On Tuesday, Russia’s envoy to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, said that he had presented an 80-page report to UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon that conclusively proved that Syrian rebels used sarin gas on March 19th, 2013. According to Churkin, the rebels fired a “Bashar 3 missile” that was armed with sarin gas at the […]
The chief of President Vladimir Putin’s security service will transfer in the coming days to a high post in the Interior Ministry. According to Izvestiya’s sources in the Kremlin, the head of state has already signed a decree appointing 59-year old Viktor Zolotov to the post of deputy commander-in-chief of the Interior Ministry’s internal troops. […]
The Ministry of Communications (Mincomsvyaz) intends to withdraw some of the frequencies used by the “Big Four” telecom companies to build a fourth generation network and transfer the frequencies to a newly established state-owned company. Operators are outraged. The Ministry of Communications (Mincomsvyaz) submitted to the Presidential Administration a draft executive order on redistribution of […]
[Eight months remain until Nadezhda (Nadya) Tolokonnikova is released from imprisonment, but the thought of what she will do when she gets out is already frightening her. During a visit to the prison colony IK-14 in the town of Parts, Tolokonnikova spoke about Lev Tolstoy, “incorrect language,” and her own crisis of creativity. –Ed.] “Gera […]
[Today, opposition leader Alexey Navalny made his closing statement at his trial for “embezzlement.” The defense was not allowed to call any witnesses and comments made before the trial began by the presiding judge and officials from the Investigative Committee characterized his guilt as a foregone conclusion. Nevertheless, Navalny remained defiant in the face of […]
[Last week, Interpreter contributor Sasha de Vogel admiringly replied to Peter Pomersantsev’s essay, “Cracks in the Kremlin Matrix,” about the system of “managed democracy” in Russia and how opponents of the Putin regime have struggled to combat it. Below, Peter has expanded on some of the key themes in his original piece as well as […]
[On July 3, Yevgeny Urlashov, the opposition-backed mayor of Yaroslavl, was arrested on charges of soliciting a bribe. Anti-Kremlin activists have called his arrest politically motivated and have gathered on Aleksandr Nevsky Square in Yaroslavl in defense of the mayor. All of Urlashov’s subordinates detained have turned on him and confessed their guilt. MVD Spokesman Vladimir Markin […]
Russia’s budget may be short 887 billion rubles from the privatization program of 2014-2016, according to a draft of the basic trends in the budget policy obtained by RIA Novosti. The document has not been officially reported. Sources at the Ministry of Finance indicate that the privatization plan forecast revenue for the budget of 230 […]
[At the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, President Putin discussed Internet freedom with global business leaders as the Russian parliament initially approved a draft anti-piracy law despite an outcry from Russian Internet companies and free speech activists, Kommersant reports. Meanwhile, the FSB investigated an online hoax involving Russian Railways chief Vladimir Yakunin the Federal Security Agency […]
The new Venezuelan President is on his first visit to Europe. The most important stop of that trip is Moscow, where on July 1-2 he will, among other things, might try to be part of the developments around Edward Snowden, a former NSA agent, who is now somewhere in the Russian capital. The Venezuelan leader […]
