Vladimir Putin signs law that could keep him in the Kremlin till 2036 [Post #146]

[Robert]

BTW twenty-one British citizens have been hospitalised as a result of the attack including a Police Sergeant. You honestly think it is ok for this kind of gangster activity to occur on our soil?

 

[R3verse Swing]

Of course Russia has nukes trained on London and Birmingham (countervalue) as well as military bases, GCHQ and airports such as LHR and LGW (counterforce). It's been that way since the 1960s.

I am absolutely shocked that you think otherwise. Perhaps two decades of no Cold War reassured you.

It’s always been that way. UK has its nuke targeted at Russian Airports, Seaports, Transportation hubs etc. My point is how are we any different? We do not have a leg to stand on when complaining about Russia when we do exactly the same.

Then he has nothing to fear from holding free and fair elections, and can stop assassinating hundreds of Russian journalists.

True, but why is it our business? Why should we care how elections are held elsewhere? Since when are we the guardians of morality on this earth? With the demise of the USSR, the West was singing with joy, and now we are not happy because elections are not fair and free in Russia because the West doesn’t like the bloke?

Then let them stop invading our airspace, massing tanks and missiles on our borders and destabilising our allies and the EU will drop the sanctions.

Putin’s argument is when NATO moves its missiles, tanks, from close to Russia’s borders, then Russia will comply. Putin feels NATO is intimidating Russia, and I would feel the same. If Missiles were parked near USA’s border, what do you think the USA would do?

Uh, yeah they do. Murder is murder. We are not at war. You don't go onto somebody else's land and kill people and expect no sanction.

I am not saying it is right to kill someone, anywhere, I am just saying being a spy means one accepts the risks – the law doesn’t apply. However do you not feel USA is also guilty of waltzing into people’s land, sometimes illegally, then murdering people for the sake of *freedom and democracy* and protection of American interests?

I urge you to read the following :

1. Wolfwitz Doctrine :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfowitz_Doctrine
2. Yinon Plan : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yinon_Plan
3. Five Eyes : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes

My main issue is with UK being a lapdog of USA. USA has done very little for the UK, caused more problems, when UK should be building bridges elsewhere. Whether it be war, politics, or even the near collapse of the financial services – UK always pays the price one way or another by siding with the USA.

We need to move away from this lie we have been fed that USA and UK share a special relationship. They don’t. You can see Trump is about to wage a trade war, and has completely ignored the UK, even under exemptions.

USA has never won a war on its own, ever. We are told who is the enemy by western media, whether it is Iraq, Libya, Iran, North Korea – has to be some bogeyman - yet not a single one of these nations did squat to the UK yet we are trying to bully these nations because the USA says so? Heck, Libya abandoned it's nuclear program and still paid the price! Then we wonder why the Middle East despises the West? It's through our own government's doing.

Russia does have its faults, I am not denying this, but they are not exclusive in the slightest; every accusation thrown at Russia, USA is highly guilty of at greater magnitudes.

 

[R3verse Swing]

BTW twenty-one British citizens have been hospitalised as a result of the attack including a Police Sergeant. You honestly think it is ok for this kind of gangster activity to occur on our soil?

Not at all, I do not agree with it any sort of gangster activity on our soil, but then I think to myself, who am I to complain when we murdered 100000s on foreign soil in Iraq et al.

 

[Robert]

Not at all, I do not agree with it any sort of gangster activity on our soil, but then I think to myself, who am I to complain when we murdered 100000s on foreign soil in Iraq et al.

Because you are a decent human being who knows that 100k wrongs don’t make a right.

 

[Robert]

It’s always been that way. UK has its nuke targeted at Russian Airports, Seaports, Transportation hubs etc. My point is how are we any different? We do not have a leg to stand on when complaining about Russia when we do exactly the same.



True, but why is it our business? Why should we care how elections are held elsewhere? Since when are we the guardians of morality on this earth? With the demise of the USSR, the West was singing with joy, and now we are not happy because elections are not fair and free in Russia because the West doesn’t like the bloke?



Putin’s argument is when NATO moves its missiles, tanks, from close to Russia’s borders, then Russia will comply. Putin feels NATO is intimidating Russia, and I would feel the same. If Missiles were parked near USA’s border, what do you think the USA would do?



I am not saying it is right to kill someone, anywhere, I am just saying being a spy means one accepts the risks – the law doesn’t apply. However do you not feel USA is also guilty of waltzing into people’s land, sometimes illegally, then murdering people for the sake of *freedom and democracy* and protection of American interests?

I urge you to read the following :

1. Wolfwitz Doctrine :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfowitz_Doctrine
2. Yinon Plan : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yinon_Plan
3. Five Eyes : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes

My main issue is with UK being a lapdog of USA. USA has done very little for the UK, caused more problems, when UK should be building bridges elsewhere. Whether it be war, politics, or even the near collapse of the financial services – UK always pays the price one way or another by siding with the USA.

We need to move away from this lie we have been fed that USA and UK share a special relationship. They don’t. You can see Trump is about to wage a trade war, and has completely ignored the UK, even under exemptions.

USA has never won a war on its own, ever. We are told who is the enemy by western media, whether it is Iraq, Libya, Iran, North Korea – has to be some bogeyman - yet not a single one of these nations did squat to the UK yet we are trying to bully these nations because the USA says so? Heck, Libya abandoned it's nuclear program and still paid the price! Then we wonder why the Middle East despises the West? It's through our own government's doing.

Russia does have its faults, I am not denying this, but they are not exclusive in the slightest; every accusation thrown at Russia, USA is highly guilty of at greater magnitudes.

1. The original equivalence I drew was between Russia and the USA. One of these is training nukes on our cities, one is not.

2. Another comparison between the US, where they have free and fair elections, and Russia, where they do not. The America President gets two terms max, to prevent him becoming a dictator.

3. The Baltic states chose to join the EU and NATO. Russia threatens them, so NATO moves up troops to deter Russia.

4. Trump is a temporary blip. The Special Relationship is not.

There are moral grey areas, but I know which side my bread is buttered.

 

[R3verse Swing]

1. The original equivalence I drew was between Russia and the USA. One of these is training nukes on our cities, one is not.

The city you mention is training its nukes on Russia. Though ultimately this is of no relevance because UK cannot launch without the permission of USA.

2. Another comparison between the US, where they have free and fair elections, and Russia, where they do not. The America President gets two terms max, to prevent him becoming a dictator.

No sure about fair. Elections in the UK/USA are more about smearing these days. Plus, if Russians can influence the outcome, elections are anything but fair.

3. The Baltic states chose to join the EU and NATO. Russia threatens them, so NATO moves up troops to deter Russia.

Except NATO is not deterring Russia, but is inciting Russia.

4. Trump is a temporary blip. The Special Relationship is not.

How did the relationship work out under Bush? (Iraq/Financial crisis), or Bush Snr (Iraq), or Obama (Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria)?

There are moral grey areas, but I know which side my bread is buttered.

My only advice is before you butter your bread you should know that USA government has been the biggest aggressor in the past 60 years.

As a dear friend, please have a read of the 3 links I provided. You may not agree with the information, but the agenda is clear.

 

[Robert]

The city you mention is training its nukes on Russia. Though ultimately this is of no relevance because UK cannot launch without the permission of USA.

No sure about fair. Elections in the UK/USA are more about smearing these days. Plus, if Russians can influence the outcome, elections are anything but fair.

Except NATO is not deterring Russia, but is inciting Russia.

How did the relationship work out under Bush? (Iraq/Financial crisis), or Bush Snr (Iraq), or Obama (Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria)?

My only advice is before you butter your bread you should know that USA government has been the biggest aggressor in the past 60 years.

As a dear friend, please have a read of the 3 links I provided. You may not agree with the information, but the agenda is clear.

Oh come on mate, there are no "firing codes" on British SSBNs. This is a lie (perhaps by Russian propaganda) circulated a couple of years ago. "Firing codes" are from American films like By Dawn's Early Light and Crimson Tide.

The PM controls the decision to launch - the SSBNs stick up a mast or trail out a kilometre-long antenna every so often to see if London is still there, and if London is destroyed then the SSBN skipper opens the Letter of Last Resort. It might say empty your silos on Russian cities, or it might say deterrence has failed so stand down and set sail for Halifax Novia Scotia, or it might say do what you think is best. What would be the point of spending ££££billions on a weapon system we cannot control? The MoD is wasteful - see the SA80 fiasco, see the colossally expensive fudge regarding CATOBAR on the new carriers - but even they would not perpetrate that level of stupidity.

The UK could step down the nuclear ladder a little - use the new carriers as nuclear bomber platforms and arm existing SSNs with nuclear cruise missiles - and see if that results in a lowering of tension. I don't think it will in the short term because Putin will take it as weakness, as did Hitler when Chamberlain appeased him. To make the world safer for our kids we need another Gorbachev to emerge who will enter strategic arms reduction treaties.

The Baltics chose to join NATO because they seek protection from Russia. You have to accept that they are scared of falling back under the Russian yoke.

It becomes more clear every year that Blair's decision to support Bush 43 was a colossal mistake. Blair should have stood up to Bush 43 like Wilson did to LBJ regarding Vietnam. As for the other conflicts you mention, they were multinational efforts sanctioned by the UN.

I know about Five Eyes, it's one of the pillars of our national defence and international influence.

I know about the Wolfowitz Doctrine - after the USSR collapsed some neocons felt that the US had the oppportunity and moral obligation to carry out regime change in the expectation that despotic states would default to democracy, but in the wake of Iraq and the Arab Spring this doctrine is totally discredited. They killed a lot of people and made the ME even more unstable, a dreadful waste of life and resources.

I had not heard of the Yinon Plan. It initially reads like tinfoil hat stuff, but I will give it more thought.

 

[James]

I have come to realise something quite curious: there are definitely prior American presidents who have treated Britain like a pair of old shoes, however Donald Trump seems to genuinely have a love for the UK and I personally feel very safe having a Trump-led US as our main ally. For this reason only, I pick the US ahead of Russia at the moment.

Although totally agree that both America and Russia have lethally poisonous legacies and a lot of blood on their hands.

 

[R3verse Swing]

Oh come on mate, there are no "firing codes" on British SSBNs. This is a lie (perhaps by Russian propaganda) circulated a couple of years ago. "Firing codes" are from American films like By Dawn's Early Light and Crimson Tide.

The PM controls the decision to launch - the SSBNs stick up a mast or trail out a kilometre-long antenna every so often to see if London is still there, and if London is destroyed then the SSBN skipper opens the Letter of Last Resort. It might say empty your silos on Russian cities, or it might say deterrence has failed so stand down and set sail for Halifax Novia Scotia, or it might say do what you think is best. What would be the point of spending ££££billions on a weapon system we cannot control? The MoD is wasteful - see the SA80 fiasco, see the colossally expensive fudge regarding CATOBAR on the new carriers - but even they would not perpetrate that level of stupidity.

