A lawsuit against a nonconformist blogger is likely to bury another chance for Russia's communication improvement

Internet communication could be an excelent solution of russian everlasting great communication problem.

Russia is the country with the most extended territory in the world with one of the worst developed road and post infrastructure. Its information system is highly centralized; the main mean of nationwide political communication - television - is broadcasted from Russia's capital Moscow and controlled in its finances and contents by the government. Imoprtant national newpapers, though more free that TV, are also produced exclusively in Moscow and can never be delivered to all remote corners of the country in an acceptable time.

The Internet seemed to open new opportunities for the country. Good or bad, but telephone wires reach every small Russian town. Internet delivery business is still out of the government controll and is one of the most competitive spheres of economy. Information and opinions that are easily watched by the government in traditional media seemed to find its refuge in "ru-net" - Russian Internet.

But a lawsuit against an average blogger from an average Russian city Syktyvkar (1500 km away from Moscow) showed that things are not going to be that easy. There, where the central power looses its ability for total control, local authorities are ready to help.

Savva Teryentyev, a young livejournal.com user terentyev was sentenced to one year of suspended prison for making a harsh comment on a post of another user about russian militia and its lawlessness. The court found him guilty of “inciting hatred and enmity”.

No doubt it was just a touchstone of a ruling clique who in the person of Russia's ex-president and todays prime minister Vladimir Putin had already long been talking about necessity for Internet environment to be controled in order to prevent the dessemination of extremism.

Taking into account the history of a consecutive authoritarian destruction of freedom of speech in russian tradional media and the indifference of general public to the question of information freedom, the test promisses to be successful. And that means that just another try to establish a common free communication field in Russia is going to fail.