June 16:
Russian diplomats are scrambling to do damage control with their Chinese counterparts after reports surfaced that the Kremlin might issue a visa to the Dalai Lama. The Times of India reports that Russian officials are working to reassure Beijing that “a visit by the Dalai Lama or a visa for him is out of the question.” The Kremlin has refused the Dalai Lama a visa since 2004 in order to strengthen its ties with the Chinese, recently even going so far as to criticize the exiled Buddhist leader for his “provocative stand,” and urging him to “improve relations with Beijing and stay away from politics.”
After nearly two decades of delays brought about by a lack of funding, Russia has finally launched the Severodvinsk, the first of six planned nuclear-powered attack submarines. According to the Gulf Times, 17 years after it was first green-lit by the Kremlin, the Severodvinsk is now 80 percent complete, and is expected to begin trial maneuvers this summer. President Dmitry Medvedev has applauded the vessel's coming of age, saying that the Severodvinsk would “increase our military might and our naval potential, and strengthen Russia’s position in the world’s oceans.”
Officially, the Severodvinsk is expected to enter service by 2011. Analysts, however, are not so optimistic. “Putting it in water does not show that it is ready,” says Konstantin Makiyenko of the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. According to him, a 2011 deadline is “extremely optimistic,” and that a launch date of 2013-2015 is more likely. Meanwhile, it remains unclear whether Russia will have the necessary funding to build five additional submarines after the Severodvinsk is completed.
June 18:
Under the guise of checking for “evidence of extremism,” police have seized pamphlets criticizing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin intended for a “high-profile business forum.” The Moscow Times reports that more than 100,000 copies of the suspect 32-page report - detailing the excesses and shortfalls of Putin's reign - were confiscated in all. The co-authors, former deputy premier Boris Nemtsov and opposition activist Olga Kurnosova, insist the police acted to keep the study from being distributed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which begins June 19th. The report contends that Putin’s decade in power produced “catastrophic” levels of corruption, and a widening gap between the rich and poor. Police have stated that inspection of the report will take “two or three days,” essentially dictating that they will not be provided to the public during the Forum.
President Dmitry Medvedev has announced a plan to construct a $15 billion cluster of five ski resorts in the North Caucasus. The project will take an estimated ten years, Reuters reports, and will be built along the same mountain range on which the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics will be held. Officials aim to raise half of the necessary funding for the initiative from banks like Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, and Citi, with the remainder funded through private contributions.
June 20:
Russia’s Federal State Statistics Service has released a report indicating that the number of unemployed in Russia has decreased by 14 percent over the past year. Of the total working population of 75.8 million, according to MENAFN.com, 5.6 million were unemployed as of May 2010, compared to 6.5 million in May 2009. The report also noticed a decrease in the unemployment level “calculated as the ratio of the number of unemployed to the number of economically active,” from 8.5 percent to 7.2 percent in the same period.