Posts Tagged ‘moscow times’
Lackluster Yaroslavl Speech May Serve as Omen
The Moscow Times
Based on Dmitry Medvedev’s previous speeches, few people expected any cogent policy statements from the president during his address on Thursday to the third annual Global Policy Forum in Yaroslavl. Medvedev did not disappoint these expectations — or rather, the lack of them. His speech, like his previous ones, largely consisted of generalities.
As a commentator for the Rosbalt news agency noted: “The inarticulate and vague speech the president gave is practically becoming his personal trademark.”
Political analyst Lilia Shevtsova wrote on her blog: “Every time Medvedev speaks in public, he only reinforces the impression of inadequacy. How many times can you say the same thing over and over again?”
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Kremlin Sees No Reset in Historic Cameron Visit
A top Kremlin aide cautioned on Sunday that no “reset” looms in long-troubled relations with Britain, hours before Prime Minister David Cameron was to arrive in Moscow for the first visit by a British leader in six years.
Cameron is leading a delegation including Foreign Secretary William Hague and BP chief executive Bob Dudley to talks with President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that he hopes will boost economic ties and perhaps mend some fences.
Relations have been strained since the polonium poisoning death of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London in November 2006 and the Russian government refused to extradite Britain’s prime suspect, State Duma Deputy Andrei Lugovoi.
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Hermitage Capital: Tax Officials Stole $33M
Hermitage Capital Management on Thursday released a new exposé about officials implicated in the death of its lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, accusing them of siphoning off 1 billion rubles ($33 million) of state money through illegal tax refunds.
The complaint, filed with the Investigative Committee, says a Moscow district tax inspection office, headed at the time by Olga Stepanova, authorized the refunds in seven tranches to a small company called TekhProm in 2007 and 2008.
This is the same tax inspection office that Magnitsky accused of separately embezzling 5.4 billion rubles in a similar scheme in 2006 and 2007.
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Nurgaliyev Vows to ‘Burn’ Any Guilty Cops Linked to Magnitsky
Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev promised to burn “with a red-hot iron” any police officers who gained illicit wealth and were involved in the prosecution of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
“If something is proved beyond a doubt, I will burn them with a red hot iron myself,” Nurgaliyev said in an interview Saturday in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. At the moment, “we can’t charge them with anything.”
Prosecutors opened an investigation into two prison officials, including a doctor, over Magnitsky’s death in July, two months after President Dmitry Medvedev said all guilty parties in the lawyer’s “tragic” passing should be punished.
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After Magnitsky, Prison Doctors Ordered to Check Inmates
Chastened by the Kremlin and the international community after the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, the Justice Ministry has ordered prison doctors to check the health of prisoners being punished with solitary confinement.
The decree outlines the procedures for the medical check, which is already required under the law. Human rights activists warned that little would change in prisons as a result, saying prison doctors are dependent on prison wardens, who, in turn, are biased in their treatment of prisoners.
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Magnitsky Gives Financial Center a Boost
Russian authorities took a major step in early July toward fulfilling their goal of creating an international financial center in Moscow. In fact, it was possibly the most significant step since the idea was first announced. Namely, they published the results of a public review of the case concerning the death of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a pretrial detention center. President Dmitry Medvedev had ordered the investigation. The report released by the president’s human rights council names individuals within the Interior Ministry, prosecutor’s office, Federal Tax Service, court system and prison who were responsible for Magnitsky’s death. That is not the end of the story — nobody has been arrested — but it is real progress.
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Jail Officials Targeted Over Magnitsky
Investigators said Monday that a criminal case has been opened into two prison officials in connection with the death of Hermitage lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and that they face possible charges of negligence.
Larisa Litvinova, former medical official at Moscow’s Butyrskaya pretrial prison, faces up to three years in prison if charged and convicted of unintentional manslaughter by breach of professional duty, the Investigative Committee said.
Her former superior, Dmitry Kratov, may be jailed for five years if charged with negligence that resulted in death, committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said, Interfax reported.
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Inquiry: Magnitsky Beaten by Guards
Eight prison guards severely beat lawyer Sergei Magnitsky shortly before his 2009 death in pretrial detention, an activist said Tuesday, providing a new twist to allegations that Magnitsky had been tortured in prison.
An account of the beating is included in a 40-page report on Magnitsky’s death that the Kremlin’s human rights council presented to President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday, said Valery Borshchyov, who headed an independent investigation into the death that formed the basis for the report.
The report also lays blame on prison hospital staff and the investigators who jailed Magnitsky for his death.
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Our Answer to Magnitsky
“Our answer to Chamberlain.”
This Soviet slogan originated in the late 1920s as a government protest against British Foreign Minister Austen Chamberlain, who was outspoken in his criticism of the Soviet policy toward China. But instead of addressing the arguments raised by Chamberlain, the Kremlin responded with the only weapon they had: a massive propaganda campaign that included military threats aimed at Britain. The expression later took on the broader meaning of basically “Go fly a kite!” when the Kremlin had nothing else to say in response to criticism from the West.
“Our answer to Chamberlain” is the best way to describe the bill introduced by the Foreign Ministry and United Russia (and supported by the other three parties in the State Duma) that would blacklist foreign bureaucrats and public officials who have allegedly violated the rights of Russian citizens located abroad. Foreigners who end up on the list would be barred from entering Russia and prevented from conducting business deals, and whatever assets they hold in Russian banks would be frozen.
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