Don't Mind The Gap

TASS reports that the U.K.'s expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats over Moscow's suspected role in the poisoning of former double agent Skripal and his daughter won't have any adverse effect on voting at Russia's London embassy:

The personnel of the Russian embassy in Britain, involved in technical procedures for organizing the voting in the Russian presidential election on March 18, has been replaced, so the expulsion of a group of diplomats will not affect the procedure, Russia's ambassador to Britain Aleksandr Yakovenko told the Rossiya-24 television news channel in an interview.

Correspondent Carl Schreck has been up to a lot more than just his fantastic Catch Carlos If You Can expose on the ex-con behind one of the most enduring MH17 hoaxes.

This is worth reading, too:

Candidate With Benefits: The 'Administrative Resources' That Help Putin

By Carl Schreck

All things supposedly being equal, one candidate has been more equal than others in the run-up to Russia's presidential election.

Only the incumbent, Vladimir Putin, starred in flattering documentaries backed by state television ahead of the March 18 ballot. His billboards received police protection after incidents of vandalism, according to witnesses and media reports. And he secured two hours of exclusive face time before a nationwide TV audience just weeks before the poll while his opponents bickered in debates that one candidate called a "circus."

These are just some of the benefits Putin has enjoyed throughout the campaign thanks to what are known as "administrative resources" -- a broad range of bureaucratic levers that can be pulled to help ensure a desired electoral outcome for authorities.

KEEP READING

Covering Up Falsification?

Last week RFE/RL wrote about a new account on Telegram that seems to be written by a person working in the Russian-language section of the notorious St. Petersburg troll factory. In that article, we cover his discussion of what he and his colleagues are doing to influence the March 18 presidential election.

On March 15, the same Telegram account, under the handle Kremlebot, published what he says are the instructions he and his colleagues have received on how to respond to claims of falsification that will no doubt arise on election day and in the days after. The detailed instructions include bullet-point arguments on how to respond, from "technical mistakes" to "opposition provocateurs" to opposition "publicity seeking" to, of course, "Western meddling."

Even more interestingly, Kremlebot includes a list of articles and links that should be referred to in making the arguments, stories that apparently have been placed online in advance for this purpose.

It is fascinating reading.

U.S. Slaps New Sanctions On Russian Security Service, GRU, And 'Cyber Actors'

Two days before Russia's presidential election and weeks after Secretary Steven Mnuchin vowed the move was imminent, the United States Treasury has designated five Russian entities and 19 Russian individuals for sanctions under CAATSA and an executive order on "significant malicious cyber-enabled activities."

The targets include Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), and the GRU military intelligence service.

Additionally the U.S. Treasury targeted the Internet Research Agency, the prominent troll factory accused of spearheading election interference in the United States and other countries, and a number of entities and people connected to it, including its purported creator, Yevgeny Prigozhin, as well as six people who "act for or on behalf of the" GRU.

The Treasury Department statement says in a March 15 statement titled Treasury Sanctions Russian Cyber Actors For Interference With The 2016 U.S. Elections And Malicious Cyber-Attacks:

“The Administration is confronting and countering malign Russian cyber activity, including their attempted interference in U.S. elections, destructive cyber-attacks, and intrusions targeting critical infrastructure,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “These targeted sanctions are a part of a broader effort to address the ongoing nefarious attacks emanating from Russia. Treasury intends to impose additional CAATSA sanctions, informed by our intelligence community, to hold Russian government officials and oligarchs accountable for their destabilizing activities by severing their access to the U.S. financial system.”

Today’s action counters Russia’s continuing destabilizing activities, ranging from interference in the 2016 U.S. election to conducting destructive cyber-attacks, including the NotPetya attack, a cyber-attack attributed to the Russian military on February 15, 2018 in statements released by the White House and the British Government. This cyber-attack was the most destructive and costly cyber-attack in history. The attack resulted in billions of dollars in damage across Europe, Asia, and the United States, and significantly disrupted global shipping, trade, and the production of medicines. Additionally, several hospitals in the United States were unable to create electronic records for more than a week.

Since at least March 2016, Russian government cyber actors have also targeted U.S. government entities and multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, including the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors. Indicators of compromise, and technical details on the tactics, techniques, and procedures, are provided in the recent technical alert issued by the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation.

It goes on to cite alleged Russian efforts to "destabilize Ukraine, occupy Crimea, meddle in elections, as well as for its endemic corruption and human rights abuses," as well as "the recent use of a military-grade nerve agent in an attempt to murder two UK citizens" as evidence of "the reckless and irresponsible conduct of [Russia's] government."

Sobchak Sobs In Latest Debate

Debate or debacle? Russia’s televised presidential debates have been little more than shouting matches mostly, but the latest edition may have taken it to new heights, or lows if you like.

Ksenia Sobchak, the TV personality that critics (including Navalny) accuse of being inserted into the race with Kremlin encouragement to lure supporters of the banned candidate and Kremlin gadfly Aleksei Navalny, was literally brought to tears when she was heaped with verbal abuse -- much of it from Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the bombastic leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. Broadcast on state-run Rossiya 1 on March 14, Sobchak quit the stage toward the end of the program after taking the moderator to task and asking aloud, "Friends, why do you only interrupt me here?"

Mars Beckons A Fourth-Term Putin

Two days before his reelection, Putin promises in the second part of a hagiographic video profile (that also features a hauntingly kempt Silvio Berlusconi) to reenergize the space race with the launch of a mission to Mars in 2019 and exploration of the moon, Current Time TV reports.

Not The Onion.

AFP Moscow correspondent on Putin's Crimea speech:

It's The Onion, folks.