Russia Reform Monitor: No. 1875

February 8:

Moscow police have detained 40 people at an “unauthorized rally” in support of Russia’s independent Dozhd television station, RIA Novosti reports. The group was protesting a recent decision by major cable and satellite providers to exclude Dozhd from satellite packages. A French reporter, Nathalie Ouvaroff, was injured during the arrests.

February 9:

Outgoing U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul has claimed that the Russian government leaked his private conversations to the press throughout his two-year tenure in Moscow. McFaul leveled the accusation during an appearance on ABC’s “Meet the Press” program, the Washington Post reports. Separately, White House press secretary Jay Carney has suggested that Moscow was also behind a leaked phone call by the Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland that has caused controversy in the EU.

February 11:

According to RIA Novosti, the Russian military is planning to expand a training program that allows university students to avoid the country’s mandatory draft. Under the initiative, male students at any Russian university will be able to avoid the draft if they complete 450 classroom hours of military studies and attend a three-month training course during their undergraduate years. A scaled-down version of the program has been in effect since 2008, but limited to state universities with military departments. The slated reform will expand eligibility to students at private universities as well, and allow them to attend military training at other universities or training centers.

February 12:

In a planned address to the State Duma, Prosecutor General Yury Chaika has acknowledged that more than 14,000 people were illegally detained in Russia in the last three years. The Moscow News reports Chaika as saying that 14,261 were unlawfully investigated by Russia’s Investigative Committee since 2011, when the Committee was spun off from the Prosecutor’s Office and became a separate entity under the leadership of former Prosecutor General Alexander Bastrykin. Currently, the Federal Migration Service estimates that some 130,000 are being held across the country in pre-trial detention.

February 13:

Moscow is increasingly stepping into the void created by cooling relations between the United States and Egypt. USA Today reports that a high-level Egyptian delegation to Russia headed by army chief (and presumed presidential contender) Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has met with a warm official reception. The goal of the visit was to negotiate a military cooperation deal recently proffered by the Kremlin and worth an estimated $2 billion. But the Egyptian delegation received political assurances as well, including Russian President Vladimir Putin’s backing for al-Sisi’s now almost-certain candidacy for president.

February 14:

A new report from the SOVA Center, a Russian think-tank that monitors racism, has warned of an alarming increase in ethnically-motivated violence throughout Russia over the past year. According to the St. Petersburg Times, the study has found that, although the number of overall ethnic-based attacks decreased nationwide in 2013, murders provoked by ethnic hatred have become more prominent, stemming from recent anti-migrant and anti-LGBT legislation. The report also notes a related—and alarming—trend: despite this surge in violent attacks, prosecution of such crimes has become more relaxed.