MID-MORNING NEWS ROUNDUP
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
RUSSIA SAYS DETAINED UKRAINIAN PILOT TO 'UNDERGO PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATION'
Russian investigators say Ukrainian Air Force pilot Nadiya Savchenko, who is in Russian custody, has been placed in a medical facility in Moscow to undergo a psychiatric examination.
The Investigative Committee's spokesman Vladimir Markin said on October 13 a psychiatric examination is a standard procedure in cases when a person is charged with serious crimes and could face the harshest penalties possible under Russian law.
Savchenko is charged with complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists who died while covering the conflict between pro-Russian separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine.
Savchenko denies the charges.
Savchenko's lawyer, Mark Feigin, has said his client had lodged a protest against the psychiatric examination.
Savchenko was captured in June. Kyiv has demanded her release.
PRO-MOSCOW DONETSK OFFICIAL HOSPITALIZED AFTER ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
The former so-called "people's governor" of the separatist held Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine is in the hospital in serious condition after a reported attempt on his life.
Reports from Russian news agencies said unknown assailants fired on a vehicle Pavel Gubarev was traveling in along the Rostov-On-Don-Donetsk highway early October 13.
Gubarev 's vehicle went off the road and struck a tree.
Gubarev was found unconscious and taken to a hospital in Rostov-On-Don where he is listed as being in critical condition.
Gubarev's wife Yekaterina said her husband was not hit by any bullets and his injuries were from the collision.
Prior to the assassination attempt, Gubarev has posted a message on his Facebook page saying he intended to make a major announcement soon.
(Based on reporting by TASS, Interfax, and RBK)
RUSSIA SAYS IT ORDERED TROOPS BACK FROM UKRAINIAN BORDER
A Kremlin spokesman says Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian troops to withdraw from the border with Ukraine and move back to permanent bases in the Rostov region.
Russian news reports quote Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that 17,600 Russian soldiers would return to their bases after what the Kremlin described as "summer training exercises" near the Ukrainian border.
The announcement comes days ahead of a summit of Asian and European leaders in Milan, Italy that Putin is expected to attend on October 16-17.
Putin also is expected to meet Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Milan on October 17.
NATO has accused Russia of sending several hundreds of armored vehicles and thousands of combat troops into eastern Ukraine to support pro-Russian separatist fighters.
Russia denies it has any forces in eastern Ukraine.
(Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, AFP, and RIA Novosti)
THE LITTLE GREEN MEN GOING LEGIT?
This tweet by Leonig Ragozin caught my attention this morning:
The story broke in the pro-Kremlin daily "Izvestia," which is often used to float policy ideas.
The Defense Ministry is working on a project to create multiple reserve armies, which should be formed in the near future, Franz Klintsevich deputy chairman of the State Duma's Defense Committee told "Izvestia."
"These armies will be staffed by people who will continue to work in their regular jobs. They will periodically participate in military training and receive a monthly stipend for being in the Army Reserve," Klintsevich said. "They will be ready at any moment to come to a collection point, get a gun, and be part of a formed unit."
The Defense Ministry hasn't officially commented.
GUBAREV'S LAST FACEBBOK POST BEFORE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
"Tomorrow I will make a very important announcement! Repost!
SIGNS OF THE TIMES IN DONETSK:
ANOTHER BAD SIGN FOR THE RUSSIAN ECONOMY
Via The Moscow Times:
Russia’s faltering economy appears to be edging shoppers into budget food stores, with two of the country’s biggest food retailers reporting a double-digit rise in sales over the third quarter last week.
Russia’s biggest food retailer Magnit, founded and co-owned by billionaire Sergei Galitsky, reported on Thursday a 21 percent growth of revenue in the first 9 months of 2014.
Second-biggest retailer X5 Retail Group said Friday that its revenue in the third quarter grew 23 percent year-on-year. The number of customers at its Pyatyorochka discount store rose by over 17 percent, the retailer added, while customers on average were spending almost 8 percent more on each visit.
Both companies, it seems, have inflation to thank for their higher revenues.
Read it all here.
WHO WON THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICT? CHINA
This from Bloomberg:
Defying his former enemies in the U.S. and Europe may force Vladimir Putin to aid the ascent of his biggest rival in the east.
Isolated over Ukraine, Russia is relying on China for the investment it needs to avert a recession, three people involved in policy planning said, asking not to be identified discussing internal matters. This means caving in to pressure to grant China privileged access to the two things it wants most: raw materials and advanced weapons, two of the people said.
Russia’s growing dependence on China, with which it spent decades battling for control over global communism, may end up strengthening its neighbor’s position in the Pacific while hastening its own economic decline. With the ruble near a record low and foreign investment disappearing, luring Chinese cash may deepen Russia’s reliance on natural resources and derail government efforts to diversify the economy.
Read the whole piece here.
WILL 'NOVAYA GAZETA' BE THE NEXT TO FEEL THE HEAT?
Via "The Moscow Times":
Opposition-minded newspaper Novaya Gazeta has been hit with an extremism warning by Russia's media watchdog, prompting near immediate speculation of an impending crackdown on independent media outlets.
A statement on the agency's website said Friday that the newspaper's editors had been warned about the "inadmissibility of using the mass media to carry out extremist activities."
It's worth remembering how "Novaya Gazeta" bravely ran the headline "Forgive Us Holland" back in July, after Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down - in addition to all the other brave journalism they've done over the years, of course.
