NCSEJ WEEKLY NEWS BRIEF

Washington, D.C. April 15, 2016

Polish Jewish history museum named European Museum of the Year

Taube Philanthropies, April 11, 2016

The POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, a signature philanthropic endeavor of San Francisco-based

Taube Philanthropies, has won the 39th Annual European Museum of the Year Award. The significant honor

was presented by the European Museum Forum at its 2016 Award Ceremony held in San Sebastian, Spain, on

April 9. The POLIN Museum placed first from among 49 museums representing 24 countries and a diverse

range of themes, including the arts, sciences and history.

The POLIN Museum is located in the heart of what was once the throbbing, pre-war Jewish hub of Muranow.

During the Nazi occupation of Poland, the Germans turned the district into the Warsaw Ghetto, incarcerating

hundreds of thousands of Jews, who were then deported to the Nazi death camp Treblinka in 1943.

The POLIN Museum, a stunning testament to a thousand-year history of Polish Jews and their contributions to

global Jewish culture and Western civilization, is the centerpiece of the Taube Philanthropies’ programmatic

investments in revitalizing Jewish culture in Poland. Since the POLIN Museum’s grand opening in October

2014, led by the presidents of Poland and Israel, it has attracted one million visitors.

The award is especially meaningful to Taube Philanthropies founder Tad Taube. Born in Krakow in 1931,

Taube was fortunate to escape Poland on the eve of the Holocaust as a boy – though he lost many relatives to

the Nazi genocide. Taube and his parents settled in Los Angeles; he attended Stanford, served in the U.S. Air

Force, and built a successful real estate business. Taube also helped Joseph and Stephanie Koret turn around

their then-struggling company, Koret of California, and with Joe Koret co-founded the Koret Foundation after

Stephanie’s death in 1978.

For more than fifteen years, Taube has dedicated his time and resources to tell the story about Polish Jews, a

culture that thrived for more than a thousand years before the Holocaust and is undergoing a remarkable

cultural resurgence since the fall of Communism in 1989.

“There is a renaissance of Jewish life going on in Poland that is of major importance to Jewish people in

Europe, in Israel, and in America,” said Taube. “A community of caring people has worked hard to rebuild

Jewish organizations, restore synagogues and cemeteries, revive cultural innovation, and further educational

opportunities. The POLIN Museum serves as the beacon of this Polish Jewish renaissance. This award is

especially meaningful.”

Russia-Occupied Crimea Suspends Council Representing Tatar Minority

RFE/RL, April 13, 2016

http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-russia-crimean-tatars-mejlis-closed/27673311.html

The chief prosecutor of the Russia-occupied Crimea has ordered the suspension of a council that represents

the region’s Tatar ethnic minority.

The April 13 order by prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya means that the Tatar council, called the Mejlis, is

prohibited from holding public gatherings, using bank accounts, or disseminating information.

The suspension is to remain in place until a court in the illegally annexed peninsula rules in a case raised by

Poklonskaya aimed at banning the Mejlis outright as an extremist organization.

Tatars make up about 15 percent of Crimea’s nearly 2 million people and have broadly opposed Russia’s

seizure and annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.

Since annexation and the installment of a Russian-imposed government, Tatars have complained of official

intimidation, the closure of Tatar language classes, and a general atmosphere of mistrust aimed at Tatar

residents.

Amnesty International said the decision to suspend the Mejlis signals a new wave of repression against

Crimean Tatars.

"Anyone associated with the Mejlis could now face serious charges of extremism as a result of this ban, which

is aimed at snuffing out the few remaining voices of dissent in Crimea," said Denis Krivosheyev, Amnesty

International's deputy director for Europe and Central Asia.

"The decision to suspend the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and ban all its activities under Russia's

antiextremism legislation is a repugnant, punitive step denying members of the Crimean Tatar community the

right to freedom of association," Krivosheyev added in an April 13 statement.

