ESTONIA PASSES SAME-SEX CIVIL UNIONS -- SENDS MESSAGE TO RUSSIA
On October 5, Stephen Fry had an op-ed in "The Independent" about how the Kremlin, with help from U.S. evangelicals, was trying to prevent the Estonian parliament from passing a law on same-sex partnerships.
Here's the key graf:
"The World Congress of Families (WCF), a US-based evangelist group that has already done so much to ruin Uganda, has teamed up with the Kremlin to parachute into Estonia huge quantities of money with which to browbeat, bully and blackmail parliamentarians, with which to spew out tens of thousands of automated provocative hate-speech emails, with which to produce booklets for every Estonian home repeating the usual vile libels about homosexuality being akin to paedophilia, a decadent “Western” life choice and a threat to the citizenry and future of the world."
Today, Estonia gave its answer:
Estonia has become the first former Soviet republic to legalize same-sex partnerships.
In a narrow, 40-38 vote, parliament approved a civil partnership act that recognizes civil unions between couples regardless of gender.
Twenty-three lawmakers were absent or abstained in the third and final reading of the bill.
The law comes into force in 2016.
It allows same-sex couples to adopt the children of either partner but does not expressly grant them the right to adopt other children.
The Estonian Human Rights Center said it would send a strong message to neighboring Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law last year banning the spread of gay "propaganda" among minors, which critics say amounts to a ban on gay-rights rallies and encourages prejudice against homosexuals.
Now an EU member, Estonia chafed under Moscow's control for nearly half a century before the Soviet collapse of 1991.
(Based on reporting by AP and RIA Novosti)
KHODORKOVSKY HUMOR
Courtesy of Ben Judah:
BACK WHEN PUTIN WAS JUST A FACE IN THE CROWD
"Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has always been a visible and important figure"
MORNING NEWS ROUNDUP
Good morning. Here are some items from RFE/RL's News Desk:
CIS SUMMIT OPENS IN MINSK
A summit of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) opens later on October 10 in the Belarus capital, Minsk.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to attend, while his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko is staying away.
The summit comes amid ongoing tensions between Kyiv and Moscow over Russia's agressive policies in Ukraine.
In May, Ukraine announced plans to quit the CIS.
Russia illegally annexed Crimea in March and has been accused of fomenting unrest in eastern Ukraine, including sending arms and soldiers across the border, which Moscow denies.
(Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax)
MIKHAIL GORBACHEV HOSPITALIZED
Russian media report former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has been hospitalized.
Quoted by the Ria Novosti news agency on October 9, Gorbachev said his health was "deteriorating," without disclosing where or why he was hospitalized.
The 83-year-old Gorbachev told the Interfax news agency he was "determined to fight" for his life.
Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985 and is remembered for instituting sweeping political and economic reforms that became known as "glasnost", or openness, and "perestroika", or rebuilding.
(Based on reporting by Interfax and AFP)
NULAND: NO SANCTIONS RELIEF FOR RUSSIA UNTIL FORCES LEAVE UKRAINE
A senior U.S. diplomat says there should be no sanctions relief for Russia until all foreign forces and equipment have left Ukraine, Kyiv's sovereignty over its border has been restored and all hostages have been released.
"Today there is a peace deal on paper in Ukraine, there is thankfully peace across a lot of Ukraine, but the peace deal is still being violated in key sectors," said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland.
She was speaking at an Aspen Institute conference on transatlantic relations in Berlin on October 9.
A cease-fire agreed on September 5 is still in place, although some fighting has continued, especially in and around the rebel-held city of Donetsk.
In a related development, the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin could meet Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on the sidelines of a meeting of Asian and European leaders in Milan next week.
(Based on reporting by Reuters)
MOSCOW OUTRAGED BY 'COWBOY METHODS' OF U.S. IN ARMS TRAFFICKER CASE
Moscow is reacting furiously to the sentencing of Dmitry Ustinov, a Russian citizen who admitted to conspiring to violate an arms control law in July.
"We are not going to put up with such 'cowboy's methods' against our citizens, who, in case of arrest, must stand trial in a Russian court and in accordance with Russian legislation," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich on October 9.