The UK could step down the nuclear ladder a little - use the new carriers as nuclear bomber platforms and arm existing SSNs with nuclear cruise missiles - and see if that results in a lowering of tension. I don't think it will in the short term because Putin will take it as weakness, as did Hitler when Chamberlain appeased him. To make the world safer for our kids we need another Gorbachev to emerge who will enter strategic arms reduction treaties.

The Baltics chose to join NATO because they seek protection from Russia. You have to accept that they are scared of falling back under the Russian yoke.

It becomes more clear every year that Blair's decision to support Bush 43 was a colossal mistake. Blair should have stood up to Bush 43 like Wilson did to LBJ regarding Vietnam. As for the other conflicts you mention, they were multinational efforts sanctioned by the UN.

I know about Five Eyes, it's one of the pillars of our national defence and international influence.

I know about the Wolfowitz Doctrine - after the USSR collapsed some neocons felt that the US had the oppportunity and moral obligation to carry out regime change in the expectation that despotic states would default to democracy, but in the wake of Iraq and the Arab Spring this doctrine is totally discredited. They killed a lot of people and made the ME even more unstable, a dreadful waste of life and resources.

I had not heard of the Yinon Plan. It initially reads like tinfoil hat stuff, but I will give it more thought.

Not Russian proaganda, but British media and UK government report

In 2006, Parliament’s Select Committee on Defense presented a White Paper to Parliament containing a granular analysis of the Trident program. Although it is now almost a decade old, NATO sources have confirmed that the paper remains the benchmark for non-classified information on Britain’s nuclear weapons, as very little has changed since. And it lays bare the extent of the UK’s nuclear reliance on America.

The report makes for striking reading. The UK does not even own its Trident missiles, but rather leases them from the United States. British subs must regularly visit the US Navy’s base at King’s Bay, Georgia, for maintenance or re-arming. And since Britain has no test site of its own, it tries out its weapons under US supervision at Cape Canaveral, off the Florida coast.

A huge amount of key Trident technology — including the neutron generators, warheads, gas reservoirs, missile body shells, guidance systems, GPS, targeting software, gravitational information and navigation systems — is provided directly by Washington, and much of the technology that Britain produces itself is taken from US designs (the four UK Trident submarines themselves are copies of America’s Ohio-class Trident submersibles).

https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-trident-nuclear-program/

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/defence-and-security-blog/2014/jul/01/trident-nuclear-weapons-uk

Essentially UK does not have sovereignty of it's nuclear arsenal. Much of UK's nuclear defence depends on USA corporation.

 

[Robert]

Not Russian proaganda, but British media and UK government report



https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-trident-nuclear-program/

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/defence-and-security-blog/2014/jul/01/trident-nuclear-weapons-uk

Essentially UK does not have sovereignty of it's nuclear arsenal. Much of UK's nuclear defence depends on USA corporation.

But that doesn’t mean the PM needs US permission to launch, does it? It just means we bought some kit from the Yanks, as we have since 1941. There are no “firing codes”.

 

[James]

UK does not even need the head of state / head of government’s express permission to launch a nuke IIRC, let alone a firing code. It is not like in the US where there is a chain of command, the nuclear football and handcuffs, the control board and the playbook etc that keeps on getting handed down to the next unlucky person. In the event of a nuclear war and incapacitation of the top brass, I believe that the captain of each British nuclear submarine has an emergency phone number that they ring to confirm that they’re doing it, and that’s it.

 

[James]

Not Russian proaganda, but British media and UK government report



https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-trident-nuclear-program/

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/defence-and-security-blog/2014/jul/01/trident-nuclear-weapons-uk

Essentially UK does not have sovereignty of it's nuclear arsenal. Much of UK's nuclear defence depends on USA corporation.

That is just regarding the manufacturing and subsequent lease / maintenance of the technology though. Sovereignty is a different thing. If I buy a house on a leasehold agreement, I am still the sovereign over that land and property for 99 years and can choose what to do with it, I just have to potentially give it back in the end if I either die or cannot get an extension on the lease.

 

[R3verse Swing]

That is just regarding the manufacturing and subsequent lease / maintenance of the technology though. Sovereignty is a different thing. If I buy a house on a leasehold agreement, I am still the sovereign over that land and property for 99 years and can choose what to do with it, I just have to potentially give it back in the end if I either die or cannot get an extension on the lease.

My man, this is technology. If you buy a house nothing can be done to the house remotely.

While USA does provide the Warheads and technology, it also controls the guidance systems, GPS, targeting software, gravitational information and navigation systems. In other words USA can shutdown remotely. This is not sovereign control but dependency.

 

[R3verse Swing]

UK does not even need the head of state / head of government’s express permission to launch a nuke IIRC, let alone a firing code. It is not like in the US where there is a chain of command, the nuclear football and handcuffs, the control board and the playbook etc that keeps on getting handed down to the next unlucky person. In the event of a nuclear war and incapacitation of the top brass, I believe that the captain of each British nuclear submarine has an emergency phone number that they ring to confirm that they’re doing it, and that’s it.

In the USA there is no chain of command. This is a myth. The President is the Commander In Chief. This is what makes the US President the most powerful in the world as he controls the most powerful military in the world. The Nuclear football simply moves with the US president so that he can command a launch at any time without Congressional approval.

Given the state of mind Trump is in, the US government have raised a bill to change the procedure :
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...ation-of-war-us-congressman-ted-a7545191.html

 

[R3verse Swing]

But that doesn’t mean the PM needs US permission to launch, does it? It just means we bought some kit from the Yanks, as we have since 1941. There are no “firing codes”.

Select Committee on Defence

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmdfence/986/986we13.htm

33. Acquiring Trident gave the UK a greater nuclear weapons capability than it could ever have achieved on its own. This enhanced capacity, however, had significant consequences.

34. The fact that, in theory, the British Prime Minister could give the order to fire Trident missiles without getting prior approval from the White House has allowed the UK to maintain the façade of being a global military power. In practice, though, it is difficult to conceive of any situation in which a Prime Minister would fire Trident without prior US approval. The USA would see such an act as cutting across its self-declared prerogative as the world's policeman, and would almost certainly make the UK pay a high price for its presumption. The fact that the UK is completely technically dependent on the USA for the maintenance of the Trident system means that one way the USA could show its displeasure would be to cut off the technical support needed for the UK to continue to send Trident to sea.

35. In practice, the only way that Britain is ever likely to use Trident is to give legitimacy to a US nuclear attack by participating in it. There are precedents for the USA using UK participation in this way for conventional military operations. The principal value of the UK's participation in the recent Iraq war was to help legitimise the US attack. Likewise the principal value of the firing of UK cruise missiles as part of the larger US cruise missile attack on Baghdad was to help legitimise the use of such weapons against urban targets.

36. The most likely scenario in which Trident would actually be used is that Britain would give legitimacy to a US nuclear strike by participating in it.

37. The well-established links between the US Strategic Command (STRATCOM), in Omaha Nebraska and the UK's Permanent Joint Headquarters in Northwood, London would facilitate the planning of such attacks. In a crisis the very existence of the UK Trident system might make it difficult for a UK prime minister to refuse a request by the US president to participate in an attack.

38. The UK Trident system is highly dependent, and for some purposes completely dependent, on the larger US system. The assembling of information available in the USA, but kept secret in Britain, by John Ainslie in his 2005 report The Future of the British bomb, shows how extensive this dependency is (see table below).

39. The UK's dependency on the USA has operational significance. For example, the UK's reliance on US weather data and on navigational data provided by the US Global Positioning System (GPS) means that, should the USA decide not to supply this data, the capacity of the UK's Trident missiles to hit targets would be degraded.

40. Conversely, the close relationship between US and UK systems also means that the upgrades to the US Trident system have already been incorporated into the UK Trident system. The Royal Navy's adoption of the new US fire control system has most likely already improved its capacity to retarget its Trident missiles rapidly in order to hit a range of targets outside Russia—thereby adding to other states' concerns that they could be the target of a combined US/UK Trident strike.

Sad, but true mate.

 

[R3verse Swing]

In essence, the UK is the 51st State of the United States of America.

 

[R3verse Swing]

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmdfence/986/986we13.htm

The high accuracy of the Trident D5 missile depends on the submarine's position being precisely determined. This is achieved using two systems: GPS, which relies on satellites, and the Electrostatically Supported Giro Navigation System (ESGN), which uses gyroscopes. In both cases UK Trident submarines uses the same US system as the US Navy submarines. The USA has the ability to deny access to GPS at any time, rendering that form of navigation and targeting useless if the UK were to launch without US approval.

 

[James]

In the USA there is no chain of command. This is a myth. The President is the Commander In Chief. This is what makes the US President the most powerful in the world as he controls the most powerful military in the world. The Nuclear football simply moves with the US president so that he can command a launch at any time without Congressional approval.

Given the state of mind Trump is in, the US government have raised a bill to change the procedure :
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...ation-of-war-us-congressman-ted-a7545191.html

I agree with everything you have written here, apologies as perhaps I need to clarify what I meant by “chain of command” - I meant in the event of a war - the President has the playbook and the control board; then the VP has them if the President is killed; then the Speaker has them if the VP is killed; then the Secretary of State is that next unlucky person if the Speaker is killed etc (in terms of having the whip hand with the nuclear football).

 

[Robert]

Select Committee on Defence

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmdfence/986/986we13.htm



Sad, but true mate.

Once again, nothing in there suggesting that the U.K. cannot launch without US permission.

In future the US could choose to cut off tech support, but again why would they do that when the UK CASD adds to NATO capability? Why betray your #1 ally? Makes no sense at all.

You seem to have taken a position and are now looking for evidence to justify it, but you’re not finding any.

 

[Robert]

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmdfence/986/986we13.htm

The USA would switch off GPS? Under what circumstances? Why would they ever do that? - they would degrade their own nuclear capability.

 

[R3verse Swing]

The USA would switch off GPS? Under what circumstances? Why would they ever do that? - they would degrade their own nuclear capability.

It's not a question of why, but a point USA can.

 

[R3verse Swing]

Once again, nothing in there suggesting that the U.K. cannot launch without US permission.

In future the US could choose to cut off tech support, but again why would they do that when the UK CASD adds to NATO capability? Why betray your #1 ally? Makes no sense at all.

You seem to have taken a position and are now looking for evidence to justify it, but you’re not finding any.

Post 97.

 

[DeadBall]

Vladimir Putin Takes Oath of Office for Fourth Term as Russian President

(MOSCOW) — Vladimir Putin took the oath of office for his fourth term as Russian president on Monday and promised to pursue an economic agenda that would boost living standards across the country.

In a ceremony in an ornate Kremlin hall, Putin said improving Russia’s economy following a recession partly linked to international sanctions would be a primary goal of his next six-year term.

“Now, we must use all existing possibilities, first of all for resolving internal urgent tasks of development, for economic and technological breakthroughs, for raising competitiveness in those spheres that determine the future,” he said in his speech to thousands of guests standing in the elaborate Andreevsky Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace and two adjacent halls.

“A new quality of life, well-being, security and people’s health — that’s what’s primary today,” he said.


Although Putin has restored Russia’s prominence on the world stage through military actions, he has been criticized for inadequate efforts to diversify Russia’s economy away from its dependence on oil and gas exports and to develop the manufacturing sector.

