Yesterday, September 20, Furat Media, an ISIS affiliate, released a video plea allegedly of a captured agent of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia’s domestic intelligence agency.
Yevgeny Zhilin, a Ukrainian critic of EuroMaidan and leader of the Oplot [Stronghold] organization in Kharkiv was murdered in a Moscow suburban cafe yesterday.
Not surprisingly, the ruling party, United Russia, has overwhelmingly prevailed with 76% of the State Duma; the Communist Party, Zhirinovsky’s party and Just Russia have far fewer seats. No opposition party has cleared the 5% threshold to enter parliament, but candidates from Rodina and Civic Platform as well as one independent have obtained seats in single-mandate districts.
One Ukrainian soldier died of wounds sustained yesterday, and another was wounded. President Petro Poroshenko began a trip to the US.
LIVE UPDATES: Today Russians go to the polls to elect members of the national parliament, local legislatures and governors. Monitors report massive violations across Russia, notably use of the notorious ‘carousel’ system of multiple voting, ballot-purchasing, intimidation of monitors and ballot-box tampering. Welcome to our column, Russia Update, where we will be closely following day-to-day […]
A self-styled “Museum of Novorossiya” in St. Petersburg was raided by officers of the Investigative Committee and Federal Security Service this morning, possibly in connection with two IED blasts in the last year near traffic police posts.
Vladimir Markin, the spokesman for the Investigative Committee and a controversial figure associated with Russia’s most politicized criminal prosecutions, is reportedly stepping down from his position, says a TASS source.
LIVE UPDATES: Russia has confirmed that the US has partially removed sanctions from a Russian defense company in order to service helicopters in Afghanistan. Welcome to our column, Russia Update, where we will be closely following day-to-day developments in Russia, including the Russian government’s foreign and domestic policies. The previous issue is here. Recent Analysis […]
Agents of Russia’s Investigative Committee accompanied by the OMON riot police confiscated documents at the Bank of Russia, known in Russia as the Central Bank, evidently related to $92 million missing from the International Joint-Stock Bank.
Despite the “quiet regimen” agreed upon by the two opposing sides, Russian-backed forces fired 30 times on Ukrainian positions today, including with heavy artillery banned under the Minsk agreement.
