Air Force officer gets suspended sentence over MiG-31 crash

Air Force officer gets suspended sentence over MiG-31 crash

MOSCOW, July 21 (RIA Novosti)

The officer, Roman Storozhenko, was found guilty of accepting the base at Kotlas in Arkhangelsk Region as being fit to allow flight operations in March 2010, and authorizing missions for MiG-31s.

Areas of the base’s runways and taxiways had not been sufficiently cleared, however, and when one of the MiGs landed, it hit snow guards on the edge of the runway, tipped over and crashed, causing damage worth 86.6 million rubles ($3.09 million).

“In the course of the preliminary investigation and trial, Storozhenko has been found guilty. The Arkhangelsk military tribunal has sentenced him to two years suspended,” military investigators said.

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VOLGOGRAD, the Volga region, July 21 (Itar-Tass) — Russia’s First Vice-Premier Viktor Zubkov has agreed to be the first on the Volgograd regional list of the United Russian party at elections to the Russian State Duma slated for December.

“Thank you for you trust. I am giving my consent to being the first on the party list,» Zubkov said at a meeting with residents of the Volgograd region on Wednesday.

Last week the residents of the Volgograd region officially asked Viktor Zubkov to head the regional list of the United Russia party at the State Duma elections.

“It’s a very serious proposal. It’s coming from people who enjoy the respect of the population of the region, which, in turn, has a heroic history and a very good and solid potential for development,” Zubkov told the people of the Volgograd region last week.

11:09

GUNMEN KILLED IN OPERATION IN MAKHACHKALA COULD HAVE BEEN RELATED TO JULY 18 POLICE PATROL CAR BLAST, IN WHICH TWO POLICEMEN WERE KILLED - NATIONAL ANTITERRORIST COMMITTEE

09:33 21/07/2011ALL NEWS

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MAKHACHKALA, July 21 (Itar-Tass) — Three militants have been liquidated and one detained during a special police operation in Makhachkala, sources in the republic’s law enforcement agencies told Itar-Tass.

According to the source, at around 04:00 MSK on Thursday morning, police special task force blocked a group of gunmen in a private house on Mount Tarki-Tau. The gunmen offered armed resistance.

As a result of a nearly three-hour exchange of fire, three militants were killed, and one was detained alive. One police officer was wounded.

There have been no reports about the gunmen’s identity.

08:41 21/07/2011ALL NEWS

Police officer wounded in Makhachkala special operation.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/189620.html

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MAKHACHKALA, July 21 (Itar-Tass) — Special operation to neutralise members of illegal armed groups has been underway in Makhachkala Thursday morning on Mount Tarki-Tau. According to preliminary data, injuring one law enforcement officer has been wounded in an exchange of fire, a source in the Interior Ministry in Dagestan told Itar-Tass.

At around 05:00 MSK Makhachkala residents heard submachine-gun fire and grenade explosions. According to unofficial sources, a group of militants the number of which is unknown, was blocked in the area of an observation platform on Mount Tarki-Tau in Makhachkala. Official sources have so far not disclosed the special operation details.

Moscow Reverts to Crude Force to Control the Situation in Kabardino-Balkaria

July 20, 2011 01:28 PM Age: 4 hrs

By: Valery Dzutsev

On July 18, the Russian air force launched a surprise massive military exercise in Kabardino-Balkaria. Fifteen military aircraft are taking part in the exercises, including Su-24, Su-25, Su-27, Su-34, MIG-29 and Tu-22M3 planes, and Mi-24 and Mi-28 helicopters. These are the largest maneuvers in Kabardino-Balkaria in the past 15 years. The only mountainous firing range for the Russian air force was in a dormant state, but the worsening security situation in Kabardino-Balkaria, Georgia’s perceived threat to its breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and the impending Olympic games in Sochi reportedly prompted the Russian military to flex its muscles.  According to a source in the Russian air force, the firing range in Kabardino-Balkaria was used to test Soviet and Russian guided and non-guided missiles, drones, and military command and control systems. Military airbases in Prokhladny, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Mozdok, North Ossetia, will be used to host the aircraft (www.ng.ru, July 18).  

