(Site of 2014 Winter Olympics)
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is a regular video blogger at Kremlin.ru
Medvedev also enjoys hosting foreign leaders, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at Russia's southern resort city of Sochi
Like the U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is a big fan of using technology to get his message out. During his successful run for the White House, Obama used Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites to raise millions of dollars. Obama was also the first presidential candidate to use Twitter, a website that allows other users to receive short SMS type text messages of fewer than 160 characters from a particular person.
Medvedev, who is of the same fortysomething generation as Obama, is also using technology to reach a large audience -- without the filters of the mainstream news media that often emphasize Medvedev and Putin's occasional harsh warnings to the West rather than the main substance of their remarks. Over at the Russian presidential website kremlin.ru, Medvedev has posted a series of video blog posts about his administration and its goals. But Medvedev, a Leningrad-raised lawyer who is a fan of the British rock band Deep Purple, has also found the time to address some of his personal interests and hobbies.
Click on the extended post to read more and watch the video.
The video is in Russian with English subtitles, and shows Medvedev greeting vacationing skiiers on the slopes.
Like his predecessor, the current Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, Medvedev wants to cultivate an image as a likeable person with an active lifestyle apart from politics. To this end, and to further promote his country's status as the host of the 2014 Winter Olympic games in Sochi, Medvedev recorded a video blog from the slopes of the Krasnaya Polyana ski resort high above the Olympic city on the Black Sea.
(Hat Tip: American expat Timothy Post of the Inside Krasnodar blog. You can subscribe to Mr. Post's Twitter feed from Krasnodar here)
In addition to the video blog, the Kremlin website staff have also crated 3 RSS/Atom xml feeds which you can subscribe to in a feed reader (e.g. Google Reader).
In an effort to give those of you who may not use feed readers access to those feeds, I have created a Twitter account which automatically receives those xml feeds an turns them into tweets.
Twitter.com is convenient because it uses text messages and therefore, you can receive live updates direct from the Kremlin on your cell phone.
You may read the tweets or subscribe to them at http://twitter.com/Kremlin_ru_eng
In addition to the video blog, the Kremlin website staff have also crated 3 RSS/Atom xml feeds which you can subscribe to in a feed reader (e.g. Google Reader).
In an effort to give those of you who may not use feed readers access to those feeds, I have created a Twitter account which automatically receives those xml feeds an turns them into tweets.
Twitter.com is convenient because it uses text messages and therefore, you can receive live updates direct from the Kremlin on your cell phone.
You may read the tweets or subscribe to them at http://twitter.com/Kremlin_ru_eng
Beautiful! :-)
Despite the hide and seek puppet-show, everyone around the world knows Putin is still in charge.
He is a wonderful politician.