Translation: Riots and Vegetables

This about Society, tagged , , was written by for on October 15, 2013

Anastasia Novikova at Komsomolskaya Pravda details the fallout following demonstrations on the streets of Moscow

After a pogrom in Biryulyov, police are checking passer-bys and a fruit and vegetable base with the help of APCs

Russian Policemen

Policemen are maintaining order after mass riots in the West Biryulyovo district of Moscow.   According to the police, around 300 OMON officers are on the streets, checking passersby’s documents, and detaining people of non-Slavic appearance.

Meanwhile, the main focus of these events is the vegetable base¹, whose closing was demanded by protestors.  It is already not in operation, as they are keeping order there.

According to some sources, the police are checking the premises with the help of APCs.  Operatives in the capital are also trying to find out who owns a vehicle that was found during the raid in the fruit and vegetable base in Biryulyovo.

The police specified that several million roubles lay inside the car, along with three non-lethal² pistols, two knives and a baseball bat, Interfax reports.

There are grounds to assume that unrest in Moscow can recommence.  On Tuesday, October 15th, Muslims will mark their Kurban-Bayram holiday.  It is possible that nationalists will try to spoil the holiday.

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Translation: Ukraine and Its Monsters

This about Geopolitics, tagged , , , , was written by for on September 22, 2013

Regnum reports on statements made by Ukraine’s President, Victor Yanukovych, in which he visualizes Ukraine becoming a link between the East and the West as a result of an impending trade deal with the European Union.

Yanukovych: Russia and the EU are giant monsters “and we feel it every day”

Victor Yanukovych, the President of Ukraine, calls the European Union and Russia “monsters”, stating that Kiev will never compare the processes of integration in these areas.  The head of the government stated this during the tenth Yalta Annual Meeting today, September 20th, reports Regnum IA.

“I would say that Ukraine is located between two big monsters, the European Union and Russia. And we feel it every day.  We cannot ignore or take this situation lightly, therefore, I am very thankful to our partners from the EU and Russia for their understanding of this issue.  That is why we did not want, do not want, and never will compare processes of integration of the West to the East.  We want to unify them…and Ukraine is confidently going on this path through modernization, through the creation of conditions for the administration of business and the removal of those barriers that are present in questions of trade. So that this process more closely unites us all and so that we would actually create a common economic space from Vancouver to Vladivostok” said the head of government.

At the same time, in Yanukovych’s words, the effectiveness of Ukraine’s cooperation with the European Union depends on how much success there is in building filial relations.  “I would like to wish all of us together the assured construction of a Big Europe.  Ukraine will play its part.  However, a lot will depend on how well these filial relations will work.  We expect that they will be effective”, he said.

Translation: Putin Victorious

This about Geopolitics, tagged , , , was written by for on September 17, 2013

Expert explains how the recent developments regarding Russia’s proposed resolution to the Syrian Civil War represent major victories for Vladimir Putin and his nation.

Putin’s Five Victories

The plan for the resolution of the Syrian crisis, proposed by Russia, is swiftly becoming more concrete. Already this past Friday, when Russian-American consultations in Geneva were still ongoing, Syria began a full participant of the Convention on the Ban of Chemical Weapons, having signed the corresponding document. A government letter addressed to the General Secretary of the UN Ban Ki Moon states: “The Syrian Arabian Republic confirms that it pledges to follow the regulations of the Convention until they officially come into force on its territory.”

Russia’s transition from a defensive position to a diplomatic offensive turned out to be unexpected and very effective. Arriving at the limits of its tactic of blockage of possible Western aggressive activities against Syria, and understanding that Barack Obama, contrary to his unwillingness, was deciding on a military operation, Moscow suggested a satisfying way-out for everyone (perhaps, except militants and their sponsors). During the course of a week a diplomatic victory was accomplished, which has no analogues in post-Soviet history.

In the first place, Russia conclusively demonstrated that its position regarding international questions is constructive. It also demonstrated that its traditional noncompliance in matters of the use of force in international affairs is not a desire to put a spoke in the wheel of the USA and its allies at any cost, but a fundamental desire to search for political solutions. The symbol of this constructiveness of Russian politics was an unprecedented letter from Pope Francis to President Vladimir Putin, written even before the initiative of Syrian renunciation of chemical weapons, in which the pontiff urged to focus on the search for a peaceful resolution of the Syrian conflict.