These massive exercises suggest that Moscow is preparing not for the development of tourism in the North Caucasus, but rather for a war. Although the stated aircraft models are of an older generation, they are probably sufficient to impress the locals and any other parties the drills might be addressed to.  At the same time, however, the demonstration of military might signifies certain weakness on the part of Moscow, which chose to ensure the loyalty of its citizens by utilizing the air force. The armed underground in Kabardino-Balkaria has proven to be much less potent since its leadership was wiped out as a result of a Russian security operation on April 29.  A counterterrorism operation regime is still in place in the republic and there seem to be no signs that it is going to be lifted soon.

The insurgent threat is not the only destabilizing factor in Kabardino-Balkaria. Old tensions between the Kabardins (aka Circassians) and the Balkars are simmering too. The heads of 17 Balkar villages addressed the Russian president to defend their rights. The Balkar leaders claim that the Kabardino-Balkarian government, dominated by the Kabardin majority, is encroaching on their land and pushing the Balkars to the brink of extinction (http://gazetayuga.ru, July 14). In fact, the counterterrorism operation regime and the virtual end of tourism in Kabardino-Balkaria affected the Balkars perhaps most, because many of them received subsistence from this business, since they traditionally occupy the highlands. This puts additional pressure on the local society and ethnic relations. On July 19, one of the Circassian leaders, Ibragim Yaganov, was severely beaten up near his house. Yaganov was organizing a conference with Circassian, Balkar and Cossack organizations to discuss land distribution and other contentious issues (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, July 19).

Meanwhile, the first official publication of the Russian list of extremist and terrorist organizations and individuals caused uproar in Kabardino-Balkaria. The Council of Balkar People’s Elders, which is outspoken in its opposition to the republican government, was included on the list, despite the Russian Supreme Court’s ruling to lift extremism charges against this organization back in 2010 (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, July 18). Since Russian courts are notoriously politicized, the fact that a court in Moscow allowed the Balkar organization to function means Moscow is looking for ways to balance the Circassians in Kabardino-Balkaria with the Balkar minority.

The Cossack population of Kabardino-Balkaria received another sign of official benevolence. Of the estimated 10,000 Cossacks in the republic, 3,000 are already employed by the government to cooperate with police, Federal Security Service (FSB), Emergency Situations Ministry and the military. Now the Cossacks have offered to patrol the streets as policemen and the head of Kabardino-Balkaria, Arsen Kanokov, expressed his approval of this proposal (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, July 17). The talk about Cossacks being recruited for patrolling betrays a profound failure of the state to control this territory with conventional police. Cossacks historically spearheaded the Russian conquest of the Caucasus and controlling the territories after they were subdued. So if the Cossacks receive official approval to patrol the streets in Kabardino-Balkaria, the Circassians and Balkars will likely be deeply offended. In 2010, the Cossacks in Adygea also tried to assume a law enforcement role, but their claims were rebuffed because of the local Circassians’ concerns (www.regnum.ru, June 30, 2010).

On July 9, the Russian TV channel TV Tsentr attacked Georgia and the Circassians over the issue of the Circassian genocide. Journalist Aleksei Pushkov, who has conspicuous ties to the government, stated that Georgia’s official recognition of Circassian genocide in the nineteenth century was meant to fuel separatist trends in the North Caucasus. The program mentioned a conference sponsored by The Jamestown Foundation and Georgia’s Ilia State University in Tbilisi in March 2010, at which the Circassian genocide issue was extensively discussed. Disrupting the 2012 Sochi Olympics is one of the main goals of the Circassian diaspora and Georgia, according to Pushkov. Kabardino-Balkaria is allegedly the weakest spot because of its high levels of corruption and unemployment (www.tvc.ru, July 9). The program sparked outrage even among the Circassians in the North Caucasus conspicuously loyal to Moscow. For example, Asker Sokht, a Circassian activist from Krasnodar, stated that the goal of the TV program was to make the Circassian people and the Circassian diaspora into enemies for Russian viewers. Sokht alleged that this campaign against the Circassians has been going on in Russia for several years (www.aheku.org, July 11).

On July 18, FSB Director Aleksandr Bortnikov stated that his organization thwarted a major terrorist attack in Moscow. Officials said that the plotters of the attack had received orders from Doku Umarov and were the followers of Said Buryatsky, a charismatic Muslim cleric who was killed in Ingushetia in March 2010. The novelty of this situation is that plotters were not only from Chechnya and Ingushetia: there was also a person from Kabardino-Balkaria and another from Mordovia, a region near Volga River in Russia (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, July 19).

