July 23, 2010 By Citizen M

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – July 23, 2010

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TODAY: Medvedev says heads will roll in the Caucasus if terrorist attacks are not contained; US apologizes to Russia over pilot dispute; Khimki protesters detained; Natalya Estemirova; recent bill to curb protesters ‘could have been worse’.  Belarus; new ethics code for government employees and regulations for the police force; cooperation with Japan?
In a public meeting with Deputy PM Igor Sechin, President Dmitry Medvedev threatened that law enforcement, security, and energy heads would lose their jobs should there be any further terrorist attacks on ‘economic structures in the Caucasus‘.  His warning was promptly followed by a bomb blast on a Dagestan railway.  RFE/RL suggests that prosecutors are trying to downplay the initial attack by calling it ‘sabotage‘ instead of ‘terrorism‘.  The US has issued an apology to Russia over the kidnapped pilot dispute, admitting that the delay in communications on the pilot’s situation was due to an administrative error that sent the relevant fax to Romania instead of Russia. ‘We pressed the wrong button on the fax machine, to be brutally honest.‘  Five environmental protesters out of an estimated 50 were detained outside the St Petersburg White House as they rallied against the logging of the Khimki forest.  This piece remembers human rights activist Natalya Estemirova one year after her death.  The Washington Post suggests that the recent bill to expand FSB powers against potential criminals ‘could have been a lot worse‘, and notes the key role of rights groups in mediating some of the bill’s more extreme provisions.
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