/David DeNomaRussia welcomes killing of Bin Laden
The death of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has been hailed as a “Basayev moment” in Russia.
Statements from the Foreign Ministry and from Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov compared the news of bin Laden’s death to the killing of Chechen insurgent Shamil Basayev in 2006.
And a ministry spokesman added that the terrorists’ fate would be shared by all who followed their path of violence.
“I would like to emphasise that this is a natural result: Bin Laden, Basayev and others like them sooner or later catch up with what they have done,” a ministry statement read.
Kadyrov, meanwhile, hailed the news of the US operation, but warned that the West needed to treat all terrorist leaders in the same way.
He referred to Akhmed Zakayev, wanted in Russia as a leader of Islamic separatists, but living in London and apparently traveling freely around Europe to promote his cause.
Russia to pay Canada for Olympic medals
A $5 million consultancy contract could be the key to Russia topping the medal table at the Sochi Winter Olympics.
At least, that’s the hope of sports bosses, who commissioned Allinger Consulting to draw up training schedules for the nation’s skaters, skiers and hockey players.
Allinger helped Canada top the charts in Vancouver in 2010, and to get their full pay-off they will need to steer Russia towards 14 golds.
But that’s a tough task, considering the misfiring red machine managed just 15 medals of any hue last year in Canada.
Russian press ‘like Zimbabwe’s’
Russia’s press freedom is on a par with Zimbabwe’s, according to Freedom House.
The watchdog has concluded that Russian media sources are “not free”, and ranks the country 173 out of 196 states.
Its global survey added that press freedom in general had reached a record low, although Russia has in fact climbed two places in the survey, gzt.ru reported.
Metro on the money
Moscow’s metro is planning to up its advertising profits to $37.5 million a year when it invites ad agencies to bid in next month’s new tender.
The 2003 contract with existing ad managers Olimp expires soon, and whoever takes over the billboards and banners will be expected to contribute 1.03 billion roubles to the transport budget.
That’s a sharp rise from the 680 million roubles said to be collected at the moment.
Olimp is tight-lipped about whether it will bid again, but whoever gets the contract will be expected to increase the use of video screen advertising on both trains and stations, increasing the potential revenue for the network.
New broom in space
Russia’s under-fire space programme is hoping to sweep to a brighter future with Vladimir Popovkin being put in charge of Roskosmos.
The bosses of the state space agency are eager for change. The agency’s reputation was damaged last year by failures, including the catastrophic Glonass satellite launch.
And space expert Igor Marinin, of Novosti Kosmonavtiki, is anticipating changes as time-serving officials are pushed to clean up their act.
“Popovkin might introduce stricter policies for the space industry in general,” he told The Moscow News. “He would probably be more demanding about meeting deadlines.”
from moscow news
