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Novaya Gazeta:
Putin’s approach prompts educated Russians to think about emigration
Today at 10:48 | Paul Goble
For the sixth time in less than a century, many Russians are thinking about emigration or even acting on that thought because “the model of the state built by Lenin and Stalin and now being softly restored by Putin is flawed from the outset,” benefiting the top elite and the masses perhaps but not the “the most educated and qualified.”
That system is “constructed for the powers and for the lumpen,” whose heads can be turned by the glorious imagery offered by the powers. But those who form what could be Russia’s dynamic middle class, “the strongest and most gifted people,” have no place in this “model.”
Such a pattern repeated over so many years, Oreshkin asserts, “cannot be an accident.” Instead, it is “a long-term and possibly instinctive policy directed at converting Russian into a country of slaves and masters,” people who don’t understand or who benefit from the fact that Putin has failed to keep his promises but has made the situation of Russia worse.
Read more:
http://www.kyivpost.com/news/opinion/op_ed/detail/96064/20/page/1/#comments#ixzz1ChfJkK6y
BP, Russia oil plans encroach on Arctic parks
Today at 18:53 | Reuters
Ambitious Arctic drilling plans by oil giant BP and Russia encroach upon key nature reserves, threatening native polar bear and whale populations, an environmental group said on Tuesday.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said a deal last month allowing BP and Russian state-run major Rosneft access to untapped reserves in the Kara Sea violated the boundaries of two Russian national parks in one of the world’s last true wildernesses.
Read more:
http://www.kyivpost.com/news/russia/detail/96105/#ixzz1CjIJpN82
Thanks for that interesting information LES! want to take a bet that the likes of MS and his similarly brain damages cohorts will ignore this threat.
I mean what can they say in reply, that will be intelligent, constructive and factual.
Russia Reportedly Loses Military Satellite
February 01, 2011
Russia has ordered a search for a missing military satellite that apparently was put into the wrong orbit shortly after launch today.
Russian news agencies say the defense ministry and the Russian space agency have set up a joint task force to look for the missing craft. There was no independent confirmation of the report.
The Geo-IK-2 satellite was intended to help the military survey land and to produce a detailed three-dimensional map of the earth.
The incident comes a month after President Dmitry Medvedev sacked two top space officials for a similar setback and delivered another humiliating blow to Russia’s space industry.
http://www.rferl.org/content/russia_missing_satellite/2294578.html
Russian leaders’ ‘secret palaces’ provoke outrage
By Shaun Walker in Moscow
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev share between them at least two dozen palaces, villas and mansions, according to a respected Russian magazine, in a report that is likely to reignite a debate about privileges enjoyed by the ruling duo.
The Russian liberal media and blogosphere have been alive with discussion about possible secret residences belonging to the two since a businessman in December accused Mr Putin, the Prime Minister, of building a £600m palace on the shores of the Black Sea for his own personal use.
The magazine Kommersant Dengi reported yesterday that given the Russian regime’s opacity, it was impossible to tell how many residences the President and Prime Minister had access to, but noted that some estimates gave Mr Putin 26 separate places to live in. The magazine itself counted 24 residences that could be used by the pair, including six that are only rumoured to be for presidential use. The list contains castles, dachas, palaces, a ski resort and even a chateau outside Paris.
Most controversial is the Black Sea palace, currently being built near the village of Praskoveyevka. Sergei Kolesnikov, a Russian businessman and supposed whistleblower, told a US newspaper in December that funds for the palace had been raised through “a combination of corruption, bribery and theft,” and coordinated by a close associate of Mr Putin’s. The newspaper said it had seen documents to support the claim. Mr Putin’s official spokesman has denied the building has anything to do with the Prime Minister.
Photographs of the palace were published last month by ruleaks.net, a website that positions itself as a Russian version of WikiLeaks. They showed a colonnaded palace with interiors full of frescos and antique furniture. The website said it could not confirm the ownership of the palace, but had decided to publish the photos anyway.
Those who know Russian politics have doubted Mr Kolesnikov’s story, noting that such a courageous information leak seemed unlikely for someone who had previously been involved closely with the scheme. It is possible the “leak” was part of a behind-the-scenes battle between officials loyal to Mr Putin and Mr Medvedev over which one of them will run for President in 2012. Notably, a few weeks after the palace story broke, a new “leak” about a luxury yacht obtained for Mr Medvedev found its way into the press.
In a bid to encourage transparency, all top-ranking officials have for the past two years had to submit declarations detailing their income and property. But many declarations seem laughable, with officials who lead openly lavish lifestyles declaring extremely modest incomes. Many regional governors and other top officials are believed to use elaborate schemes to mask the extent of their wealth and property.
In his official income declaration last year, Mr Putin said he earned 3.88 million roubles in 2009 (about £80,000), while his wife’s income was just £12.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russian-leadersrsquo-lsquosecret-palacesrsquo-provoke-outrage-2200179.html