June 29:
The Economist notes that the ongoing “shale revolution” has become a thorn in the side of the Kremlin. As the United States and other countries begin converting their principle energy sources, the article notes, the Kremlin attempts to downplay the new energy source, calling it a “myth,” or “uncompetitive,” or insisting that is causes “blackness” in drinking water. At the recent St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, where nearly 3,700 businesspeople and officials gathered to discuss trending topics, there was not a single public session regarding shale. In the meantime, the Economist notes, shale sources continue to drive down the price of gas on the world market, which has long been the cornerstone of the Russian economy. And while some experts note that Russia has its own massive shale reserves, the country has yet to take advantage of them.
July 1:
Despite pressure from Washington, Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted that the Kremlin will “never turn Snowden over to the United States.” Russia and the United States do not have an extradition treaty, reports the Los Angeles Times, and as Putin noted in a televised interview, “Russia never hands anybody over anywhere and doesn’t intend to do so.” “If he wants to stay here,” Putin added, “there is one condition: He must stop his work aimed at harming our American partners.” Only hours after the interview, Kremlin officials confirmed that Snowden had applied for political asylum. Officials were careful to stress that should asylum be granted, “the Kremlin will do its best to prevent any public exposures in the Russian mass media of the CIA’s and NSA’s secret activities.”
July 2:
Vietnam became the eleventh country in the last four years from which all highly enriched uranium was removed, after U.S. and Russian officials helped to remove nearly 35 pounds of the material from the country’s borders. Reuters reports that the removal was part of an ongoing Russian-American effort to remove highly enriched uranium from countries that do not have atomic weapons. U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz noted at a summit in Vienna on how to prevent potential bomb ingredients from falling into the wrong hands that “with this accomplishment in Vietnam, we will have removed nearly all highly enriched uranium from Southeast Asia.” Experts estimate that a rudimentary nuclear bomb requires only about 50-60 kg of highly enriched uranium, while a more sophisticated weapon would require even less. Many groups fear that radical groups will somehow acquire enough heavily enriched uranium to build a crude nuclear weapon.
July 3:
Islamist rebel leader Doku Umarov posted a video urging rebel activists to use “maximum force” to prevent Russia staging the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. “They plan to hold the Olympics on the bones of our ancestors, on the bones of many, many dead Muslims, buried on the territory of our land on the Black Sea,” Umarov proclaimed, comparing the games to performing “Satanic dances” on the graves of Muslims killed fighting Russian troops in the region in the 19th Century. Reuters reports that Umarov also used the video to rescind an earlier order, in which he’d placed a moratorium on attacks on Russian targets outside the North Caucasus as well as on attacks that would harm civilians. Umarov and his supporters already claim responsibility for two major attacks on civilians, the first involving suicide bombings at a Moscow airport in 2011, killing 37 people, and the second a bombing of the Moscow subway in 2010, which killed at least 40 people. Although the Kremlin declined to comment on the video, President Putin earlier swore to provide “tight security” for the games.
July 4:
The United States celebrated its independence, China and Russia conducted what Beijing has described as the “country’s largest with a foreign partner” in the Sea of Japan. The focus of the drills, according to the BBC, was on joint escort and the recovery of kidnapped vessels. Seven Chinese units were involved with the exercises, including four destroyers, and two guided missile frigates, while Russia deployed eleven warships, a submarine and three planes to take part. Both countries insist that the exercises were not intended to target any third parties, but analysts note that the drills were organized only a month after U.S. and Japanese naval forces held joint exercises off the west coast of the United States.
July 5:
As the trial against opposition leader Alexei Navalny drew to a close, prosecutors urged the judge to convict the activist to a six-year jail sentence. It’s a verdict that would unequivocally end any political threat Navalny poses to current President Vladimir Putin, by landing him in prison until after the next presidential elections. Moreover, notes the New York Times, a conviction would bar Navalny from ever running for political office. Given that Alexei Navalny is considered the most “electable” member of the opposition movement, such a verdict would deal a heavy blow to the opposition cause. In his own closing remarks, Navalny remained defiant. “Myself and my colleagues will do everything possible to destroy this feudal regime being established in Russia,” he vowed. “This cannot last endlessly, that the 140-million-strong people of one of the biggest and richest countries are subjugated to a handful of bastards.” One of Navalny’s lawyers echoed his sentiments, adding “the character of the charges, the lack of real evidence from the prosecution, the judge’s dismissal of nearly all defense motions bear witness that this trial does not answer to the rules of justice.”