Events in Russia

Russia detains more than 1,000 people in opposition crackdown

Russian police rounded up more than 1,000 people in Moscow on Saturday in one of the biggest crackdowns of recent times against an increasingly defiant opposition decrying President Vladimir Putin's tight grip on power.

'The ugly face of the pro-US opposition while attempting to make Moscow 'the citadel of democracy.'

WESTERN-BACKED OPPOSITION CONTINUES ATTEMPTS TO DESTABILIZE MOSCOW
28.07.2019
According to media reports, a notable part of the detained people was not from Moscow. At the same time, the fact that every fifth ‘opposition supporter’ was blogger or journalist was unprecedented. Such % of journalists and bloggers do not particiapte in ordinary rallies. It reveals the ugly face of the ongoing ‘opposition protests’ in Moscow that are mainly aimed at distabilizing the situation in the Russian capital and does have little with the real political situation there.
 
Moscow and the Russian MIC present ?
Snip: Video / Pics 5-6 minute Read
MOSCOW – Earlier, FRN reported on the new developments regarding Sukhoi’s state-of-the-art S-70 Okhotnik-B strike drone. However, this isn’t the only new development in Russia’s aviation industry. Sukhoi’s old friendly rival, the MiG Corporation announced their Skat UCAV project is to be finalized by the end of this year.

Russia’s MiG Aircraft Corporation has been through some tough years. During the troubled 1990s, the collapse of the USSR brought the legendary MiG design bureau to its lowest point since WWII. Their top-notch MiG 1.44 5th-generation project was 9 years behind schedule in flight-testing when it first flew in 2000. The newly obtained technologies during MiG 1.44 development were later put to good use, but the hard work and resources invested in this promising project were wasted.

MiG 1.44 made only 2 reported flights in 2000 and was canceled soon after due to severe budgetary constraints after the disintegration of the USSR. As MiG invested and spent most of its budget and resources on this project, this brought basically all other R&D projects to a halt. The company then tried modernizing its top-of-the-line MiG-29 light multirole fighters, and despite baby steps in the ’90s, early 2000s finally gave the company a breath of fresh air. The new MiG-35 project was launched, which would see the proven MiG-29 airframe filled with new 5th-generation high-tech avionics and sensors.

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© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

Putin goes to bottom of Gulf of Finland in bathyscaphe to honor memory of submariners
During the submergence, one of the divers will mount a memorable plaque on the site of the submarine’s wreck in Putin’s presence.

GOGLAND ISLAND /Leningrad Region/, July 27, 2019 - Russian President Vladimir Putin is going down to the bottom of the Gulf of Finland in a bathyscaphe. The head of state will see the Shch-308 Semga submarine that sank during the Great Patriotic War. The 50-meter dive onboard the Sea Explorer-3 will last about an hour.

During the submergence, one of the divers will mount a memorable plaque on the site of the submarine’s wreck in Putin’s presence. After that the lights will go off and the ceremony participants will observe a minute of silence in tribute to the memory of the killed submariners.


Putin on his dive to the bottom of Gulf of Finland: Impressions are vivid
GOGLAND ISLAND /Leningrad Region/, July 27. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has told reporters his impressions about the dive to the bottom of the Gulf of Finland, he made earlier on Saturday.

"The impressions are vivid, I would say," he told reporters when he went out of the bathyscaphe.

"It’s not the first time that I dived under the water. Therefore, I have impressions not from the dive itself but rather, from what we saw there (the remains of the U-308 submarine - TASS)."

Putin said he did not run the bathyscaphe during the dive. He said that first, during the descent of the vehicle to the bottom a cloud of silt rose but later it dispersed and it became possible to inspect the remains of the submarine from all sides.

Putin made a dive to the bottom of the Gulf of Finland in the bathyscaphe to inspect the remains of the Shch-308 Semga submarine that sank during the Great Patriotic War. The 50-meter dive onboard the Sea Explorer-3 lasted about an hour.

