Russia Reform Monitor: No. 1586

August 22:

A judge in the Siberian city of Chita, where Yukos oil company founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky is serving an eight-year prison sentence for tax evasion and fraud, has rejected the jailed tycoon’s request for parole, the Financial Times reports. The judge said Khodorkovsky, who has served over half of his eight-year jail term, did not “deserve conditional release” because he had flouted prison rules by omitting to join professional training, including sewing classes, while in jail. In response, Khodorkovsky issued a statement saying: “The last five years have relieved me of any illusions about the Russian judicial system.”

Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has told President Dmitry Medvedev that the withdrawal of Russian army units involved in “operation to force Georgia to peace” has been completed, NEWSru.com reports. The Russian-Georgian ceasefire plan brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy requires Moscow to pull its military forces back to where they were prior to the five-day conflict in August.

Meanwhile, Georgia denied Russian troops have withdrawn from its territory, and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he is “deeply concerned” by what he sees as Russia’s failure to live up completely to its pledges to pull withdraw its troops from Georgia. According to Agence France-Presse, Miliband called on Russia to “fully and speedily” take steps to meet its obligations under the ceasefire plan. The White House said U.S. President George W. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed in a telephone call that Russia is “not in compliance” with the ceasefire, AFP reports.


August 23:

Novayagazeta.ru reports that there have been around 200 racially motivated attacks in Russia this year, although human rights activists say radical nationalist groups have been less active this summer. Alexander Brod, head of the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights, told Interfax that 85 people were killed and 230 seriously injured in the attacks, a majority of which took place in Moscow and its suburbs, St. Petersburg and the Sverdlovsk and Ulyanovsk oblasts.

The BBC reports that Russia has defended plans to keep its forces in the key Georgian port of Poti, saying this does not violate the terms of the French-brokered ceasefire deal. Moscow intends to keep 2,600 “peacekeeping” troops in “buffer zones” around Abkhazia and South Ossetia, insisting that previous peacekeeping deals permit such zones, which the U.S., France and Britain say violate the ceasefire terms. The deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff, Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, admitted that Poti, 20 miles south of Abkhazia, lies outside the zones, but accused Georgia of preparing acts of sabotage in South Ossetia and preparing troops for “further actions.” He also warned that Russia might enlarge its peacekeeping force if the U.S. starts rearming Georgia’s army.


August 25:

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said Russia sees no advantages to World Trade Organization (WTO) membership and should freeze some commitments made during entry talks, Reuters reports. “We propose continuing negotiations within the framework of the working group on WTO accession, but informing our partners of the need to exit some agreements that currently oppose the interests of the Russian Federation,” Putin told a government meeting. “We don’t feel or see any advantages from membership, if they exist at all. But we are carrying the burden.” Agriculture is particularly affected, he said.


August 26:

President Dmitry Medvedev has recognized the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states just one day after Russia’s parliament endorsed non-binding resolutions urging him to do so. According to NEWSru.com, Medvedev’s statement was broadcast on Russia’s state television channels. Medvedev also accused the government of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili of genocide.