August 25:
In the latest development in what critics have called a string of politicized Soviet-style show trials, a Ukrainian filmmaker has been sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Russian court, Foreign Policy reports. Oleg Sentsov, best known for the 2011 movie "Gamer," was arrested in May of last year and charged with orchestrating arson attacks on behalf of Ukrainian nationalist group Right Sector. Sentsov, however, has denied the charges, and his lawyers - as well as a number of human rights organizations - have accused the Russian government of a number of human rights abuses surrounding Sentsov's detainment, including "the kidnapping of a Ukrainian citizen on Ukrainian territory, and subsequent torture and illegal detention."
August 26:
Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia's Security Council, has criticized Russian officials for their use of foreign telecommunication services in government business, reports TASS. Patrushev cited the use of services such as Google, WhatsApp, and Yahoo as one of the main threats to the security of Russian state and municipal information systems, and linked their use to the claimed discovery of foreign intelligence technology in state information systems.
The U.S. government has annulled the visa of a deputy in the Russian parliament who meant to visit the U.S. for a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in New York in early September. According to The Moscow Times, the visa was issued before Alexander Totoonov's name was included on a list of individuals sanctioned by the U.S. after Russia's annexation of Crimea. Valentina Matviyenko, the head of the group meant to visit New York, was also sanctioned, likely resulting in the cancellation of the whole trip.
August 27:
The Kremlin is lashing out at NATO's most recent move in its "near abroad." Sputnik News reports that Russia's Foreign Ministry has condemned the Alliance's inauguration of a training center in the neighboring Republic of Georgia. "We see this move as a continuation of the alliance's provocative policy, which aims to expand its geopolitical influence, often using the resources of its partner states," a ministry spokesperson has told reporters.
The Baltics are mobilizing against the possibility of near-term Russian aggression - and longer-term instability.According to Radio Free Europe, Estonia has announced plans to erect a fence along part of its common border with Russia as a way of deterring infiltration and "cases of cross-border crime, be it illegal border crossing, smuggling, [or] human trafficking," according to the country's Interior Ministry. Construction on the 110-kilometer fence is slated to begin in 2018, and to conclude by the following year.
August 28:
Several top Russian military officers are intimately involved in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the country's government has charged. According to the International Business Times, Ukraine's security service has identified four Russian generals who are fighting with - and directing the actions of - pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. The Russian flag officers were identified as Andrey Serdyukov, Alexey Zavizyon, Evgeniy Nikiforov and Sergey Yudin. The news, communicated by Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, provides further confirmation that Ukrainian forces are facing what the Council terms to be "structured military units of Russian regular army," despite official Kremlin protestations that it is not formally involved in the conflict.