May 28:
Russia's political and economic future may be in flux, but its president is still riding high in the polls. The Moscow Times, citing a new poll from the Levada Center, reports that Vladimir Putin's popularity rating remains extremely high at 86 percent - the same level as a month earlier. Moreover, sixty percent of those polled by Levada "approved of the direction that the country is taking under Putin," the paper reported.
[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.]
Worried over potential military moves by Moscow, the Baltic states are banding together for security. The Agence France-Presse reports that the defense ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have begun discussions of an independent regional air defense system to protect against possible Russian aggression. "We plan to analyze the possibility of developing a medium-range air defense system to strengthen our defense capabilities," Lithuanian Defense Minister Juozas Olekas has confirmed to reporters after a recent summit in the Lithuanian city of Panevezys. "External threats lead us to cooperate more."
The Kremlin continues to attempt to obscure the nature of its involvement in Ukraine. In the latest official move, Russian President Vladimir Putin has decreed that the killing or wounding of Russian soldiers in "special operations" - of which Ukraine is considered one - can henceforth be classified as state secrets, even during peacetime. The order, the New York Times reports, expands the authority of the Russian military to classify casualties, which were previously deemed secret only in wartime. And while Russian officials maintain that the shift isn't about Ukraine, observers say otherwise. "It was done so Ukrainian issues will be secured against unwanted attention," one human rights activist tells the Times.
May 29:
The Russian government's crackdown on NGOs has intensified considerably in recent weeks with the passage of a new law giving prosecutors and officials the power to deem foreign and international organizations "undesirable" and ban them from the Russian Federation. According to the Voice of America, the move - carried out quietly by the Kremlin - has raised an outcry among Russian civil society elements, who see it as part of an ongoing crackdown on "independent voices." "While supposedly aiming to prevent foreign and international groups from undermining national security, it is evidently meant to silence Russian groups and activists and cut them off from international networks, from their friends and partners from the international community," Tanya Lokshina of Human Rights Watch has said.
Still others, however, ascribe more mercenary motives to the legislation. "I think this is very strongly connected to the 2015 and 2016 elections," anti-Kremlin campaigner AlexeiNavally has said. "For the Kremlin, it's extremely important to eliminate any NGO's that could not only finance but could also develop programs, gather people, or be an intellectual center. Putin wants to clear the field of any organized structures."
May 30:
In retaliation for European sanctions levied in recent months on the Kremlin, the Russian government has banned nearly 90 European politicians and military leaders, Reuters reports. The list, which was formally submitted by Russia's foreign ministry to the EU in recent days, bans more than a few high profile statesmen from entering Russia. They include former British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, European Council secretary general Uwe Corsepius, and Bogdan Boursewicz, the head of Poland's senate.
Want these sent to your inbox?
Subscribe