During the submergence, one of the divers mounted a memorable plaque on the site of the submarine’s wreck in Putin’s presence. After that the lights went off and the ceremony participants observed a minute of silence in tribute to the memory of the killed submariners.
 

Russian opposition leader Navalny hospitalized for allergic reaction
FILE PHOTO: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny attends a rally in memory of politician Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated in 2015, in Moscow, Russia February 24, 2019. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva

Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s spokeswoman, wrote on Twitter that he had been hospitalized on Sunday morning with “severe swelling of the face and skin redness.”

She said the cause of Navalny’s allergic reaction was unknown and that he had never had suffered from such reactions in the past. The Moscow hospital where Navalny’s spokeswoman said he was being treated could not immediately be reached for comment.
 
What a Mission name, A.

Published on Jul 22, 2019
Edited video of the launch and time lapse video of the NASA TV feed of the docking of the Russian Space Agency (RSA) Soyuz (Союз) MS-13 spacecraft to the Zvezda (Звезда́) module on the International Space Station (ISS) on July 20, 2019 (UTC). The Soyuz carried Expedition 60 cosmonaut Aleksandr Skvortsov (Aлександр Скворцов), NASA astronaut Drew Morgan (@AstroDrewMorgan) and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Luca Parmitano (@astro_luca). The time-lapse portion of the video is at 10 times actual speed.




Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's "poisoning" could fuel anti-Putin protests
(AK-47's in Gilroy?) -Snip: 6-7 minute Deep State read:
Moscow
- Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, one of President Vladimir Putin's harshest critics, was released Monday from a Moscow hospital after a mystery illness that his doctors say may have been the result of a poisoning. Navalny, who was arrested on Wednesday and sentenced to a month of detention for calling an unauthorized protest, was taken back to prison to serve out the rest of his sentence.

Navalny's long-time ally and campaign manager Leonid Volkov called the dissident's return to prison, "back to the same cell and the same bed," with questions still lingering about his condition, "especially cynical."

Navalny was hospitalized on Sunday, a day after massive anti-government protests in the streets of Moscow, suffering what appeared to be a severe allergic reaction. His spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on Twitter that the politician had severe facial swelling and a rash all over his body.
An "unknown chemical substance"
Political crisis
"Gas poured" on the fire?
 
Putin ally warns opposition protesters: We won't allow anarchy
FILE PHOTO: Moscow's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin attends a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Russia June 6, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, told opposition activists on Tuesday he would not allow their protest movement to plunge the Russian capital into anarchy and accused them of plotting mass disorder.

Sobyanin was speaking after police rounded up more than 1,000 people in Moscow on Saturday in one of the biggest crackdowns of recent years against an increasingly defiant opposition decrying Putin’s tight grip on power.

Dozens of demonstrators and several police officers were injured after police used batons to disperse crowds and, in some cases, beat protesters taking part in what the authorities said was an illegal demonstration.

Allies of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny have urged people to take to Moscow’s streets again this Saturday, again without the authorities’ approval and pressing the same demand.

They are calling for opposition-minded candidates to be allowed to run in a Sept. 8 vote in the Russian capital. Authorities barred the candidates from running on the grounds that they failed to collect sufficient genuine signatures in their support, an assertion the candidates reject as false.

The United States, the European Union, the United Nations and human rights groups have condemned what they called the disproportionate use of force by police on Saturday and opposition activists say their protest was peaceful.

But Sobyanin, in his first public comments on Saturday’s demonstration, described the protest as mass disorder and praised the police for what he called their appropriate response, saying they had fulfilled their duty.

“How do I assess them? As mass disorder well planned in advance,” Sobyanin told the TV Centre television channel when asked to say what he thought of Saturday’s events.

The protesters “tried to block roads, block streets and assault police officers. They simply forced the police to use force”, he said.

Sobyanin accused the organizers of trying to use illegal means to win power in Moscow and said the election for the 45-seat city parliament that the barred opposition candidates are trying to take part in would be competitive without them, with five people vying for each seat.