AFTERNOON NEWS ROUNDUP
Some items from RFE/RL's News Desk:
RUSSIA TODAY STARTS SPANISH-LANGUAGE PROGRAMMING IN ARGENTINA
State-run satellite channel "Russia Today," a major platform for getting the Kremlin's message to audiences abroad, has extended its reach with the inauguration of Spanish-language programming in Argentina.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner launched RT's Spanish-language programming in the South American nation with a televised linkup.
In an address to the people of Argentina, Putin said he hoped the channel would bring the two countries closer together.
He called RT a "solid and credible source of information about what is happening in Russia and the world."
Critics say RT often presents a skewed version of events that supports the Kremlin's viewpoint.
Hit by U.S. and European Union sanctions over its role in the Ukraine crisis, Russia has looked to Argentina and other countries as sources of food imports and geopolitical support.
(Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax)
RUSSIAN DUMA WANTS UKRAINE 'WAR CRIMES' PROBE
Russia's State Duma is calling on the international community to investigate what it describes as "war crimes" committed during the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
In a nearly unanimous vote on October 10, the lower parliament house adopted a resolution urging the organizations includiong the United Nations, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe to investigate what it says are mass graves discovered near the rebel-held city of Donetsk.
Last month, pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk said they had found two graves containing the the bodies of some 400 people they said were victims of military operations by government forces.
Ukrainian officials denied the claim, saying they never had control of the site, and it has not been independently confirmed.
In September, Russian media cited what reports referred to as an OSCE expert as saying hundreds of bodies had been exhumed from mass graves in the Donetsk region, but the OSCE said the man cited had never worked for the organization.
The United Nations says at least 3,660 people had been killed since the conflict began in April.
(Based on reporting by Interfax and TASS)
MIKHAIL GORBACHEV RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has been released from a Moscow hospital.
The Interfax news agency quoted Gorbachev as saying on October 10 that his condition "is much better today than it was yesterday and the doctors concluded that it is possible for me to be released."
Gorbachev told Interfax he was on his way to work.
Russian media reported on October 9 that Gorbachev, 83, was in the hospital, but did not say where or why.
He told Interfax on October 9 that his health was deteriorating.
Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985 and resigned in December 1991 as the country broke apart.
He is hailed in the West for instituting sweeping political and economic reforms but reviled by many in Russia who blame him for the Soviet collapse.
RUSSIAN COURT JAILS ONE MORE IN 'BOLOTNAYA CASE'
A Moscow court has sentenced an activist to three years and two months in prison over a May 2012 protest against President Vladimir Putin.
Dmitry Ishevsky was convicted of rioting and assaulting a police officer during the protest on the eve of Putin's inauguration to a third term.
More than 400 people were arrested after violence erupted at the protest on Moscow's Bolotnaya Square.
Dozens have been prosecuted and several sentenced to prison, including prominent opposition activist Sergei Udaltsov.
Kremlin opponents say the "Bolotnaya Case" is part of a campaign to stifle dissent.
They contend that protesters were provoked and that the state's claims of violence are strongly exaggerated.
Ishevsky pleaded guilty.
After his conviction and sentencing on October 10, nobody else is known to be in custody or facing trial for the protest.
(Based on reporting by Interfax and TASS)
FOOTBALL FANS DETAINED IN BELARUS FOR ANTI-PUTIN CHANTS
Police in Belarus have detained about 100 Ukrainian soccer fans after spectators at an international match chanted vulgar verses targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
About 30 Belarusian fans were also detained after the Euro2016 qualfying match between Belarus and Ukraine in the city of Barysau.
Media reports on October 10 said that those detained face charges of using vulgar words in public, which is punishable by several days in jail.
Ukrainian fans unfurled a giant banner in the blue-and-yellow colors of the Ukrianian flag and the words: "We Will Not Allow Anyone To Rule Our Homeland."
Russia annexed the Crimea region from Ukraine in March and Kyiv accuses Putin's government of sending troops and weapons into eastern Ukraine to support pro-Russian separatists in a conflict that has killed more than 3,660 poeople since April.
Ukraine won the match 2-0.
(Based on reporting by "Nasha Niva" and football.ua)
A WAR OF WORDS BETWEEN MOSCOW AND TBILISI
Earlier this week, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned NATO against deploying still-to-be-defined infrastructure in Georgia. The move, announced at the alliance's summit in Wales in September, would "threaten the emerging stability in the Caucasus region," the ministry said in a statement on October 8.
A day later, Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania hit back -- and he didn't mince words.
“The only threats to the region are Russia's occupation forces in our country and Russia's ongoing aggression against Ukraine," he said.
“NATO infrastructure will be established in Georgia. This is part of an agreement that was reached at the NATO summit."
Alasania added that the purpose of the project was to "conduct joint military exercises," to deter "aggression, which is coming from Russia, and also to increase our defense capabilities. This has already been decided and it will only contribute to the stability of our region,”
WHO'S THE MOST DEMOCRATIC LEADER OF THEM ALL?
According to a new poll by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), 27 percent of Russian's think Vladimir Putin's third term has been the most democratic period their country has ever experienced -- the highest percentage in the survey.
And in second place? That would be Putin's first two terms, of course! And third? Leonid Brezhnev's Soviet Union.
Just 7 percent named Boris Yeltsin's rule as the most democratic period. Just 3 percent said Mikhail Gorbachev's time in the Kremlin.
FOM's work is, to say the least, regime friendly. But still, these results are eye popping.