Putin held onto the presidency in March’s election when he tallied 77% of the vote.

Putin has effectively been the leader of Russia for all of the 21st century. He stepped down from the presidency in 2008 because of term limits, but was named prime minister and continued to steer the country until he returned as president in 2012.

http://time.com/5267601/vladimir-putin-fourth-term-russia-president/

 

[Abdullah719]

Russian government resigns as Putin plans future

Spoiler

The Russian government is to resign, hours after President Vladimir Putin proposed constitutional changes that could prolong his stay in power.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the president's proposals would significantly change Russia's balance of power.

Mr Putin has asked him to become deputy head of the National Security Council.

The announcement comes four years before Mr Putin's fourth term of office is due to end.

Under the existing constitution he would not be entitled to another term and the Russian leader said during his speech to both chambers of parliament that there would be a nationwide vote on changes that would shift power from the presidency to parliament.

The government's resignation came as a surprise. Mr Medvedev has been prime minister for several years. He previously served as president from 2008-2012, switching roles with Mr Putin after the latter served his first two terms as president.

Russia's constitution only allows presidents to serve two consecutive terms.

"These changes, when they are adopted... will introduce substantial changes not only to an entire range of articles of the constitution, but also to the entire balance of power, the power of the executive, the power of the legislature, the power of judiciary," Mr Medvedev said of Mr Putin's proposals.

"In this context... the government in its current form has resigned."

BBC Moscow correspondent Sarah Rainsford said the reason why Mr Putin had removed Mr Medvedev was unclear.

The outgoing government will remain in situ until the new one is appointed.

Correspondents say possible candidates to succeed Mr Medvedev as prime minister include Economy Minister Maxim Oreshkin, Mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin and Energy Minister Alexander Novak.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51120166

 

[MRSN]

legendary profile.

 

[The_Odd_One]

The most charismatic world leader by a big margin

 

[sweep_shot]

Putin may remain president for a long time (possibly till his death).

I think he is not a bad leader for Russia. He is a strong leader.

 

[ManFan]

Putin; the man who has mastered the art of power.

 

[Firebat]

Citing virus, some Russian election officials shun vote to extend Putin rule

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Hundreds of Russian polling station officials, citing the risk of spreading the coronavirus, say they won’t help organise a nationwide vote on reforms that could extend President Vladimir Putin’s rule until 2036.

In the July 1 ballot, Russians will vote to approve or reject constitutional reforms including a change that would allow Putin to serve two more six-year terms, if re-elected, instead of stepping down in 2024.

But around 350 election officials across the country say taking part is too dangerous at a time when authorities are still reporting thousands of new infections each day despite a drop in cases in the capital Moscow.

The officials have started a petition to try to encourage peers to join the boycott.

The “July 1 vote poses a danger to our lives and health and to the lives and health of voters,” the group said in a statement. “We just don’t understand why such sacrifices and risks are needed, why we need to hold such a vote now and at any price. We are not expendable.”

The boycott looks for now unlikely to severely disrupt the vote, which is administered by at least 1 million such officials. But it amplifies a complaint made by Putin’s critics that he has scheduled the vote too early, from a health and safety viewpoint, for political reasons.

“It is unclear what the urgency (of this vote) is,” a member of a Moscow local election commission Sergei Romanchyuk said.

“Why can’t we wait until September or even next year?”

The Kremlin has denied politics are at play and said all necessary safety precautions will be taken.

Critics say Putin is rushing to take advantage of a feel-good patriotic vibe often generated by the annual Red Square military parade - on June 24 this year - as well as good summer weather and the easing of lockdown restrictions.

No opposition events are expected to be allowed before the vote, with critics saying coronavirus-induced bans on public events are an easy way for the Kremlin to avoid protests.

The vote is being held over seven days to reduce health risks, electronic voting is allowed in two regions including Moscow with its 7.3 million voters, and polling stations may be outdoors.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...-shun-vote-to-extend-putin-rule-idUSKBN23I1VE

 

[Technics 1210]

Legend.

 

[Firebat]

Putin makes first public appearance for weeks

Russia's President Vladimir Putin went without a mask as he appeared at an open-air flag-raising ceremony in Moscow to mark Russia Day, a public holiday.

The 67-year-old, who has largely been working in his residence outside Moscow, praised the spirit of the Russian people as well their traditions and culture.

Russia, which at 511,423 has the world's third-largest number of virus cases, has gradually eased lockdown measures this month.

While infections have been declining, many doctors and Kremlin critics say restrictions have been lifted prematurely in Moscow, the epicentre of the Russian outbreak.

Opponents have accused Putin of trying to gain support before a 1 July vote on plans to change the constitution, which could extend his hold on power until 2036.

A concert will take place on Red Square on Friday evening, while a parade to celebrate the USSR’s victory in World War Two is scheduled for 24 June. Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin has discouraged people from attending either.

Russia has seen 6,715 virus deaths.

 

[Firebat]

Putin says Russia's handling of coronavirus is superior to U.S.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that Russia was emerging from the novel coronavirus epidemic with minimal losses, having handled it better than the United States where he said party political interests got in the way.

With 528,964 confirmed cases, Russia has the third-highest number of infections after Brazil and the United States.

Its official death toll stands at 6,948, much lower than in many other countries, including the United States which has had over 115,000 deaths. The veracity of Russian statistics has sometimes been the focus of fierce debate however.

“...We are working rather smoothly and emerging from this situation with the coronavirus confidently and, with minimal losses... But in the (United) States that is not happening,” Putin told state TV.

Russia’s political system had handled the crisis better than its U.S. counterpart, said Putin, because authorities at federal and regional level had worked as one team without disagreements unlike those in the United States.

“I can’t imagine someone in the (Russian) government or regions saying we are not going to do what the government or president say,” said Putin.

“It seems to me that the problem (in the United States) is that group, in this case party interests, are put above those of society’s as a whole, above the interests of the people.”

The virus had exposed what he called deep internal crises that dated back to President Donald Trump’s election victory and efforts by rivals to undermine its legitimacy.

Putin used the same interview to deny allegations that constitutional reforms that could allow him to extend his rule were aimed at “strengthening a presidential dictatorship”, saying parliament would have a bigger role after the changes.

A nationwide vote on amending the constitution will run from June 25-July 1. If approved, the reforms would allow 67-year-old Putin, in power since 1999, to serve two more six-year terms in the Kremlin after 2024, when he would under current laws be obliged to step down.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...-coronavirus-is-superior-to-u-s-idUSKBN23L07U

 

[Firebat]

Paul Whelan, ex-US marine, jailed in Russia on spying charges

Ex-US marine Paul Whelan has been sentenced to 16 years of hard labour on spying charges in Russia.

He was arrested in a hotel room in Moscow 18 months ago with a USB flash drive which security officers say contained state secrets.

The Moscow City Court found him guilty of receiving classified information.

Whelan - who is also a citizen of the UK, Canada and Ireland - denounced the closed trial as a "sham" ahead of the verdict.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for Whelan's immediate release.

"The United States is outraged by the decision of a Russian court today to convict US citizen Paul Whelan after a secret trial, with secret evidence, and without appropriate allowances for defence witnesses," he said.

The US ambassador to Moscow, John Sullivan, condemned the trial as unfair and lacking transparency, and said the conviction would harm Russia-US relations.

"This secret trial in which no evidence was produced is an egregious violation of human rights and international legal norms," an embassy spokeswoman said.

Spoiler

Who is Paul Whelan?
Paul Whelan, 50, is a citizen of four countries - the US, Canada, the UK and the Irish Republic.

From Novi, Michigan, he was born in Canada to British parents and moved to the US as a child.

Military records show he joined the US Marine Reserves in 1994, about six years after he had reportedly begun work as a police officer in Michigan.

He went on two tours to Iraq, in 2004 and then 2006. It was while serving in the marines that he made his first trip to Russia, and went on to visit the country many times.

Paul Whelan was arrested in his hotel room in central Moscow in December 2018.

He says he was getting ready for a wedding when an old friend turned up unexpectedly. Moments later, security officers burst in and arrested him for receiving state secrets.

After Monday's verdict, his family said in a statement it was the Russian legal system which had been "found guilty of injustice".

"The court's decision merely completes the final piece of this broken judicial process. We had hoped that the court might show some independence but, in the end, Russian judges are political, not legal, entities," the statement said.

The family also said they understood Whelan's lawyers may lodge an appeal within two weeks, and called on the US government and president to immediately take steps to bring him home.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53049373

 

[Firebat]

Putin uses WW2 anniversary to push idea of Russian-backed summit to stabilise world

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin has called on the leaders of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to make good on an agreement to hold a face-to-face summit to try to tackle the world’s problems as soon as possible.

Putin made the appeal in an article in English published late on Thursday in American international affairs magazine The National Interest in which he examined the events of World War Two ahead of a Red Square parade next week to mark the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.

“Today, as in 1945, it is important to demonstrate political will and discuss the future together,” wrote Putin.

He proposed such a summit in January and the four other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - the United States, China, France and Britain - gave their agreement in principle.

Moscow hopes the summit can proceed once coronavirus fears recede despite its relations with the West, and particularly the United States, being strained over everything from Syria and Ukraine to alleged Russian political meddling abroad.

The summit would discuss the global economy, global security, arms control, extremism, cyberspace and climate change, Moscow has said. Putin said Moscow had specific ideas and initiatives on all the themes.

“Drawing on a shared historical memory, we can trust each other and must do so. That will serve as a solid basis for successful negotiations and concerted action for the sake of enhancing...stability and security on the planet,” wrote Putin.

Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center and a former colonel in the Russian army, said the article looked like Putin was trying to turn the summit into a “supreme global format,” an aim he called highly ambitious.

“Russia may suggest but it’s up to the U.S. and China to decide if they’re willing/ready. 2020 isn’t 1945,” Trenin wrote on Twitter.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...acked-summit-to-stabilise-world-idUSKBN23Q24S

 

[ManFan]

Putin is at the precipice of a very dangerous part of his reign.

 

[Firebat]

Kremlin: Putin concerned about arrangements with U.S. amid protests - IFX

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is concerned about how much he can trust arrangements with U.S. President Donald Trump amid protests in the United States, the Interfax news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Saturday.

U.S. and Russian envoys are due to discuss “mutually agreed topics related to the future of arms control” in Austria next week, the U.S. State Department has said. [nL1N2DX00N]

Referring to Trump, Peskov said Putin needs to understand that “agreements with his political counterpart can be trusted”.

There is a growing unpredictability in steps by Washington and this is worrying world capitals, Peskov was quoted as saying.

“And it is important for President Putin to understand that he has a vis-à-vis (Trump) who can responsibly engage in a dialogue with him on how to amend this situation,” Peskov said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ents-with-u-s-amid-protests-ifx-idUSKBN23R0J1

 

[Firebat]

Russia's Putin says he may seek another term if constitutional changes passed

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin is considering running for a new term as Russia’s president if voters approve constitutional changes that would enable him to do so, Russian news agencies quoted him as saying in an interview on Sunday.

