Russia Reform Monitor: No. 1773

March 15:

The Obama administration is seeking to free $50 million in postponed aid to "promote democracy and civil society" in Russia. According to the New York Times, the money originated from an investment program known as the SEED (Supporting Eastern European Democracy) Act, created during the George H.W. Bush administration in 1989. The money was invested into countries of the former Soviet bloc in order to aid their progression to market economies.

However, the initiative has garnered resistance from Russian opposition elements, who worry that reinvesting the money now would encourage further accusations from the Kremlin that the U.S. is attempting to interfere in Russian politics. “It’s very easy to present this as a kind of subversive activity,” says Sergei Mitrokhin of the liberal "Yabloko" party. “Unfortunately, yes, this initiative would rather harm civil society and the opposition in Russia more than it would help.”


March 18:

Another 100 protestors have been arrested at a rally held near Moscow’s largest television tower at Ostankino.Reuters reports that over 500 people had gathered to condemn what they consider to be the Kremlin’s manipulation of the press, and to “mourn the death of a free press in Russia.” Opposition leaders Boris Nemtsov and Sergei Udaltsov were both arrested within minutes of their arrival at the demonstration, which had failed to obtain city approval. Activists have planned the next large protest for May 6th, the day before Vladimir Putin’s inauguration.

Statistics from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute suggest that Russia is largely responsible for the surge in weapons imports to Syria from 2007-2011. Damascus imported almost six times more weapons from 2007-2011 than in the previous five-year period, according to the Associated Press, and Russia accounted for 72 percent of that total. Shipments included air defense systems and anti-ship missiles, and outstanding orders include MIG-29 combat aircraft and Yak-130 light combat aircraft. One analyst noted that while the deliveries have no direct impact on the country’s ongoing political unrest, they allow for the regime’s increased ability to prevent intervention.


March 20:

Russia's Foreign Ministry is scrambling to knock down news reports that it had sent a team of anti-terrorism troops to the Syrian port of Tartus to assist the Assad regime in its suppression of domestic protests there. According to ABC news, two Russian news outlets, Interfax and RIA Novosti, carried the story, leading Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to publicly ridicule them as “fairy tales.” Lavrov insisted that the Russian tanker in question, the Iman, was only carrying security units to guard against piracy, in accordance with standard procedure for ships operating in the Gulf of Aden.


March 21:

The Kremlin’s proposed agreement with NATO to establish a hub for Afghan transit in the Volga region city of Ulyanovsk has prompted protests at home. According to RIA Novosti, the backlash is a product of Moscow’s recent anti-Western rhetoric, but the deal is to the benefit of both sides. The “hysteria” at the deal “is no surprise given the anti-Western public campaign carried out by the Kremlin,” the news agency cites Alexander Khramchikhin of the Institute of Political and Military Analysis as saying. “The Kremlin is now facing the consequences of its own propaganda intended exclusively for domestic consumption.” In reality, however, the agreement will aid Moscow in the effort to stop the heroin flow from Afghanistan into Russia and the Central Asian republics, lend a stabilizing effect to relations between the Kremlin and the West, and could bring in tens of millions of dollars in revenue to boot. Russia’s leaders, moreover, have refuted claims that the transport hub would threaten Russia’s national security and interests, as well as fears that the deal would create another drug-trafficking route into the country. “Unfortunately,” said retired Major General Vagif Guseinov, head of the Institute of Strategic Studies and Analysis, “the drug mafia has enough transit routes throughout our country, and it does not need to seek assistance from NATO.”