Archive for the 'Russia' category
The Canadians have caught a Russian spy.
Canadian intelligence services say a man arrested trying to leave the country last week is a Russian spy with forged identity papers.
The man, who used the false name Paul William Hampel, will appear in court in Montreal on Wednesday with authorities calling for his deportation.
So, let me get this straight. They’ve caught a spy trying to leave the country, arrested him, put him on trial, and are calling for the court to… throw him out of the country.
Categories: Canada, Russia
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 RIA Novosti reports that Russia plans to lift restrictions on the use of GLONASS, its Global Positioning System satellites in 2007.
Sergei Ivanov said: “By January 1, 2007, the General Staff will lift all restrictions on the precision of coordinates, so that the system can be used to develop the economy and transportation system.”
Current restrictions limit the accuracy for civilian users of Glonass to 30 meters.
A new entrant into the GPS market, competing with the US and EU systems can only be good for the consumer. It looks like the unrestricted version will only be able to Russians initially - coverage of Russia is 100%, whereas coverage in the rest of Europe and the US isn’t quite at the level required for commercial use.
This is partly because the full complement of satellites hasn’t yet been launched, and partly because the satellites that are already up there have been focussed on Chechnya to aid operations there. The Russian military has plans to fill in the gaps in their network as soon as possible, though, with three new satellites planned for December.
Categories: Russia, Tech
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Despite Georgia’s decision to hand over four Russian’s suspected of espionage, Russia isn’t in any mood to let up the pressure on its southern neighbour.
Russia’s migration service said on Thursday that the suspension of visas to Georgians would be extended, and that 180-day visas held by Georgians already in Russia would be cut to 90 days.
Russian parliamentarians are also expected to examine a bill this week that would prevent Georgians living in Russia from making bank transfers to relatives back home.
Estimates vary but it is believed that at least one million Georgians currently live in Russia. Many Georgian families depend on the remittances they send home.
I’m sure enterprising ‘businessmen’ will adapt very quickly to these new money transfer rules, by simply sending the money via a third country, but nonetheless, this represents a significant escalation of tensions.
Georgia, in my opinion, handled the whole spying affair badly, but it’s time for Russia to take a step back, and consider the long term impact of its actions as well. The Russian government must learn to be as gracious in victory as it is ungracious in defeat.
Earlier this week, Georgia looked rather foolish, having done little more than embarras itself. Today, it looks like a victim of Russian bullying again.
Categories: Former Soviet Union, Russia
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Georgia has arrested four Russian officers, accusing them of spying and planning a “major provocation”.
Mr Merabishvili [Georgia’s Interior Minister] said the detained Russians and Georgian citizens had been collecting information on Tbilisi’s relations with Nato, as well on its sea port and railway infrastructure, opposition parties and army.
“Today we neutralised a very serious and dangerous group,” he said.
Russia’s chief of army staff Yuri Baluyevsky, quoted by Russian news agencies, said the move was “sheer lawlessness”.
I must confess, the situation in Georgia is beginning to worry me. Both sides seem to be ratcheting up the tension, with no real thought of the long term consequences.
I think events to date have been little more than posturing - and I certainly can’t believe that either side wants to push the other too far. But, all the same, I’m beginning to get the feeling that, sooner or later, someone’s going to miscalculate, and spark of a conflict that neither side really wants.
Update 28/9: Georgia have upped the stakes by surrounding the Russian Army HQ in Tbilisi, preventing anyone from entering or leaving the building. They’re demanding the surrender of a Russian intelligence officer - Lieutenant Colonel Konstantin Pugachin.
Categories: Former Soviet Union, Russia
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Clearly their budget was too tight for them to afford both a map and a shoehorn:
Two Egyptian citizens have managed to violate the Russian state border by digging a tunnel under the barbed wire fence with a simple shoehorn. After getting lost on the territory of Poland the Egyptians performed the trick for the second time and got back to Russia to face arrest.
The Interfax news agency quoted the Russian Prosecutor General’s report as saying that the two men were aiming to get to Western Europe via Russia. They obtained a tourist visa and flew to Moscow from where they hitchhiked to the Polish border.
This post brought to you by the Mosnews Appreciation Society.
Categories: Mosnews Appreciation Society, Russia
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Grigory Yavlinsky, the head of the Russian Democratic Party (also known as Yabloko), addressed the Lib Dems conference today.
