RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – August 28, 2009
TODAY: Putin’s imminent visit to Poland prompts goodwill feeling; Stalin reminder in metro station causes furor; Poland suggests US missile defense plan jacked; Ukraine and Russia disputes to come to a head over Sevastopol? Russia and Belarus attempt to retie the knot. Ailing Yukos lawyer Vasily Aleksanyan to return to courtroom. Author Sergei Mikhalkov dies.
The New York Times suggests that Putin’s upcoming visit to Poland to mark the 70th anniversary of the start of World War Two may do considerable good to Russian-Polish relations. Russia has requested that at its regular session the UN General Assembly refer to the 65th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The refurbished Kurskaya station, complete with Stalin inscription, has reopened to a storm of controversy. ‘Revoltingly insensitive’ is how an article in the Economist describes some of Russia’s recent World War Two revisionism.