April 6:
Vladimir Putin is reinforcing his already-extensive power at home. The Moscow Times reports that the Russian President has signed a decree creating a new, expansive National Guard corps in Russia. Designed as a super-agency encompassing many of the country's existing security services and force ministries, the new body will be run by Viktor Zolotov, Putin's former bodyguard and the ex-chief of Interior Ministry troops. The ostensible purpose of the new body will be to combat terrorism and organized crime within the country, but observers contend that the new, expanded powers of the president will be used for a distinctly political purpose as well: to respond to gatherings and incidents of unrest ahead of this Fall's parliamentary elections.
Russian youth seeking to avoid military service are finding escape from the draft through bribery, and greedy public officials are reaping the benefits. The Moscow Times reports that the head of the military draft offices in Moscow, Alexander Simonov, has been arrested on allegations of his role in helping "scores" of young men seeking to avoid the draft do so in exchange for bribes. Simonov is charged with "large-scale bribery," a spokesperson for the Moscow city court has said, involving dozens of separate incidents worth tens of thousands of dollars. Other officials have been implicated in the fraud as well.
April 7:
Russia is progressively ceding control of the Far East to neighboring China - a move that has begun to generate concern and outrage among Russian experts and observers. "Many Russian commentators have reacted with anger to Moscow's agreement to allow China to open more businesses in the Russian Far East, a development they say will be accompanied by an influx of Chinese workers and Chinese influence over that sparsely populated Russian region," notes Paul Goble in his Window on Eurasia blog. Goble cites Moscow-based analyst Leonid Radzikhovsky as saying that the Kremlin is pursuing a policy of "hybrid surrender" over its eastern territories - a mix of political concessions and business advantages that will make "Chinese dominance" a reality there in the near future.
The rationale for this move, according to Radzikhovsky, is sobering. Russia, demographically declining in its easternmost extremities and increasingly isolated both politically and economically from the West as a result of its policies in Ukraine, "needs China. It doesn't need the Far East."
April 8:
Russian authorities are training security forces in secret in preparation for combatting possible widespread popular unrest. The Meduza web portal reports that Open Russia, an opposition group founded by former oil tycoon-turned-dissident leader Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has released footage of "a massive police training exercise, apparently simulating the state's response to a large-scale demonstration." The drills, which are said to have taken place on April 7th, involved joint forces under the direction of the newly-formed National Guard in what is the clearest indicator to date that Moscow is actively preparing to counter a "Moscow Maidan."
April 9:
Amid escalating tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Moscow is playing both sides. The Associated Press reports Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as reaffirming the Kremlin's established policy of selling weaponry to both sides in the conflict. "They would buy weapons in other countries" if Russia didn't supply them, Medvedev has explained on national television. Moreover, according to him, engagement of this sort allows Moscow to preserve "a balance" between the two parties. His remarks come amid efforts by Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top officials to serve as mediators in the long-running territorial dispute, which has flared anew in recent days.
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