Russia will hold a nationwide vote from June 25 to July 1 on proposed changes to the constitution, including an amendment that would allow Putin to seek two more six-year terms as president when his current mandate ends in 2024.

Opponents say the reforms are designed to allow Putin to keep power until 2036 and amount to a constitutional coup. The Kremlin says they are needed to strengthen the role of parliament and improve social policy and public administration.

“I do not rule out the possibility of running for office, if this (option) comes up in the constitution. We’ll see,” Putin was quoted as saying in an interview with state TV that was shown in Russia’s far east before airing in western Russia. “I have not decided anything for myself yet.”

The changes that Russians will vote on, already approved by parliament and the Constitutional Court, would reset Putin’s presidential term tally to zero. He would not be able to seek a new term under current constitutional limits.

The changes are widely expected to be approved in the vote.

Putin, who has been in power for two decades and is now 67, suggested the hunt for a candidate to succeed him could become a distraction if he does not run again.

“If this doesn’t happen, then in about two years - and I know this from personal experience - the normal rhythm of work of many parts of government will be replaced by a search for possible successors,” Interfax news agency cited him as saying.

“We must be working, not looking for successors,” he said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...f-constitutional-changes-passed-idUSKBN23S0H3

 

[Firebat]

Russia holds World War Two victory parade in coronavirus shadow

Russia is celebrating its biggest public holiday, Victory Day, with a military parade in Moscow that was meant to be held on 9 May.

It is 75 years since the then USSR defeated Nazi Germany. World War Two cost more than 20 million Soviet lives.

President Vladimir Putin reluctantly postponed the big annual celebration because of the coronavirus pandemic.

But it was rescheduled ahead of a key constitutional vote, which could allow him a further two terms in power.

Moscow's lockdown eased this month, but mass gatherings technically remain banned. Soldiers taking part had to go into quarantine ahead of the parade.

The number of confirmed cases in Russia rose above 600,000 on Wednesday, with another 7,176 new infections reported over the previous 24 hours.

This is, however, lower than in May, when the country reported more than 10,000 new cases a day for more than a week.

Spoiler

Why hold the parade now?

This year's event is special for President Putin because in a week's time Russia will hold a nationwide vote on constitutional amendments that are expected to pave the way for him to stay in power beyond 2024, when his current term expires.

The annual parade in Red Square is always an occasion for Mr Putin to harness Russian patriotic feelings, in a way reminiscent of Soviet times.

He has restored Cold War-era Soviet symbols, and in 2008 he reintroduced heavy weaponry in the parade. The black-and-gold wartime St George's ribbon is especially ubiquitous.

Nazi Germany ended all its military operations at 23:01 Central European Time on 8 May 1945. Russia, former Soviet Union states and some eastern European nations celebrate victory on 9 May, as - because of the change in time zone - the surrender came early in the morning the next day for those countries.

Holding the delayed event on 24 June commemorates the victory parade staged by the USSR back in 1945.

"Our duty is to remember that the Soviet people bore the brunt of fighting Nazism," the president said in his speech. "It was namely our people who were able to defeat the horrible, total evil."

Mr Putin identifies on a personal level with the sacrifices made in the war: his father was seriously wounded in combat and his infant brother Viktor died in the siege of Leningrad - today's St Petersburg.

What about coronavirus?

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin has urged residents to stay at home and watch the parade on TV amid the ongoing pandemic. The capital remains the epicentre of the Russian outbreak and the number of new infections there remains stubbornly high.

All those invited have been required to be tested for the virus, and social distancing rules were put in place on the viewing stand for war veterans invited to attend - though many were pictured standing close to one another without masks.

The military units taking part have been in quarantine during weeks of rehearsals, avoiding contact with anyone not directly involved in the event.

The parade features some 13,000 military personnel, 234 armoured vehicles, and 75 aircraft performing the traditional flypast.

Units were taking part from most of the ex-Soviet republics, as well as from China, Mongolia and Serbia.

Military parades were also being held in other cities, including "hero cities" that saw the heaviest fighting in the Soviet "Great Patriotic War" against the Nazis.

In Russia's Far East, Vladivostok held a parade without spectators, although war veterans and officials were visible, local media reported. However, this year 13 cities and big towns opted not to stage parades.

Some major world leaders were to have attended the cancelled 9 May parade, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko both attended the parade on Wednesday, but they were among the few leaders who did.

The president of Kyrgyzstan did not attend the event after two members of his delegation tested positive on arriving in Russia.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53152725

 

[Firebat]

Russians vote on Putin's reforms to constitution

Russia has begun voting on constitutional reforms that could allow President Vladimir Putin to serve another two terms in office.

The official vote is scheduled for 1 July, but authorities said they were opening polling stations a week early to stop overcrowding amid the pandemic.

Opposition activist Alexei Navalny has said the changes will allow Mr Putin to be "president for life".

Mr Putin, however, has said they will ensure Russia's stability.

Although the president has not publicly said he would run again in 2024 when his current term ends, he has said it is vital he has the option.

"Otherwise I know that in two years, instead of working normally at all levels of the state, all eyes will be on the search for potential successors," he said in an interview earlier this week.

Spoiler

What are people voting on?

The big changes would limit a president's rule to two six-year terms in total, rather than two consecutive terms, and reset the clock so Mr Putin could continue in office after 2024.

Aside from potentially allowing him to lead Russia until 2036 - the reforms would give the president power to nominate top judges and prosecutors for approval by Russia's upper house of parliament.

They would also entrench conservative measures in the constitution, including an effective ban on gay marriage and an affirmation of Russia's "faith in God".

And economic changes would also be enshrined, including on the minimum wage and adjusting the state pension in line with inflation.

Roughly 110 million voters from Kaliningrad on the Baltic coast to Kamchatka on the Pacific are eligible to vote. Officials are providing masks and hand sanitiser at polling stations across the country.

The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Moscow says a big turnout is vital for the Kremlin.

Officials have confirmed that people with Russian passports in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine will also be allowed to take part. Last year, President Putin made it easier for residents to get Russian passports and officials estimate some 150,000 people in the rebel-held areas of Luhansk and Donetsk could take part.

What do critics say?

Mr Navalny, a figurehead of Russia's opposition, has called the vote a "coup" and a "violation of the constitution". Some argue Mr Putin is trying to cling to power, or give himself an option to stay on if he cannot find a suitable successor.

The 67-year-old former KGB agent has led Russia for 20 years, both as president and prime minister. But his popularity levels have dropped in recent years thanks to economic struggles and deeply controversial reforms to the pension system.

Mr Putin introduced the reforms to Russia's 1993 constitution in January, and they have already been adopted in both the houses of parliament in Moscow. But the president said a public vote would give the changes legitimacy, and initially scheduled the poll for April before delaying it due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Activists organised marches to oppose the vote the same month but authorities banned them, citing rules about public gatherings amid the coronavirus lockdown. A website set up to collect signatures of people opposed to the vote was shut down by the courts.

Senior politicians around the country have come out in favour of the changes, and observers believe there is little doubt the measure will pass. Copies of the new constitution are already on sale in Russian bookshops.

Many have questioned the timing of Russia's World War Two Victory Parade. Tens of thousands of troops marched through Moscow on Wednesday - despite a ban on mass gatherings under lockdown rules - just a day before voting began.

What about the coronavirus?

The pandemic has further dented Mr Putin's standing.

Russia has the third-highest number of recorded infections worldwide, with 613,994 confirmed cases and 8,605 deaths - although critics believe the true death toll is far higher.

Latest figures released on Thursday showed there were 7,113 new cases reported over the last 24 hours. In May, Russia reported more than 10,000 new cases a day for more than a week.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53176061

 

[Firebat]

Belarus accuses Russia of election meddling, seeks talks with Putin

MINSK (Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko accused Russian and Polish forces on Thursday of meddling in his country’s presidential election campaign and trying to discredit him.

The former collective farm boss, who has ruled Belarus for 26 years and allowed little dissent, said he would discuss the alleged meddling with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He did not say when.

Lukashenko, 65, faces the strongest challenge in years to his hold on power in the Aug. 9 election as frustration mounts over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and grievances grow over the economy and human rights.

In comments made while appointing new ambassadors, Lukashenko said external forces stood behind his opponents and were disseminating information discrediting him and his family members.

“It’s clear that the puppeteers are behind them. They are on the one side and the other side. They live in Poland and are supplied from Russia,” he said. “We will talk about this with President Putin in the near future at a meeting.”

Belarus sovereign bonds fell as much as 2.5 cents after Lukashenko’s comments.

Spoiler

RUSSIAN DENIAL

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Lukashenko’s allegations.

“Russia has never, is not and does not intend to interfere in election processes, particularly in the ones of our Belarusian ally,” he told reporters.

Relations between Belarus and traditional ally Russia have been strained in recent months as Moscow reduced subsidies that have propped up Lukashenko. But a crackdown by Lukashenko on opponents is likely to hinder his efforts to mend fences with the West.

A top security official under Lukashenko has accused Viktor Babariko, widely seen as Lukashenko’s most powerful electoral opponent, of being controlled by Russian “puppeteers”.

Babariko was head of Belgazprombank, the local unit of Russia’s Gazprombank, before running for president. Lukashenko said the bank’s money was being used to finance Babariko’s campaign and the authorities have opened a criminal case against the lender.

Babariko’s campaign team called the allegations against him “an absurdity”. He was arrested last week, sparking a new round of protests. Human rights activists say 360 people were arrested in a subsequent crackdown in recent days.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...meddling-seeks-talks-with-putin-idUSKBN23W1J0

 

[Firebat]

The big changes would limit a president's rule to two six-year terms in total, rather than two consecutive terms, and reset the clock so Mr Putin could continue in office after 2024.

Aside from potentially allowing him to lead Russia until 2036 - the reforms would give the president power to nominate top judges and prosecutors for approval by Russia's upper house of parliament.

Is anyone really going to vote for this guy to be able to rule until 2036? Or is this just gonna be another illegitimate vote?

 

[Firebat]

Putin, promising stability, tells Russians to vote for changes that could extend his rule

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin on Tuesday urged Russians to vote for constitutional changes that would allow him to run again for president twice, calling the reforms a guarantor of stability, security and prosperity.

Putin made his appeal at the scene of a bloody World War Two battle between the Red Army and the Nazis on the eve of the main and last day of a seven-day nationwide vote that will change the constitution for the first time since 1993.

Under the proposed changes, which state exit polls suggest will be backed by over two thirds of voters, Putin would be allowed to run for another two six-year back-to-back terms after his current term expires in 2024.

That could see the former KGB officer, now 67, stay in office until 2036, though Putin has said he has yet to take a final decision on what he wants to do.

Critics and staunch supporters are convinced he will run again, while some analysts believe he has not yet made his mind up but wants to keep his options open until the last minute so as not to become a lame duck.

“We are not just voting for amendments. We are voting for the country in which we want to live, with a modern education and health system ...for a country for whose sake we are working and want to pass onto out children and grandchildren,” said Putin.

“We can only guarantee stability, security, prosperity and a worthy life for people through development. Our sovereignty depends on our own responsibility, our own sincere feelings of patriotism and concern for the Motherland.”

