Russia Watch Thread

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Kremlin papers appear to show Putin’s plot to put Trump in White House

Thu 15 Jul 2021 11.00 BST

Vladimir Putin personally authorised a secret spy agency operation to support a “mentally unstable” Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election during a closed session of Russia’s national security council, according to what are assessed to be leaked Kremlin documents.

The key meeting took place on 22 January 2016, the papers suggest, with the Russian president, his spy chiefs and senior ministers all present.

They agreed a Trump White House would help secure Moscow’s strategic objectives, among them “social turmoil” in the US and a weakening of the American president’s negotiating position.

Russia’s three spy agencies were ordered to find practical ways to support Trump, in a decree appearing to bear Putin’s signature.

By this point Trump was the frontrunner in the Republican party’s nomination race. A report prepared by Putin’s expert department recommended Moscow use “all possible force” to ensure a Trump victory.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... hite-house



Credit: Evan Vucci/AP

[caltrek]

Two Russian News Sites and a Legal Aid Group Close Under Pressure
August 5, 2021

https://www.courthousenews.com/2-russia ... -pressure/

Introduction:

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.

[caltrek]

Russia Detains Head of Hypersonic Research Facility in Treason Case
August 12, 2021

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... eason-case

Introduction:

(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.

Extract:

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.

[caltrek]

Vladimir Putin Plans to Win Russia’s Parliamentary Election No Matter How Unpopular His Party Is
by Regina Smyth
August 16, 2021

https://theconversation.com/vladimir-pu ... -is-160078

Introduction:

(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.

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

^^^ My sympathy for any family members of those who may have been killed or seriously injured in that crash.

[caltrek]

Massive Expansion Underway At Russia's Northernmost Arctic Air Base
by Tyler Rogoway
August 23, 2021

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/4 ... c-air-base

Introduction:

(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.

Conclusion:

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.

[funkervogt]

I'm very impressed at how calm the guy filming it was.

[wjfox]

BBC journalist Sarah Rainsford has been permanently expelled from Russia, after being deemed a "national security threat".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58395121

[caltrek]

Navalny App Removed From Online stores as Russian Polls Open
September 17, 2021

https://www.courthousenews.com/navalny- ... olls-open/

Introduction:

MOSCOW (AP via Courthouse News) — An app created by allies of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny disappeared from Apple and Google stores on Friday as polls opened across Russia for three days of voting in a parliamentary election.

Russian authorities are seeking to suppress the use of Smart Voting, a project designed by Navalny to promote candidates that are most likely to defeat those backed by the Kremlin. This weekend's election is widely seen as an important part of President Vladimir Putin's efforts to cement his grip on power ahead of the 2024 presidential polls, in which control of parliament will be key.

Apple and Google have come under pressure in recent weeks, with Russian officials urging them to remove the app, which features Smart Voting, saying failure to do so will be interpreted as interference in the election and threatening them with fines.

Last week, Russia's Foreign Ministry summoned U.S. ambassador John Sullivan over the issue.

On Thursday, representatives of Apple and Google were invited to a meeting in the upper house of Russia's parliament, the Federation Council. The Council's commission on protecting state sovereignty said in a statement after the meeting that Apple agreed to cooperate with Russian authorities.

[caltrek]

Putin's Party Wins Majority in Parliamentary Election
September 21, 2021

https://www.dw.com/en/russia-putins-par ... a-59232938

Introduction:

(DW) The pro-Putin United Russia party won the country's parliamentary elections following a clampdown against Kremlin critics. Opposition figures have claimed election fraud.

The Kremlin-loyal United Russia party has recorded an overwhelming victory in Russia's parliamentary elections.

With all the votes tallied, the electoral commission said Tuesday that United Russia had won 49.83% of the vote. It was also ahead in 198 seats of the 225 deputies apportioned by party lists.

On Twitter, the party said it had received a constitutional majority.

[caltrek]

Russia Fatally Poisoned A Prominent Defector In London, A Court Concludes
by Scott Neuman
September 21, 2021

https://www.npr.org/2021/09/21/10392249 ... ghts-putin

Introduction:

(NPR) The European Court of Human Rights has found the Kremlin responsible for the 2006 assassination by radiation poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian intelligence official who defected to the West.

