The Real Russia. Today.
The Kremlin stands by Putin’s fake war video, but also pins it on Defense Minister Shoigu; Russia and NATO duel in airspace outside a Defense Ministry jet; and Kadyrov gets some tough questions
Throwing Shoigu under the bus?
- “I can confirm that these materials did come from our Defense Ministry. It was part of a report submitted to the president. The defense minister gave this to the president,” Peskov said on Wednesday.” — Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov has addressed the scandal surrounding a video Vladimir Putin showed Oliver Stone, purportedly depicting Russian troops at work in Syria, though the footage was later revealed to be from U.S. forces fighting in Afghanistan. Peskov says the president received the video from Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu. Story in English
Excuse me, Russian jet, but do you have any Grey Poupon? A NATO F-16 aircraft flew extremely close to a Russian Defense Ministry plane carrying Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu on Wednesday. The incident occurred in international airspace above the Baltic Sea. Shoigu and several colleagues were en route to the Russian exclave Kaliningrad. The plane’s Su-27 escort intercepted the F-16, “demonstrated its payload” by tilting its wings, and the NATO jet backed off. Story in English
Context: There have been several reports in the past several months that NATO has scrambled its aircraft to intercepted Russian military planes flying near the borders of NATO member countries. Moscow, in turn, has sent its jets to intercept NATO aircraft it says are carrying out reconnaissance missions along the edge of Russian airspace.
Novaya Gazeta wants Chechnya’s ruler to speak to Nemtsov’s possible killer. The editors of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta have published an appeal to Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya, asking him to convey a list of questions to Ruslan Gereemev, the former deputy commander of the “Sever” battalion widely suspected of playing a major role in the assassination of Boris Nemtsov, though neither Russia’s Investigative Committee, the Federal Security Service, nor any Russian court has managed to question him about the case. Novaya Gazeta drafted 10 questions for Gereemev, asking about his ties to the murder suspects now on trial, his movements around the time of the killing, and what he knew about Ruslan Mukhudinov, Gereemev’s former driver and the primary suspect in Nemtsov’s case. Mukhudinov is still at large. Novaya Gazeta says it’s ready to publish Gereemev’s answers. Story in Russian
Context: Boris Nemtsov was shot and killed in Moscow on February 27, 2015. Lawyers for the Nemtsov family argue that Gereemev may have ordered the assassination, though police have refused to bring charges against him. He is reportedly living in the Chechen village Dzhalka, which is blocked off by local security forces. He was summoned to court in December, but he did not appear.
Slashing cancer (medication spending). Russian regions are being forced to slash spending on cancer medications amid growing costs, new data has revealed. Statistics for 2016 show that spending on oncology treatment has fallen in almost half of Russia's 85 regions, the tabloid Izvestia reported Wednesday. Story in English
Undesirable after all. A Krasnodar court has fined Yana Antonova 15,000 rubles ($250) for working with an “undesirable organization.” Antonova is the local coordinator for the Open Russia opposition movement. She received the maximum penalty for such activity. Story in Russian
Context: According to Maria Baronova, one of Open Russia’s top organizers, the court’s decision contradicts claims by Russia’s Justice Ministry and Attorney General that the Open Russia with which Antonova is affiliated is separate from the Britain-registered groups by the same name recently outlawed by the Russian government. The charges against Antonova were first reported in late May. Baronova says the group plans to appeal the ruling.
Yours, Meduza