Russia Reform Monitor: No. 1743

August 5:

Russia's Interior Minister, Rashid Nurgaliyev, has argued in favor of imposing curbs on the Internet as a means of counteracting the influence of extremist groups. “Young people are more subject to outside exposure and influence, and it is their hands that carry out the boldest and most cynical crimes," Radio Free Europe cites Nurgaliyev as telling reporters. “We must protect our youth from this.” There are an estimated 7,500 extremist sites currently located in Russia, and the country's Interior Ministry is seeking ways to better monitor existing and new online media. Bloggers, however, have responded to Nurgaliyev's suggestion with suspicion; although the Russian government has said that such measures, if implemented, would be used strictly to combat extremism, online activists fear that new limitations could in practice be used to target nearly anyone viewed as a threat to the government.

Recent Gallup polls have suggested that Russia's leadership, while popular at home, is decidedly less so abroad. Although the former Soviet states are the most likely to approve of the Kremlin, Gallup reports, only 27 percent of worldwide audiences approve of Russia’s leaders, dipping as low as 21 percent in both Asia and Europe. Outside of the former Soviet Union, Russia finds the greatest support among sub-Saharan African countries, including Mali (84 percent approval), Tanzania (71 percent), Burkina Faso (68 percent), and Sierra Leone (68 percent), though its median approval rating in the region is only 48 percent. In comparison, the Obama administration in 2010 garnered a 68 percent median approval rating among the same countries.


August 8:

The third anniversary of the Russian-Georgian war continues to inflame tensions between the Moscow and Tbilisi. According to RIA Novosti, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili “a pathology and anomaly of the Georgian people and, moreover... ill-bred.” The statement comes on the heels of President Medvedev's assertion that he would “never forgive” Saakashvili for the deaths of Russian peacekeepers in the 2008 conflict, adding that he would back an international tribunal for the Georgian leader. Saakashvili’s government, for its part, has fired back with a statement that “Russia doesn’t recognize the peace agreement and officially wants to overthrow our government.”


August 9:

Despite recent tensions between the Kremlin and White House, forces from the United States, Canada, and Russia have met for the second time to hold annual military exercises in the airspace over Alaska. The Washington Post reports that the exercise, called "Vigilant Eagle," is designed to simulate a crisis scenario requiring coordination between the three countries. This year's problem set included an American passenger plan flying over Alaska that was determined unresponsive to air traffic controllers, requiring Air Force F-15 Eagles to pull alongside the airplane to gain control. The response was then repeated with Russian airliners.


August 11:

Russian forces have eliminated a top commander in Dagestan's Islamist insurgency, the Agence France Presse reports. According to official statements from Moscow, Abdullah Magomedaliev - “the leader of a battalion specialized in spectacular attacks against the security forces” - was killed during a security operation in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala. Magomedaliev is believed to be responsible for planning an attack against an interior ministry base in Bouinaksk in September 2010 which killed 56 troops.