RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Aug 21, 2017
TODAY: Islamic State claims Siberian stabbing attack; Putin says artists should self-regulate if they want to reduce state censorship; Assad thanks Russia for defending his rule; Rosneft completes acquisition of India’s Essar; PDVSA praises relationship with Russia; Siemens turbines in Crimea will not be returned to the company; the Trump-Abramovic connection.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a stabbing attack in the Siberian city of Surgut that injured 8 people over the weekend. The attacker was shot dead by police. President Vladimir Putin has been partying at a Jazz Festival in Crimea. He “would like to look elegant”. He told participants at a youth forum that he wants Russia’s creative community “to establish a system of moral and ethical filter” that can regulate their own online content, thereby allowing the Kremlin to reduce its interference. The Communications Ministry has proposed limiting foreign ownership over Internet exchange points to 20%. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would like to thank Russia for its direct support in keeping him in power during 6.5 years of civil war. “What type of Armed Forces would a democratic, post-Putin Russia need?” asks Pavel Luzin. “We regular people have other things to worry about than politics,” according to a Russian emigre in New York who says her everyday life is unaffected by the US-Russia political relationship.
Rosneft is set to announce the completion of its $12.9 billion deal to acquire India’s Essar Oil, making it a joint equal partner with UCP, a Russian fund. The President of Venezuela state oil company PDVSA says Venezuela’s alliance with Russia is “perfect”, and slammed the US-led blockade against the company, which forced it to turn to its allies for support. A Moscow court declined the motion to put a freeze on the Siemens gas turbines that were illegally transferred to Crimea last year. The turbines will thus not be returned to Siemens, as it had requested. The Interior Ministry in St Petersburg has arrested a suspect in connection with a pepper spray attack on LGBT activists earlier this month, after local lawmakers pressured authorities to investigate.
Ivanka Trump has been friends with Roman Abramovich’s wife, Dasha Zhukova, for a decade.
PHOTO: Ivanka Trump and Roman Abramovic’s wife Dasha Zhukova (via Native News Online)
