By Citizen M | Published: July 27, 2010
TODAY: Weather causes underground fires and air pollution; Chichvarkin seeks investigation into mother’s death; Ukrainian activists detained over Kirill protests; eleventh spy discovered in Canada? Military hazing on the rise; Satanism and cocaine trafficking.
Moscow’s air is thick with smoke from peat bogs burning on the city’s outskirts as
temperatures break records at 37.4˚C. The fires burn underground and could continue on through October, warns
Greenpeace, as they are difficult to put out.
Reuters says that, according to Mosekomonitoring, the government agency overseeing air pollution, ‘
the amount of harmful impurities in Moscow’s air thanks to the smoke exceeded the norm by 5-8 times.‘ Yevgeny Chichvarkin, who founded mobile phone retailer Yevroset, is
calling for an investigation into the death of his mother, due to evidence suggesting that she was beaten before her death, and Chichvarkin’s May appeal to President Dmitry Medvedev against alleged harrassment group of Interior Ministry officials.
Eight Ukrainian nationalist activists were detained yesterday for protesting (trying to
stage a play) against the visit of Patriarch Kirill to Kiev, part of a
wider debate about Russian authority over Orthodox Christianity, with many Ukrainians wanting an independent Orthodox Church.
PHOTO: Ukrainian police officers detaining a nationalist activist holding a portrait of Patriarch Kirill in Kiev, Monday, July 26, 2010. (Konstantin Chernichkin / Reuters)