The Real Russia. Today. Babchenko explains, Lavrov visits Pyongyang, and Durov fingers Apple
Thursday, May 31, 2018 (See you in June, folks!)
- Arkady Babchenko explains his resurrection
- Russia’s foreign minister visits North Korea for the first time in nearly a decade
- The former co-owner of Promsvyazbank is selling off his Russian assets
- A Russian entrepreneurs’ union wants even broader counter-sanctions
- The governor of the Sverdlovsk region wants to ditch director mayoral elections in another city
- A record number of Russians can’t leave the country because of unpaid debts
- A news website beats the federal censor in court
- Telegram says Apple started blocking its global iOS updates when Russia banned it
Babchenko says he ain’t going anywhere ✊
On May 30, Ukraine’s National Security Service revealed that Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, whose murder had been reported a day earlier, is in fact alive and well. Babchenko apparently took part in a special operation carried out by Ukrainian intelligence agents who learned about a plot against his life. The man who allegedly planned the murder is now reportedly in police custody. Speaking at Wednesday’s press conference, Ukrainian National Security Agency head Vasyl Hrytsak invited Babchenko to the stage to deliver a statement. Here’s what the journalist said.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he was aware of the National Security Service’s plan to stage Babchenko’s murder, accusing the men who supposedly tried to kill the journalist of wanting to destabilize Ukraine’s political situation and embarrass the country’s authorities. Poroshenko has placed Babchenko under 24-hour police protection.
Evgeny Solodko, the lawyer representing the man accused of plotting Babchenko’s murder, says the Ukrainian authorities tried to intimidate his client at some point in their investigation. The suspect is being charged with planning a foiled terrorist attack and faces up to 12 years in prison.
Mr. Lavrov goes to Pyongyang 🇷🇺🤝🇰🇵
On May 31, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made his first visit to North Korea in almost a decade. Laying flowers at a memorial to the nation’s former leaders, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, Lavrov met with his North Korean counterpart, Ri Yong-ho, and also spoke to the country’s current ruler, Kim Jong-un. This was the Kremlin’s first official meeting with Kim, who is supposed to travel to Singapore in two weeks for “on-again, off-again” talks with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Life after Promsvyazbank 💸
Still in Cyprus, Dmitry Ananiev is reportedly negotiating the sale of his Russian assets. He fled Russia last December, after the Central Bank announced the restructuring of Promsvyazbank, which he co-owned with his brother. Sources tell the newspaper Vedomosti that Ananiev is looking for a buyer for his real estate development company PSN Group, his printing house Extra-M, and his agroholding company White Bird.
Just two weeks after Russia’s Central Bank stepped in to restructure Promsvyazbank, the Ananiev brothers allegedly unloaded 4.5 billion rubles ($72.5 million) of their own money to Vozrozhdenie Bank (another bank they own). Sources told the newspaper Kommersant that the transfer apparently took place on December 28 or 29, flooding Vozrozhdenie Bank with more money than its average annual balance. Dmitry’s brother, Alexey, denies that the massive withdrawal took place.
What happened to Promsvyazbank and why would the Ananievs move their cash to Vozrozhdenie Bank? On December 15, 2017, Russia’s Central Bank announced the restructuring of Promsvyazbank, after discovering violations in its reporting and the destruction of credit history records. A week later, the Ananiev brothers fled Russia. Dmitry said that the Central Bank was imposing unrealistic conditions on Promsvyazbank.
Russia’s Finance Ministry has announced that Promsvyazbank will be restructured into a base bank for the country’s defense industry and major state contracts. Pyotr Fradkov, the son of Russia’s former prime minister, will head the institution. The newspaper Kommersant previously reported that officials were planning to hide Promsvyazbank’s top management from the public to try to avoid more targeted U.S. sanctions.
Emotional counter-sanctions 😓
The entrepreneurs’ union “Delovaya Rossiya” wants another Civil Code amendment added to the State Duma’s proposed “counter-sanctions.” According to a letter from the organization’s head to State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, Delovaya Rossiya wants citizens and enterprises affected by foreign sanctions to be able to sue those who observe the sanctions for financial losses and emotional distress.