Ustinov was detained by Lithuanian authorities in April 2013 at the request of the U.S. He was deported to the U.S. to stand trial that August.
He was sentenced to 3 years on October 7 for shipping weapons that the U.S. prohibits export. However, the judge awarded him credit for time served, so his sentence will be about a year and a half.
AKSYONOV ELECTED AS ANNEXED CRIMEA'S HEAD
Crimea's parliament has elected Sergei Aksyonov head of the annexed peninsula in a unanimous vote.
All 75 lawmakers supported Aksyonov in the vote on October 9.
Aksyonov, 41, has served as acting head of Crimea since mid-April, weeks after Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine following a referendum denounced as illegitimate by Kyiv, the West, and the UN General Assembly.
He played a key role in the annexation process that began after Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian president sympathetic to Moscow, was toppled by antigovernment protests in Kyiv.
All 75 lawmakers in parliament supported Aksyonov in the vote on October 9.
Ukraine considers Crimea its territory, occupied by Russia, and says elections held by Russian authorities there are illegal.
Aksyonov has made tough comments targeting Crimea Tatars, who say their minority has faced abuses under Russian rule.
(Based on reporting by Interfax and TASS)
THE $55 BILLION QUESTION
How much will it cost to save the ruble? Can it be saved? According to a report in Business Insider, the Russian Central Bank has spent an eyepopping $55 billion so far this year to prop up the ruble -- depleting the country's foreign currency reserves to $454 billion, down from $509 billion.
In October alone, the Central Bank has spent $1.85 billion to support the currency, which has fallen to record lows.
"Why is this happening? Well, the cause of the latest pressure has come mostly from the worsening outlook for Russia's most important export — oil. Brent crude oil prices slid to a 27-month low on Wednesday, over 20% down from its June peak, meaning that it has now technically entered a bear market."
Read the whole piece here.
IF YOU BUY THIS, YOU ARE SUPPORTING AGGRESSION!
Via "The Moscow Times":
Kiev's municipal council has ordered stores in the capital to label Russian-imported goods with additional markings to warn consumers they could be supporting the "aggressor" by buying the products, media reports said.
WHO'S THE MOST DEMOCRATIC LEADER OF THEM ALL?
According to a new poll by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), 27 percent of Russian's think Vladimir Putin's third term has been the most democratic period their country has ever experienced -- the highest percentage in the survey.
And in second place? That would be Putin's first two terms, of course! And third? Leonid Brezhnev's Soviet Union.
Just 7 percent named Boris Yeltsin's rule as the most democratic period. Just 3 percent said Mikhail Gorbachev's time in the Kremlin.
FOM's work is, to say the least, regime friendly. But still, these results are eye popping.
A WAR OF WORDS BETWEEN MOSCOW AND TBILISI
Earlier this week, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned NATO against deploying still-to-be-defined infrastructure in Georgia. The move, announced at the alliance's summit in Wales in September, would "threaten the emerging stability in the Caucasus region," the ministry said in a statement on October 8.
A day later, Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania hit back -- and he didn't mince words.
“The only threats to the region are Russia's occupation forces in our country and Russia's ongoing aggression against Ukraine," he said.
“NATO infrastructure will be established in Georgia. This is part of an agreement that was reached at the NATO summit."
Alasania added that the purpose of the project was to "conduct joint military exercises," to deter "aggression, which is coming from Russia, and also to increase our defense capabilities. This has already been decided and it will only contribute to the stability of our region,”
AFTERNOON NEWS ROUNDUP
Some items from RFE/RL's News Desk:
RUSSIA TODAY STARTS SPANISH-LANGUAGE PROGRAMMING IN ARGENTINA
State-run satellite channel "Russia Today," a major platform for getting the Kremlin's message to audiences abroad, has extended its reach with the inauguration of Spanish-language programming in Argentina.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner launched RT's Spanish-language programming in the South American nation with a televised linkup.
In an address to the people of Argentina, Putin said he hoped the channel would bring the two countries closer together.
He called RT a "solid and credible source of information about what is happening in Russia and the world."
Critics say RT often presents a skewed version of events that supports the Kremlin's viewpoint.
