The Real Russia. Today. Behold the ins and outs of the Russian-U.S. ‘foreign agent’ standoff; The Moscow Times’ new majority owner is revealed; and Volkswagen covers its rear end in Crimea

Story of the day: the ins and outs of “foreign agent” restrictions 🕵️

Several media outlets under the umbrella of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty received official notices from the Russian Justice Ministry on October 9, warning that Moscow might restrict their operations. The documents mailed to RFE/RL cited Russia’s mass media law, highlighting a clause about retaliatory measures, in the event that a foreign state infringes on the rights of Russian journalists. Representatives from Radio Svoboda (RFE/RL’s Russian language service) tie the warnings to complaints by RT chief editor Margarita Simonyan, who recently claimed that American officials are threatening to add RT to the U.S. registry of “foreign agents,” though this information remains unverified. Meduza reviews the escalating conflict, and examines the realities of “foreign agent” legislation in Russia and America. Read the story in English.

Another catering company executive joins the news biz 🗞

The English-language news website The Moscow Times is now under the control of Vladimir Jao, the head of the “Aeromar” catering company. The former newspaper now belongs to a limited liability company called “Tiamti,” 51 percent of which is owned by Jao. Moscow Times founder Derek Sauer owns 19 percent of the company and his media projects director, Svetlana Korshunova, owns the remaining 30 percent. Speaking to Kommersant, Sauer said Jao “is a partner and doesn’t control the publication,” explaining the ownership scheme as necessary to comply with Russian laws, which limit foreign control of media outlets to 20 percent.

• The Moscow Times was founded in 1992. In 2015, because of new media restrictions on foreign ownership, the newspaper was sold to Demyan Kudryavtsev, who also owns Vedomosti. In June 2017, the publication ended its print edition, Sauer returned, and most of the staff left, including chief editor Mikhail Fishman.

Adventures in Crimea sanctions 🚫

Volkswagen dealerships around Russia have reportedly received a letter from Marcus Ozegovich, the automaker’s general director in Russia, warning that the sale of trucks, multipurpose commercial vehicles, and specialized cars is prohibited in Crimea. Two unnamed sources confirmed to the newspaper Vedomosti that Russian car dealerships have received the warnings, and a source at Volkswagen reportedly said the company sends out these reminders regularly. Ozegovich’s letter warned that the restrictions apply not just to Crimean companies, but also to any sales to customers who plan to use the vehicles in Crimea. Sales through intermediaries are also subject to the Crimea prohibition.

• Earlier this year, Russia was unable to purchase Iranian-produced gas turbines because they were manufactured under a license from the German company Siemens. In July, Siemens announced that four of its turbines had been illegally transferred to Crimea, in violation of European Union sanctions barring EU firms from supplying the occupied peninsula with energy technology.

Software produced by Microsoft Corp has been acquired by state organizations and firms in Russia and Crimea despite sanctions barring U.S-based companies from doing business with them, official documents show, according to a new report by Reuters. “The acquisitions, registered on the Russian state procurement database, show the limitations in the way foreign governments and firms enforce the U.S. sanctions, imposed on Russia over its annexation of the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.” Read the story here.

Legal drama 👨‍⚖️👮

In 2003, Evgeny Khudyakov and Evgeny Arakcheyev were convicted of murdering three civilians in Chechnya. Jurors twice acquitted the officers, before a court finally convicted them and sentenced them to 14 years and 10 years, respectively. Khudyakov evaded police for nearly a decade before he was apprehended this August. His accomplice, meanwhile, finished his prison sentence last December. Meduza reviews his story in English.

Former Kirov Governor Nikita Belykh fell ill in court on Wednesday, and paramedics were called to treat him for stress. According to the news agency Interfax, the medics said Belykh should be ready to continue the trial within an hour. The incident occurred just before he was due to take the stand again and continue being questioned about allegedly accepting 600,000 euros in bribes from different businesspeople. The ex governor denies the charges.

Russian investigators have added four Ukrainian citizens to an international wanted list, suspecting them of attacking Russian diplomatic institutions in 2014 and 2016. All four individuals have been arrested in absentia. One of the suspects is Volodymyr Parasyuk, a sitting member of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada. Ukrainian police are conducting their own investigation into the June 2014 attack on Russia’s embassy in Kiev and the March 2016 attack on Russia’s consulate in Lviv.

Russian Federal Security Service agents have detained a Tajikistani man for inciting extremism using the walkie-talkie emulator Zello, which has been banned in Russia. The suspect was originally detained on administrative charges, but he later confessed to creating a group chat on Zello, where he called for an arson attack — it’s still unclear against whom, but investigators reportedly believe his target was a religious group.

• The Russian government blocked access to Zello in April 2017, after the service refused to comply with regulators’ demands that it register as an information-distribution organizer.

For the second time, far-right activists from the so-called SERB movement have torn down a memorial plaque in Moscow dedicated to slain opposition leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov. The SERB activists reportedly brought the plaque to police, demanding that the people who displayed it be charged with illegally erecting a monument.

• The same thing happened in early September 2017, when a memorial plaque appeared outside a home in Moscow where Nemtsov once lived. The homeowners consented to the plaque, but SERB activists tore it down, anyway.
• SERB activists regularly destroy property and attack members of Russia’s liberal political opposition, typically avoiding any police response.

Russia’s war machine

The Russian Su-24 bomber that crashed during takeoff on October 10, killing the crew, was in a “non-flight mode” during the accident, a source told the newspaper Kommersant, explaining that the pilots for some reason failed to put the aircraft in flight mode before attempting their takeoff. This could be the result of a technical malfunction, where the cockpit’s instrument panel may have displayed flight readiness, though the stabilizer and wing flaps were not actually in takeoff mode. The crash claimed the lives of two experienced pilots.

• The accident was the third non-combat loss of a Russian military aircraft in Moscow’s Syria operation. In 2016, two military planes crashed while trying to land on the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier. In both those incidents, the pilots managed to eject and survived.