Uman hotel refuses to rent rooms to Jews, Ukrainian Jewish leader says

JTA, April 14, 2016

http://www.jta.org/2016/04/14/news-opinion/world/uman-hotel-refuses-to-rent-rooms-to-jews-ukrainian-

jewish-leader-says

A hotel in Uman is refusing to rent out rooms to Jews, a leader of Ukraine’s Jewish community said.

Eduard Dolinsky, the director of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee, wrote Thursday on Facebook that an

administrator at Uman City Plaza told him the policy was in place because the last time that Jews were allowed

to stay at the hotel, it required repairs.

Each year around the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, Uman sees the arrival of approximately 25,000

Jewish pilgrims from Israel, the United States and Europe. They congregate there for the holiday because it is

the final resting place of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, an 18th-century luminary, who is buried in Uman, and who

called on his followers to be with him when he was alive on Rosh Hashanah.

Dolinsky said he called the hotel, a small establishment with just 17 rooms, because he read an online review

by a Jew who was turned away.

“I didn’t believe it, so I called myself,” Dolinsky wrote. “Yes, indeed, rooms are not rented out to Jews,” was the

reply, Dolinsky wrote, adding that the administrator said that “last time, repairs were necessary after the Jews

stayed in the rooms.”

Most Jews who visit Uman stay in the Pushkina area, where Ukrainian police, along with Israeli officers who

are sent especially for the holiday, restrict non-Jews, including locals, from entering during the holiday to

prevent violence.

In Uman, many locals resent the Jewish pilgrimage because they say it invites criminality and does not

contribute to the local economy because most pilgrims pay other Jews for various services, including housing

in apartments in Pushkina and kosher food.

Over 2,000 Jews to Gather at Largest-Ever Limmud FSU in Moscow Opening this Thursday

Jewocity, April 13, 2016

http://www.jewocity.com/blog/over-2000-jews-to-gather-at-largest-ever-limmud-fsu-in-moscow-

opening-this-thursday/281614

More than 2,000 participants have sold out Limmud FSU’s 10th conference in Moscow, the largest-ever

gathering of Russian-speaking Jews in the former Soviet Union. The Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar will

give the conference’s keynote address.

Limmud FSU Moscow, April 14-17, promises to be the largest and most significant Jewish event in Russia

amid the organization’s growing popularity. Limmud FSU Moscow is a cultural, educational, communal, and

social experience shaped by the Moscow Jewish community, with support and guidance from Limmud FSU

leadership.

“The conference’s large number of participants is the best evidence that Jewish life is thriving in Russia,” said

Limmud FSU Founder Chaim Chesler and Co-Founder Sandy Cahn. “We are witnessing a new era of Russian

Jews that have become completely independent and have defined the framework of Jewish life on their own,

and for themselves. Moscow’s Jewish community is proud and here to stay.”

The popular conference will debut the Michal Negrin Israel spring/summer collection and feature Russian stars

such as Vladimir Pozner, a celebrated TV presenter and writer who often appeared as a guest on “The Phil

Donahue Show”; Avdotia Smirnova, a playwright, journalist and writer; Gospel singer and African-American

Jew Joshua Nelson; Lyudmila Ulitskaya, one of today’s most popular Russian writers; Israeli Member of

Knesset Hamad Amar,who will speak about the Druze community in Israel; Israel’s ambassador to Russia, Zvi

Heifetz; Israel’s ambassador to Kazakhstan, Michael Brodsky, the first ambassador appointed from the ‘90s

Aliyah wave; Middle East researcher Evgeny Satanovsky; Russian Jewish Congress President Yuri Kanner;

United Jewish Communities of Russia Chairman Aleksandr Boroda; Holocaust survivor from Israel, Solomon

Perel, who was orphaned as a child and will share the story of how he passed as a German boy and

experienced WWII undercover as a member of the Hitler Youth; human rights activist Irina Yasina; and others.