When asked to comment on activists’ plans for another protest this Saturday, he called it a provocation.

“Anarchy, disorder and lawlessness make real problems worse and end in tragedy,” said Sobyanin.

“There are more than enough examples in our country’s history. Order will be maintained and it cannot be any other way.”

Over 60 arrested for taking part in unauthorized Moscow rally
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© Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, July 30, 2019 - Moscow courts have ruled to arrest 61 people and ordered more than 160 others to pay fines as part of administrative offence cases opened after an unauthorized rally in the city center on July 27, Spokesperson for the Moscow City Court Ulyana Solopova told TASS.

"The courts have handed down 61 rulings on an administrative arrest and 161 rulings on paying fines," the spokesperson said.

Earlier, the Moscow courts had considered 278 administrative cases into the July 27 events in the capital.

On July 27, police jointly with the National Guard detained more than 1,000 people for taking part in an unauthorized event in downtown Moscow. According to police, the event had drawn over 3,500 people. The authorities had warned the rally’s participants about their responsibility for violating the law. Moscow’s prosecutors have launched an investigation against 15 unregistered candidates to the Moscow City Duma, who organized unauthorized rallies on July 14 and July 27.

Senior prosecutor urges tough action against unauthorized rallies’ organizers
MOSCOW, July 30, 2019 - Prosecutors should take tough action against the participants and organizers of unauthorized rallies in the run-up to the single voting day in September, First Deputy Russian Prosecutor-General Alexander Buksman told a board meeting on Tuesday.

The latest event in Moscow indicates the need to change oversight procedures in the agencies during the preparations for holding the single voting day," Buksman said. "Prosecutors should take tough action against the organizers and participants of illegal and unauthorized public events, timely respond to the facts of violating citizens’ legal rights and use a whole array of response measures here, including anti-terrorist protection of polling stations."

Russian investigators treating opposition protest as mass unrest: RIA
Russian investigators on Tuesday opened criminal proceedings related to an opposition protest in Moscow over the weekend and are treating the demonstration as mass civil unrest, the RIA news agency reported.

Russian opposition leader Navalny discharged from hospital
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was discharged from a Moscow hospital on Monday where he was being treated for an unexplained health problem and returned to prison under guard, Anastasia Vasilyeva, his doctor, said.

Russian court rejects Kremlin critic Navalny's early release appeal
FILE PHOTO: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is charged with participation in an unauthorised protest rally, attends a court hearing in Moscow, Russia July 1, 2019. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva/File Photo

A court in Moscow rejected jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny's appeal for early release on health grounds on Tuesday, after he was suddenly taken ill in custody at the weekend and rushed to hospital to be treated.
 
Moscow district courts have arrested more than 100 people for their participation in illegal protest actions on 27 July and 3 August.

05.08.2019

By Elena Teslova - 05.08.2019

05.08.2019

31195
Vladislav Sinitsa
 
Blasts rock Russian arms depot, eight injured - TASS
A view shows flame and smoke rising from the site of blasts at an ammunition depot near the town of Achinsk in Krasnoyarsk region, Russia August 5, 2019. REUTERS/Dmitry Dub

A series of blasts rocked an arms depot at a Russian military base in Siberia on Monday, injuring eight people and prompting aluminum producer Rusal to suspend operations at the country's biggest alumina producing plant.

Russia's Rusal suspends work at alumina plant after arms depot fire
Russian aluminum producer Rusal suspended operations at its Achinsk alumina plant on Monday and evacuated all but essential staff after a fire broke out a nearby Russian military base, Rusal said.

Russian opposition plans new protest despite over 1,000 arrests
Law enforcement officers detain a participant in a rally calling for opposition candidates to be registered for elections to Moscow City Duma, the capital's regional parliament, in Moscow, Russia August 3, 2019. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva

Russia's anti-Kremlin opposition said it was planning a nationwide protest next weekend despite police forcibly detaining over 1,000 people on Saturday for attending what they said was an illegal march in Moscow to demand free elections.

