May 11:
Russia's population is both increasingly anti-American and loyal to the Putin regime, a new survey of elite opinion has found. The 2016 Hamilton College Levitt Poll, based on in-person interviews of 243 Russian officials, scholars and journalists, notes a surge in anti-American sentiment, with views of America as a "threat to Russia’s national security" to be "the highest since 1993" at nearly 81 percent. At the same time, "[a] preference for 'the current political system' has been increasing over time, from less than 25% in 2004 to more than 40% now." Other notable findings of the study include the fact that an overwhelming majority of respondents (82/3 percent) believe that Russia has "expansive national interests" that extend far beyond the country's borders.
May 12:
A very candid New York Times interview with Girgory Rodchenko, the former Director of the Sochi Anti-Doping Laboratory, has fanned further controversy over the recent allegations of widespread and systematic doping by Russian athletes at the last Olympic Games, which were held in Russia. Fifteen athletes are presumed to be involved in the malfeasance, three of whom won gold medals during the Sochi Games. Following the conclusion of the Games, Rodchenko was awarded the prestigious Order of Friendship by Russian President Vladimir Putin himself. But after an investigation conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) last year found Rodchenko to be the linchpin in a state-sponsored doping scheme, he fled to Los Angeles with the help of American filmmaker Brian Fogel. Rodchenko says he feared for his life, after two of his colleagues at the laboratory were mysteriously found dead in February. His insider information sheds light on one of the most elaborate and sophisticated doping operations in the history of international sports competition.
Radio Free Europe has gone dark in Crimea. The news outlet reports that local authorities on the Peninsula, which Russia unilaterally annexed in the spring of 2014, have blocked access to its Crimea news web portal, Krym.Realii. RFE/RL's Editor-in-chief, Nenad Pejic, has called the blackout an "aggressive attack" that impinges on "the public's fundamental right to access free information."
Russian authorities, for their part, have defended their actions, saying that only one article on the site been censored: an interview with the head of the Crimean Tatar self-governing body, known as the Mejlis. Moreover, according to officials, this was done in line with the Russian government's recent designation of the Mejlis as an extremist organization.
Growing fear of persecution from authorities among ordinary Russians has made polling within the country increasingly unreliable, a leading sociologist has confirmed. In an interview with the Moskovsky Komsomoletsnewspaper, Sergei Belanovsky of the Moscow Center for Strategic Research detailed the effects of the growing climate of repression and fear permeating Russian society on how ordinary citizens respond to inquiries about their beliefs and values. "Signs [of this fear] are numerous," Belanovsky says. "Very short answers, a reticence to engage in conversation, answers like 'I don't know' and so forth."
The causes of the fear, according to Belanovsky, are manifold. They include "the aggressiveness of our television" as well as "rhetoric such as 'he who is not with us is against us.'" "People apparently fear that they could be classified as a 'fifth column,' the existence of which Putin has announced to the whole country."
May 13:
According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany's national intelligence agency, Moscow is behind a massive recent cyber attack that left a key network of the country's parliament, the Bundestag, down for days. Reuters reports that German intelligence officials have identified the hacker group Sofacy, which is connected to Russian intelligence, as being responsible for the massive attack. The attack comes amid rising tensions between Russia and Germany over Ukraine and Russian policy in Syria.
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