RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – April 23, 2008
TODAY: Russian journalists hold convention on crisis; Russia says Georgia flight over Abkhazia violated UN agreements, Georgia blames NATO for current troubles; IOC inspects Sochi. The Russian Union of Journalists is holding a convention in Moscow to discuss a crisis manifesting itself “in a deterioration in quality, declining trust, a reduction of the role of journalists in society, and shrinking media freedom in our country.” Russia says a Georgian unmanned reconnaissance flight over the rebel region of Abkhazia, which it still denies shooting down, “violated United Nations cease-fire agreements”. Georgia’s deputy prime minister says that NATO leaders unwittingly gave Russia a “window of opportunity” to cause trouble in Georgia when they failed to grant the country a timetable for membership. A Russian newspaper is reporting that the country has threatened to sue China for copying its Sukhoi Su-27SK fighter and intending to export it at a reduced price. Read a special report on corruption in Russia. Communist members of the State Duma are trying to set up temporary accommodation for non-residents lacking ID papers, in order to prevent them from being detained.