A SECRET MIGRANT DETENTION CAMP OUTSIDE MOSCOW?
Watch the report on Sottnik TV:
MIKHAIL ZYGAR OF DOZHD-TV HONORED
SIBERIAN AVIATION FOLLIES
So by now, we've all seen how passengers in Krasnoyarsk had to get out and push their flight out of the snow...
...and we've all seen the snarky Twitter memes this has inspired...
...but have you heard about onboard drunken onboard brawl that grounded a flight in Novosibirsk?
GALEOTTI ON CRIMEA, CROOKS, AND THE KREMLIN
New York University's Mark Galeotti, a co-host of the Power Vertical Podcast, speaks to Voice of America about organized crime in Crimea:
MORNING NEWS ROUNDUP
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
RUSSIAN COURT ORDERS ARREST OF LAWYER SEEKING U.S. ASYLUM
A Moscow court has ordered the arrest of a Russian anti-corruption lawyer who is seeking asylum in the United States.
The Basmanny district court issued an in-absentia arrest order on November 28 for Andrei Stolbunov, who is accused of extortion and denies guilt.
Stolbunov told RFE/RL in October that he had applied for U.S. asylum earlier this year because Russian authorities intended to prosecute him on "fabricated" extortion charges.
Alleged victims in the case against Stolbunov accuse him of helping a defense industry eneterprise director extort millions of dollars from Pyotr Katsyv, the wealthy former minister of transportation in the Moscow region, and people close to Katsyv, according to Russian legal news agency RAPSI.
Stolbunov's best-known client was Mikhail Beketov, a journalist and environmental activist who was left with brain damage after a savage beating in the Moscow suburb of Khimki in 2008 and died last year.
(Based on reporting by RAPSI and TASS)
RUSSIAN, TURKISH PRESIDENTS TO MEET IN ANKARA
Russian President Vladimir Putin is to meet with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Ankara on December 1.
Putin's foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov said the meeting would focus on the Syria conflict.
The two countries appear so far to have successfully shielded their relations from potentially damaging disputes over the crises in Syria and Ukraine.
Russia remains a key ally of Bashar al-Assad's regime, while Erdogan is pressing for the Syrian president to be ousted.
Ankara opposed Russia's annexation of Crimea in March and is worried about the situation of the Ukrainian peninsula's Turkic Crimean Tatar minority who, according to activists, are the victims of persecution by the new authorities.
Putin and Erdogan are also expected to discuss energy cooperation, with Ankara seeking a reduction in gas prices from Russia and greater import volumes ahead of the winter.
(Based on reporting by AFP and TASS)
RUSSIA EYES OIL-FOR-GOODS DEAL WITH IRAN
Russia says it hopes a controversial deal to supply grain and industrial equipment to Iran in exchange for oil will be reached soon.
Russian Economy Minister Aleksei Ulyukayev said in Tehran on November 30 that he is optimistic a deal can be finalized "in the near future."
Sources have said the oil-for-goods deal could be worth up to $20 billion.
The U.S. government has said such a deal would raise "serious concerns" and be inconsistent with talks between six world powers -- including Russia -- and Iran over its controversial nuclear program.
The Iran-Russia barter deal was revealed in January, when reports said Moscow could buy up to 500,000 barrels a day of Iranian oil in exchange for various goods.
Ulyukayev said Russia could send oil- and gas-industry equipment, agricultural machinery, cars, and planes to Iran.
(Based on reporting by Reuters, TASS, and RIA Novosti)
THOUSANDS OF RUSSIANS RALLY AGAINST HEALTH CARE CUTS
Thousands of health-care workers marched through Moscow and other Russian cities to protest plans to close hospitals and lay off thousands of doctors in a move aimed at reforming health care.
At least 4,000 doctors, health workers, and others rallied in freezing temperatures in Moscow on November 30 against plans to close 28 hospitals and clinics and to lay off some 10,000 doctors by next year.
Many protesters wore white hospital coats over their winter jackets and one banner read "Save money on war, not on doctors."
Similar demonstrations were held in St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod.
Western sanctions over Russian actions in Ukraine and low oil prices have depleted state budgets, and devalued the ruble.
Russian officials say the cuts and closures are a much-needed step to modernize remnants of Soviet-era health care.
(Based on reporting by AP and AFP)
THE THEFT OF THE CENTURY
What if the failure of reform in Russia in the 1990s wasn't due to corruption or incompetence, but was the result of a carefully calibrated conspiracy? What if the rise of Vladimir Putin from obscurity to the Kremlin was no accident?
Anne Applebaum asks these questions in her thoughtful review of Karen Dawisha's recently published book "Putin's Kleptocracy."
The most important story of the past twenty years might not, in fact, have been the failure of democracy, but the rise of a new form of Russian authoritarianism. Instead of attempting to explain the failures of the reformers and intellectuals who tried to carry out radical change, we ought instead to focus on the remarkable story of one group of unrepentant, single-minded, revanchist KGB officers who were horrified by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the prospect of their own loss of influence. In league with Russian organized crime, starting at the end of the 1980s, they successfully plotted a return to power. Assisted by the unscrupulous international offshore banking industry, they stole money that belonged to the Russian state, took it abroad for safety, reinvested it in Russia, and then, piece by piece, took over the state themselves. Once in charge, they brought back Soviet methods of political control—the only ones they knew—updated for the modern era.
The review is online now in the latest issue of The New York Review of Books. Read it all here.
THE RUBLE'S OILY SLIDE
Oil prices are below $70 and falling. The ruble hit an another all time low, hitting 52 to the dollar.
AEROFLOT'S PROFITS PLUMMET
ROSNEFT SHARES ARE ON THE BLOCK
AND THE KREMLIN IS SEEKING FOREIGN SCAPEGOATS
We're minutes away from Putin's annual address to parliament and other VIPs. I'll be live-blogging it here.
IT'S A BIT EARLY IN THE MORNING FOR A DRINKING GAME, BUT...
HOW WILL THE RUBLE REACT?
Russian television is obsessing about how Putin's speech will effect the ruble exchange rate. Here are the rates right now.
U.S. Dollar = 52.72 Rubles
Euro = 64.76 Rubles