Russia investigates alleged money laundering by anti-Kremlin opposition
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny addresses demonstrators during a rally in support of independent candidates for elections to Moscow City Duma, the capital's regional parliament, in Moscow, Russia July 20, 2019. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov

Russian investigators said on Saturday that had opened a criminal investigation into the alleged laundering of 1 billion roubles ($15.3 million) by an anti-corruption foundation set up by jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

Putin to Trump: We'll develop new nuclear missiles if you do
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia August 5, 2019.  Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Monday that Moscow would start developing short and intermediate-range land-based nuclear missiles if the United States started doing the same after the demise of a landmark arms control treaty.

Russia says it would respond to U.S. missile deployments in Asia
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov speaks during a news conference in Moscow, Russia February 7, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

Russia said on Monday it would take measures to defend itself if the United States stationed missiles in Asia following the collapse of a landmark arms control treaty and that it expected Japan to deploy a new U.S. missile launch system.
 
Ничего принципиально нового, просто очередная иллюстрация или, если хотите, репортаж с одного из фронтов информационной войны.

Translation
Nothing fundamentally new, just another illustration or, if you want, a report from one of the fronts of the information war.

Journalist Dmitry Shestopalov talked to the ex-employee of the most famous social network "Facebook", who asked not to call his name. He spoke about who moderates the Russian-speaking segment of the social network, what settings gives guidance and why some accounts are deleted without warning.
My interlocutor is fluent in several languages, he is well educated and worked for some time in The office of Facebook. Interview with him says that "Facebook" violates not only the laws of the Russian Federation, but also universal. However, decide for yourself.

— How did you get to work in Facebook office?

— You could say it was an accident. At that time he worked in a law office. On the set said the other. Let's go to the interview together. Unfortunately, it did not pass.

— And why the other refused?

— I have a diploma of the Institute, several languages at an excellent level, and his education is weaker. Maybe another reason played a role. He had problems with the law in his youth, but minor. And they check thoroughly.

— Who is responsible for the Russian segment of Facebook?

— Russian segment we call "Russian barracks". Such is the black humor. It is headed mainly by Ukrainians. And this is not a Russian fake.

— In Russia, everything about the FB is shrouded in mystery. No office, the representative is " classified." What about Europe?

— No mystery. Medium-sized room in the center of Warsaw, bright, equipped with the latest technology. But, of course, many topics are forbidden and we filled out the appropriate forms. Something like sign a confidentiality agreement.

— Are there many prohibitions in the office?

— Sufficiently. For example, you can not stick the camera on the monitor, bring your flash drives, take pictures, talk about your work. Sometimes I thought I was in the army. But, in principle, it was.

— And with whom did you fight?

— With totalitarianism. But over time, and we went clear bag.

Too much what?

— Earlier policy concerning Russians was softer, and then it was incurred.

— What do you mean ,gone?

— Well, first of all, the instructions from above have become tougher. We were ordered to punish the Russians for the slightest violation. And with the opening of the moderation center in Riga policy towards Russian has become even more prickly.

— For any violation disposed to punish harder?

— Mostly statements of a political nature, intolerance of European values, hatred and even obscene language. If before it it was possible to close eyes to any violations, then, on the contrary, told to look for reasons.

Guidance was given only in relation to Russian?

— The emphasis was, and is on them. More Pro-Russian Belarusians, Ukrainians, Balts. For example, for the same insults and expressions block Russian, and Ukrainians or Balts do not touch. We were openly told not to touch Ukrainian users and all Russian-speaking, disloyal to Putin's regime.

— Nicely. Can you prove that these statements are true?

— It's very easy for you to do it yourself. Let's say you found anti-Russian statements from a Ukrainian patriot or a Russian from the opposition and complained. The answer will be either negative, or the answer will hang for months "under consideration". For the reason that complaints about the publication of these profiles are automatically eliminated and simply do not get to the moderator. There are, however, and curious cases. The lock for 30 days is adjudged an account of some of the Russian opposition or Ukrainian, but soon the team goes to unlock it.