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Translation: The G20 and the Ghosts of Progress

This about Geopolitics, tagged , , , , was written by for on September 10, 2013

In this op-ed piece posted on Lenta, Anton Klyuchkin analyzes the effects of recent Kremlin decisions, admonishing their results for pushing the country away from the West.  Looking past the rhetoric, however, a better picture of the retaliatory nature of Russian-American relations comes into view, one in which both sides seem determined to antagonize the other.

Ghosts of Progress

Russia used the G20 Summit for another quarrel with the USA

The G20 Summit in St. Petersburg, opening on the 5th of September, positions itself as a platform for the discussion of economic questions.  But world leaders are going to Russia to discuss, in the first place, the situation in Syria.  The Russian side, which organizes the summit, has already set the tone for the meeting, falling upon the United States with another portion of criticism and having refused itself, thus, the right to act simultaneously as peacekeeper and as an equitable partner in dialogue with Washington.

On the eve of the meetings with colleagues in Petersburg, Vladimir Putin, the host of the summit, gave an extensive interview to Russian Channel 1 and the American agency AP, having declared that Russia can support a military operation in Syria, the authorization on which Obama is seeking from the United States Congress.   The Russian leader, however, specified that Moscow can take such a step only if the UN Security Council receives proof that the forces of Bashar Assad employed chemical weapons against the civilian population, and sanctions intervention.  This step of the Russian leader towards his counterpart, who has already lost hope for constructive dialogue with Moscow, has turned out to be, however, a step back: Obama has repeatedly spoken about his decision to lead a military operation without regard to the UN Security Council.  Moscow is trying to prevent such a scenario at all costs.

During the interview, Putin expressed his desire to meet with the American president at the G20 Summit.  However, it is hard to say whether the leaders of Russia and America will be able to discuss their divisions regarding the situation in Syria (as well as other irregularities in bilateral relations) during the summit in Petersburg.  The fact of the matter is that a bilateral meeting was not officially planned out, as both sides were preparing negotiations between Obama and Putin in Moscow.   At the beginning of August however, soon after Russia granted provisional asylum to the former American intelligence employee Eduard Snowden, Washington cancelled the meeting, citing insufficient progress in the relations of both countries.

[Read more…]

Translation: The Caucasus Situation

This about Politics, tagged , , , was written by for on September 10, 2013

In this article by Alexey Stepanov from Komsomolskaya Pravda, recent events and continued concern over the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi demonstrate that terrorism still afflicts Russian territory

Putin: Several Countries Are Deliberately Destabilizing the Situation in the Northern Caucasus

The President of the Russian Federation urged to “more roughly stop such attempts and to always give an appropriate response.”

At an enlarged meeting of Russia’s Security Council, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin stated that several countries and international organizations are still interested in the destabilization of the situation in the Northern Caucuses.

“We are facing the destructive, anti-Russian activity of a number of foreign countries and non-governmental and international organizations under their control, who still consider the Northern Caucasus as a base for the destabilization of Russia as a whole” said Putin, as quoted by the BBC.

In connection with this, Putin considers it necessary to “more roughly stop such attempts and to always give an appropriate response.”The head of the government also emphasized that the terrorist threat in the Northern Caucuses is holding out (still remains), now as before.

“In spite of the obvious positive progress, the state of affairs in the Northern Caucuses improves much too slowly.  The terrorist threat and challenges to security have not been removed once and for all”, Vladimir Putin declared, recalling, “the suppression and neutralization of terrorist and criminal threats are especially important in connection with the holding of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014.”

We remind you that on Monday, September 9th, at around 8 in the morning, a Russian diplomat in Abkhazia was shot and killed.

In Moscow on Sunday, September 8th, the 25 year old militant Sherali Kuratov, of the extremist organization “Mujahideen Jamaat al-Tawheed Val-Jihad”, was arrested with a grenade in his pocket.

On the eve of the holiday¹ in the capital, several attacks against members of Moscow’s police force occurred, which led to (ended up with) mass arrests of immigrants and members of criminal ethnic groups.  Moscow’s Central Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs stressed that these raids in the struggle against illegal immigrants were not demonstrative and will be conducted regularly.

Translator notes

1.  The holiday in question is “Election Day”