RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Oct. 20, 2008

TODAY: Russian soldiers get a raise and permission to fire; Georgian conflict shows its identity crisis; Russian officials balk over economic crisis; Venezuela buys more Russian tanks; Kremlin discusses missile defense for Syria; Russian and US leaders may extend nuclear arsenal treaty; and Russia’s biggest mosque opens in Grozny. Amid a report about a plan to raise the salaries of Russian army officers, there are varying accounts of the number of Russian troops killed in an ambush in the North Caucasus region over the weekend. Meanwhile, there is no confusion concerning the directive given to police in South Ossetia, who have been ordered to meet any potential assault by Georgian forces with force. “We will not allow our people and our officers to be killed,” said Acting South Ossetian Interior Minister Mikhail Mindzayev. Abkhazia, for its part, remains ensconced in an alleged identity crisis, deeply dependent on Russia for economic stability yet overwhelmingly nationalistic. In sum, it remains to be seen how much Russia and Georgia will gain or lose politically from the imbroglio.

The recent sale of Euroset, a Russsian cell phone company, at a reduced rate speaks to the effect of the current financial crisis on the Russian economy. “Things are going to crash. Of the high-end restaurants, you’re going to have the vast majority of them closing. If you’re stuck in traffic, just refer to it as pre-crisis traffic. In six months, it’s going to be a different story,” said James Fenkner, director of Red Star Asset Management of the impending business climate. But despite some experts’ fears, the Kremlin announced Sunday that it was weary of joining an emergency international economic summit convened by U.S. and EU leaders. “Today, there is no crisis in Russia,” said a senior government official.After years of buffeting their political agendas with petrodollars, the “axis of deisel” faces budget cuts. Maybe so, but apparently Venezuela wants to buy an undisclosed number of Russian T-72 battle tanks, though “nobody should be worried” according to Venezuelan General Jesus Gonzalez. In an effort to restore a “strategic balance” after America put an anti-missile radar system in Israel, Russia says it might put a similar system in Syria Despite the bluster, U.S. and Russian officials will meet in Geneva next month to discuss whether to extend a treaty limiting the countries’ nuclear arsenals.A Spanish judge has ordered an investigation into whether Vladislav Reznik, a deputy of Putin’s United Russia party, has connections to the Russian mafia. In a sign of increased Russia-Cuba relations, the first Russian Orthodox cathedral opened on the island. And in Grozny, a Mosque (Russia’s largest) named after the father of Chechnya’s president was inaugurated last Friday, evidence of a fragile new “police state” loyal to the Kremlin after years of war.