Russia Reform Monitor: No. 2086

July 26:

In what promises to be a controversial move for the Kremlin, Russian state oil giant Rosneft has applied to participate in the privatization of the Bashneft oil company. According to Russian law, companies that are at least 25 percent owned by the state are not allowed to participate in privatization deals. While Rosneft is not technically owned by the government, its parent company, Rosneftegaz, is, sparking conflict among government officials who fear Rosneft's participation would "only be moving the same money around," reportsThe Moscow Times.

July 27:

Russia's invasive new counterterrorism laws are generating an outcry from ordinary citizens. The Moscow Times reports that the so-called "Yarovaya Package" of legislation - which includes onerous new restrictions and penalties for online activism that is deemed "extremist" - has brought people out into the streets in a smattering of public protests in places like Novosibiirsk. But in Russia's two largest cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg, judicial action has prevented people from openly opposing the controversial new measure, with city courts in both places striking down petitions for public protests in opposition to "Yarovaya."

Did Russia hack the Democratic National Committee? A growing number of U.S. intelligence professionals appear to believe so. The New York Times reports that American spy agencies have "high confidence" that controversial DNC emails released during the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia were pilfered by hackers connected to the Russian government. The emails were part of a data dump orchestrated by online group WikiLeaks, and investigators believe that the source behind them was an agent of Russia's military intelligence service, the GRU.

July 28:

Ahead of September's upcoming elections, Vladimir Putin is cleaning house. According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Russian president has sacked four regional governors, and appointed new envoys to three of the country's eight Federal Districts, as well as accepting the resignation of the head of the Federal Customs Service. The move marks "a continuation of a push to tighten his grip on power" by Putin, RFE/RL notes, given that the replacements and new appointments draw heavily on security services personnel, orsiloviki, beholden to him personally.

July 29:

Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent governmental reshuffle entails at least one big change in diplomacy,gazeta.ru reports. Russia's longstanding envoy to Ukraine, Mikhail Zurabov, has been removed from his post and replaced by Mikhail Babich, the Kremlin's envoy to the Volga Federal District. The move is more than simply symbolic; Zurabov, who was Russia's man in Kyiv for some six years, is said to have had relatively cordial relations with the post-"Maidan" government of Petro Poroshenko - and is rumored to share commercial interests with Ukraine's president as well. By contrast, Babich is a political hardliner said to be favored by Russian presidential aide and power broker Vladislav Surkov and the country's various force ministries. His tenure in Kyiv is thus expected to yield a more "harsh line of behavior" toward Ukraine, the news website notes.

The Kremlin has extended its ban on the importation of Western food. The Associated Press reports that a new decree issued by President Putin extends the ban on most Western food products - originally levied in 2014 in response to Western sanctions over Russia's Ukraine policy - until the end of 2017. The decision comes as Europe mulls extending its existing sanctions against Russia for another six months.