The Real Russia. Today. Team Navalny says it has real photos of ‘Putin’s palace’

Thursday, January 20, 2022

• Team Navalny says it obtained real photos of ‘Putin’s palace’
• International: the Belarus constitutional referendum is set, Moscow’s new CAR ambassador makes some allegations, and Moldova and Gazprom face off
• Law and order: Chechen police travel to Nizhny Novgorod and grab human rights activist’s mother, Russia’s Central Bank wants an end to crypto, and the federal censor draws up new charges against Mediazona

🏰 Alexey Navalny’s researchers say they’ve corroborated a bombshell report on the Russian president’s alleged seaside residence

Alexey Navalny’s investigative team operating abroad has released a new report devoted to “Vladimir Putin’s palace” — a seaside mansion that’s been under construction for years in Gelendzhik and linked to the Kremlin and the president’s close friends. Exactly a year and a day ago, Team Navalny published an investigative report about the residence that has attracted more than 121 million views. In these new revelations, the jailed opposition leader’s researchers say they’ve obtained real photographs of the palace’s interior. The images apparently corroborate the accuracy of last year’s 3D mockups that were created using leaked blueprints and furniture catalogs (including a design for a hookah lounge that contains a “dance pole”).

International

🗳️ Lukashenko sets a date for referendum on amending the Belarusian constitution (The vote is scheduled for February 27, 2022. There will only be one question on the ballot: “Do you accept the amendments and additions to the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus?”. You can read more about the proposed changes here.)

🗣️ Moscow’s new ambassador to the Central African Republic accuses rebel group ‘3R’ of murdering Russian journalists (Alexander Rastorguyev, Orkhan Dzhemal, and Kirill Radchenko were killed in the CAR in 2018. They had traveled there to film a documentary about Russian mercenaries from the Wagner private military company.) 

🛢️ Moldova introduces state of emergency amid crisis over payments to Russia’s Gazprom (Moldova made an unsuccessful bid to defer its advanced payments for January, and now Gazprom has threatened to cut off gas supplies.)

Law and order 

🚨 Human rights activist’s mother taken from Nizhny Novgorod to Chechnya for interrogation in alleged fraud case (The activist, Abubakar Yangulbayev, is a lawyer from the Committee for the Prevention of Torture. According to the rights group, masked Chechen police officers forced their way into the Yangulbayevs’ home in order to detain the activist’s parents for questioning. The officers decided not to take Yangulbayev’s father after he showed proof that he is a retired federal judge. Yangulbayev told Dozhd TV that his mother has diabetes and a suspected case of COVID-19.)

🏦 Russian Central Bank proposes outlawing crypto trading and mining (The central bank argued that the spread of cryptocurrencies poses “significant threats to the well-being of Russian citizens and the stability of the financial system”.) 

⚖️ Roskomnadzor draws up 12 protocols against Mediazona for failing to identify ‘prohibited organizations’ (The publication and its editor-in-chief Sergey Smirnov now face fines totaling 330,000 rubles, or $4,300, over articles that mention Alexey Navalny’s outlawed organizations and the “Network” community, says lawyer Pavel Chikov.)