August 26:
Despite official protestations to the contrary, the Kremlin appears to be cracking down on the West's most recognizable fast food giant. The Moscow Times reports that a total of seven McDonald's restaurants have been forced to shut down in Russia to date, due to charges of "sanitary violations" and for other "technical reasons." Eight more franchises in the restaurant chain are currently being investigated by Russian authorities. Several prominent politicians have demanded the closure of McDonald's in Russia in retaliation for recent U.S. and European pressure over Ukraine. Russian officials, however, continue to insist that the closures are nothing more than "coincidences."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has met with his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, in Minsk, Belarus as part of a European-organized summit intended to bring an end to the six-month-old conflict in Ukraine. But,the Associated Press reports, a quick resolution to the conflict is not likely. According to the news agency, Russia agreed only to "help to create an atmosphere of trust for this important and necessary process," but demurred from discussing the actual parameters of a peace plan - declaring that "this is not our business." "We in Russia cannot talk about any conditions for the cease-fire, about any agreements between Kiev, Donetsk, Luhansk," Putin told reporters, reflecting the Kremlin's official stance of plausible deniability regarding its involvement in assisting Ukraine's pro-Russia rebels with arms, materiel and training.
August 27:
RIA Novosti reports that the largely-fruitless European summit over Ukraine was followed by decidedly more productive consultations between Putin and his Belarusian and Kazakh counterparts over the Eurasian Customs Union - an economic and geopolitical project long championed by the Kremlin. "The heads of the states of the Customs Union – Vladimir Putin, Alexander Lukashenko and Nursultan Nazarbayev – continued their discussion on a wide range of urgent issues," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has confirmed.
August 28:
Russian hackers are suspected of stealing gigabytes of data from U.S. financial institutions as part of a cyber-offensive that experts believe is retaliation for Western sanctions. According to London’s Daily Mail, the FBI is now investigating an attack on JP Morgan Chase and at least one other American financial institution. The perpetrators of the breach have yet to be determined definitively, but analysts say that the circumstantial evidence strongly implicates Russia. "Russia has a policy of reactionary attacks in relation to political contexts," notes John Hultquist of Dallas-based consultancy iSight Partners.
Just two days after a summit in Minsk, Belarus that was intended to bring an end to the fighting in Ukraine, the Kremlin appears to be doubling down on its involvement in the conflict there. The White House has accused Russia of launching a new military offensive in Ukraine aimed at shoring up the flagging strategic position of pro-Russia rebels in Donetsk and Luhansk through the direct intervention of its own forces, reports the Associated Press. "These incursions indicate a Russian-directed counteroffensive is likely underway in Donetsk and Luhansk," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki has told reporters. The Russian moves include the insertion of forces some 30 miles inside Ukrainian territory, and the opening of a new southeastern front around the Ukrainian city of Novoazovsk.
August 29:
The Kremlin's counter-offensive in Ukraine is intensifying. According to London’s Telegraph newspaper, NATO officials now say that Russia has mobilized more than 1,000 troops to fight in Ukraine. Russian authorities have ridiculed the news, maintaining that there is no active Russian military presence on the ground in Ukraine. The pro-Russia separatists it supports, however, are suggesting otherwise. "Among us are fighting serving soldiers who would rather take their vacation not on a beach but with us, among brothers, who are fighting for their freedom," the British daily cites Alexander Zakharchenko, prime minister of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People’s Republic," as telling reporters.
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