December 15:
Several prominent opposition leaders were arrested along with dozens of activists in unsanctioned protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The protests were held to mark the first anniversary of the widespread demonstrations sparked by last year’s controversial parliamentary elections, reports Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and police claimed about 700 people were in attendance, while independent estimates neared 2,000 participants. Sergei Udaltsov and Aleksei Navalny were among those arrested and held for several hours at a Moscow police station before being released without charges. Similar demonstrations took place in Yekaterinburg, Samara, Perm, and several other Russian cities. Activist leaders urged those in attendance not to allow the movement to die out, despite the Kremlin’s ongoing crackdown on dissenters.
December 17:
Despite losing contracts to the unrest in the Middle East, Russian arms exports reached a record $14 billion in 2012. The total makes Russia the world’s second biggest arms exporter, Reuters reports, and is largely the result of new contracts with India, Vietnam, and other Southeast Asian nations looking to safeguard themselves against China’s growing military threat. Although Putin announced new export contracts this year worth over $15 billion, there have been no new deals made with Syria, despite the Kremlin’s insistence that such contracts do not violate international law. State-owned exporter Rosoboronexport is estimated to be responsible for about 80 percent of this year’s sales.
December 18:
Russian warships are currently en route to the Mediterranean in case the evacuation of Russian citizens from Syria becomes necessary. The announcement came days after two Russian citizens were kidnapped in Syria’s Latakia province, reports the Voice of America, which was only the latest in a recent string of kidnappings by agents from both sides of the ongoing conflict. Russian officials plan to call for the evacuation if the government in Damascus falls.
December 19:
Russia’s parliament wasted no time in its retaliation against the recent passing of the Magnitsky Act in the U.S. Congress. The Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, gave preliminary approval to legislation that will ban American adoptions of Russian children. The U.S. is by far the biggest source of foreign adoptions of Russian children, reports the Wall Street Journal, and is responsible for 11,000 adoptions since 2006. Several Russian officials have already spoken out against the bill, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who stated that the ban “is wrong, and I’m confident that the State Duma will in the end make the right decision.” Many expect that even if the bill makes it through the required third reading in the Duma and the upper house of parliament, President Putin will refuse to sign it into effect. Other retaliatory measures introduced by the Duma include a ban on U.S.-funded NGOs from political activity in Russia.
December 21:
The bill banning U.S. adoptions easily passed through the final reading in Russia’s Duma, prompting American officials to urge Moscow “not to play politics with the lives of orphans.” “If it becomes law,” said American ambassador Michael McFaul, “the legislation passed today will needlessly remove the path to families for hundreds of Russian children each year.” Russian President Vladimir Putin still hasn’t revealed his position on the ban, despite repeated questions on the subject at his annual news conference. The New York Times reports that the ban is expected to be voted on in the upper house of parliament within a week, and officials predict it will find widespread support.
Russia’s energy disputes with Ukraine and Belarus remain ongoing, as the Kremlin denied Belarussian claims that Russia will increase its crude oil supplies to Minsk next year. Reuters reports that Russia in fact plans to cut supplies to Belarus, from the current level of 21.5 million tons to 18.5 million, though no official agreement has been signed. Days later, President Putin criticized Ukrainian leaders for their failure to agree to a deal which will lease Ukraine’s pipeline network to Moscow and the European Union in exchange for cheaper gas. Energy disputes in the last decade between Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine have several times led to the halt of Russian oil and gas supplies to Central and Western Europe.