The Guardian Newsblog used the speech as an opportunitiy to have a dig at the Lib Dems, and their electability:
Simon Hughes, the Lib Dems’ president, prefaced Mr Yavlinsky’s speech by claiming that the undemocratic political system in Russia was not “enlightened enough” to embrace liberalism.
But a point of principle was in tow, namely the role of parties destined to stay in opposition rather than having much chance of forming a government.
The Russian liberals stand even less chance of that than their UK counterparts in the near future.
But at least the Lib Dems are taking the time to reach out to other similar parties across the globe, in both democratic and non-democratic countries. They have an active and committed International Department (Full disclosure - I was once interview for and subsequently not offered a job there. Swines.), which works to promote both liberalism and democracy across the globe.
Meanwhile, Tony Blair goes around expressing his disapproval of Vladimir Putin by giving him bear-hugs.
Categories: Russia, UK
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If Ian Dale were to compile a list of the best British ex-pat blogs, Tim Newman would surely be sitting comfortably at the top of the pile.
Today, Tim brings us a roundup of the local news from the Russian Far East:
If I once thought the regional news on S4C or BBC Wales was parochial, I now stand corrected as to what that word actually means.
[…] we had the story of a small lorry which got stuck when crossing a makeshift bridge over a ditch, the ditch in question being about a metre wide and six inches deep. An interview with the driver was of particular benefit to the viewers.
Post-Soviet telly at its finest.
Categories: Blogging, Russia, UK
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Young Timothy, and his new bride have been travelling across Russia, en-route to their new home in the snowy wastes of Siberia.
He was particularly impressed with the efficiency of Russian air travellers:
The aircraft itself was a Boeing, and filled up with people faster than I can recall any flight doing so before. Russians seem to have the unique ability to get on a plane, stick their stuff in the overhead locker, and sit down in their seat without fannying around for ten minutes in the aisle like they do in the Middle East and Europe.
Less so with their fashion sense.
Categories: Russia
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I’m off to the beach for the weekend, so no posting for a few days.
Instead, I’ll leave you with “www”, a classic track from Russian ska-punk group Leningrad.
Enjoy.
Categories: Culture, Russia
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Andrei Kozlov The Deputy Chief of the Russian Central Bank was assassinated last night. He was known for taking a tough line on banking violations - Russia’s banking system isn’t exactly the most reputable in the world - and it appears that one of the banks reacted badly to his activities.
Presumably the assassin believes that they will gain some breathing space for their illegal activities. I think they’ll be unpleasantly surprised.
This will be seen in part as a direct challenge to the authority President Putin, who has staked a great deal of his reputation on his ability to turn Russia into a country where the rule of law (if not democracy) is respected. Expect him to react by ordering Russia’s Central Bank to take an even harder line on banking irregularities across the board.
Categories: Russia
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In Russia they hold sex-doll rafting races. No, really, they do. Anyway, this year’s event, however, has not been without scandal - one of the competitors apparently getting a little over friendly with his raft:
Over 400 “sportsmen” took part in the Bubble Baba Challenge tournament. “It’s fun and difficult to swim 1200 meters in stormy river with an exotic apparatus, as inflatable ladies slip out of hands”, tournament organizer Dmitriy Bulaviniv said.
At a juries’ command participants jumped into the water. Strong wind and flow snatched out resilient dolls from strong men’s hands, and only Osipov,40, resolutely approached to the finish.
“I was shocked, I think it was an expression of his great desire to win,” Osipov’s friend said. The jury then noticed Osipov’s strange position and told him to moor. When he came out of the water, gazers saw signs of recent sexual activity on the swimmer’s doll.
At least they didn’t ask him to dock.
This post brought to you by the Mosnews Appreciation Society.
Categories: Russia, Sport
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It looks like a debate is going on in Russia at the moment about whether to send peacekeepers to Lebanon. A couple of politicians are sounding quite enthusiastic, but Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov is talking the idea down a little:
“We are examining the situation, so far we are not clear on the peacekeepers’ status and rights, what they will do there, what mandate they will have,” Ivanov said as quoted as saying by the ITAR-TASS news agency. However, “giving such humanitarian aid would fully answer our country’s interests,” Ivanov added.
Personally, I’d quite like to see Russia become more involved in multi-national UN peacekeeping missions, rather than their usual unilateral missions, which serve only prop up tin-pot dictators on their borders.
I wouldn’t mind seeing China kitting out a few more of its troops with blue helmets, either.
These are two of the world’s major powers, two of the five permanent security council members, and can field two of the world’s best equipped and trained armies. It’s about time they started pulling their weight on the international scene.
And I think the peacekeeping mission in Lebanon might be just the place to do it. It’s high profile mission but one that is, frankly, not really expected to achieve all that much. The involvement of Russia and China would balance out claims that the UN force is too pro-Israel (because, whatever some people think about France, the man on the Arab street still views them as a ‘Western’ country). And their presence would go some way to appeasing Hizbullah, which isn’t going to be thrilled to see a peacekeeping force made up almost entirely of European Union member states.
Categories: Middle East, Peacekeeping, Russia
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The Kremlin backed United Russia Party has begun to open stores across the country, exchanging cheap goods for votes:
“Social” shops selling cheap furniture, clothes and shoes are being opened by United Russia in poor regions across the country. A clothes store opened by the party in Kirov offers pairs of jeans for 100 roubles (£2) to 400 roubles, and T-shirts for 30 roubles. War veterans and the disabled get a discount.
I don’t really think we need argue any further about whether Russian democracy remains alive. The life support machine has now been officially unplugged.
Categories: Russia
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10 Muscovites have been killed by a bomb that exploded today in a crowded market:
According to Moscow’s First Deputy Mayor Vladimir Resin, a “makeshift explosive device” blew up. Earlier, police blamed a faulty gas cylinder.
Two men have been arrested in connection with the blast, and already the speculation about who was behind the bomb has begun.
Two rather obvious groups fall under immediate suspicion - local gangsters, or Chechen terrorists. (Although there are probably a few cynics out there who will suggest that the Russian government, needing to rally their people behind an imaginary enemy, were behind it).
RIA Novosti are reporting that the authorities in Moscow - who have the advantage of having interrogated the two arrested men - are leaning towards the local gangsters, saying that this explosion is a part of a local turf war. This is my initial reaction, as well.
- For starters, it fits a pattern - there have been quite a few bombings in crowded markets across Russia that have been linked to local turf wars.
- Second, no-one has admitted to the bombing - as I write this, more than 10 hours have passed since the explosion and no-one has claimed responsibility. Terrorists aim their message at a wide audience - the public - nd like to spread the news of their successes as far and wide as possible. Criminal gangs, meanwhile, tend to be sending their message to a relatively small group of people. Those people won’t need to rely on the news media to know who attacked them.
- Third, the Russian government hasn’t pinned the blame on terrorists - the Kremlin rarely misses a trick when it comes to talking up the threat of Islamic terrorism. If they had any kind of evidence linking this to Islamic/Chechen terrorism, you can bet we’d have heard about it by now.
I await further news, but this seems to me to be a worrying escalation in the scale of Russian gang wars, rather than an act of terror directed at Russia as a whole.
Categories: Russia
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Russia needs more political parties, says Vladislav Surkov, the magnificently, if not entirely correctly named deputy head of the Kremlin administration in charge of parties.
Surkov started criticizing Russia’s party system, which he helped form, in spring. “The biggest drawback of our political system is that it is leader-based and hence depends on one party,” he told a meeting with the regional activists of the Russian Party of Life on March 24 (the transcript of the meeting was published yesterday). “There is no major alternative party, which makes the system unstable.”
He seems to want the Party of Life, whoever they are, to be the main opposition to the Kremlin backed United Russia.
I’ve seen a couple of articles on this today (Guardian, Publius Pundit), both of whom have been rightly mocking.
But, to me, one thing seems conspicuous by it’s absence in both articles - neither mention that Russia already has a couple of well organised opposition parties, both complete with party machines.
Who? Well, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation for one. Or the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia for another. Both of these parties have been knocking around for a decade or more, and been relatively consistent performers in parliamentary elections - between them in the last Duma election they cornered about a quarter of the popular vote.
No, neither of these parties can win power in Russia today. The only real challenge to Putin will come from someone with decent democratic credentials, who captures the imagination of the people, or someone who can capture the hearts of businessmen, and con the people that he is a democrat.
But both the Communists and Liberal Democrats are potential kingmakers. Anyone that wants to seriously challenge the current status-quo in the Kremlin absolutely must come to some kind of arrangement with one or the other. Because otherwise they’ll split the anti-Putin vote.
For my money, I’d much rather it was the Communists than the Liberal Democrats.
Categories: Russia
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