January 18:
Russia's national currency continues to tumble. Radio Free Europe reports that the Russian ruble has fallen to nearly 80 to one U.S. dollar - the lowest point since late 2014 - as the country's economy remains buffeted by declining world oil prices and ongoing Western sanctions.
January 19:
Russia's lower house of parliament has decided not to endorse a draft bill that would introduce fines and arrests for public displays of homosexuality. Radio Free Europe reports that the Russian Duma's Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State-Building has advised the lower chamber of Russia's parliament to unanimously vote against the bill, which was initiated by the Communist Party (KPRF).
The decision, however, isn't necessarily one of legislative independence, but rather one of pragmatism. The country's ruling "United Russia" party apparently considers the law superfluous, and too close in form and substance to legislation passed in 2013 banning propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations.
The British Foreign Office is trying to stay on the Kremlin's good side. According to the Guardian newspaper, British diplomats have urged Prime Minister David Cameron not to impose new sanctions against Russia if the inquiry into the 2006 murder of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko — currently underway in London - finds the Russian state responsible. These Foreign Office representatives have cautioned that "wider interests of Anglo-Russian relations," most directly the settlement of the Syrian civil war and Russia's role in it, require restraint.
January 20:
As anti-Semitism continues to rise in Europe, Vladimir Putin is making a play for Jewish immigration.According to Radio Free Europe, Russia's president recently told the European Jewish Congress that Jews can "return" and find safe haven in Russia. The offer has been met with skepticism in the Jewish Diaspora, much of which fled Russia during Czarist - and subsequently Soviet - times in order to escape discrimination and repression.
January 21:
As sanctions continue to adversely impact the economy, Russia may be warming to the idea of ending the conflict in Ukraine. A meeting between Vladislav Surkov, a key Kremlin power broker and close associate of President Vladimir Putin, and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland has sparked rumors that the two sides are exploring some sort of endgame to the nearly two-year-old conflict. The choice of Russian interlocutors is noteworthy, observers say. "That is was Surkov, and not [Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory] Karasin — Nuland's counterpart — is very significant," Russian foreign affairs expert Vladimir Frolov, president of the LEFF Group public relations consultancy, tells The Moscow Times. "Surkov is a key decision-maker on the Donbass with the authority to make tactical adjustments to the Russian position."
The inquiry into the poisoning of Kremlin dissident Alexander Litvinenko has pointed the finger of blame squarely at the Kremlin for the 2006 murder, the Financial Times reports. The investigation’s formal report, authored by Sir Robert Owen, a high court judge acting as investigator, outlined that Russian President Vladimir Putin - as well as former FSB head Nikolai Patrushev - "probably" ordered Litvinenko's killing. According to Owen, there was "strong circumstantial evidence" - as well as ancillary proof - that pointed the finger at Russian state involvement in what was effectively an "act of nuclear terrorism."
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