RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – May 14, 2010
TODAY: FSB kills three metro bombing suspects; Trifonova judge resigns; fears for health of another jailed businessman; anti-Putin petition rally; scientists protest. Ex-air force chief claims Russian defense in sorry state; Obama and Medvedev discuss Iran sanctions; Russia-Ukraine text book;, bribing helps, says poll; Dostoevsky murals cause depression
The FSB has killed three people allegedly involved in the suicide attacks on the Moscow metro in March, after they refused to surrender. An attack on a police convoy in Dagestan has killed at least eight people, most of whom were repair workers according to reports. The Moscow Times reports that a 62-year-old Latvian businessman in ill health, jailed on economic crimes, fears he may die like other sick inmates at the Matrosskaya Tishina pretrial prison. The judge in the Trifonova case, Olga Makarova, has resigned. A meeting has been held by opposition activists, including Garry Kasparov, to rally the ‘Putin Must Go’ petition. Land seizures in Sochi continue to raise eyebrows. Around 500 scientists in St Petersburg have protested against what they view as the government’s lack of support for the sciences. Nikolai Alekseev sees depressing parallels between gay rights (or lack thereof) in Russia and Belarus.