RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – July 2, 2010
TODAY: Vedemosti receives extremism warning; investigative committee turnaround on Magnitksy case; anti-Putin pamphlet released; Forbidden Art case could herald troubles for culture. One ‘suburban spy’ apparently confesses; US approves Medvedev’s corruption crackdown; warm welcome for Clinton in Ukraine? Georgia and Stalin; Nashi summer camp opens for lucky 25,000; traffic chaos in Moscow contrived by City Hall, says Sheremetyevo director
Business daily Vedemosti has received an extremism warning for publishing the article ‘Timeless Values. A Communication Breakdown’, by Maya Kucherskaya on the subject of the Moscow metro bombers. If the newspaper receives another, the authorities will have the right to close it down. Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin has reversed a decision by his subordinates not to initiate a case into the investigators who held Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in pre-trial detention. The ‘Putin: Results‘ pamphlets which were impounded by police ahead of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum are apparently to be returned to their owners after no evidence of extremism was found in their contents. The Economist reports on the ‘Forbidden Art’ trial; the article voices fears that a victory for the militant religious campaigners against the controversial exhibit’s organizers could set a precedent for further suppression of culture by the state. Most court rulings must be published online in their entirety, including the names of all parties involved, except witnesses, in an initiative that advocates say will improve transparency, the Moscow Times reports.