July 26:
Analysts continue to debate the reasons for recent attacks that have targeted Tatarstan’s Muslim leaders, according to Russkiy Reportor. Some have argued that the assassination attempts were a business dispute: the result of the local mufti’s domination of the Hajj industry, in which Muslim citizens seeking to purchase tours to Mecca and Medina had to buy them from his company, known as “Tatar business world.” Other analysts, however, have insisted that the assassination attempts were terrorist acts which aimed to destabilize the normally peaceful region. Still others have placed the blame on the mufti’s public support for traditional Islam - a preference which has antagonized more extreme Muslims operating in the region. Several suspects have been detained in connection with the attacks, but no person or group has as yet admitted responsibility.
July 27:
The BBC reports that Russia’s defense ministry has denied claims that it is planning naval bases in Cuba, the Seychelles, and Vietnam. “Issues concerning international relations are not part of the responsibilities of the commander-in-chief of the navy,” the ministry said after reports surfaced that Vice Admiral Viktor Chirkov revealed the plans in an interview. Financial instability in 1991 prompted Russia to close most of its bases abroad, leaving it with only two current bases, in Sevastopol, Ukraine, and the Syrian port of Tartus.
July 28:
Tensions remain high between Russia and Japan over islands disputed since World War II. Japan continues to demand that Russia turn over four islands at the south end of the Kuril chain, which it occupied at the end of the war in 1946. There has been no progress in the talks, Reuters reports, and frustration was clear between the two countries at a joint conference ahead of a summit of Asian states. Russian officials rejected Japan’s criticism of former president and current prime minister Dmitry Medvedev’s official trips to the islands in 2010 and again in July of this year. Russian officials, however, are standing firm. “We cannot accept the protests that have been heard from Tokyo about this,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said. “Russian authorities are responsible for improving the socioeconomic situation in this part of the Russian Federation and we will continue to do this.”
July 30:
Russia officially began construction on one of its newest generation submarines, as President Vladimir Putin vowed to increase the country's nuclear naval forces. The new sub is the fourth Borei class submarine, and is designed to carry the Bulava, one of Russia’s newest intercontinental nuclear missiles. Putin announced that the country will have eight of the subs by 2020, in order to “protect Moscow’s interests in the icy North.” Reuters reports that the Kremlin plans to submit an international claim by the end of this year requesting that the map of the Arctic be redrawn to give Russia a larger percentage of territory. The region is estimated to hold 90 billion barrels of oil and as much as a third of the world’s untapped gas stores.
July 31:
Officials in Tatarstan are taking the first steps to change the law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations,” following an attack on July 19th. The primary goal of the changes, according to KazanWeek, is to restrict imams educated abroad from holding religious positions in the Russian republic. Experts say that the current version of the bill will allow Kazan officials to “filter” religious ministers in order to prevent religious extremists from gaining influence in the region. Numerous officials and analysts voiced support for the proposed bill, although the Chairman of the Russian Association of Muslim Ulemas has told Tema Kazan
that “we should not discuss it publicly, the organization must address such issues within themselves. This initiative should be taken carefully and scrupulously, as it can cause a wave of criticism by young Muslims.”
August 1: