RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Aug 7, 2008
TODAY: New Arctic map to aid territorial disputes; torture accuser disappears in Chechnya; Dagestan newspaper shut down; Russia accuses Georgia of preparing for war; Solzhenitsyn’s funeral; Russia may move bombers to Belarus, pledges to give Iran more time. A new map has been designed to illustrate historical, ongoing and potential arguments about ownership in the Arctic, which Russia claims is largely part of its own territory. On the “Eurasianist” approach of the siloviki. More on the claim by the family of Nikita Khrushchev that his reputation is under attack. The Kremlin is developing “a sophisticated selection system” to help it find new bureaucrats. Russia’s foreign ministry says that Georgia’s actions in South Ossetia “can be regarded as war preparations,” and has accused Georgia of sending warplanes into the region overnight. A Georgian minister says he believes that Russia “really wants to deescalate the situation”. Russia has asked that Iran be given more time to consider a package of incentives offered by the US in exchange for Tehran halting its nuclear program, after Iran rejected the first round. Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s UN ambassador, denied that the country would push for a new round of economic sanctions. Russia is threatening to move its bombers to the EU border in Belarus if Poland and the US agree on the former hosting a missile shield.