April 22:
Russia has appointed a Soviet-era police general as its new human rights czar, the New York Times reports. Tatyana Moskalkova, a long-time Soviet (and then Russian) police and Interior Ministry official, was formally appointed by the Russian parliament as the country's human rights ombudsman in recent days.
The appointment has a range of critics crying foul. KPRF head Vladimir Zhirinovsky, usually sympathetic to the Kremlin, blasted the move as a mockery of the post, while Lev Ponomaryov of the "For Human Rights" movement said that Moskalkova's background will make it impossible for her to "communicate" with the country's human rights watchdog groups. For her part, Moskalkova has made clear that she sees her mandate as a strategic one aimed as much at protecting the Kremlin as at investigating abuses. "Today, human rights issues are actively exploited by Western and American structures to manipulate, blackmail and attempt to destabilize and pressure Russia," she has said.
April 23:
As economic conditions continue to deteriorate, poverty is growing in Russia. "Three million more Russians fell below the poverty line last year - meaning they made less than 9,452 rubles, or $180, a month - pushing the total to more than 19 million," Canada's CBC reports. Some analysts now estimate the poverty rate in Russia to be as high as 25 percent.
April 25:
The Obama administration is standing firm on its sanctions policy toward Russia - for now. "I want good relations with Russia and have invested a lot in good relations with Russia but we need to keep sanctions on Russia in place until Russia fully implements the Minsk agreements," President Obama told reporters during a recent visit to Hanover, Germany in comments carried by Reuters.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: The President's comments mark a subtle but significant shift in U.S. policy. Administration officials have previously said that U.S. sanctions will be maintained until the Crimean Peninsula - which Russia annexed in 2014 - was returned to Ukrainian control. Notably, however, the Minsk II agreement signed by Russia and Ukraine last year, and which President Obama has alluded to as the governing standard for U.S. sanctions policy, contains no such requirement.]
April 26:
Russian authorities are moving to tighten their control over Crimea's Tatar community. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports that the region's Supreme Court has formally ruled that the Mejlis, the executive council of Crimean Tatars, is an extremist organization, and banned it from operating.
The decision is being condemned by foreign powers. "This action is the latest in a series of abuses perpetrated by de facto authorities against those in Crimea who oppose the occupation, including Crimean Tatars and members of other ethnic and religious minorities in Crimea," State Department spokesman John Kirby has said said. Tatar officials, meanwhile, have said that they plan to move the Mejlis to Ukraine and continue to have the body operate from Ukrainian soil.
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