But it got ridiculous. Users are blocked for the word "dill".

— At first the guys decided to have a good laugh, and then it became the norm. Work conveyor, exhausting. Over time, you really start to hate both users and colleagues. Not to go crazy, sometimes amused.

— Here such blocking for "fennel"?

— Not only. Arranged competitions. Let's say everyone defined himself as a "pet". And arguing who the first will allow a gross violation. They argued mostly for pizza or beer. But it's only after work. There's strict discipline in the office. Or with a dummy account left provocative comments under the post "pet". The winner was the one who broke the rules.
— Not bad people?

— It's virtual. And the objects of those who regret not really like.

— To the problems of double standards. People block for photos of the killed Motorola and Givi. And photos of bin Laden and Hitler quietly exist in "Facebook".

— There is. We were told that bin Laden and Hitler are associated with evil for many and serve as a warning to the world. And Motorola and Givi — it's the terrorists who are trying to make heroes of Russian. So for their photo immediately block.

— I have the impression that the entire management of Facebook — Russophobes and the social network itself is Russophobic.

— I would not say so, but there is some truth. Yes Russians are hated by many people working in the Russian segment. But the problem is not a complete break with Russian users. Conversely. Task force to place their cats, recipes, and to read the political news, which is favorable to the West. And, of course, earn and collect information about those who are interesting.

— The "Facebook" is the base of informants?

— We can say that there are three such bases. They're volunteer informants. That is, those who complain about everything and everyone. For them, it's a lifestyle. And there are higher-level informants. Two-way communication is maintained with them. Such a little, and they are worth their weight in gold. The third category is officials, top-level managers who unconsciously place information of great importance. More often this happens in the heat of a dispute in the comments.

— Is there any work being done with the office staff?

— Certainly. This training, and something like history lessons. They talk about the totalitarian system in Russia, about Stalin's crimes. The emphasis is on the fact that the Russians manage to be strong due to the achievements of the past and respect for them. And so they are still afloat in the information war.

— Judging by what is happening in the Russian segment of Facebook, the war is in full swing.

That's right. And you're losing it. Not on all fronts, of course. Well, look. You have a powerful propaganda machine. But she works mostly for the older generation. It's television. Facebook has more young people. And here the task is simple. This is a complete neutralization of opinion leaders who support the Russian government. At the moment, this task is almost completed. One of our managers Janusz said that we manage even more than required. Performing the tasks of an ideological nature, we are able to do good business at the enemies.

— Enemies?!

— Why are you surprised? Or do you consider Facebook a friendly social network?

— Nicely. And if there is nothing to find fault with and the Pro-Russian leader of opinions observes all norms of community?

— Then the account is simply deleted without explanation. At first, such methods were banned, but now you can demolish unwanted profile without problems. Facebook realized you couldn't stand up to him. We blocked the pages of your media, and you were only indignant. I was amused by some comments. Like, we're gonna fight on this court anyway. People do not realize that there is no struggle, they are wasting time. And it's funny to see how many serious people open new accounts to be blocked again. Now blocking is even on IP-addresses.

— Opinion leaders from Russia are replaced by opinion leaders with Pro-Western orientation. That's clear. Are the stories about bots true?

— Naturally. You have bots, there are bots on the other side. It's the same story. Your bots are torpedoed and their bots live. But now there is a new development. "Facebook" actively focuses on the group. This is done consciously. The team is easier to follow and easier to implement information collectors.

— Why do you think Facebook is still alive in Russia in this situation?

I do not know. Maybe you're facing West, or maybe you just have bigger problems.
Баны, запреты и стукачи. Сотрудник "Фейсбука" раскрыл тайны работы в России
 
Another explosion in Russia?


