Russia Watch Thread
Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2021 7:55 am
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MOSCOW (AP via Courthouse News) — Two Russian news outlets and a legal aid group backed by a leading Kremlin critic shut down Thursday after authorities blocked their websites, the government's latest moves targeting independent media, opposition supporters and human rights activists ahead of Russia’s September parliamentary election.
The Otkrytye Media and MBKh Media news sites, as well the Pravozashchita Otkrytki legal aid group, announced they were ceasing operations, citing reports that their websites on Wednesday night were blocked over their alleged ties to organizations declared “undesirable” in Russia — a label that outlaws an organization and exposes its members, supporters and partners to prosecution.
All three organizations are backed by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a Russian tycoon who moved to London after spending a decade in prison in Russia on charges widely seen as political revenge for challenging President Vladimir Putin’s rule. Russian authorities have declared a number of organizations linked to Khodorkovsky “undesirable.”
Otkrytye Media said in a statement Thursday that it had received a grant from Khodorkovsky but never worked with “undesirable” organizations. Still, the outlet said it would shut down as “the risks for the project's staff members are too high.” MBKh Media Editor-in-Chief Veronika Kutsyllo echoed the sentiment, saying on Facebook that she wasn't "ready to endanger the freedom and lives of other people.”
“Unfortunately, the authorities don't need media projects that are critical of what is happening in the country. The more criticism there is, the shorter the lifespan of a project. But we at least tried,” Otkrytye Media's statement read.
Extract:(The Guardian) Russia has reportedly detained the head of a hypersonic technology research facility on suspicion of treason in the latest high-profile arrest targeting a senior scientist for allegedly selling state secrets.
Alexander Kuranov, 73, the general director of the St Petersburg-based Hypersonic System Research Institute (HSRI), was arrested in Moscow on Thursday. A Moscow court ruled he be held for two months in pre-trial detention.
Kuranov is an expert in hypersonic technology and oversaw work on a hypersonic aircraft concept called Ajax (or Ayaks), according to the facility’s website.
Hypersonic technology allows objects to travel much faster than the speed of sound. Vladimir Putin announced a new array of hypersonic weapons during a bellicose speech to senior officials in 2018, suggesting the weapons could hit targets in the US and evade missile defences.
Russian state media and other news agencies have reported the arrest citing anonymous sources. “According to the preliminary information, Kuranov, who has been working on hypersonic technologies for years, has shared classified information about scientific research with a foreign citizen,” Interfax reported, citing a source with knowledge of the investigation.
(The Conversation) Despite its dismal approval rating, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ruling political party can – and likely will – win a constitutional majority in September’s legislative elections.
Public support for Putin’s United Russia party – which currently holds almost 75% of seats in the Duma, Russia’s parliament – has dropped to 27% nationally. A leaked internal poll showed that 55% of people in Moscow say they would support opposition candidates.
Economic stagnation, high household inflation, the ongoing coronavirus crisis and environmental disasters have undermined support for the party that many Russians call “the Party of Crooks and Thieves.”
The Kremlin has reason to worry that legislative races will reveal this deep voter dissatisfaction. My decades of research on Russian elections shows how Putin’s party plans to win in September anyway.
Conclusion:(The Drive) Russia is continuing to expand its aviation facilities at Nagurskoye Air Base, which sits adjacent to its large Arctic Trefoil outpost. A year ago nearly to the day, we reported on Russia's work to expand the base's runway from 8,200 feet to 11,500 feet before winter, as well as prepping other areas for improvement. Now it appears that not only was the runway extension successfully executed last winter, as predicted, but a new, massive parking apron is now under construction that can support far larger aircraft deployments of aircraft than in the past. This fits with Russia's strategy to militarily dominate the increasingly strategic Arctic region, which will see new shipping routes emerge due to climate change and is high in energy reserves. In fact, satellite imagery also shows that a small deployment of cargo aircraft, A-50 Mainstay airborne early warning aircraft, and MiG-31 Foxhound interceptors already occurred last winter.
We have seen similar airfield expansion efforts in Syria that, as predicted, precipitated the deployment of strategic bomber aircraft and MiG-31s. With all this in mind, if Russia can finish the apron by the time the very harsh weather hits at its most northerly major military installation, winter could see the deployment of large numbers of combat to the new apron. In that regard, last year's deployment of an A-50 and a handful of MiG-31s was likely just a preview of what to come as Moscow moves to cement its military supremacy over the ever more important Arctic.