October 14:
Nearly 400 people were arrested in southern Moscow after a protest turned violent. BBC reports that the protest was against the killing of a young ethnic Russian, believed to have been stabbed by a man of “non-Slavic appearance.” Nationalists were quick to blame the crime on a Muslim migrant worker from the North Caucasus region, and protestors stormed a nearby shopping center, overrunning a wholesale vegetable market known to be run by migrant workers. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyaninn ordered that the murder be “thoroughly investigated,” but denounced the riot, and called for its leaders to be held accountable.
Vladimir Putin’s hopes of seeing Russia take its place among the world’s strongest economies may be dashed, Professor Stefan Heflund writes for World Review. Instead, he predicts that the country’s economy is headed for another recession. While the official forecast for the 2013 GDP remains positive at 1.8 percent, Heflund notes, the economy has been in steady decline across the last six quarters, and Heflund argues that measured quarter to quarter, that growth number is actually now negative. Even worse, he says, federal budget spending has increased to dangerous levels on the back of once-high oil prices. If prices continue to fall, he argues, serious budget cuts could be in store, increasing pressure on the Kremlin ahead of the Moscow Duma elections in 2014.
October 15:
In a bizarre expression of concern for public image, Russian officials have complained about a video game called company of Heroes, popular among Russian teenagers, for offering an unflattering portrayal of Russian soldiers in World War II. The game in question depicts a Second World War Russian soldier as a criminal and arsonist, and has prompted threats from the Kremlin of banning foreign video games which “discredit the Russian soldier,” and “distort historical facts.” “A video game has to have not only an entertainment value,” argued an aide to Russia’s cultural minister, “but it also has to teach and be conducive to patriotic education,” adding that the creation of a “negative image of the Russian warrior” is unacceptable. In response, Homeland Security Newswire reports, the Kremlin has organized its own video game project, which will reportedly focus on the early days of Russian military aviation during the First World War.
October 16:
An unexpected area of cooperation between Russian and U.S. scientists may have similarly unexpected consequences for U.S. nuclear policy. A recent agreement with the Kremlin could open the door to cooperative efforts on defense systems – against asteroids. It’s a topic that has been under discussion on both sides since the mid-1990s, NBC reports, but the sticking point for U.S. policy makers is the belief that nuclear weapons may be the best line of defense. While President Barack Obama has committed the country to pursuing a world without nuclear weapons, NASA continues to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to study their potential use against asteroids. There is widespread debate among scientists about whether nuclear weapons are in fact the best option against such a threat, and some experts worry that joint asteroid defense work will become a “jobs program” for weapons scientists. “When you’ve got the weapons labs sort of pushing for this in the various countries, it starts to make me feel a little uneasy,” said one. “Which doesn’t mean it’s not a legitimate thing to do, but you want to know it’s being done for legitimate reasons.”
October 17:
Russia’s efforts to build its Latin American influence continue, as officials met with Brazilian leaders to discuss potential weapons contracts. Defense News reports that among the proposed contracts are state of the art combat aircraft, as well as surface-to-air missile batteries, which could mean up to $1 billion in new weapons sales for the Kremlin. Analysts suggest Edward Snowden may be at least partly to thank should the contracts eventually go through. Several documents leaked by the former intelligence analyst pointed to extensive espionage efforts in Brazil by the United States, which seem to have cooled similar negotiations between Brazilian officials and the U.S. firm Boeing.
October 18:
A top Kremlin official has suggested that Russia will spend $63 billion by 2020 on its Arctic development program. Two-third of the funding is expected to come from major Russian companies, RIA-Novosti reports, while only a third will come from federal funding. It is believes that nearly 20 percent of the world’s oil reserves and 30 percent of the world’s natural gas reserves lie under the Arctic Ocean, along with deposits of platinum, gold, and other valuable minerals. Unsurprisingly, almost all of the territory is involved in conflicting claims by Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the U.S., as a result of inexact border demarcations. Ongoing climate change in the region has made natural resources and sea routes increasingly more accessible, and military presence in the region has correspondingly increased – especially by Canada and Russia.