MOSCOW — Russia's Defense Ministry said two people died and four others were wounded when a rocket engine exploded during a test.

The ministry said the explosion occurred at a military shooting range in the northwestern Arkhangelsk region, causing a fire. It said a total of six servicemen and civilian engineers were injured, and two of them later died of injuries.

The ministry said there was no release of radioactivity or any toxic substances.

The explosion followed a massive fire that erupted Monday at a military ammunition depot near Achinsk in eastern Siberia's Krasnoyarsk region. The blaze triggered powerful explosions that continued for about 16 hours, killing one person, injuring another 13 and forcing over 16,500 people to flee their homes.
 
Another explosion in Russia?

Russia closes part of White Sea to shipping for a month after explosion: Ifax
Russia closed off an area of the White Sea to shipping for a month after the fatal explosion of a rocket engine on a military testing ground in Russia's north earlier on Thursday, Interfax news agency cited the port of Arkhangelsk as saying.

Russia accuses Deutsche Welle of urging Russians to take part in protests
Russia on Thursday accused German media outlet Deutsche Welle of calling on Russians to take part in recent anti-government protests, and it said Moscow would take action against the outlet under domestic law if it made such calls again.

Russian lawmaker accuses U.S. of meddling in Moscow city election: RIA
A senior Russian lawmaker on Thursday accused the United States of meddling in a Moscow city election next month by organizing what he called provocations in the Russian capital, the RIA news agency reported.

Russia freezes bank accounts linked to opposition politician Navalny
Russian authorities on Thursday froze a slew of bank accounts linked to jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny as part of a money laundering investigation that his allies say is a trumped-up attempt to cripple his political movement.

Investigators to charge first person with organizing illegal rally in Moscow
MOSCOW, August 8, 2019 - The Russian Investigative Committee will charge Moscow resident Sergei Fomin with taking part in the July 27 riots in Moscow.

Sergei Fomin, who earlier turned himself in to the police, became the first person detained in connection with masterminding mass riots. "Fomin was detained under Article 91 of the Russian Criminal Procedure Code," the Investigative Committee stated.

The investigators have found out that "Fomin had controlled the activities of other participants, being one of the organizers of mass riots."

Earlier, a source in the law enforcement agencies reported that Fomin, who had been placed on a wanted list, came to the police department early on Thursday. According to the source, he refused to give evidence, citing Article 51 of the Russian Constitution, under which a person is allowed not to testify against himself or herself as well as against his or her relatives.

Nine marchers have earlier been arrested under an investigation into mass riots and use of violence against law enforcement personnel. Two people, including Fomin, had been put on a wanted list. During the unauthorized rally, Fomin managed to escape by taking other person’s child in his hands.
 
Another explosion in Russia?


At least eight people have been injured, four were hospitalized, in a new explosion at a military ammunition depot in Krasnoyarsk.

09.08.2019
 
Russian President Vladimir Putin was appointed acting Prime Minister on August 9, 1999 by then president Boris Yeltsin. Putin has been in office as President or Prime Minister ever since, a period spanning two decades.

Timeline: Vladimir Putin - 20 tumultuous years as Russian President or PM

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Here are some highlights of Putin’s 20 years in power:

Aug. 9, 1999 - During an economic crisis, Boris Yeltsin names little-known security chief Vladimir Putin as his fifth acting prime minister in less than a year, and says he wants Putin to succeed him as president. In the following weeks, apartment bombings across Russia kill more than 300 people, which Putin blames on Chechen terrorists. His popularity is boosted by his tough response, which includes the aerial bombing of parts of Chechnya and an assault to recapture the breakaway southern province. Some Kremlin critics question if Chechen terrorists were really to blame for the apartment bombings.

Dec. 31, 1999 - An ailing Yeltsin resigns, names Putin acting president.

March 26, 2000 - Putin wins his first presidential election.

Aug. 12, 2000 - The Kursk nuclear-powered submarine sinks to the bottom of the Barents Sea killing all 118 crew after an explosion onboard. Putin’s image suffers a jolt after he comments on the crisis only after four days.

