March 31:
Russia’s recent law granting the Kremlin the power to block Internet content deemed illegal or harmful to children has already been put into action. According to the New York Times, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube already received requests to remove information that Russian authorities deemed “offensive.” While Facebook and Twitter cooperated, Youtube reportedly filed a suit in Russian court, contending that the “offensive” video purported to promote suicide was in fact a video showing how to make a fake wound with makeup materials and a razor blade. Opposition activists remain concerned that the broad language of the law will be used to close down the social networks which are often used to organize the protests against President Vladimir Putin.
April 1:
Kremlin officials announced that nearly twenty-five years after Soviet troops left Afghanistan, Russia might return to the country to establish maintenance bases, in order to service Russian-made military equipment after NATO removes its remaining troops. The Christian Science Monitor reports Russian officials are concerned that any escalation of the tensions in the region after NATO leaves next year could pose a threat to the security of both Russia and other European countries. Efforts, however, will be limited to commercial obligations, and officials have absolutely ruled out any active military role. Over the last decade, the U.S. purchased hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Russian arms and military equipment for the Afghan security forces, in lieu of more sophisticated western-made arms, creating an objective need to to maintain and repair the weaponry those forces depend on. Russian officials additionally hope to counter the threat of a potential insurgency from militant Islamist groups, which plagued Tajikistan and Uzbekistan after the Soviet Union pulled out of Afghanistan in the 1990s.
April 2:
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed controversial new legislation into law, which will allow regional legislatures to abandon direct election of its governors, in favor of choosing one from a list of three candidates - provided by Putin himself. Direct elections of regional governors were only re-introduced last year as a concession amid the widespread protests against Putin and his party, United Russia, reports Reuters. “It was a feint,” insists opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. “Now Putin thinks the protests have faded and he has decided to roll back everything.” Opposition activists predict that the new law will be used to sideline opposition candidates in favor of loyal party members.
April 4:
President Putin introduced a bill to the Russian Duma that will prevent officials from stockpiling illegal wealth abroad. The bill is effectively a three-month notice to government officials, RIA Novosti reports, to get their finances in order before the new transparency rules take effect. While the bill will not make it illegal for political officials to hold foreign bank accounts, it will require them to report on how the money was obtained lawfully. The new law will also require civil servants and managers of state companies and corporations to account for expenditures made last year, and will provide greater legal protection to whistleblowers of offshore corruption. On introducing the bill, Putin called for “a whole system of measure to ‘de-offshore’ our economy.”
Russian officials warned North Korea over its continuing refusal to honor U.N. restrictions. Reuters reports that Moscow called Pyongyang’s disregard for the guidelines “unacceptable,” and cautioned that pursuing a nuclear weapons program will “radically complicate, if it doesn’t in practice shut off” the prospects for reopening the six-party talks. Pyongyang recently told Russia to consider evacuating its embassy in North Korea as tensions over a potential missile launch escalated.
April 5:
Mikhail Gorbachev left his hospital bed long enough to deliver a lecture at the offices of RIA Novosti, calling on Russians to “learn to fight for democracy and live in a democracy.” He praised the efforts of protestors, reports the Washington Post, and urged them to build an organized force. As for the Kremlin, Gorbachev warned that “to go further on the path of ‘tightening the screws,’ having laws that limit the rights and freedoms of people, attacking the news media and organizations of civil society, is a destructive path with no future.” Gorbachev accused the administration of using manipulation “at any price” to survive the massive protests of a year ago, and warned that while they successfully tamped down the protests, “the problems of the country are not going away, and if all remains the same, they will escalate.”