The Real Russia. Today. How Russians assign blame for the latest escalation in Ukraine

Tuesday, December 14, 2021

• International: Tikhanovskaya’s husband is sentenced, Russians tell pollsters that Moscow isn’t to blame in Ukraine, and another company wants in on Rosneft’s deal with Gazprom
• Public policy: Meet VK boss Vladimir Kiriyenko, why Russian lawmakers stepped back from QR codes on public transit, and a new public administration bill passes the State Duma
• Law and order: Another prison torture leak from Gulagu.net, The Insider is fined for flouting ‘foreign agent’ law, and ECHR orders compensation for victim of horrifying domestic violence

International

⚖️ Exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya accuses Lukashenko of ‘taking revenge’ after Belarus sentences her husband to 18 years in prison (4-min read)

A Belarusian court has handed an 18-year prison sentence to opposition blogger and politician Sergey Tikhanovsky — the husband of exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. The closed-door trial took place at a remand prison in the city of Gomel on Tuesday, December 14. Five other opposition figures were tried alongside Tikhanovsky, all of whom were handed sentences of 14 years in prison or more. After the verdict, Tikhanovskaya condemned Belarusian head of state Alexander Lukashenko for “taking revenge on his strongest political opponents” and promised that her opposition movement would continue its work.

⚔️ In new poll, 66 percent of Russians blame U.S., NATO, or Kyiv for escalating tensions in eastern Ukraine (The public remains roughly split about whether a broader war between Russia and Ukraine is likely. Just seven percent of Russians say either the Donbas separatists or Moscow is responsible for heightened tensions in Ukraine.)

⛽ Another energy company besides Rosneft says it wants to export natural gas using Gazprom’s pipelines (Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov declined to name the company and stressed that allowing Rosneft to export gas through Gazprom’s pipelines is an “experiment” that’s still under development)

Public policy

🔐 Vladimir Kiriyenko: After helping to create Russia’s ‘sovereign Internet,’ the son of one of the Kremlin’s most powerful officials takes the helm at the country’s most popular social network (10-min read)

On Monday, December 13, Vladimir Kiriyenko was appointed to serve as the new CEO of Vkontakte’s parent company, VK. The son of Sergey Kiriyenko (President Putin’s first deputy chief of staff and the Kremlin’s unofficial domestic policy czar), Vladimir previously worked as a vice president at Rostelecom. His appointment followed a mayor sale of shares that transferred control over VK to Gazprombank and the insurance giant Sogaz. Meduza explores key details of the new CEO’s life.

🛂 Lawmakers pull a draft bill requiring proof of vaccination for public transit access. Here’s why they panicked. (6-min read)

Draft legislation on introducing QR-code vaccine proof for accessing planes and trains in Russia will not go to the floor of the State Duma, parliamentary speaker Vyacheslav Volodin wrote on Telegram late in the evening on December 12. This abrupt announcement came just two days before lawmakers were expected to vote on the bill, which had already been sent to regional legislative assemblies for feedback. Despite public protests opposing the legislation, three quarters of Russia’s regions approved the proposal. So why was the draft law shelved at the last minute? Here’s what Meduza found out.

⚖️ State Duma passes final reading of public administration bill (The legislation will lift term limits on governors and abolish the title “president” for regional leaders, which endures only in Tatarstan. Most importantly, the law bolsters the power vertical of the federal government’s executive branch, granting the president the power to remove a governor for any reason, for example. In a rare show of dissent, regional lawmakers in Tatarstan unanimously voted against the legislation.)

Law and order

👁️ Gulagu.net activists acquire new video archive documenting torture at prisons in Krasnoyarsk, Zabaykalsky Krai, and Primorsky Krai (Founder Vladimir Osechkin says the 200 gigabytes of new data prove that inmate abuse isn’t limited to Saratov — the focus of his group’s previous video leak. The new footage implicates not only prison officials but also Federal Security Service officers.)

⚖️ Moscow court fines investigative outlet The Insider for noncompliance with ‘foreign agent’ disclosure (Though based in Latvia, The Insider has served Bellingcat’s investigative partner in Russia on several bombshell stories. The website is now being ordered to pay between $6,800 and $13,600.)

⚖️ ECHR orders Russia to pay compensation to domestic violence victim whose husband cut off her hands (“The Court found, in particular, that the Russian authorities had failed to establish a legal framework to combat domestic violence effectively.” For more than two years, conservative activists have managed to stall draft legislation in Russia’s Parliament that would raise the penalties for domestic violence.)