Areas
Saturday 24 June 2017
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Elmurod Rasulmukhamedov
First Deputy Chairman of the All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation
“The information about the green spaces targeted for renovation was apparently taken from a CIA spy satellite.”
Read more...Moscow’s controversial urban renewal project has prompted discussion among environmentalists, with Greenpeace Russia warning it could have damaging consequences. One Russian organization, however, falsely accused Greenpeace of using CIA spy satellite data to fabricate the report. -
Vladimir Putin
Russian President
“The Ukrainian government is insisting that the section of the border in the area of the unrecognized republics must be closed. And indeed, the Minsk protocols require that the border with Russia be closed by Ukrainian border guards, but only after the key political decisions are adopted.”
Read more...Putin is right about the timetable of the Minsk peace agreements, but he ignores his own responsibility for the ongoing war in Ukraine. -
Kiselyov’s legal defense team
“Dmitry Kiselyov has never expressed support for the directing of Russian forces to Ukraine... The EU Council did not provide information necessary to ensure [his] legal right to defense, since the accusations leveled were formulated in an unduly vague way.”
Read more...Lawyers for pro-Kremlin media figure Dmitry Kiselyov claim their client never expressed support for sending Russian troops into Ukraine, and that the European Council has denied him the right to legal defense. In fact, Kiselyov is notorious for provocative comments about Ukraine and the court followed regular procedures in adjudicating his case. -
Vladimir Putin
Russian President
"We have hundreds of television companies and radio companies. The state doesn't control them at all, it is simply impossible."
Read more...While the state does not own all TV or engage in prior censorship, TV stations deemed too critical of the Kremlin have been forced off the air; large opposition protests are ignored, causing critics to turn to YouTube as an alternative. -
Dmitry Peskov
Russian Presidential Press Secretary
“I know nothing about this, this is the first time I’ve heard about it.” [in reply to a query about then-President Barack Obama directly addressing President Putin on Russia’s alleged hacking attacks on the U.S.]
Read more...President Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, denies any knowledge of a phone call between Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, in which the U.S. President addressed his Russian counterpart on the subject of alleged Russian cyber-attacks and interference in the 2016 presidential elections. Unfortunately for Peskov, he had briefed journalists on this very phone call less than six months earlier. -
Gen. Sergei Surovikin
Commander of Russian forces in Syria
"Instead of eliminating terrorists guilty of killing hundreds and thousands of Syrian civilians, the U.S.-led coalition together with the Democratic Forces Union [Syrian Democratic Forces] controlled by it, enters into collusion with ringleaders of the ISIL, who give up the settlements they had seized without fighting and head to the provinces where the Syrian government forces are active."
Read more...The commander of Russian forces in Syria said the U.S.-led coalition and the Syrian Democratic Forces have entered “into collusion” with Islamic State “ringleaders” and given them safe passage “south of Raqqah,” and that IS left the city “without fighting.” However, the territory south of Raqqah is controlled by IS, which means they do not need a safe corridor to travel there, while IS is reportedly fighting U.S.-backed forces for every street inside the city. -
Denis Manturov
Russian Industry Minister
“As the industry minister, I support a depreciation of the ruble.” Manturov claims an exchange rate of 62 rubles to the dollar is ‘optimal’ for all sectors of the Russian economy engaged in so-called ‘import substitution.’
Read more...A stronger ruble has tamed Russian inflation, bringing it to near record lows over the last 25 years. And contrary to what the minister states, think-tank research indicates exporters themselves would prefer a stronger ruble. -
Nikolai Patrushev
chairman of Russian Security Council
“Neo-Nazi ideas are reviving in Europe. According to available data, there are more than 500 neo-Nazi and national-radical groups (often youth groups) in the European Union. More than 7 million people are members.”
Read more...Experts are puzzled where Patrushev got such high numbers as only a tenth as many such groups are documented. There’s also a debate on how to define and count such groups. -
Myrat Archayev
head of Turkmenistan's state energy company, Turkmengas
"The total natural gas reserves of Turkmenistan are estimated at 50 trillion cubic meters."
Read more...Turkmenistan undoubtedly has huge reserves of natural gas. But there is not any proof to support Myrat Archaev’s claim his country has 50 trillion cubic meters of gas. If that was true, it would mean Turkmenistan would have the largest gas reserves in the world, surpassing Qatar, Iran, and Russia. -
Vladimir Putin
President, Russia
“We are aware of the accusations of the use of chemical weapons. There is no proof whatsoever! We offered right after it happened to conduct an inspection exactly at the airport from where President Assad’s aircraft allegedly took off with chemical weapons. They refused – nobody wants that. …because they were afraid that this falsification would be exposed – it’s as simple as that. Regarding the people who were killed or suffered from the use of weapons, including chemical weapons – that is false information.”
Read more...Vladimir Putin said the United States and its allies refused to investigate chemical attacks that took place in Syria in April because they feared the probe would reveal that the attacks were “falsified” and there was no proof the regime of Bashar al-Assad possesses and has used chemical weapons. Putin also claimed that reports about the victims of such attacks is “false information.” However, France, Turkey and the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have each conducted an independent investigation and produced detailed reports showing the Assad regime carried out sarin gas attacks. -
Nikolai Patrushev
chairman of the Russian Security Council
“Western technologists have not renounced their plans to implement 'color scenarios' in our country […]. As a rule, such an outburst of activity from opposition forces is observed in the run-up to federal election campaigns. It is no accident that the West is allocating financial and material means to non-governmental organizations in Russia and creating so-called "independent" Russian-language mass media.”
Read more...Due to Kremlin crackdown, few foreign-funded NGOs or independent media operating in Russia. Those that still do are not involved in elections such as the forthcoming 2018 presidential ballot.