What is this legislation? The law would make it illegal to refuse cooperation with Russian entities because of sanctions imposed by another country. Such actions could result in fines as high as 600,000 rubles ($9,720) or up to four years in prison. People who “provide recommendations” or “supply information” “that has led or could lead” to new anti-Russian sanctions would face fines as high as 500,000 rubles ($8,090) or up to three years in prison with a 200,000-ruble ($3,235) fine.
The State Duma adopted a first reading of this legislation on May 15, and deputies planned to vote on a second reading on May 17, but it was postponed indefinitely, in order to conduct “additional consultations with business and expert communities.” Sources told Kommersant that lawmakers will likely vote in their spring session on penalties for observing foreign sanctions, downgrading the offense to a misdemeanor. A vote on criminalizing the facilitation of foreign sanctions isn’t expected until the fall. This proposed offense would supposedly remain a felony.
Another mayorship to bite the dust ✌️
The governor of Russia’s Sverdlovsk region wants more direct elections canceled. This time, Governor Evgeny Kuivashev is gunning for the mayor’s office in Nizhny Tagil. His proposal has already won the endorsement of the regional parliament’s government development committee. In March, Kuivashev introduced a similar bill in Yekaterinburg, leading democratically elected Mayor Evgeny Roizman to resign in protest.
Patriotic debts 💰
The number of Russians banned from leaving the country because of overdue unpaid debts has reached its highest level in recent years, according to data released by the Federal Bailiff Service. There are currently more than 2.3 million Russians who can’t travel abroad because of unpaid debts in excess of 30,000 rubles ($480) or unpaid alimony greater than 10,000 rubles ($160). Introduced in 2005, the travel restrictions last six months once imposed and can be extended repeatedly. Federal officials have forbidden 1.6 million new debtors from traveling abroad since the beginning of the year.
The Federal Bailiff Service’s director declared this month that debtors can reclaim their travel rights in just 23 minutes by repaying their debts. It turns out, however, that this is merely how long it takes to notify the Federal Security Service, which makes the final decision to restore a citizen’s ability to leave the country.
Internet censorship
⚖️ Beating Roskomnadzor in court
The news website Znak.com won a lawsuit against Russia’s federal censor, Roskomnadzor, which accused the outlet of publishing a video that contained obscene language. Znak.com produced phonoscopic evidence establishing the absence of any foul words in the video, convincing a Yekaterinburg district court judge to throw out the charges brought by Roskomnadzor, which didn’t bother to send any representatives to the trial.
In December 2016 and November 2017, Roskomnadzor issued warnings to the magazine The New Times for publishing obscenities. In April 2018, the agency sued the radio station Ekho Moskvy for posting a hyperlink to a video that contained swear words, resulting in a 20,000-ruble ($320) fine. The station’s online editor was hit with a separate 5,000-ruble ($80) fine.
🍏 Fighting Apple in the App Store
“Unfortunately, Apple didn’t side with us.” That’s how Telegram founder Pavel Durov described his company’s current relationship with the U.S. tech giant, after revealing this week that Telegram hasn’t been able to update its iOS app since mid-April, when Russia’s federal censor started blocking Telegram and ordered Apple to remove it from the App Store.
“While Russia makes up only seven percent of Telegram’s user base, Apple is restricting updates for all Telegram users around the world since mid-April,” Durov explained. “As a result, we’ve also been unable to comply fully with GDPR for our EU-users by the deadline of May 25, 2018.”
Earlier this week, Roskomnadzor announced that it’s given Apple one month to delete Telegram from its App Store in Russia, also demanding that it stop sending Telegram’s push notifications to users in Russia, threatening to “take action” against iOS services, if it refuses to comply.
Largely without success, Roskomnadzor has been trying to cut access to the instant messenger Telegram since April 16. According to one report that month, Telegram’s audience in Russia surged like never before after the government started trying to block it.
Yours, Meduza