March 25:
Russia's growing ties to Argentina are generating jitters on the Falkland Islands. CNBC reports that the British government is sending supplemental military aid to the island colony in response to worries there that Argentina, with new political and military backing from the Russian government, might soon attempt an attack to reclaim the territory.
March 27:
The Kremlin is poised to dramatically tighten its control over the internet. Newsweek, citing Russian dailyVedemosti, reports that Russia's communications ministry is preparing to roll out a new plan imposing significantly stricter oversight of - and restrictions upon - access to the world-wide web available to ordinary Russians. The plan, which is expected to be unveiled by Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov in coming days, is reportedly based upon China's prevailing internet strategy, which involves "strict state control over all the key elements of the infrastructure."
The Russian government has long played coy about its role in the ongoing instability in neighboring Ukraine, and apparently this plausible deniability extends to the Russian Orthodox Church as well. The Moscow Timesreports that the Church has suspended a Urals priest who publicly blessed fighters heading to eastern Ukraine. Vladimir Zaytsev, from Yekaterinburg, was suspended for the move because it "contradicted the position of the Russian Orthodox Church regarding what is happening in Ukraine," church authorities said in an official statement.
March 29:
The Kremlin is taking a bow for improving domestic conditions, according to The Moscow Times. A new governmental study, released by authorities on March 29th to shore up support for Russian President Vladimir Putin's campaign promises, highlights improved societal health as a result of a decline in the number of smokers in Russia, as well as a decrease in alcohol consumption. Only 28.3 percent of Russians smoked in 2013, the study notes - down from 33.7 percent in 2008. Additionally, annual alcohol consumption declined from 16.2 liters per person in 2008 to 11.6 liters in 2013.
Continued Russian support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria is still roiling Moscow's relations with the rest of the Muslim World. Saudi Arabia, for one, has blasted a new Russian proposal to end the four-year-old civil war in Syria, terming the Kremlin complicit in the bloodshed there. "Russia has been supplying the Syrian regime with the weapons that Bashar Al-Assad uses to kill his own people," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud El-Faisal has said publicly in comments carried by Egypt's Al-Ahram Weekly.
Russia's ongoing economic troubles are causing a veritable exodus of the country's rich. London's Telegraphnewspaper cites a new report by financial firm Campden Heath, which notes an influx of Russian oligarchs into the United Kingdom. "Data showed a 69pc increase in Russian applications for UK investor visas in the first nine months of 2014, compared to 2013," the paper reports.
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