Russia Reform Monitor: No. 1869

January 12:

Reuters reports that, in a sign of their ongoing strategic partnership, Moscow and Tehran are negotiating a massive oil-for-goods swap. The deal, said to be worth as much as $1.5 billion monthly, would represent a major boon to Iran’s ailing economy, allowing the Islamic Republic to boost oil sales impacted in recent years by Western sanctions. "Good progress is being made at the moment with strong chances of success," the news agency cites a Russian source as saying. "We are discussing the details and the date of signing a deal depends on those details."

January 13:

Time magazine reports that American journalist David Satter has been denied a Russian visa and banned from the country – the first U.S. reporter to be thus expelled since the end of the Cold War. After working in Russia for five months as an adviser for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Satter’s visa was denied and he was expelled with no explanation. However, Satter is a well-known long-time critic of the Kremlin, and the author of three books on Russian politics and corruption. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has filed a formal protest with the Russian Foreign Ministry in Satter’s case.

The Internet age is passing much of Russia by, a new study commissioned by the Russian government has found. RIA Novosti reports that the survey, conducted by the country’s Communications and Press Ministry, found citizens in over 1/3 or Russia’s estimated 17,500 small towns and villages remain without access to the Internet. Moreover, nearly 10% of these locales likewise have no cellular phone coverage. The statistics represent a challenge for the Kremlin, which has pledged to provide access to the World-Wide-Web for 93% of its population by the year 2018.

January 14:

Recently-expelled American journalist and scholar David Satter is hitting back at the Kremlin. Writing in the pages of the Wall Street Journal, Satter notes that his expulsion, demanded by “competent organs” (diplomatic verbiage for Russia’s security services), underscores a larger unease on the part of the Russian government of the ability of journalists to expose its unsavory conduct and excesses, particularly that “President Putin and a small group of his longtime cronies exercise not only unchallenged political power in Russia, they also control the country's most valuable economic assets.” Moreover, writes Satter, the Kremlin faces a slew of unanswered questions regarding its human rights record, the unexplained killings of vocal opponents, and critical introspection into the Soviet period – questions that now have new salience as the world turns its eyes to the Sochi Olympics.

Fresh off its $15 billion bailout of Ukraine, the Russian government is poised to expand its influence in another Eastern European state. According to the Financial Times, Moscow may soon lend nearly $14 billion to Hungary to finance the construction of two additional reactors at the country’s only nuclear plant, situated outside of Budapest. The deal follows a public tilt toward Moscow by Hungarian premier Viktor Orban, who previously had gone on record as criticizing his predecessors for failing to loosen Russia’s energy grip on the country.

Russian president Vladimir Putin’s controversial “gay propaganda” law has drawn public criticism from a number of notables in the arts and sciences. Russia Today reports that twenty-seven Nobel Laureates have penned an open letter to Putin urging him to overturn the bill and “embrace the 21st century humanitarian, political and inclusive” ideals of former President Mikhail Gorbachev. The letter was organized by renowned actor Ian McKellen and famous chemist Sir Harry Kroto.