April 1:
The House of Representatives has passed a resolution suggesting Russian government involvement in the 2006 radiation poisoning death of ex-Federal Security Service officer Alexander Litvinenko in London. “The murder of Alexander Litvinenko clearly raises disturbing questions about how elements of the Russian Government appear to deal with their enemies and perceived threats,” said Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The resolution calls on President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to urge Russian President Vladimir Putin and President-elect Dmitry Medvedev to cooperate with British authorities in “finding answers to ensure the safety and security of all our citizens.”
April 2:
Yelena Tregubova, the former Kommersant correspondent who fled Russia saying her life was in danger because of her criticism of the Kremlin, has told Reuters that Britain has granted her political asylum. She said she had applied for asylum “based on certain threats which led me to believe that it would be dangerous for me to return home... It is directly linked to my professional activities. I am 100 percent convinced of that.” Tregubova published a book that disclosed details of private conversations with senior politicians, including a dinner with Vladimir Putin before he became Russian president. She claimed an explosion that caused minor damage outside the door of her Moscow apartment in 2004 was an attempt to kill her.
April 4:
Oksana Chelysheva, director of the Nizhny Novgorod Foundation for the Promotion of Tolerance, has called on President Bush, who will meet with President Putin in Sochi on April 6th, not to “excuse our oppressors, who act in the name of Putin.” “Thousands of Russians like myself have been speaking out and standing up for liberty and paying a heavy price,” Chelysheva wrote in the International Herald Tribune. “Some of us, like Anna Politkovskaya, have paid the ultimate price. The rest of us have suffered threats, defamation in the media, physical assault, fabricated prosecution and interference or obstruction of our work.” Police in Nizhny Novgorod raided the office of Chelysheva’s foundation on March 20th, confiscating all its equipment.
Grigory Belonuchkin, a political expert with the Panorama Analytical Center who reported on violations in recent Russian elections and even took the electoral commission to court, has been assaulted in the city of Dolgoprudny, 20 kilometers north of Moscow. The Other Russia opposition coalition reports that Belonuchkin was beaten up by unknown assailants who lured him from his apartment by calling him up and asking him to meet them to discuss an important matter. According to the coalition’s website, Belonuchkin believes the attack is connected with his outspoken criticism of violations during the December 2007 State Duma elections.
Russia will sell three submarines to Venezuela in a deal to be signed when President Hugo Chavez visits Moscow next month, Reuters reports. Interfax cited an unnamed military-industrial official as saying that the subs would be diesel-electric models, of the “Varshavyanka" class, known under NATO terms as a Kilo-class sub. Caracas already has purchased some $3 billion in arms from Russia, including military helicopters, Kalashnikov rifles, Sukhoi fighter jets and other weaponry.
April 5:
Members of Russia’s liberal opposition, who are holding a conference in St. Petersburg, have resolved to form a broad coalition movement, NEWSru.com reports. Conference delegates approved a resolution stating that is possible and necessary to unite Russia’s democratic forces. The resolution also calls for “fundamental democratization,” including “the abolition of censorship” and “restoration of free media,” a lifting of restrictions on freedom of assembly and political activity and the “restoration of a real separation of power and federalism.”
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