Russia Intelligencer 2009 January 6

Banking & Financial Crisis
State-controlled Sberbank will offer payment deferrals to individual borrowers who experience income disruption (Meeting with Putin).

Culture
Hundreds of items are missing from the Hermitage museum, apparently from theft, though the institution’s director says many of the artifacts were of little value or have been missing since World War II (100s items missing).

Military & Nuclear Weapons
Russian officials announced they will be commissioning 70 strategic nuclear missiles in addition to other military equipment (Russian to get 70 nuclear missiles).

Nationalism
Immigration into Russia has sparked activity by nationalist groups, with little opposition from the government, though members of a skinhead group were recently convicted of racially-motivated, violent crimes (Clark).

Opposition Parties, Trade and Censorship
Russian democratic parties met earlier this month in St. Petersburg. Loosely unified under the title of Solidarity, the organizations still differ in their opinions on participation in elections and opposition to nationalism (Chernov).

Though not a party, drivers in Primorye region took to the streets—in cars—to protest tariffs on foreign cars put in place by the Putin government. The protest did not sway the government. Riot police arrested over 100 people. In much of the world this would be news, but it wasn’t covered by the state-owned television stations (Abdullaev & Mereu; Malpas & Antonova).

Socialist Economy
Even though the government cleared mining company Uralkali in a mining accident that created a sinkhole, but caused now injuries, it may still levy heavy fines on the company and attempt to take it over (Levy).

Sources
100s items missing from Russia’s Hermitage. (2008 Dec. 8). Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2008482841_apeurussiamissingart.html, accessed 2009 Jan. 6.

Abdullaev, N., & Mereu, F. (2008 Dec. 16). Far east drivers get leaders to listen. Moscow Times. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/600/42/373168.htm, accessed 2008 Jan. 6.

Chernov, S. (2008 Dec. 9). Democrats meet to form joint program. St. Petersburg Times. http://www.times.spb.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=27788, accessed 2008 Dec. 11.

Clark, T. (2008 Dec. 15). Russian skinheads get up to 20 years in jail for 19 murders. Bloomberg. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aAyge8hOY0PE&refer=europe, accessed 2009 Jan. 6.

Levy, C. (2008 Dec. 8). Russia my use accident inquiry to take over mine. Austin American-Statesman. http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/world/12/08/1208russia.html, accessed 2009 Jan. 6.

Malpas, A., & Antonova, M. (2008 Dec. 22). Primorye protests don’t sway putin. Moscow Times. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/600/42/373322.htm, accessed 2009 Jan. 6.

Meeting with Putin, CEO says Sberbank to give a break on loans. (2008 Dec. 22). PRIME-TASS. http://www.prime-tass.com/news/show.asp?topicid=60&id=449592, accessed 2009 Jan. 6.

Russian to get 70 nuclear missiles in 3 years. (2008 Dec. 22). Associated Press. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hE_-OiPRaNN8o4Pov7KcF87YZtgwD957TOS80, accessed 2009 Jan. 6.