March 30:
A leading Chechen leader has been seriously hurt in an attempted assassination in the United Arab Emirates. Citing Russian news sources, Reuters reports that Sulim Yamadayev - an outspoken critic of the restive republic's pro-Moscow leader, Ramzan Kadyrov - was attacked in an underground garage in Dubai by unidentified gunmen. The botched hit appears to be politically motivated; Yamadayev, who used to command the feared Vostok battalion, ran afoul of Kadyrov's administration last year on allegations of criminal activity and was forced into exile.
April 3:
News that one of Russia's most powerful energy companies has made new inroads in Eastern Europe is causing jitters among many worried over Moscow's growing energy clout. "At first glance, the announcement earlier this week that a Russian company had bought a fifth of a Hungarian refining company might seem to warrant a brief news item on the business pages," writes Jeremy Druker for ISN Security Watch. "In reality, Surgutneftegaz's surprising €1.4 billion (US$1.87 billion) purchase of 21 percent of MOL has alarmed officials across Europe worried about Russian expansion into the EU's security sector." The deal, details Druker, has sent shockwaves through European capitals wary of their ongoing energy dependence on Moscow, particularly in light of Surgutneftegaz's ability to outmaneuver European rivals, such as Austria's OMV, to secure the stake in MOL.
In a sign of warming Kremlin attitudes toward military cooperation with the United States, Moscow has signaled its willingness to consider the transshipment of military cargo destined for the war in Afghanistan through its territory. According to the Financial Times, the news comes on the heels of President Obama's pledge to engage Russia on crafting a new strategic arms treaty this year. "Russia is ready for cooperation on this question [of Afghanistan]," Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko has confirmed.
April 5:
Communist opponents of the government of President Dmitry Medvedev have staged nationwide rallies to protest the Kremlin's handling of the global economic crisis. The Moscow Times reports that the protests involved thousands of protesters in a number of cities, including Nizhny Novgorod. The upsurge, proponents say, is a reflection of declining confidence in the economic and political leadership of the Russian government. "Many families are on the edge of survival, unemployment is growing," explains Viktor Ilyukhin, a senior Communist deputy in the State Duma. "Citizens aren't relying on the government to support them any more."
April 7:
The rate of hate crimes in the Russian Federation is continuing to rise, but at a slightly lower rate than in previous years, a leading Russian legal official has disclosed. "In 2008, extremist crimes rose by 29 percent over the preceding year, totaling 460 incidents," Aleksey Zhafarov, deputy head of the Federal Procuracy’s Administration of Monitoring the Execution of Laws on Federal Security, Inter-ethnic Relations and Countering Extremism, has told the Narodru website. However, that figure, according to Zhafarov, is a more modest increase than in previous years; in 2008, the rate of hate crimes increased by 35 percent, while the year prior it jumped by nearly 75 percent - an upsurge attributable to new legal definitions of extremism under Russian law.