Russia Reform Monitor: No. 1844

August 2:

When asked at a Kremlin-sponsored youth camp what his biggest discontent with the country is, Russian President Vladimir Putin named the country’s continuing corruption problem. “The first issue and first problem is the fight against corruption, which is eating our society and state system,” Putin said. Interfax reports that Putin also identified low incomes of Russian citizens and insufficient infrastructure development as ongoing problems, noting that “all this is interrelated.”

August 5:

A court in southern Russia sentenced four environmental activists to lengthy prison terms for allegedly extorting money from a real estate developer. Authorities maintain that the activists forced a real estate developer to pay them two million rubles (about $61,000) under threats of harassment. The activists denied the claims, and alleged that while in custody, they were beaten and tortured. The twist, RIA Novosti reports, is that the four activists once made controversial allegations about real estate linked to President Putin. The four activists were employees of the Gelendzhik Human Rights Center, the organization which in 2009 first reported the existence of an opulent mansion not far from Gelendzhik that came to be known as “Putin’s Palace.” The massive structure was allegedly built for then-Prime Minister Putin with numerous environmental violations. The Kremlin maintains that Putin had nothing to do with the mansion.

August 6:

On appeal, Russia’s Supreme Court reduced the jail sentence of former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky – by two months. Khodorkovsky’s family and supporters called the decision a “pathetic gesture,” reports the New York Times, and his lawyers vowed to appeal the decision. They’d called on the Court “to take an historic chance” during the appeal and release Khodorkovsky and his former business partner Platon Lebedev immediately, citing numerous inconsistencies in the original trial. Under the ruling, Khodorkovsky will be released in August of next year.

August 7:

One of Russia’s most popular priests, considered a “dissident” for his criticism of the Orthodox Church, was stabbed to death in the town of Pskov. The Mosow Times reports that the priest, Pavel Adelgeim, was found by his wife stabbed through the heart. Authorities believe that the suspect, Sergei Pchelintsev, knew Adelgeim because he’d sought help from the priest for mental illness. Adelgeim was known for speaking against what he saw as the “rigid hierarchy of the resurgent Orthodox Church,” claiming that “the Russian Orthodox church has turned to the KGB’s ideology department.” He was demoted not long after. Adelgeim gained further notoriety by voicing his support for Pussy Riot after the band’s members were charged with hooliganism for performing a “punk prayer” in a Moscow Cathedral. “What these women did had a providential effect,” he insisted, “as it unmasked the Orthodox Church’s unnatural bond with the Russian state.”

August 8:

U.S. President Barack Obama did cancel his pre-G20 meeting with Vladimir Putin. Moreover, Bloomberg reports, several White House officials suggest the cancellation was planned even before the Kremlin granted asylum to Edward Snowden, because “Putin hasn’t responded to a series of U.S. initiatives.” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the decision to cancel the summit was the result of differences with the Kremlin “over missile defense, trade, human rights, and approaches to Iran and Syria, as well as the standoff over Snowden.” Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov noted that his government is "disappointed” by the decision, adding that “this problem underlines that the U.S. is still not ready to build relations with Russia on an equal basis.”

August 9:

Russia’s controversial new law regarding gay propaganda now has the International Olympic Committee asking questions, the BBC reports. After one official suggested that the new law, which makes it illegal to give anyone under 18 information about homosexuality, will apply to all those participating in the 2014 Sochi Olympics, rights activists renewed calls for a boycott. Jacques Rogge, the head of the IOC, officially requested clarification from the Kremlin, but noted that “we don’t think it is a fundamental issue, more a translation issue.” “This is about a couple of paragraphs,” he added. “We don’t understand all the details because of probably a difficulty in translation.” He concluded by noting that under the Olympic charter, sport was a “human right and should be available to all regardless of race, sex, (or) sexual orientation.”