view of what is really happening you have to watch RT and Fox news and CNN and the BBC and Aljazeera. RT will not show the whole truth, but it will show the Russian view of things. Being from New Zealand and seeing the colonial view of the world on the BBC I find the Russian view to be quite refreshing. An example I have already mentioned was that Russian guy in Britain that died of Polonium poisoning. The BBC immediately suggested that it was murder, yet as a murder weapon it is pretty stupid as it is too easy to be detected and can be detected long after it is used because it is radioactive. Considering the value of even a tiny amount and the scarcity I would have suspected a smuggling attempt that went wrong personally being much more likely but the BBC never even considered it and made claims that Putin himself must have given the order. It seems the west really misses the cold war clearly defined good guys and bad guys. Putin is evil because he was in the KGB, but according to some here the CIA is innocent of any wrong doing or law breaking... how could the west have won in such a situation. They clearly won the propaganda war... most of the subjects of communism got to learn how corrupt and evil their governments were... the subjects of western democracy live in ignorance or how corrupt and evil their governments are because that is what governments have to be.

I am South African and I watch CNN, EuroNews, Al-Jazeera and RT and I like comparing the way they present the same stories. Every last one of them shows things from their perspective, which is ok. It's a problem when you only get one perspective. For example, I have never seen CNN reporting on the number of American troops who die weekly in Afghanistan. Perhaps I have missed these broadcasts, but rich people control CNN. And rich people generally make a lot of money out of wars, so it's in their best interests to make sure that CNN doesn't air anything negative about their filthy wars. And every picture of Mr Putin on CNN always looks distorted, like he's shouting or something. There is nothing free about CNN.

Whoever Yury Shevchuk is, I believe is a public relations fool. This is some ploy to regain and reap in the popularity ratings. In the extremist stance, I would believe that he might be a sell-out traitor. What's the recommendation? Easy, hit those ideals in the balls, dead-on. Nullify stupid ideals with facts. That should be good enough.

Our freedom is merely a marketing tool, especially for hacking into other countries.  Say what you want and be unemployed forever or in some other mess.  The horrid aspect of this is that most of us don't know the general opinion, as that's reserved for the good ironic to class divides, so we fall to other agendas.

I did not go into the paper and seem somehow immune to the law.  Tell me that that's equality.