Russia Reform Monitor: No. 1872

January 25:

CNN reports that hundreds of Cossacks have been enlisted by Russian authorities to serve as security for the upcoming Olympic Games in Sochi. The move is part of a long-standing pattern; the Russian government has been using Cossacks to bolster security in the Krasnodar region even before Sochi became the Olympic host city. Last year alone, roughly 1,000 Cossacks were hired by the Krasnodar governor to help control the influx of illegal Muslim immigrants into that region.

Russia’s $15 billion bailout of Ukraine could end up being a politically risky move for the Kremlin. RIA Novosti reports that a new poll by state polling center VTsIOM has found that nearly 2/5ths (39 percent) of Russians polled do not understand why Russia has opted to loan Ukraine taxpayer money. The bailout, which has already been partially disbursed to Kyiv, has been carried out by raiding the Russian government’s National Welfare Fund, which is designed to support the country’s failing pension system.

[Editors’ Note: Given the effect of Russia’s increasingly authoritarian political climate on pollsters and respondents alike, the results of public opinion surveys in Russia should be viewed with some caution.]

January 29:

Russian businessman Valery Morozov has fled the country after receiving death threats for publicly accusing Russian officials of demanding payoffs in exchange for Olympic construction contracts in Sochi. According to ABC News, Morozov’s allegations of widespread corruption surrounding the Sochi Olympics were first made public in 2010, and are among a number of claims that Sochi will be the most expensive and corrupt Olympics ever. Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister and political rival of president Vladimir Putin, has similarly claimed that an estimated $30 billion spent on Olympic projects has been lost to corruption.

RIA Novosti reports that the Russia-Belarus Union State will allot 3.2 billion rubles ($91.5 million) for joint military, defense industry, and security projects in 2014 – a significant increase from last year’s allotted 2.5 billion ruble budget, of which only 1.3 billion was spent. The 2014 plan includes joint programs in space exploration, construction of new military facilities, and the continuation of joint large-scale military drills entitled “Zapad,” or “West.”

The United States has notified its allies in NATO that Russia tested a new land-based cruise missile in direct violation of a treaty banning medium-range missiles, the New York Times reports. The Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, is widely considered to have been one of the most important steps in curbing the American and Russian arms race during the Cold War. The Obama administration has yet to formally declare that the tests – believed to have begun as early as 2008 – are a violation of the treaty, despite knowing about them for over a year.

January 30:

Russia’s anti-gay propaganda legislation has been used for the first time to fine a newspaper editor 50,000 rubles for publishing a story about a gay schoolteacher being fired, RIA Novosti reports. Alexander Suturin is editor of the Molodoi Dalnevostochnik newspaper in the Khabarovsk region, which published a story in September that stated a local teacher was assaulted and pressured into quitting his job because he is gay. The newspaper’s website bears a warning label that cautions only people above the age of 16 to enter, but Russian officials have pointed out that the legislation covers individuals up to age 18 and therefore applies in the current case.