Hit by U.S. and European Union sanctions over its role in the Ukraine crisis, Russia has looked to Argentina and other countries as sources of food imports and geopolitical support.
(Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax)
RUSSIAN DUMA WANTS UKRAINE 'WAR CRIMES' PROBE
Russia's State Duma is calling on the international community to investigate what it describes as "war crimes" committed during the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
In a nearly unanimous vote on October 10, the lower parliament house adopted a resolution urging the organizations includiong the United Nations, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe to investigate what it says are mass graves discovered near the rebel-held city of Donetsk.
Last month, pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk said they had found two graves containing the the bodies of some 400 people they said were victims of military operations by government forces.
Ukrainian officials denied the claim, saying they never had control of the site, and it has not been independently confirmed.
In September, Russian media cited what reports referred to as an OSCE expert as saying hundreds of bodies had been exhumed from mass graves in the Donetsk region, but the OSCE said the man cited had never worked for the organization.
The United Nations says at least 3,660 people had been killed since the conflict began in April.
(Based on reporting by Interfax and TASS)
MIKHAIL GORBACHEV RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has been released from a Moscow hospital.
The Interfax news agency quoted Gorbachev as saying on October 10 that his condition "is much better today than it was yesterday and the doctors concluded that it is possible for me to be released."
Gorbachev told Interfax he was on his way to work.
Russian media reported on October 9 that Gorbachev, 83, was in the hospital, but did not say where or why.
He told Interfax on October 9 that his health was deteriorating.
Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985 and resigned in December 1991 as the country broke apart.
He is hailed in the West for instituting sweeping political and economic reforms but reviled by many in Russia who blame him for the Soviet collapse.
RUSSIAN COURT JAILS ONE MORE IN 'BOLOTNAYA CASE'
A Moscow court has sentenced an activist to three years and two months in prison over a May 2012 protest against President Vladimir Putin.
Dmitry Ishevsky was convicted of rioting and assaulting a police officer during the protest on the eve of Putin's inauguration to a third term.
More than 400 people were arrested after violence erupted at the protest on Moscow's Bolotnaya Square.
Dozens have been prosecuted and several sentenced to prison, including prominent opposition activist Sergei Udaltsov.
Kremlin opponents say the "Bolotnaya Case" is part of a campaign to stifle dissent.
They contend that protesters were provoked and that the state's claims of violence are strongly exaggerated.
Ishevsky pleaded guilty.
After his conviction and sentencing on October 10, nobody else is known to be in custody or facing trial for the protest.
(Based on reporting by Interfax and TASS)
FOOTBALL FANS DETAINED IN BELARUS FOR ANTI-PUTIN CHANTS
Police in Belarus have detained about 100 Ukrainian soccer fans after spectators at an international match chanted vulgar verses targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
About 30 Belarusian fans were also detained after the Euro2016 qualfying match between Belarus and Ukraine in the city of Barysau.
Media reports on October 10 said that those detained face charges of using vulgar words in public, which is punishable by several days in jail.
Ukrainian fans unfurled a giant banner in the blue-and-yellow colors of the Ukrianian flag and the words: "We Will Not Allow Anyone To Rule Our Homeland."
Russia annexed the Crimea region from Ukraine in March and Kyiv accuses Putin's government of sending troops and weapons into eastern Ukraine to support pro-Russian separatists in a conflict that has killed more than 3,660 poeople since April.
Ukraine won the match 2-0.
(Based on reporting by "Nasha Niva" and football.ua)
WILL 'NOVAYA GAZETA' BE THE NEXT TO FEEL THE HEAT?
Via "The Moscow Times":
Opposition-minded newspaper Novaya Gazeta has been hit with an extremism warning by Russia's media watchdog, prompting near immediate speculation of an impending crackdown on independent media outlets.
A statement on the agency's website said Friday that the newspaper's editors had been warned about the "inadmissibility of using the mass media to carry out extremist activities."
It's worth remembering how "Novaya Gazeta" bravely ran the headline "Forgive Us Holland" back in July, after Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down - in addition to all the other brave journalism they've done over the years, of course.