Putin made no mention during his speech of how the constitutional changes could affect his own political career, a constant feature of the official campaign to encourage people to vote which has stressed other amendments rather than the one that would allow him to stay in power until 2036 if re-elected.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...nges-that-could-extend-his-rule-idUSKBN2411YL

 

[Firebat]

Putin appeals to patriotism as key vote reaches climax

All week, millions of Russians have been voting to reform their constitution, many using polling stations set up on tree stumps, park benches and even car boots.

Giant prize draws have helped entice them to the ballot, with the chance of winning everything from shopping vouchers to a car or flat.

Opposition figures have dismissed the whole process as a farce, stretched over seven days with no proper monitoring or independent scrutiny.

But for the Kremlin the amendments are vital. The vote will clear the way for Vladimir Putin to stay in power up to 2036, if he chooses.

What are Russians voting on?

The new constitution includes articles promoting a patriotic education, reiterating the ban on same-sex marriage and adding explicit mention of God - all in line with the increasing cultural conservatism of Vladimir Putin's rule.

Those "ideological" articles, alongside "social" ones like minimum wage guarantees, are the changes actively discussed on state TV and by celebrity endorsers.

By contrast, the amendments allowing Vladimir Putin to restart the clock on his presidency when his current term ends in 2024 - and so run twice more for president - are barely mentioned.

They were left off the initial information on the vote altogether.

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53233386

 

[Firebat]

Russians grant Putin right to extend his rule until 2036 in landslide vote, initial results show

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russians appeared to have paved the way for Vladimir Putin to stay in power until 2036 by voting overwhelmingly for a package of constitutional changes which will also boost pensions, initial results of a nationwide vote showed on Wednesday.

Partial results, announced five hours before polls closed, indicate the former KGB officer who has ruled Russia for more than two decades as president or prime minister will win the right to run for two more terms. That means he could remain president for 16 more years.

The Central Election Commission said just over 70% of votes counted across the world’s largest country had supported changing the constitution. Almost 29% had voted no of the 2.68% of ballots counted. Fuller results are due at 1900 GMT.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...slide-vote-initial-results-show-idUSKBN24254A

 

[MenInG]

Russians have strongly supported constitutional reforms that could keep President Vladimir Putin in power until 2036, preliminary results indicate.

With about 98% of ballots counted, more than 78% of voters backed the measures, the electoral commission said.

The reforms would reset Mr Putin's term limits to zero in 2024, allowing him to serve two more six-year terms.

Opposition figures denounced the vote saying he was aiming to be "president for life", a claim Mr Putin denies.

There was no independent scrutiny of the seven-day vote, and copies of the new constitution appeared in bookshops during the week.

Top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny described the results as a "big lie" which did not reflect real public opinion in the country.

Preliminary results were released hours before the last polling stations closed at 18:00 GMT in the western enclave of Kaliningrad, in the vast country spanning 11 time zones.

Voting began across Russia last week, and the electoral commission put turnout at more than 64%.

Before the vote had ended, the internal affairs ministry said there had been no violations that could affect the result, Interfax reported. But independent monitor Golos said it had received some 2,100 reports of possible violations.

Several hundred opponents of the constitutional changes staged protests in Moscow and St Petersburg.

The Russian president and his supporters say the reforms - in total, more than 200 changes - are needed to ensure national stability.

Mr Putin, aged 67, has not said he will run again for the presidency when his latest term runs out in 2024 - but has said it is vital he has the option to do so.

He has been in power in Russia, either as president or prime minister, for 20 years.

Other conservative reforms include a ban on same-sex marriage and introduce a reference to Russia's ancestral "faith in God".

Both Russia's houses of parliament have already adopted the changes, but President Putin ordered a public vote in a bid to legitimise the reforms. It was delayed from April due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Russian polling stations are usually lively places with music, food stalls and entertainment.

But this vote was far more subdued with temperature checks at the door and staff handing out facemasks against the coronavirus.

There were plenty of strong feelings, though.

Twelve of the 20 people we spoke to at one city-centre polling station were fed up with the "eternal rule" of their president. One woman called this a "sad day for democracy and liberal values"; another wanted an extra tick-box on the ballot paper so she could vote not just "against" but "categorically opposed".

Other Muscovites said they were drawn to the poll by the patriotic wrapping around the one central reform for the Kremlin. Voting never to relinquish control of Crimea, for example, and to protect Russia's "historical truth", they were also happy with Vladimir Putin staying on in power.

As one older man put it: if the captain of a ship is steering the right course, why change him? The preliminary count suggests the majority of people voting this week agree.

The amendments cover dozens of existing articles, and add several new ones. They fall broadly into three categories and many enshrine things in the constitution that are already federal law:

1: Conservative ideology
Banning any action aimed at the "expropriation" of Russian territory, or calls for that.

Protecting the "historical truth" of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) and banning any "belittling" of the feats of those who fought.

Protection of the institution of marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Senior officials barred from holding foreign passports, residency or overseas bank accounts.

Refers to Russians' faith in God, as handed down by their ancestors.

2: Social/Welfare
Pensions to be index-linked.

Minimum wage no less than subsistence minimum income.

Forming a "responsible attitude" to animals.

3: Institutions
State Council to set "direction of domestic and foreign policy and socio-economic priorities".

A person can only hold the presidency for two terms (replacing "two consecutive terms").

In the case of a person already holding the presidency, previous terms will not count - the so-called "zeroing" of Vladimir Putin's terms so far.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53255964

 

[Robert]

Another step toward dictatorship.

 

[Technics 1210]

You got to hand it to Putin. He played his career just like a Grandmaster would play chess. I believe this move of his, is checkmate.

People are never satisfied with Democracy unless the result suits them.

 

[Firebat]

Kremlin hails vote allowing Putin to extend his rule a triumph as critics cry foul

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Thursday hailed as a triumph the result of a nationwide vote that handed President Vladimir Putin the right to run for two more terms, but an independent monitoring group said the vote had not been free and the outcome was flawed.

Final results after the week-long vote showed that nearly 78% of voters had backed changes to the constitution allowing Putin potentially two more six-year terms after his current one ends in 2024.

That means that the 67-year-old former KGB officer, who has ruled Russia for over two decades as either president or prime minister, could be in power until he is 83.

Already the longest-serving leader in modern Russian history since Josef Stalin, Putin says he has yet to decide on his political future, though critics say they are sure he will try to stay in the Kremlin for as long as he can.

Some analysts believe he may however be keeping his options open so as not to become a lame duck before 2024.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said the emphatic nature of the nationwide vote was a measure of how deeply Russians trusted Putin to run the country.

“It’s definitely considered a triumph. What took place was in effect a de facto triumphant referendum on trust in Putin,” said Peskov.

Putin’s approvals rating stood at 60% last month, still high but hovering around just above a two-decade low after slipping in April amid the coronavirus crisis and related economic pain, a poll by the Levada Center showed.

Opposition activists have called the vote illegitimate and said it was designed to legalise Putin’s presidency for life.

Golos, a non-governmental organisation that monitors elections, said on Thursday it had recorded numerous irregularities during the vote, including ballot stuffing and widespread cases of employers forcing staff to cast a ballot.

“This past vote was indeed unprecedented and will go down in the history of the country as an example of an attempt to encroach on people’s sovereignty,” Golos said.

Moscow resident Ksenia was one of several people who told Reuters she did not believe official figures about the vote’s outcome.

“I think none of my friends took part in the vote, I think it is all a fake (the result). No one voted. Everyone understands that they will vote for us anyway, what’s the point in attending?”

Others were more upbeat.

“My attitude to the vote is very positive,” said Yevgeny, a Moscow resident who said he had voted in favour of changing the constitution.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...e-a-triumph-as-critics-cry-foul-idUSKBN2431TM

 

[Pakpak]

You got to hand it to Putin. He played his career just like a Grandmaster would play chess. I believe this move of his, is checkmate.

People are never satisfied with Democracy unless the result suits them.

His career has been a masterclass in how to get to the top.

 

[JaDed]

2036 lol. Putin

 

[Firebat]

Russia's constitutional changes to come into force on July 4 - Kremlin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Changes to the Russian constitution, including an amendment that could pave the way for President Vladimir Putin to rule the country until 2036, will come into force on July 4, the Kremlin said on Friday.

The electorate overwhelmingly supported the changes, which were approved after a nationwide week of voting that came to an end on Wednesday, with almost 78% of people casting their ballot in favour.

The Kremlin hailed the vote as a triumph, while critics decried it as illegal and illegitimate. An independent monitoring group said the vote was deeply flawed.

Other key reforms include an amendment granting former Russian presidents automatic immunity from criminal prosecution, as well as reforms enshrining a reference to “belief in God” and a statement about marriage being only the union of a man and a woman.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...me-into-force-on-july-4-kremlin-idUSKBN2441MA

 

[Firebat]

A polling station that was observed records low turnout in Russian vote

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Some voters who took part in a referendum that paves the way for President Vladimir Putin to extend his rule over Russia said they had been asked by their employers to do so, and to provide evidence to bosses to show they did.

Their accounts, to Reuters reporters who monitored polling station #2668 near Moscow throughout the seven days of voting, tally with Kremlin instructions to employers, seen by Reuters, asking them last month to ensure workers took part.

Despite that campaign, only 43% percent of eligible voters took part in the referendum at the polling station, below the national average of 68% and roughly half the percentage in the area where the station was located.

In fact turnout, an important measure for the Kremlin of support for Putin and the constitutional changes, was the lowest of all the 46 voting sites in the leafy town of Reutov, separated by an eight-lane highway from Moscow’s urban sprawl.

The average turnout in Reutov was 83%. At two polling stations in the same school building which Reuters did not observe, turnout was 85% and 87%.

Local election commission chief Olga Ukropova said the discrepancy may be because many of the residents in the four apartment blocks the polling station serves were not registered to vote there because they were migrants.

Historical data did not show distinct electoral results from the polling station in previous recent elections.

The Central Election Commission was not immediately available to comment. Kremlin officials did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

Spoiler

SHOW OF FORCE?

A woman who works in a nursery in the area said that she had voted in favour of the reforms.

“After this I will call my boss and tell her I voted, of course. That’s required,” she told Reuters, declining to give her name.

Another voter, who said she works for the tax service, said she had been advised by her employer to vote as early as possible. “They don’t tell you whether to vote ‘for’ or ‘against’. But they do ask you to report that you voted.”

The tax service did not respond to a request for comment.

Encouraging voting is not illegal, but the practice, which the Kremlin instructions called Project ‘Mobilisation in companies 2020’, suggests authorities wanted a strong turnout.

The Central Election Commission said 68% of the electorate took part nationwide and 78% voted for the reforms, which means an absolute majority - 58 million of Russia’s 109 million voters - supported the constitutional changes.

A woman at polling station #2668 said she needed to be photographed voting as proof for her boss and a man asked election officials for documented proof.

They declined to give their names and the polling station’s chairman, Rena Turayeva, declined to comment.

The Kremlin says the package of constitutional changes will strengthen the role of parliament and improve social policy and public administration.

