April 6:
According to the Russian newspaper Izvestia, the Kremlin has begun its threatened retaliation over the U.S.-backed missile shield in Eastern Europe. The newspaper has reported that several units of the S-400 were moved recently to Kaliningrad, Russia's Baltic enclave situated between Poland and Lithuania. The missle systems have a range of 75-250 miles, reports the Associated Press, and are Russia’s most advanced surface-to-air missiles. Russia's Defense Ministry has refused to comment on the report, but Kremlin leaders in the past have warned repeatedly that a failure on the part of the U.S. and NATO to provide written guarantees for the safety of Russia’s nuclear arsenal would result in some form of "retaliation."
China's Xinhua news agency reports that several of the Russian Navy’s warships patrolling the eastern Mediterranean Sea are headed for a Syrian port. The state-owned news agency cites Russian counterpart Itar-TASS as reporting that “the port of Tartus will be visited by a big anti-submarine ship of the Northern Fleet... and an escort ship.” The ships are reportedly scheduled to stay in port for “several days,” though the source cited by Itar-TASS did not provide details. When the ships were dispatched to the Mediterranean in November, Russian officials maintained that the move was solely for scheduled exercises, and unconnected to the turmoil in Syria.
April 7:
Russian officials continue to protest the conviction of notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Russia's Foreign Ministry has accused the American justice system of “fulfilling a political order,” reports the Daily Telegraph, and even has claimed that U.S. officials used “unbearable conditions” in prison to physically and psychologically pressure Bout during the trial process. “Long before the verdict,” the Ministry said in a statement, “the authorities declared V.A. Bout a ‘merchant of death’ and little short of an international terrorist, while the prosecution was built entirely on his imputed ‘criminal intent.’” The Russian Foreign Ministry is pressing for the return of Bout, suggesting that he be extradited to serve his 25-year sentence in Russia.
April 8:
Citing an end to the statute of limitations, Russian authorities have officially dropped charges against one of only two people officially implicated in the death of Sergei Magnitsky in prison in 2008. The New York Timesreports that after insisting for nearly a year-and-a-half that the former lawyer died of natural causes, authorities in 2009 charged Larisa Litvinova, the prison doctor at the time, with “professional negligence for failing to administer appropriate medical care.” A concurrent investigation by the independent prisons watchdog group the Public Oversight Commission found that investigators pressured doctors, including Litvinova, to withhold medical treatment in an attempt to force Magnitsky to testify against his former employer, Heritage Capital, in a high-profile tax evasion case. Magnitsky later died of pancreatitis and gall bladder disease. Dmitri Kratov, the chief medical official at the prison, was the only other person to be prosecuted following the incident, and faces stiffer charges. No further arrests have been made, although officials have suggested that they plan to reopen the original tax evasion case posthumously against Magnitsky himself.
April 9:
Supporters of extremist groups in the Russian republic of Tatarstan are becoming bolder. According to the Regnum news agency, several cars outside of the major marketplace in Kazan, the regional capital, authorities found with flags bearing the symbol of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a grassroots Islamist movement that many believe both indocrinates Muslims with radical ideas and paves the way for their involvement in violent extremism. Regional militants involved with the group have claimed that the flags are the “symbol of the caliphate,” and further declared that “Tartarstan will soon become a part of the caliphate.” Until now, supporters of fundamentalist groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir have largely operated underground in Tatarstan.
April 11:
Russian president-elect Vladimir Putin has suggested that he would support a new law limiting Russian presidents to two terms in office. Putin did so at a recent media appearance in a move clearly intended to mollify political opponents leery of his return to power. However, the Associated Press reports, the current prime minister doesn’t believe that such a rule would affect him, reasoning that since legislation cannot be retroactive, his third term would be considered the first under the new restrictions. This would mean that even a fourth term theoretically would be permissible, allowing Putin to remain in office until 2024. “Once it’s passed, I will have a chance to work for the next two terms,” he said. “There’s no problem here.”
Want these sent to your inbox?
Subscribe