August 9:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has quietly cleaned political house. A pair of official declarations, released publicly by the Kremlin on August 6th, have effectively eliminated nearly twenty high-ranking security officials associated with the government's Investigative Committee, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), and several regional bodies. All told, some 18 personnel were sacked in the purge, most prominent among them former Interior Minister Gen. Vladimir Rushailo, who was removed from active duty.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: The purge has generated heated speculation among Kremlin-watchers regarding motive. One leading theory is that the sacking was related to internal dissent over Putin's foreign policy. "Putin removed officers who did not support an invasion of Ukraine," Ukrainian political analyst Oleg Soskin has written. "The head of the Kremlin was not interested in listening to warnings about the negative consequences" that sustained Russian involvement in Ukraine might carry with it.]
August 10:
The Kremlin has imposed travel bans on two parliamentarians over alleged back taxes, Izvestiya reports. According to the paper, the four Duma deputies - Oleg Mikheyev, Ilya Ponomarev, Vladimir Parakhin and Alexander Chetverikov - are all members of the "Just Russia" faction, known for its criticism of President Vladimir Putin's government. All four have been charged with nonpayment of millions of dollars in taxes owed.
August 11:
Is Russia mulling the implementation of sharia finance? "The Association of Russian Banks has called for the passage of a new law on Islamic finances to regulate the activities of Muslim credit organizations and for the establishment of a special council on shariat-based [sic] banking in the Bank of Russia," writes Paul Goble in his blog, Window on Eurasia. The effort, Goble observes, reflects "both the growth of this sector and the willingness of Russian bankers to go along with it."
August 12:
Contradicting Russia’s version of the story, the International Committee of the Red Cross has declared that it did not approve a proposal floated by the Russian government to send a "humanitarian convoy" into eastern Ukraine. News website Rappler reports that such convoys, while indeed suggested by the Kremlin, have not been green lighted by the charity over fears that they could fan further fighting in Ukraine. Nevertheless, a Russian convoy did apparently enter Ukrainian territory, raising alarm bells in Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials are crying foul over the intrusion. "Supposedly in consultation with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine, the humanitarian convoy with 'peacekeepers' was meant to enter apparently in order to provoke a full-scale conflict," Valery Chaliy, deputy chief of staff to Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, has told reporters.