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Say what you want about censorship in Russia; the man who will likely become the country's next president publicly recognized that, at least in theory, the Internet has made the spread of information much freer.

According to a Reuters article, Dmitry Medvedev said, "There is news from the main channels, regional channels, there is news from foreign channels and finally there is news produced, so to say, on media sites which hold opposition views against the authorities.  They can post all their clips and all their speeches there, generally they say unpleasant things about the authorities."

Medvedev then continued, "This guarantees the independence of the mass media, in my opinion."

Medvedev's statement came less than a month after his official website launched, and even closer to reports highlighting the size of Russia's online population and advertising market.  The timing of these things could be coincidental, but if they're not, we're looking at an encouraging growth trend in a rather huge country.

On the other hand, some less than encouraging events have also taken place; towards the end of January, there were reports of Russian journalists being beaten and an opposition website being shut down.