Meanwhile, British police said Tuesday that they have identified a third suspect in a Russian-linked nerve agent attack on a former Russian double agent in southern England.

Litvinenko died in London weeks after drinking tea that was later found to have been laced with the deadly radioactive compound polonium-210.

In its ruling, the ECHR said it "cannot but conclude" that two Russian intelligence agents, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, had killed Litvinenko "acting as agents of the respondent State [Russia]."

[caltrek]

Journalist Dmitry Muratov Awarded Nobel Peace Prize
October 8, 2021

https://www.axios.com/nobel-peace-prize ... 47b6e.html

Extract:

(Axios) Dissident journalist…Dmitry Muratov (was) awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize "for …efforts to safeguard freedom of expression," which the Nobel Committee described as "a precondition for democracy and lasting peace."
…

• Muratov is the founder of Novaya Gazeta, described by the committee as "the most independent newspaper in Russia today."
  Between the lines: It's the first time a journalist has received the Nobel Peace Prize since 1935, when Germany's Carl von Ossietzky won the iconic award for his secret work exposing his country's re-armament after World War I, according to Reuters.

The big picture:…

Novaya Gazeta has been recognized as "the only truly critical newspaper with national influence in Russia today" by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Muratov and other reporters for the newspaper have covered topics such as human rights violations, corruption within the Russian government and abuse of power.

• In the last two decades, six journalists from Novaya Gazeta have been killed for their work, the committee notes.

• "Despite the killings and threats, editor-in-chief Muratov has refused to abandon the newspaper’s independent policy," the committee said.

Dmitry Muratov celebrates his Nobel Prize win.
AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko


https://theconversation.com/nobel-peace ... dia-169579:

Extract:

(The Conversation) Asked why the Peace Prize went to two individual journalists – rather than to one of the press freedom organizations, such as the Committee to Protect Journalists, that have represented Ressa, Muratov and so many of their endangered colleagues – Reiss-Anderson said the Nobel Committee deliberately chose working reporters.

Ressa and Muratov represent “a golden standard,” she said, of “journalism of high quality.” In other words, they are fact-finders and truth-seekers, not purveyors of clickbait.

That golden standard is increasingly endangered, in large part because of the digital revolution that shattered the business model for public service journalism.

“Free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against abuse of power,” Reiss-Andersen said in the prize announcement. But it is increasingly being undermined and supplanted by what’s called “content,” served up algorithmically from sources that are not transparent in ways that are designed to addict and that drive partisanship, tribalism and division.

This poses a challenge for public policymakers and the democracies they represent. How to regulate digital media and still protect free speech? How to support the labor-intensive work of journalism and still protect its independence?

[wjfox]

Russia’s population undergoes largest ever peacetime decline, analysis shows

Wed 13 Oct 2021 12.26 BST

Russia’s natural population has undergone its largest peacetime decline in recorded history over the last 12 months, according to an analysis of official government statistics made by a prominent independent demographer, as the country battles a deadly fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The natural population, a number calculated from registered deaths and births, excluding the impact of migration, declined by 997,000 between October 2020 and September 2021, the demographer Alexei Raksha has calculated.

Russia has been one of the countries hit hardest by the pandemic, registering at least 660,000 excess deaths since the start of 2020, according to government data, and the dramatic drop appears to show the devastating toll the pandemic has had on the country’s social fabric.

Previous government reports showed Russia’s population decline in 2020 was 11 times greater than that of the pre-pandemic 2019.

“It’s pretty simple, the deaths caused by Covid-19 are the biggest reason for the decline witnessed. Most other factors have stayed the same,” said Raksha, a demographic forecaster who left Russia’s state agency Rosstat last year after criticising the information centre’s coronavirus figures.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... me-decline

[funkervogt]

This prediction fell flat. And from experienced "Kremlin watchers"!

VLADIMIR Putin is planning to quit early next year amid growing fears for his health, Moscow sources claimed last night.

