RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Dec 16, 2009
TODAY: NATO Secretary-General in Moscow; START treaty will not be signed this week; Browder praises Medvedev, Yakunin slams Browder; civic police force; Izvestia accused of extremism; children’s ombudsman highlights rights issues.
The Kremlin reportedly wants to discuss Dmitry Medvedev’s proposal for a European-Atlantic security treaty during today’s meetings with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, ‘but with all due respect we think that the OSCE is the right place for this‘, says a senior NATO official. The US has put a dampener on widespread speculation that a new START treaty would be signed with Russia this week in Copenhagen. Hermitage Capital head Bill Browder praised Medvedev’s moves to pursue those responsible for Sergei Magnitsky’s death. Russian Railways boss Vladimir Yakunin, speaking with the BBC, says that Russia is ‘sorry‘ about the death of Magnitsky, but questions Browder’s ‘integrity’ in criminalizing Russia. ‘Maybe he was in a deep, deep concern that is personal, and then I can understand it, but you know, for a person of such level and such understanding, I don’t think it is quite acceptable.‘