Opposition activists have called the vote illegitimate and said it was designed to allow Putin to rule for life.

Golos, a non-governmental organisation that monitors elections, said it had recorded numerous irregularities during the vote, including ballot stuffing and widespread cases of employers forcing staff to cast a ballot.

Ella Pamfilova, head of the Central Election Commission, said on Friday the vote was “free, open, democratic to the maximum and fair.

“Its results are legitimate and indisputable.”

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said the emphatic nature of the result was a measure of how deeply Russians trusted Putin to run the country.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...rds-low-turnout-in-russian-vote-idUSKBN2441VC

 

[Firebat]

Tens of thousands stage anti-Kremlin protest in Russia's far east

Tens of thousands of demonstrators in Russia's far eastern city of Khabarovsk have taken to the streets, protesting against the arrest of the region's governor on charges of involvement in multiple murders.

Local media estimated the rally in the city 6,100km (3,800 miles) east of Moscow on Saturday attracted more than 15,000 people.

Khabarovsk's Governor Sergey Furgal was arrested two weeks ago and flown to Moscow where he was put in jail for two months.

The huge rallies in the city of Khabarovsk on the border with China present a growing concern for the Kremlin, observers say, and come after President Vladimir Putin this month oversaw a controversial vote that allows him to extend his hold on power until 2036.

It is the second large-scale protest in the region over the past seven days, following on from a rally in the city centre last Saturday.

Both demonstrations are reported to be the largest in the history of Khabarovsk, a city with a population of 590,000.

While many expressed support for the arrested politician, some of the protest signs and chants were distinctly anti-Putin.

Smaller rallies also took place in nearby cities and towns including Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Amursk and the Pacific port of Vladivostok in next-door Primorsky Krai region.

In rallies that lasted several hours, the crowds also massed outside the building housing the regional administration, chanting "Freedom!"

Protesters carried placards reading "Freedom for Furgal!" and cried out "As long as we are united, we are invincible", as passing cars honked horns in support.

Spoiler

'We need him'
Demonstrators praised the arrested governor, saying he has done a lot for the region over the past two years.

"I am defending him because I am fond of him," said Anatoly Svechin, a 49-year-old Cossack, a member of the paramilitary group traditionally loyal to the Kremlin.

Another protester, Gennady Vasin, called the governor's detention an example of "political arbitrariness".

"We don't want Sergei Ivanovich to be taken away," said Gennady Yakovlev, using Furgal's first name and patronymic. "We need him, we elected him."

Furgal's unexpected victory in the gubernatorial election reflected growing public frustration with President Putin's policies and marked a big setback for the main Kremlin party, United Russia.

Many of the protesters say the charges are politically motivated and question why investigators waited so long to accuse a public official who should have undergone background checks.

Investigators say Furgal organised the murders of several businessmen in the Far East in 2004 and 2005.

The protesters called for a "fair trial" for the governor, and not in Moscow, where he is being held since his arrest.

"He's our governor! And we will defend him," they shouted.

As with previous protests, the rally was not approved by the authorities, but police made no moves to disperse it.

Russia's main opposition leader Alexei Navalny cheered the protests and posted a message on social media site Instagram heralding the city of Khabarovsk for refusing to "believe Putin's endless lies about the 'justice' of his courts and the 'honesty' of his elections".

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...mlin-protest-russia-east-200718105010947.html

 

[James]

Russia is a dictatorship in all but name now.

 

[Firebat]

Exclusive: Former Kremlin insider recounts Putin’s moves to retain power

LONDON (Reuters) - When Russian President Vladimir Putin was preparing for last month’s nationwide vote on potentially extending his rule until 2036, he let the veil slip on part of the calculation behind the constitutional change.

“If this doesn’t happen, then in about two years – and I know this from personal experience – the normal rhythm of work of many parts of government will be replaced by a search for a possible successor,” Putin said in an interview with state TV channel Rossiya. “We must be working, not looking for successors.”

The Kremlin won the vote, declaring it a triumph. The constitution now will allow Putin to return to power for another two six-year terms. Independent monitor Golos, however, reported unprecedented vote fraud, and political opponents say the elaborate maneuvering over the ballot has weakened Putin’s legitimacy. Public discontent over Putin’s rule has begun to spill into the open in Russia’s Far East, where tens of thousands have marched in protest for the past three weekends.

Beyond Putin’s own comments to state TV, the Kremlin isn’t explaining its calculus about the constitutional change. But a first-hand account by a former insider of how the Kremlin tried to manage the handover of power in 2008, when Putin first faced a constitutional limit on his presidency, provides a glimpse into the under-the-carpet power struggles of Moscow’s ruling elite and some of the issues the Russian leader must grapple with.

Since at least 2006, former Kremlin adviser Sergei Pugachev told Reuters, Putin has been grappling with the question of succession. Once known as the Kremlin’s banker, Pugachev played a key role in Putin’s rise 20 years ago. His business interests spanned military shipyards, coal and construction, and he sat as a senator in parliament’s upper chamber. Today he is in deep conflict with his former allies, accused by Russian authorities of bankrupting the bank he co-founded, a charge Pugachev denies. He fled to Britain and then France, where he currently lives, after London’s High Court in 2014 ordered his assets frozen at Russia’s request.

Now, Pugachev has spoken for the first time about Putin’s decision-making in the run-up to 2008. He told how the president was often hostage to the will of his inner circle of former KGB men and associates from his hometown of St Petersburg.

The question of handing over power has always been the “biggest headache” of Putin’s rule, Pugachev told Reuters. For Putin, the succession “was always a serious, personal stress. He never intended to hand over control of the country to anyone.” Putin saw himself running Russia behind the scenes as the father of the nation, said Pugachev, but finding a successor who would go along with this plan “was always a big problem.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment about Pugachev’s account of events.

In 2007, Pugachev was still a consummate Kremlin insider, close to many of the powerful men around Putin, the so-called siloviki, mostly drawn from Russia’s security services. He says he was in the room when several key decisions were made. Photos and other documentary materials reviewed by Reuters show Pugachev held a position near the pinnacle of Kremlin power right up to 2008, and support some elements of his account.

The photos show Pugachev’s teenage sons hanging out with Putin’s daughters at his dacha. Other pictures show Pugachev dining at his dacha in 2005 with the leading security men around Putin. These included Nikolai Patrushev, then the head of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, successor to the KGB; and Igor Sechin, one of Putin’s KGB allies from St Petersburg, who at the time of the photo was deputy head of the Kremlin administration.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ts-putins-moves-to-retain-power-idUSKCN24U1O2

 

[Firebat]

Russian city holds sixth anti-Kremlin protest over detained governor

MOSCOW (Reuters) - About 2,000 people joined another march in the Russian far eastern city of Khabarovsk on Saturday in protest over President Vladimir Putin’s handling of a local political crisis.

Residents of Khabarovsk, around 6,110 km (3,800 miles) east of Moscow, were protesting for a sixth consecutive weekend against the detention of Sergei Furgal, the region’s popular governor.

Furgal was arrested on July 9 in connection with murder charges he denies. His supporters say the detention is politically motivated.

People marched on Saturday with posters reading “Our choice” and “Freedom to Furgal”. Regional authorities estimated around 2,000 people took part, a smaller turnout than previous weeks.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...-protest-over-detained-governor-idUSKCN25B0EN

 

[sweep_shot]

Russia: Local elections test Kremlin party's grip on power

Voters across Russia are casting their ballots in dozens of local elections that are seen as a big test for the ruling pro-Kremlin United Russia party.
Nearly 160,000 candidates are vying for seats in local parliaments. Governors are also being elected in many regions.
The polls come only weeks after the suspected poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny with Novichok.
His team allege this was done on the orders of President Vladimir Putin - the Kremlin denies any involvement.

Mr Navalny, who fell ill on 20 August in Russia, is now being treated in Germany. Last week, doctors in Berlin's Charité hospital said he was out of an induced coma and his condition improved.

Mr Navalny had been backing key challengers to United Russia, describing it as the "party of crooks and thieves".
His team have been urging Russians to vote tactically to channel support towards candidates best placed to defeat United Russia.
In some places, these are people affiliated with Mr Navalny himself, while in other regions they are communist or nationalist challengers, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Moscow reports.
Mr Navalny's camp believes this campaign could be why he was attacked, our correspondent says.
She adds that United Russia has become increasingly unpopular, associated with a controversial pension reform, falling incomes - and corruption.
Russia's electoral commission allowed early voting on 11-12 September because of the coronavirus outbreak.
But Sunday is the main day for tens of millions of voters across 11 time zones, with more than 56,000 polling stations prepared.
These are the first elections since controversial constitutional reforms were approved in a July referendum allowing Mr Putin to stay in power until 2036.
They are also seen as a dry run for elections to the national parliament next year.
Last year, mass protests were held in the capital Moscow, following the exclusion of many opposition candidates from a local election.
The authorities were then accused of a heavy-handed response to the rallies, which saw some of more than 1,000 people arrested receive sentences of up to four years in prison.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54135141.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Kremlin has come out and denied Vladimir Putin plans to quit as Russia’s president next year after a U.K. tabloid published rumors that he was showing signs of Parkinson’s disease <a href="https://t.co/dxt9BVWXWY">https://t.co/dxt9BVWXWY</a></p>— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) <a href="https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1324661063963561985?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[ManFan]

He’ll rule until he drops dead. Simple really because he does not trust anyone who succeeds him to leave him alone.

 

[sweep_shot]

Russia's Putin authorised pro-Trump 'influence' campaign, US intelligence says

Russian President Vladimir Putin likely authorised attempts to influence last year's US election in favour of former President Donald Trump, intelligence officials say.

Moscow spread "misleading or unsubstantiated allegations" about the eventual winner, Joe Biden, according to a US government report.

But it said no foreign government had compromised the final results.

Russia has repeatedly denied allegations of election interference.

The 15-page report, released on Tuesday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, outlined what it said were "influence operations" pushed by Russia as well as Iran.

It said Russian-linked individuals had spread unsubstantiated claims about President Biden ahead of the 3 November election. It also said a disinformation campaign sought to undermine confidence in the broader election process.

Some people connected to Russian intelligence also pushed anti-Biden narratives to media outlets, senior officials and allies of Mr Trump, the report said.

President Biden defeated Mr Trump and was inaugurated on 20 January.

The report added that, while Russia had sought to boost Mr Trump's chances of victory, Iran had launched a "multi-pronged covert influence campaign" in an effort to weaken his support.

The former president pursued a policy of "maximum pressure" on Iran, imposing damaging sanctions and escalating a war of words between the two nations.

The report also concluded with "high confidence" that China, which has long been accused of cyber-espionage by Washington, chose not to "deploy interference efforts" ahead of the vote.

"China sought stability in its relationship with the United States and did not view either election outcome as being advantageous enough for China to risk blowback if caught," it said.

According to the report, the voting process and final results were not interfered with by foreign states.

The intelligence report was released at the same time as a joint investigation by the departments of Justice and Homeland Security which came to a similar conclusion.