Kremlin watchers said recent tell-tale footage showed the 68-year-old strongman has possible symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease.

https://www.the-sun.com/news/1752270/vl ... ar-health/

[caltrek]

Meet the Male State: Russia’s Nastiest Online Hate Group
October 20, 2021

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and- ... ate-group/

Introduction:

(Belling Cat) In a courtroom in the city of Nizhny Novgorod on October 18, the future of a gang of online misogynist thugs who call themselves the ‘Male State’ (Muzhskoye gosudarstvo in Russian) looked to be hanging in the balance.

A few weeks before, regional prosecutors had filed a lawsuit to have Male State banned as an extremist group. Founded by Vladislav Pozdnyakov — a man convicted of inciting hatred against women in 2018 — Male State’s tens of thousands of members have been at the forefront of a backlash against gender equality in Russia, winning its fair share of headlines in Russia and around the world.

Judge Anna Belova wasn’t convinced by the attempts of Male State’s lawyer Dzhambolat Garabayev to defend the group — “these are women who themselves discredited the male population,” he claimed in response to well-documented evidence of the group’s misogynist harassment campaigns. After a few minutes’ deliberation, Belova ruled that Male State was to be designated as an extremist organisation in Russia, banning the movement’s activities in the country. Male State reportedly plans to appeal.

The verdict comes after a particularly busy year for Male State. In just the past several months, they’ve harassed and threatened retailers who use Black models in their advertisements, posted the private contact details of a member of feminist protest group Pussy Riot — who soon found herself the target of abuse — and reportedly sent threats to Russian women in relationships with non-Russian men.

Their increasing belligerence had prompted growing revulsion against the group in some sectors of Russian society, leading to demands for action against Male State.

[Yuli Ban]

Russia’s Parliament will consider restrictions on films and TV shows with same-sex love scenes, making them viewable only by “special access … as with pornography,” a lawmaker said this week.

Legislation to this effect is being drafted now, Vitaly Milanov, a member of Parliament, said Monday, according to RT, a Russian state news site. He made the remarks directly to RIA Novosti, the state-controlled news agency.

Milanov, deputy chairman of the Committee on Family Affairs, Women, and Children, said Russian citizens don’t want such content to be broadcast widely. “The legal solution to this situation is just around the corner,” he said, adding, “Whoever wants can have special access to such videos as well as with pornography.”

In a recent survey by Russia’s Public Opinion Research Center, that 80 percent of respondents said same-sex relations should not be depicted even in films and TV programs restricted to adult viewers, and 57 percent said scenes of “sexual deviance” should be banned, RT reports.

[weatheriscool]

Russian court shuts renowned rights group
Source: AP

By DASHA LITVINOVA

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s highest court on Tuesday shut down one of the country’s oldest and most prominent human rights organizations, the latest move in a relentless crackdown on rights activists, independent media and opposition supporters.

The Supreme Court’s ruling revoked the legal status of Memorial, an international human rights group that drew international acclaim for its studies of political repression in the Soviet Union.

Memorial is made up of more than 50 smaller groups in Russia and abroad. It was declared a “foreign agent” in 2016 — a label that implies additional government scrutiny and carries strong pejorative connotations that can discredit the targeted organization. Prosecutors said the group repeatedly failed to identify itself as a foreign agent and tried to conceal the designation.

Memorial has rejected the accusations as politically motivated and vowed to continue its work.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/europe-russi ... aa3d99ecf5

[wjfox]

Given that Russia's population is only 44% of the US, that's equivalent to 1.42 million deaths in the US and close to 200,000 last month alone, or about 6,500 every single day.

Maybe that's why Putin wants to invade Ukraine...?


Russia’s Deadliest Month of the Pandemic

30 December 2021, 22:49 GMT

November was Russia’s deadliest month of the Covid-19 pandemic. There were a record 85,527 deaths associated with the virus last month, according to government officials. That was a 16% increase over the previous month, and raised total confirmed fatalities linked to the coronavirus in Russia to more than 625,000, though the actual number is likely higher.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newslett ... f-pandemic