This was Russia today, Friday, October 4, 2024 Pro-Kremlin media correspondent gets caught posing as BBC journalist, Russian Orthodox Church moves to limit cooperation with other denominations, and the Wildberries dispute continues
Happy Friday, readers! Our bulletin today outlines the latest attempt by the estranged husband of Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim to sink the online retailer’s merger, new leaked documents related to Alexey Navalny’s death, and more.
Today’s newsletter is 982 words — a five-minute read.
Today’s main story: New leaked documents show Russian investigators seized everything Navalny touched
A new set of leaked documents published by the Dossier Center includes a list of items Russian state investigators seized in connection with Alexey Navalny’s death in prison in February. The inventory appears to include everything the politician could plausibly have touched in the hours before his death — from books to trash to snow.
The gist: According to the Dossier Center, the list seems to suggest the investigators were initially operating under the theory that Navalny’s death was the result of foul play, rather than a health condition. The outlet also notes that only 31 of the 75 list items are marked as having been sent in for examination; it’s unclear whether the rest of the seized items, such as Navalny’s clothing, were tested or simply confiscated.
Context: This latest leak comes just a day after the anonymous Telegram channel VChK-OGPU published what it said was the original version of Russian investigators’ written decision not to launch criminal proceedings over Navalny’s death. That document included a list of injuries found on Navalny’s body that was redacted from a later version of the resolution authorities sent to his widow, Yulia Navalnaya.
2. How Ukrainian specialists work to clear battlefields of unexploded ordnance
Ukraine has become the most heavily mined country in the world since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion. While teams of specialists are constantly working to demine affected areas, it will be years before the country is cleared of mines and unexploded ordnance, including cluster munitions.
A brutal civilian toll: “In Ukraine, because of the nature and the intensity of the conflict, we’re often seeing double or triple or even quadruple amputees, and a lot of those injured are in their 20s and 30s,” said Paul Heslop, a landmine clearance specialist and program manager at UNDP Ukraine.
An up-close look: Meduza shares photos offering a glimpse into the daily efforts to rid Ukrainian land of deadly explosives.
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🏇🏿 Catch this week’s edition → Horses, Hyundais, and headless rubber goats: A dispatch from the 5th World Nomad Games (16-min read)
3. Meanwhile in Russia
⚖️ Vladislav Bakalchuk, the estranged husband of Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim, has reportedly filed a lawsuit against the online retailer, the joint venture created in its merger with the advertising operator Russ Group, and Kim herself. Bakalchuk is seeking 350 billion rubles (about $3.67 million) over the merger, which he claims is “illegal” as he did not approve it (Kim has said that Bakalchuk owns a one percent stake in the company and does not take part in management decisions). Last month, Bakalchuk attempted to storm the Wildberries Moscow office, leading to a shootout that left two security guards dead. (Forbes Russia)
🚫 The Russian Orthodox Church’s official governing body, the Holy Synod, plans to ban its clergy from participating in joint prayers with representatives of other religious denominations, according to a draft resolution published on the church’s website this week. Agentstvo Media quoted religion researchers as saying that the document appears to be a “demonstrative rejection of the tradition of cooperation between the Moscow Patriarchate and Catholics and Protestants that’s existed since the breakup of the Soviet Union.” (Agentstvo Media)
🪖 Russia’s Defense Ministry could recruit at least 225,000 contract soldiers over the next three years, according to estimates from the independent outlet iStories, which reviewed the government’s draft federal budget for 2025-2027. Western analysts believe that Russia’s Defense Ministry is intensifying its recruitment of contract soldiers in an attempt to offset losses from the invasion of Ukraine without declaring a new wave of mobilization, which the Kremlin fears could lead to internal unrest. (iStories)
4. As the world turns
🚂 A train going from Moscow to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad was nearly denied entry from Belarus into Lithuania on Thursday after Lithuanian border guards noticed graffiti on the locomotive containing the pro-war Z and V symbols as well as the phrase “Vilnius is a Russian city.” The train was allowed to continue its journey after its operators cleaned off the writing. (Lithuanian State Border Guard Service)
🤝 Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said Friday that he’ll be ready to restore the country’s relations with Russia if the full-scale war in Ukraine ends while he’s still in office. “If the war ends during the current government’s mandate, I’ll do everything possible to restore economic and standard relations with the Russian Federation. The E.U. needs Russia, and Russia needs the E.U.,” he said at a press conference. (Aktuality)
🥸 Airat Shiryaev, a correspondent for the Russian state TV channel REN TV, recently posed as a BBC News Russian journalist in an attempt to get an interview with Tatyana Lazareva, a former Russian TV presenter who left the country in 2022 and condemned the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. When a real BBC reporter caught wind of the scheme and called Shiryaev on the phone, he claimed to be a BBC correspondent who “left Russia after the start of the special military operation,” using the Kremlin’s state-mandated euphemism for the full-scale war. When other BBC journalists made it clear that they knew Shiryaev was faking his identity and asked him why he was doing it, he told them to “disappear into the sunset and stop interfering with [his] work.” (BBC News Russian)
🔎 Latvia’s Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau has launched an investigation in response to reports from Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) that Latvian law enforcement officers helped former Yukos executive Leonid Nevzlin persecute Russian opposition figures in exchange for bribes. Last month, Navalny’s team accused Nevzlin of orchestrating violent attacks against multiple exiled Russians, including former FBK chairman Leonid Volkov, who was assaulted with a hammer in Vilnius in March. (Delfi)
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