July 20:
Ukrainian separatists in the south and east of the country are coming under increasingly assertive and direct Kremlin control as the fighting there rages on. “Last week the Russian-backed “Donetsk People’s Republic” became even more Russian-led,” writes analyst Irena Chalupa in a July 17th commentary for the Atlantic Council. That is because, she notes, “The new ‘deputy prime minister for state security’ in the separatists’ self-declared republic [in Donetsk] is Lieutenant General Vladimir Antyufeyev, 63, a longtime Russian police and special operations commander who since at least 1991 has been a key leader of violent campaigns by Moscow to dominate Latvia, Moldova, and Georgia.”
July 22:
As the investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 deepens, European nations are actively contemplating the imposition of further punitive sanctions against Russia. The Financial Times reports that a group of British officials are leading the effort to garner consensus among EU states for an “escalation” of pressure against the Kremlin in response to the incident - a ramping up that will presumably culminate in “phase three” sanctions targeting broad sectors of the Russian economy. The British effort, however, faces resistance from France, which still hopes to conclude its existing multibillion dollar contract to deliver theMistral warship to Moscow, as well as from Germany, which has urged “restraint” in the application of pressure.
The Kremlin’s assault on independent media in Russia continues apace. The Moscow Times reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a bill banning advertising on paid TV channels - a move that will make “monopolization on the market of television advertising unavoidable” and place about 150 of the 270 cable and satellite channels in Russia “on the brink of survival.” The OSCE has criticized the new bill, saying it will “further limit media pluralism and free flow of information in Russia.”
Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, and the resulting Western sanctions, ultimately “may cost Russians as much as one-fifth of their income,” a top economic expert has estimated. In an interview with Itar-TASS, Alexei Kudrin - a close confidante of President Putin who served as Russia’s finance minister from 2000 to 2011 - added that any further Russian military intervention in Eastern Ukraine “could cause uncontrolled risks in economic, military and political spheres.”
July 23:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law designating his $51 billion Olympic project in Sochi and the recently-annexed Crimean Peninsula as gambling zones, The Moscow Times reports. The law, aimed at stimulating economic growth in the struggling regions, is predicted to add $718 million to Crimea’s budget annually. The two regions will join Azov-City, Kaliningrad, Primorye, and the republic of Altai as the only officially designated gambling zones in Russia.
Amid tightening Western sanctions on Russia in the wake of the downing of MH17, a growing chorus of German politicians are calling for the country to be stripped of the 2018 World Cup. Deutche Welle reportsPeter Bleuth, the state interior minister for the state of Hesse, has said that “if [Russian President Vladimir] Putin doesn't actively cooperate on clearing up the plane crash, the football World Cup in Russia in 2018 is unimaginable.” Michael Fuchs, the deputy head of the Christian Democratic Party of Chancellor Angela Merkel, has said much the same, suggesting that removing Russia as the host of the upcoming sporting event might have a stronger impact than sanctions have had so far.
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