Their report said "broad Russian and Iranian campaigns targeting multiple critical infrastructure sectors did compromise the security of several networks that managed some election functions".

But it emphasised that the alleged interference attempts were largely indirect.

"We have no indications that any foreign actor attempted to interfere... by altering any technical aspect of the voting process, including voter registration, ballot casting, vote tabulation, or reporting results," the document reads.

The US intelligence community said last August that China, Russia and Iran were actively trying to meddle in the forthcoming presidential election.

The assessment found that Russia was seeking to "denigrate" Mr Biden. It also found that China and Iran wanted Mr Trump to lose the vote.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56423536.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-usa-reaction/it-takes-one-to-know-one-putin-retorts-after-biden-says-he-thinks-he-is-a-killer-idUSKBN2BA0S1

President Vladimir Putin retorted on Thursday that it takes one to know one after U.S. President Joe Biden said he thought the Russian leader was a killer and already poor relations between Moscow and Washington sank to a new post-Cold War low.

Putin was speaking on television after Biden, in an ABC News interview that prompted Russia to recall its Washington ambassador for consultations a day earlier, said “I do” when asked if he believed Putin was a killer.

Biden also described Putin as having no soul, and said he would pay a price for alleged Russian meddling in the November 2020 U.S. presidential election, something the Kremlin denies.

Russia is preparing to be hit by a new round of U.S. sanctions in the coming days over that alleged meddling as well as over an alleged hack. In a highly unusual move following Biden’s interview, Moscow recalled its ambassador to the United States for consultations.

Putin, responding to Biden’s characterisation of him, said he knew the U.S. leader personally, and, in an apparent reference to Biden’s age (78), said he sincerely wished him good health.

Suggesting Biden was hypocritical in his remarks, Putin said that every state had to contend with “bloody events” and added Biden was accusing the Russian leader of something he was guilty of himself.

“I remember in my childhood, when we argued in the courtyard with each other we used to say: it takes one to know one. And that’s not a coincidence, not just a children’s saying or joke. The psychological meaning here is very deep,” Putin said.

“We always see our own traits in other people and think they are like how we really are. And as a result we assess (a person’s) activities and give assessments,” he said.

Shortly before Putin’s remarks, his spokesman said Biden’s comments showed he had no interest in fixing ties with Moscow, which are strained by everything from Syria to Ukraine to Russia’s jailing of opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

Biden was quick to extend a key nuclear arms pact with Russia after he took office in January. But his administration has said it will take a tougher line with Moscow than Washington did during Donald Trump’s term in office, and engage only when there is a tangible benefit for the United States.

“These are really bad remarks by the U.S. president. He has clearly shown that he doesn’t want to improve relations with our country,” Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said. “We will now proceed from that.”

“Of course, this hasn’t happened before in history,” Peskov told reporters, commenting on Biden’s remarks.

Konstantin Kosachyov, deputy chairman of parliament’s upper house, said Moscow’s recall of its ambassador was the only reasonable step to take in the circumstances.

“I suspect it will not be the last one if no explanation or apology follows from the American side,” Kosachyov said in a Facebook post.

“This kind of assessment (by Biden) is not allowed from the mouth of a statesman of such a rank,” he added, calling it a watershed moment in U.S.-Russia ties.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-putin-horse/putin-tells-how-he-fell-off-horse-idUSKBN2BI2TY?il=0

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has in the past presented himself sitting proud, bare-chested on a horse, but on Friday he admitted to taking a fall.

The 68-year-old who has been in power in Russia for more than two decades as president or prime minister has carefully cultivated a macho image for years with a series of photo opps.

They include Putin taking a dip in icy waters, riding on horseback topless, throwing opponents on the judo mat, freeing tigers into the wild and swimming butterfly stroke in a river.

“They were once filming me, I was training, and it happened that the horse stopped in front of a barrier and I did a somersault, literally a somersault,” Putin was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency on Friday.

He did not say when the incident had happened, but that he had fallen “fairly comfortably” and told a cameraman who was filming to keep the footage.

“(It was) the first time I heard this answer from him: I’ll delete it immediately,” said Putin.

The Kremlin seldom talks about Putin’s health or mishaps.

The Russian leader was alleged to have back trouble in 2012, something that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said at the time had stemmed from a bout of judo. The Kremlin declined to comment.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-military-putin/kremlin-says-it-fears-ukraine-could-restart-conflict-in-war-torn-east-idUSKBN2BN13Q?il=0

The Kremlin said on Wednesday it was concerned by mounting tensions in war-torn eastern Ukraine and that it feared Kyiv’s government forces could do something to restart a conflict with pro-Russian separatists.

The comments came a day after Ukraine’s commander-in-chief accused Russia of a military buildup near their shared border and said that the pro-Moscow separatists were systematically violating a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.

Kyiv and Moscow have blamed each other for a recent spate of violence in the region. Around 14,000 people have been killed in the conflict since it first erupted in 2014, Ukraine says.

“We express concern over the growing tension and express concern that one way or another the Ukrainian side could take provocative actions that would lead to war. We really don’t want to see that,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“I mean a civil war, which there already was there,” Peskov said, when asked to clarify on a conference call with reporters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin late on Tuesday accused Ukraine of provoking armed confrontation with the separatists and of failing to honour agreements over the region.

Speaking during a video conference with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Putin also urged Kyiv to enter into direct dialogue with local separatist forces, the Kremlin said late on Tuesday.

“The Russian side expressed serious concern over the escalation of armed confrontation that is being provoked by Ukraine along the line of contact and its effective refusal to implement the agreements of July 2020 ... to strengthen the ceasefire regime,” the Kremlin said.

Germany, Russia and France are part of the so-called “Normandy format” that also includes Ukraine and that was set up in 2014 to try to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-russia-lavrov/russia-says-any-attempt-to-start-a-new-war-in-donbass-could-destroy-ukraine-tass-idUSKBN2BO5F2?il=0

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that any attempts to start a new military conflict in Ukraine’s war-torn east could end up destroying Ukraine, the TASS news agency reported.

The comments come amid tensions after Ukraine’s commander-in-chief this week accused Moscow of building up forces near their shared border and said that pro-Russian separatists were systematically violating a ceasefire.

The Kremlin said earlier on Thursday that recent Russian troop and military hardware movements near Russia’s borders with Ukraine were aimed at ensuring Moscow’s own security and were not a threat to anyone.

 

[sweep_shot]

Russian 'troop build-up' near Ukraine alarms Nato

Russia has warned Nato against sending any troops to help Ukraine, amid reports of a large Russian military build-up on its borders.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would take "additional measures" if Nato were to make such a move.

Sporadic, low-level clashes continue in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists.

US forces in Europe are now on higher alert, citing "escalations of Russian aggression" in the area.

A Nato official told Reuters news agency that Russia was undermining efforts to reduce tensions in eastern Ukraine and Nato ambassadors had met on Thursday to discuss the situation.

"Allies share their concerns about Russia's recent large-scale military activities in and around Ukraine," the official said.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky joined the criticism, saying "military exercises and possible provocations along the border are traditional Russian games".

In a phone call with Mr Zelensky on Friday, US President Joe Biden "affirmed the United States' unwavering support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia's ongoing aggression in the Donbas and Crimea", the White House said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Mr Peskov accused Ukrainian forces of staging "provocations" on the frontline in eastern Ukraine, where a fragile ceasefire is violated daily.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the BBC that there had been a build-up of Russian military at the northern border between Ukraine and Russia, along the eastern border and "also in the illegally occupied Crimea".

"So from three directions we observed a military build-up of the Russian federation," he said, adding: "Ukraine is not looking for any escalation - we do not need war."

In the worst flare-up in recent months, four Ukrainian soldiers died in separatist shelling on 26 March near Shuma, a village in the Donetsk region. There have been only low-level incidents since then.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56616778.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-politics-putin/putin-signs-law-that-could-keep-him-in-kremlin-until-2036-idUSKBN2BS18W?il=0

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law that could keep him in office in the Kremlin until 2036, the government said on Monday.

The legislation allows him to run for two more six-year terms once his current stint ends in 2024. It follows changes to the constitution last year.

Those changes were backed in a public vote last summer and could allow Putin, 68, to potentially remain in power until the age of 83. He is currently serving his second consecutive term as president and his fourth in total.

The reform, which critics cast as a constitutional coup, was packaged with an array of other amendments that were expected to garner popular support, such as one bolstering pension protections.

The law signed by Putin limits any future president to two terms in office, but resets his term count. It prevents anyone who has held foreign citizenship from running for the Kremlin.

The legislation was passed in the lower and upper houses of parliament last month.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-kremlin-citizens/merkel-tells-putin-to-pull-back-troops-as-kremlin-accuses-ukraine-of-provocations-idUSKBN2BV1S3?il=0

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday to pull back the Kremlin’s military buildup near the border with Ukraine, while he in turn accused Kyiv of “provocative actions” in the conflict region. Ukraine has raised the alarm over an increase in Russian forces near its eastern border as violence has risen along the line of contact separating its troops from Russia-backed separatists in its Donbass region.

“The Chancellor demanded that this build-up be unwound in order to de-escalate the situation,” Germany’s government said in a readout of a telephone call between Merkel and Putin.

Russia has said its forces pose no threat and were defensive, but that they would stay there as long as Moscow saw fit.

A senior Kremlin official said on Thursday that Moscow could under certain circumstances be forced to defend its citizens in Donbass and that major hostilities could mark the beginning of the end of Ukraine as a country.

The Kremlin said in its readout of the Merkel phone call that “Vladimir Putin noted provocative actions by Kyiv which is is deliberately inflaming the situation along the line of contact.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy flew to eastern Donbass in a show of support on Thursday two days after he called on NATO to lay out a path for Ukraine to join the military bloc, whose expansion Moscow fiercely opposes. The rouble hit a five-month low on Wednesday a day after Russia said it had begun a planned inspection of its army’s combat readiness involving thousands of drills.

On Thursday, Dmitry Kozak, a senior Kremlin official, said Ukraine’s government were like “children playing with matches”.

“I support the assessment that the start of military action - this would be the beginning of the end of Ukraine,” the deputy head of Russia’s presidential administration said.

At a news conference, Kozak was asked if Russia would protect its citizens in eastern Ukraine.

Referring in his reply to Srebrenica, where about 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed by Bosnian Serb forces during Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war, he said: “It all depends on the scale of the fire. If there is, as our president says, Srebrenica, apparently we will have to step in to defend (them).”

Ukraine and Western countries say Donbass separatists have been armed, led, funded and aided by Russians. Moscow has denied interfering. While a ceasefire halted full-scale warfare in 2015, sporadic fighting never ceased.

 

[Last Monetarist]

Putin receives second shot of Russian COVID-19 vaccine: Interfax

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-russia-putin/putin-receives-second-shot-of-russian-covid-19-vaccine-interfax-idUSKBN2C11AU?il=0

President Vladimir Putin has received the second shot of a Russian COVID-19 vaccine, the Interfax news agency cited him as saying on Wednesday.

The Kremlin said last month that Putin had received the first shot without disclosing details or providing photographs. It has not said which of Russia’s three vaccines, the most well-known of which is Sputnik V, he has received.

