April 10:
The Washington Times reports that the Kremlin has rejected suggestions from Russia’s internal security service that the country should move to ban Skype, the popular Internet video-chat service, and other web services. The recommendation, floated on April 8th by the head of the FSB’s information security department, envisioned the blockage of Skype, Gmail and Hotmail on account that they represent “a large-scale threat to Russian security.” The Russian government, however, has been quick to say that such measures are not being contemplated at this time.
April 11:
In its most recent tally, the State Department has given Russia a failing grade for its human rights record. The Moscow Times reports that Russia, together with Ukraine and Belarus, were singled out as the three European countries with the worst human rights records in 2010, according to the State Department’s recently-released survey for that year. Russian authorities have been "detaining certain demonstrators and pressuring select NGOs, independent media, some religious minorities, independent labor unions and political opposition," the report details. The study also makes note of conditions in the North Caucasus, as well as the second trial of former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky, as signs of Moscow’s pervasive abuses of individual rights and freedoms.
Despite its extensive connections in Moscow’s corridors of power, British energy giant BP is floundering in Russia. The Wall Street Journal reports that BP’s “historic” deal to explore the Russian arctic in partnership with Russia’s state-owned Rosneft is in jeopardy. That deal, cemented in January, gave BP access to Russia’s vast and energy-rich South Kara Sea. But corporate missteps by BP, including a failure to disclose the venture with Rosneft to its Russian partners in another joint venture, TNK-BP, have created massive blowback to the deal from a number of Russian oligarchs, throwing the deal – and BP’s overall standing in Russia – in jeopardy. The Kremlin, meanwhile, is watching from the sidelines; "The government has neither the right nor the intention to intervene," a spokesman for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has told reporters.
The New York Times reports that Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, a close confidante of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and one of the most powerful men in Russia, has officially stepped down as head of Rosneft, Russia’s state oil company. Sechin’s departure comes on the heels of an ultimatum leveled at Putin from President Dmitry Medvedev to remove government officials from the corporate boards of state-owned and state–controlled companies.
[Editor’s Note: Sechin’s departure from Rosneft is deeply significant. It suggests that Medvedev’s long-running efforts to establish greater transparency and accountability in the Russian state may finally be gaining traction. More significant, however, is the political context for the ouster: a deepening power struggle between the president and his mentor, Prime Minister Putin.]
April 13:
Russia’s troubling demographic trends continue to defy easy management by the Kremlin, Prime Minister Putin has admitted. Despite “painstaking” efforts by the Russian government, "the population in the country has shrunk by 500,000 people over the past five years," Putin told a forum of medical workers in Moscow in remarks carried by RIA Novosti. Among the culprits behind Russia’s continued demographic decline, according to the premier, are rampant heart disease and poor quality hospitals and medical institutions. "Life expectancy in our country is 8-10 years lower than in neighboring European countries, the death rate from cardiovascular diseases is 4-5 times higher," Putin has said.
The Russian government, however, is fighting the trend tooth and nail. According to Putin, the Kremlin is planning to allocate some $28 billion for national health care over the next two years. It will also spend $1 billion to develop better health care in Russia’s regions.
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