RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Oct 6, 2010

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TODAY: Mitvol ‘illegally’ dismissed; Luzkhov given new university appointment, Muscovites approve his mayoral dismissal.  Mitrokhin detained for protesting highway; Moscow’s poor alimony record; fortuneteller adverts to be banned; Yevroset prosecutor jailed. Russians win Nobel Prize in physics; students detained on hacking charges in the US; Polish opposition leader to snub crash memorial.
Oleg Mitvol says that his dismissal by acting Moscow Mayor Vladimir Resin is ‘completely illegal‘, as the law states that officials cannot be dismissed whilst on sick leave.  Former Mayor Yury Luzkhov may have already found a new job at the University of Moscow in the Major City Management department.  Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin says that Luzhkov failed to publish a quarter of his decrees (many of which apparently related to tenders won by his wife’s construction company), which is against the law.  Bloomberg reports on VTsIOM’s survey which suggested that Luzhkov’s dismissal was supported by 66% of Russians, and credits the Kremlin’s media campaign for swaying public opinion.  Yulia Latynina says that ‘it was Luzhkov […] who helped transform the Moscow mayoral post into Putin’s hand puppet.‘  The next Mayor will have better relations with the government than his predecessor ‘because the next mayor will be appointed by the president‘.  The leader of the Yabloko opposition party, Sergei Mitrokhin, was detained earlier this week for protesting the construction of a highway on the outskirts of Sochi, but was not charged.

Bloggers were apparently riled by President Dmitry Medvedev’s $200,000, state-of-the-art stereo system ‘There’s nothing special about it‘), revealed during a breakfast meeting with Vladimir Putin that ‘was meant to reinforce the two leaders’ unity and their humble love of patriotic dairy products‘, reports The Guardian.  The Moscow Times reports that only 2% of Moscow’s alimony payers pay on time and without coercion.  The Duma is to ban advertisements by psychics and fortunetellers, after the industry generated a reported $2 billion last year. ‘Their activity is often not controlled, and as a result, many people are suffering.‘  A prosecutor in the Yevroset case will be jailed after it was ruled that he ‘exceeded his duty‘ in ordering $1.5 million worth of mobile phones to be destroyed in April 2006. 
Two Russian scientists based at the University of Manchester have won the Nobel Prize in physics for inventing graphene (the result of ‘mucking about‘ with pencils and tape, they say).  Eleven Russian students have been detained in the US by the FBI on suspicion of being part of an international hacking ring that stole $70 million from online bank accounts.  Polish opposition party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski will snub a Smolensk memorial to mark six months since the plane crash that killed his brother, as he believes that it is ‘aimed at concealing‘ the truth about the crash. 
PHOTO: People enjoy sunny autumn weather in Kolomenskoye park in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2010 (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)