 

[Last Monetarist]

Putin warns West of harsh response if it crosses Russia's "red lines"

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/navalny-supporters-seek-drown-out-putin-speech-with-mass-protests-2021-04-20/

President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Wednesday not to cross Russia's "red lines", saying Moscow would respond swiftly and harshly to any provocations and those responsible would regret it.

At a time of acute crisis in ties with the United States and Europe, with Russian troops massed near Ukraine and opposition leader Alexei Navalny on hunger strike in jail, the Kremlin leader used his state of the nation speech to project a message of Russian strength and defiance in the face of outside threats.

"We want good relations...and really don't want to burn bridges," Putin told both houses of parliament.

"But if someone mistakes our good intentions for indifference or weakness and intends to burn down or even blow up these bridges, they should know that Russia's response will be asymmetrical, swift and harsh."

Russia would determine where its red line lay in each specific case, he said, comparing the country to a tiger surrounded by hyenas.

His comments came at the climax of a 78-minute speech dominated by Russia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic hardship.

"In some countries, they have developed a highly unseemly habit of picking on Russia for any reason, and most often for no reason at all - a kind of sport," said Putin, standing alone on a vast stage flanked by white, blue and red national flags and a backdrop of a giant double-headed eagle.

"Organisers of any provocations that threaten our core security interests will regret what they have done like they've never regretted anything for a long time."

Putin, who is 68 and has dominated Russia for two decades, made no mention of Navalny. The opposition leader is ill in prison after starving himself for three weeks to demand access to his own doctors.

The rouble firmed after Putin's speech, with markets interpreting it as not escalating tensions with the West.

Recent weeks have seen an intensification of confrontation between Russia and Western countries, which are alarmed by Navalny's worsening condition and by what they say is the massing of tens of thousands of Russian troops near Ukraine and in Russian-annexed Crimea.

Last week, Washington tightened sanctions on Russia over accusations of computer hacking and election interference, and the Czech Republic accused Moscow of a role in explosions at an arms depot in 2014. Both expelled Russian diplomats. Russia denied wrongdoing and responded with ***-for-tat expulsions.

Tensions are also strained over the fate of Navalny, whose supporters were trying to rally across Russia on Wednesday in his support.

Two of Navalny's closest allies were arrested on Wednesday, their lawyers said. Lyubov Sobol, one of the faces of Navalny's popular YouTube channel, and Kira Yarmysh, his spokeswoman, were both detained in Moscow.

"As usual, they think that if they isolate the 'leaders', there won't be any protest," said Leonid Volkov, a close Navalny associate. "Of course that's wrong."

Another Navalny aide, Ruslan Shaveddinov, tweeted: "Right now across the whole of Russia they are detaining potential protesters. This is repression. This cannot be accepted. We need to fight this darkness."

European Council President Charles Michel called the arrests "deplorable" and urged Russian authorities to respect people's right to assemble.

The Russian government has said the gatherings are illegal. Previous pro-Navalny rallies have been dispersed by force, with thousands of arrests.

The OVD-Info monitoring group said more than 50 people had been arrested as demonstrations got under way, beginning in the far east.

Four doctors from outside Russia's federal prison service visited Navalny on Tuesday and found his health to be satisfactory, Russian human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said.

In his speech, Putin urged all citizens to get vaccinated and predicted that Russia would achieve collective immunity by the autumn. read more

On the eve of an online climate summit to be hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden, Putin also called for tougher "polluter pays" rules and set a goal for Russia to cut its greenhouse gas emissions below those of the European Union in the next 30 years.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/30/putin-says-he-was-jabbed-with-russias-sputnik-v-vaccine

Vladimir Putin has for the first time said that he was inoculated with Russia’s own Sputnik V vaccine as he gave a careful endorsement of the country’s floundering campaign while distancing himself from tough new measures designed to pressure more Russians into taking the jabs.

Putin has cut a mercurial figure during the pandemic, intrepidly donning a medical suit to visit a coronavirus hospital last March and then shunning public events for months, prompting ridicule that he was sheltering in a “bunker”.

He also declined to release photos or videos of his own vaccination, or give details of the vaccine, which the Kremlin reported took place in March. Journalists and others meeting Putin have still been required to quarantine for several weeks, fuelling speculation that he may not have received a jab.

During a nationally televised Q&A on Wednesday, the Russian leader denied that he had faked his own vaccination. “I hope that most of this country’s citizens understand that if I say I got the vaccine, then that’s how it is,” Putin said, adding that he and top military commanders of Russia’s military had been given Sputnik V but had not said so initially in order to avoid giving it a competitive advantage in Russia.

He also targeted widespread vaccine hesitancy by telling Russians that Sputnik V and other domestically made Russian vaccines were safe and that inoculation was the only way to end the coronavirus pandemic.

Yet Putin also said he opposed mandatory vaccinations, said that the use of western vaccines like AstraZeneca and Pfizer had led to “tragic cases,” and supported callers who said they had medical excuses not to be vaccinated.

The remarks, part of a yearly show where Putin listens to Russians’ questions and appeals, showed how the Kremlin leader is caught between Covid’s resurgence in Russia and public opposition to vaccinations.

During the show, Putin also accused London and Washington of trying to spark a crisis after last week’s standoff with the HMS Defender in the Black Sea, but said that even if Russia had sunk the destroyer, it would not have caused a war, because the west knew it could not win against Russia.

He also signalled that he would name an eventual successor when he decided to leave the Kremlin, but said the choice of Russia’s next president would ultimately lie with voters. Putin has led Russia since 2000 and, following a constitutional referendum last year, could potentially remain president until 2036. There is currently no clear successor.

“A time will come when, I hope, I can say that such and such a person is worthy in my opinion of leading such a wonderful country like Russia, our homeland,” said Putin, 68.

But the main focus of Putin’s appearance remained the coronavirus epidemic, a problem so pressing that one Moscow publication teased it as “Putin’s direct line with anti-vaxxers.”

More than 60% of respondents told the Levada Centre in May that they were not planning to vaccinate against coronavirus, and local measures to limit resort vacations and cafe tables to vaccinated customers have ignited a minor culture war in Russia.

Covid has resurged across Russia as Moscow and St Petersburg have posted record daily death tolls, and more than 21,000 new cases of the disease were reported on Wednesday. Despite beginning a mass vaccination campaign in December, just 11% of Russians have been inoculated with one of four domestically produced vaccines. This week, the Kremlin said the government would not reach its goal of vaccinating 60% of the country by September.

Yet despite a new crisis fuelled by the Delta variant of the coronavirus, Putin appeared carefully attuned to political considerations as he distanced himself from directives in Moscow and other cities to vaccinate at least 60% of certain groups including service workers.

“I don’t support mandatory vaccinations and continue to hold that point of view,” said Putin on Wednesday, adding that vaccination targets had been introduced by local governments in order to prevent a total lockdown of the Russian economy. The Kremlin had previously taken a harder line, saying Russians in the service sector should get vaccinated or look for work elsewhere.

Putin usually uses the Q&A show to back ordinary Russians’ petitions for salaries to be paid or schools to be built. On Wednesday, he attacked a Moscow school director for requiring a teacher to provide proof that she had been vaccinated, although her husband claimed said she had a medical excuse. “That’s illegal,” Putin declared. “I hope [the director] hears this and withdraws his illegal demands.”

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/15/russia-bans-media-outlet-that-published-vladimir-putin-scoops

The Kremlin’s war on independent journalism in Russia has escalated after the Proekt investigative media outlet was outlawed in an act of revenge for a series of deeply embarrassing revelations about Vladimir Putin and top Kremlin officials.

The rare decision to ban a critical media outlet by fiat is a bellwether for Russia’s new wave of investigative news outlets, which compete to publish damaging scoops about top officials and are now bracing for the Kremlin to employ similar pressure on them to shut down.

State media on Thursday announced that Russia’s justice ministry had added Proekt to a list of “undesirable organisations”, meaning its journalists must stop working for the site or face criminal prosecution, and added eight journalists, including Proekt’s editor-in-chief, Roman Badanin, to a register of “foreign agents”. Several reporters for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Open Media were also declared foreign agents.

It is illegal for other news agencies to link to or directly quote materials from an undesirable organisation, meaning, theoretically, they would have to purge their archives of any reference to Proekt’s work or possibly face criminal charges. The status would also outlaw any efforts by Proekt to crowdfund; their donors could also face charges.

The assault on Proekt on critical and independent media in Russia has seen news websites like Meduza and VTimes declared foreign agents (the latter has since shut down), journalists from the student journal DOXA put on trial, the investigative arm of Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Fund declared “extremist”, and millions sought in fines against the US-funded RFE/RL.

But it is the first time that a news outlet has explicitly been banned under the law (the closest example is the closure of the media arm of Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s Open Russia) and appears to indicate how Proekt touched a nerve in the Kremlin by investigating top officials and sensitive subjects like Russia’s bungled Covid-19 response and its deployment of mercenaries to Africa.

Last week, Badanin and two other employees of Proekt were targeted with house searches by police who said they were investigating a four-year-old slander case. But Proekt’s employees tied the searches to their plans to release a damning investigation into the interior minister, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, which alleged that his family members had become fabulously rich since his appointment in 2012 and that he was suspected of having ties to organised crime.

Proekt has also published investigations into some of Putin’s most feared associates, including Chechnya head Ramzan Kadyrov and the businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin. Using leaked property and passport information, the website also contended in an article last year that Putin had a daughter by a secret mistress.

For years, Kremlin-friendly businessmen had bought out or reined in critical outlets, warning journalists not to cross the “double lines” or be fired.

But the emergence of new investigative outlets like Proekt, which reduced their footprint in Russia to avoid government pressure, has left the government with fewer tools to control their output besides declaring them foreign agents, bankrupting them, or seeking other ways to close them down.

Proekt did not immediately comment on the government decision on Thursday.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Putin puts captured British armoured cars and American tanks on display after they were captured in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin has proudly displayed a selection of American and British tanks in Moscow after they were captured on the frontline in Ukraine.

A British Saxon armoured personnel carrier, believed to have been given to Ukraine in 2015, was among vehicles pictured parked in the Russian capital under red banners boasting “Our victory is inevitable”.

The display is part of a month-long exhibition, which also features an American Bradley tank, a Swedish CV90 and a French-made AMX-10RC armoured fighting vehicle.

The Russian president also plans to parade the armoured vehicles, some displaying British and US flags, to glorify the invasion of Ukraine.

The exhibition will run alongside Moscow’s Red Square Victory Day Parade on May 9 to celebrate Russia’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.

It will also feature an American Bradley tank, a Swedish CV90 and a French-made AMX-10RC armoured fighting vehicle.

Putin used May 9 last year to launch into a fiery 10-minute speech in front of the Kremlin, thundering against “Western global elites” and claiming civilisation was at “a decisive turning point”.

The holiday commemorating the Soviet victory in World War Two is the most important day in the calendar in Russia under Putin, who casts his invasion of Ukraine as analogous to Russia’s fight against the Nazis.


The Independent