By ramping up the response to the actual or perceived rebel threat, Moscow may be contributing to a loss of trust in the government. The more it appears that Russia treats the North Caucasian territories as something to be captured, suppressed and controlled, the more alienation it evokes among the local population.

10:57 21/07/2011ALL NEWS

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KHABAROVSK, July 21 (Itar-Tass) — As many as 14 of forest fires at an area of 1,728 hectares were extinguished in the Russian Far East on Wednesday. “However, by Thursday morning, 36 fires are still burning, their total area is 8,136 hectares,” the Forestry Department of the Far Eastern Federal District told Itar-Tass.

“The situation is the most difficult in the country’s east in Yakutia, where more than 6,700 hectares of forest and 757 hectares of non-forest land are affected by fires,” the department said. In the Olekminsky district the forest fire area has grown to 3,000 hectares, there are large spots of fire in the Yakutsk and Gorny districts.

According to the Yakutsk hydrometeorology department, the fire hazard situation on July 21-23 in most areas of the republic is expected to be extremely complicated - the highest fifth and high - fourth class of fire hazard situation is expected in the forests due to abnormally hot weather.

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry’s (EMERCOM) main department for the Sakha Republic issued an urgent warning about possible emergencies, saying there is the threat of forest fires' spreading to summer cottages and economic facilities located near forests.

According to the Far Eastern regional emergencies centre, more than 1,500 people and 196 pieces of equipment have been involved in the fire fighting operation in Yakutia. Specialists of the Aerial Forest Protection Service (Avialesookhrana) of territories and regions of Siberia and the Far East are working here. As many as 105 EMERCOM specialists have been sent to help them. The planes Ilyushin Il-76, BE-200, as well as the Mi-26 and Mi-8 helicopters of the RF Emergency Situations Ministry are extinguishing fires in Yakutia.

08:24 21/07/2011ALL NEWS

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VLADIVOSTOK, July 21 (Itar-Tass) — Aircraft of Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry (EMERCOM) on Wednesday poured on burning fires in Yakutia nearly 450 tonnes of water, liquidating nine wildfires. However, the republic is currently affected by 20 forest fires, 10 of them have been localised. More than 1,500 people, 196 pieces of equipment, including 12 aircraft, are engaged in the fire fighting efforts, the press service of the EMERCOM main department for Yakutia reported.

A state of emergency was introduced in 18 districts of the republic and in the Yakutsk city district. Together with local specialists, more than 100 smokejumpers from Siberia, the Amur region, Khabarovsk and Primorsky Territories are engaged in putting out fires.

On Thursday, a high fire hazard class is declared in the Primorsky Territory. The same as Yakutia, it is affected by dry hot weather. The likelihood of outbreaks of wildfires in the forests is forecasted in the Kirov, Krasnoarmeisky, Terneisky and Pozharsky districts.

Earlier this week, the authorities of Russia’s republic of Yakutia pledged to reverse the wildfire situation in a few days. “Today or tomorrow we shall try to overcome the situation,” Yakutia’s deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Skrybykin told a videoconference at the Emergencies Ministry on Monday.

Under Russian current laws, protection of forests from fires and organisation of fire fighting operations are within the competences of regional authorities. Yakutia is one of the regions, where the wildfire situation, according to the Russian Emergencies Ministry, is most difficult. “I hope quantity is to be transformed into quality. But if there are more new fires than extinguished ones, the situation will not improve. A set of preventive measures is badly needed,” said Ruslan Tsalikov, the First Deputy Emergencies Minister.

The situation when up to 12 new fires are reported every day is inadmissible, he said and urged Yakutia’s authorities to spare no effort to take the fire situation under control.

Wildfires have been ravaging on 15,000 hectares in Yakutia. The Russian Emergencies Ministry has sent Il-76 and Be-200 jets and Mi-26 and Mi-8 helicopters to help put out fires in the republic. Fire fighting operations involve about 900 men, a spokesman for the emergencies administration in the Far Eastern Amur region told Itar-Tass.

The worst fire situation is reported in Yakutia. According to local forestry authorities, a total of 406,800 hectares, including 316,900 hectares of forests, have been destroyed in the republic since the beginning of this year’ s fire season. The figures for the entire Far Eastern federal district are 364,000 hectares of forests and 113,700 hectares of non-forest lands.

A state of emergency has been in place in the republic’ s 19 municipalities since July 15.

The abnormally hot weather with air temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius only deteriorates the fire situation. Weather forecasts say the situation will not change within a week.