2002 - Chechen militants take more than 800 people hostage at a Moscow theater. Special forces end the siege, but use a poison gas in the process which kills many of the hostages.

2003 - Oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky is arrested and charged with fraud. He is later found guilty and jailed in a case his supporters said was punishment for his meddling in politics. He is only released in 2013 after Putin pardons him.

March 2004 - Putin wins second term as president with more than 70 percent of the vote after oil prices fuel a consumer boom and raise living standards, a trend that continues for another four years.

September 2004 - Islamist fighters seize more than 1,000 people in a school in Beslan, southern Russia, triggering a three-day siege that ends in gunfire. A total of 334 hostages are killed. Over half of them are children. Some parents say the authorities botched the handling of the siege and blame Putin.

December 2004 - Putin scraps direct elections for regional governors making them, in effect, Kremlin appointees. Putin says the move is needed to keep Russia together.

2005 - Putin describes the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union as the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the twentieth century.

2006 - Investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a critic of rights abuses in Chechnya, is murdered in Moscow on Putin’s birthday. Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko dies in London that same year after being poisoned with a radioactive substance. A British inquiry years later concludes he was killed by Russian spies.

2007 - Putin gives a speech in Munich in which he lashes out at the United States, accusing Washington of the “almost uncontained hyper use of force in international relations.”

May 2008 - Constitutional limits on him serving more than two consecutive presidential terms see Putin become prime minister after his ally, Dmitry Medvedev, becomes president.

August 2008 - Russia fights and wins a short war with Georgia which loses control over two breakaway regions that are garrisoned with Russian troops.

2012 - Putin returns to the presidency, winning re-election with over 60% of the vote after a decision to extend presidential terms to six from four years. Large anti-Putin protests take place before and after the vote with critics alleging voter fraud.

Feb 7-23, 2014 - Russia hosts the winter Olympic games in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Feb. 27, 2014 - Russian troops start annexing Ukraine’s Crimea region after Ukrainian protesters oust the country’s Russia-friendly president Viktor Yanukovich. Russia incorporates Crimea the following month after a referendum condemned by the West. The United States and EU go on to impose sanctions on Moscow.

April 2014 - A pro-Russian separatist uprising breaks out in eastern Ukraine which results in a conflict, still ongoing, which hands the separatists control of a vast swath of territory and leaves over 13,000 people dead. Western countries accuse Russia of backing the uprising; Moscow denies direct involvement.

Sept. 30, 2015 - Russia launches air strikes in Syria in its biggest Middle East intervention in decades, turning the tide of the conflict in President Bashar al-Assad’s favor.

November 2016 - Donald Trump is elected president of the United States after promising to improve battered ties with Moscow. U.S. authorities determine Russia tried to interfere in the election in his favor however, casting a pall over U.S-Russia ties despite Russian denials.

March 4, 2018 - A former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter are poisoned in England with a nerve agent. They survive but a woman who lives nearby dies after her partner brings home the poison found in a discarded perfume bottle. Britain accuses Moscow, which denies involvement.

March 19, 2018 - Putin wins a landslide re-election victory and the mandate to stay in office until 2024.

June/July 2018 - Russia hosts the men’s soccer FIFA World Cup.


In Photos: 20 Years of Putin - The Moscow Times (Photos)

August 9, 2019 - The world was a very different place in 1999.

It was also the year Vladimir Putin was appointed as prime minister of Russia by then-President Boris Yeltsin on Aug. 9. Twenty years later, he's still here.

On the day the man was appointed as prime minister, here's a look back at the past 20 years of Putin – president, prime minister, leader of the motherland and shirtless athlete.

(Comment - I sense the recent and on-going protests in Moscow have been carefully planned and choreographed - with this 20 year Anniversary in mind - as a smear tactic against Putin and to down play his enormous popularity at home and abroad, and his remarkable political career.)
 
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