From the editor
Welcome to the first issue of The Russia Report, a weekly newsletter bringing you news and analysis on what’s going on inside Russia and the Kremlin’s activities abroad. You can receive this newsletter once a month for free, or sign up here for a weekly subscription for just £3.99 ($5) a month or £45 a year. I’m Sarah Hurst, the author of the @XSovietNews Twitter account, and I’ve been writing about Russia since 1990. I have worked for BBC Monitoring and Reuters and my articles have been published in many countries. I am the author of the book “Curse of Kirsan: Adventures in the Chess Underworld.”
I’m keen to hear what you’re interested in, so if you have tips or questions please contact me at sarahnhurst@gmail.com.
Putin revives Victory Day parade
Vladimir Putin returned to work in the Kremlin after weeks at his Novo-Ogarevo residence outside Moscow, and announced that the Victory Day parade that was postponed from May 9 would take place on June 24. There has been speculation in Russian media that the national vote on constitutional changes will be held on July 1 or July 8, after being rescheduled from April 22. The changes include “annulling” Putin’s terms of office so that he could remain as president for two more six-year terms, until 2036. A law recently passed could also enable some people to vote electronically.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin has said that people can start going out for walks with restrictions such as carrying evidence of where they live, but most quarantine measures in the city will remain until at least June 14. He has divided residents into six groups who will be able to go for walks at different times. People are required to wear masks and gloves when travelling on public transport and entering shops.
More coronavirus deaths to be counted
Russia’s Health Ministry says it will now include coronavirus as a cause of death for all deaths of people who tested positive. Until now many deaths have been attributed to pneumonia and underlying conditions, which has resulted in Russia reporting a total of just over 4,000 deaths from about 380,000 cases. Russia has the third-highest total number of cases in the world after the United States and Brazil, and is currently reporting just over 8,000 new coronavirus cases a day, down from a high of over 11,000. But the Health Ministry has also said it will stop reporting cases of people testing positive for the virus who are asymptomatic, calling them “carriers”, so Russia’s daily case numbers may decline steeply. Dmitri Peskov has questioned reports that a high proportion of healthcare workers have died from the virus. There are 311 names on the informal “List of Memory” of healthcare workers who have died.
Top officials recover
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has left hospital after recovering from coronavirus, as has Putin’s press secretary Dmitri Peskov. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov never officially admitted having the virus, but was reportedly hospitalised in Moscow and is now back in Grozny. He commented, “Even if I fell ill, millions of people in the world were infected with the coronavirus, tens of thousands have died, and am I not a human? Don't I have the right to fall ill?”
The former head of the Republic of Chuvashia, Mikhail Ignatyev, meanwhile, was hospitalised with pneumonia shortly after announcing that he was suing Putin for sacking him in January after he dangled the keys to a fire engine in front of an emergency service worker and made him jump for them, and called for journalists to be wiped out.
Ambulance crews protest
Ambulance crews from all over Russia have made videos complaining that they haven’t received bonuses promised by Putin. In Kemerovo Oblast staff threatened to go on hunger strike if they didn’t get their bonuses. In Ivanovo Oblast a medic who participated in a video was threatened with prosecution for “abusing the freedom of the press”. Ambulance crews in Simferopol, occupied Crimea, said they had been threatened with prosecution for extremism for complaining.
Ambulance crews in Perm Krai appealing to Putin and their regional governor
Picketers jailed
Activist Viktor Nemytov and well-known journalist Ilya Azar, who writes for Novaya Gazeta, have been jailed for 15 days in Moscow for solo pickets, which are supposed to be legal. On May 26 Nemytov picketed outside the Interior Ministry in Moscow with a sign that said “Free Vladimir Vorontsov”. He was detained, and when Azar picketed with signs saying “Free Vladimir Vorontsov” and “Free Viktor Nemytov,” he was also detained. Vorontsov, who runs a popular social media group called Police Ombudsman, is in jail awaiting trial on an embezzlement charge which is widely considered to be politically motivated. Nemytov and Azar were charged with “violating the rules on holding public events multiple times”.
On May 28 several journalists including Sergei Smirnov, the editor of independent outlet Mediazona, Mikhail Fishman of Dozhd TV, Tatiana Felgengauer and Alexander Plyushchev of the radio station Ekho Moskvy, as well as author Alisa Ganieva were detained for a series of solo pickets in support of Ilya Azar in front of the Interior Ministry. Felgengauer was holding a sign that said “A solo picket is not a crime” and Plyushchev was holding a sign that said “Azar stood here. Bring him back!” Police told the journalists that no “mass events” were allowed during the pandemic. Two more activists were detained for holding signs that said “The crown [corona] isn’t forever.” Similar pickets took place in St. Petersburg, where at least nine people were detained.
Prosecutor demands long sentence for former US marine
A prosecutor has asked for former US marine Paul Whelan to be jailed for 18 years for alleged espionage, and the verdict in his case has been scheduled for June 15. Whelan, who also holds British, Canadian and Irish passports, was arrested in Moscow in December 18 while visiting for a friend’s wedding. Whelan says that he was set up in a sting operation.
Russia’s rich get richer
The number of Russian dollar billionaires has increased from 102 to 104 in the past two months, according to Forbes. Billionaires have also increased their wealth, led by Norilsk Nickel owner Vladimir Potanin, whose net worth went up by $6.4 billion to $26.1 billion. He was followed by Novatek’s Leonid Mikhelson (going from $17.1 billion to $22.5 billion), NLMK’s Vladimir Lisin (from $18.1 billion to $21 billion), Severstal’s Alexei Mordashov (from $16.8 billion to $19.1 billion) and Lukoil’s Vagit Alekperov (from $15.2 billion to $20.8 billion).
US accuses Russia of sending warplanes to Libya
After reports that over 1,000 of Russia’s Wagner military contractors fled from an area south of Tripoli on transport planes after being pushed back by Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) troops, the US military claimed that Russia had sent fighter jets to Libya to support the contractors who are fighting together with the army of General Khalifa Haftar. “The Russian fighter aircraft arrived in Libya, from an airbase in Russia, after transiting Syria where it is assessed they were repainted to camouflage their Russian origin,” the US Africom statement said. Russia denies sending the jets, calling the reports disinformation.
Opposition activist dies
Opposition activist Sergei Mokhnatkin, who spent years in prison between 2009 and 2018 for allegedly injuring police officers at protests, has died at the age of 66. He had been ill with complications from spinal injuries caused by prison guards. Mokhnatkin was one of the first protesters to be singled out on a charge of injuring police; subsequently dozens more people were sentenced for this despite video evidence showing they were protesting peacefully.
Writer and broadcaster Victor Shenderovich wrote on Facebook: “We must remember by name all of those who killed Sergey Mokhnatkin: the police officers; the investigators; the prosecutors; the judges; the prison butchers in the prison colony who broke his back, and then once again judges and the ‘doctors’ who finished the butchers’ task… This is one time when the words ‘we will not forget, nor forgive’ are appropriate. It is impossible to forgive such things.
“He was one of the best people whom I’ve met in my life. The 20th century almost totally destroyed that type of person in Russia - strong; free; cheerful and courageous. The 21st century is crushing those who miraculously survived. Despair and rage.”