This Limmud FSU couldn’t happen without the local leadership of Mikhail Libkin, Dmitry Maryasis, Tania

Pashaeva, Alexander Pyatigorsky, Anna Adamskaya, and others.

Hillel International to launch in Poland

JTA, April 12, 2016

http://www.jta.org/2016/04/12/news-opinion/world/hillel-international-to-launch-in-poland

Hillel International will launch operations in Poland, the organization serving Jewish college students

announced.

The opening of Hillel Warsaw is scheduled for April 18, on the eve of the 73rd anniversary of the beginning of

the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. A delegation of Hillel International leaders and Jewish dignitaries from around the

world will gather in Poland for the event, where a reception will be held for Polish Jewish students.

“At Hillel International, our mission is to enrich the lives of Jewish students everywhere so that they may enrich

the Jewish people and the world,” Eric Fingerhut, president and CEO of Hillel International, said in a statement.

“Jewish life in Poland has seen a remarkable revitalization in recent years, but that progress can only be

sustained if we ensure that young Polish Jews have the community and the resources necessary to thrive.”

Hillel Warsaw is funded in part by grants from the UJA-Federation of New York, Taube Philanthropies and the

Koret Foundation.

Hillel’s Schusterman International Center recently hired Magda Dorosz as its first Hillel Warsaw executive

director. Dorosz, who was born in Wroclaw, Poland, will spend her first several months at Hillel Warsaw

meeting with young Jews and exploring the types of programs and services that can best meet their needs and

those of Poland’s Jewish community. She also will work to establish formal relationships with the Polish

government and several of the largest universities in the Warsaw area.

“Young Jews in Poland today carry with them both the tragedies our parents and grandparents endured and

the flourishing community our generation has witnessed,” Dorosz said in the Hillel statement. “We have

particular needs as a community and a unique story to share with the rest of the Jewish world. The recognition

and resources that Hillel International is committing to young Jews in Poland is a fantastic benchmark for our

community’s growth.”

There are Hillels in 14 other nations around the world.

Kyrgyz parliament elects president's ally as prime minister

Reuters, April 13, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-kyrgyzstan-primeminister-idUSKCN0XA0Z3

Kyrgyzstan's parliament elected Sooronbai Zheenbekov, an ally of President Almazbek Atambayev, as prime

minister in a unanimous vote on Wednesday, consolidating power in the hands of the Social Democratic party

which backs both of them.

Having control over the parliament and the government should help the Social Democrats engineer a smooth

succession when Atambayev's term in office ends at the end of 2017. He has ruled out running for another

term.

Unlike its autocratic Central Asian neighbors, Kyrgyzstan has a relatively powerful parliament while limiting

presidential powers. Two Kyrgyz presidents have been toppled by violent protests.

The Social Democrats nominated Zheenbekov, 57, the president's deputy chief of staff, on Tuesday, following

the resignation of his predecessor Temir Sariyev whose cabinet parliament members have accused of

corruption.

Sariyev's political party, Akshumkar, is not a member of the ruling coalition which is led by the Social

Democrats and includes three other parties, Kyrgyzstan, Onuguu-Progress and Ata Meken. Together, the four

parties have 80 parliament seats out of 120.

The Central Asian nation's economy has come under pressure from the recession in Russia and slowdowns in

other neighboring countries such as China and Kazakhstan.

Oil Prices Surge After Report Of Russia-Saudi Deal To Freeze Production

RFE/RL, April 12, 2016

http://www.rferl.org/content/article/27671068.html

Oil prices surged to their highest level of 2016 on April 12 after a Russian state news agency report was issued

about an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Russia on freezing their production.

The report by Russia’s Interfax news agency on April 12 cited an “informed diplomatic source in Doha” who

claimed Moscow and Riyadh have reached a “consensus” on freezing oil production.

The U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in May gained $1.81 per barrel for a close at $42.17

a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the highest closing price since November.

In London trading, Brent crude oil for June delivery -- the European benchmark -- closed on April 12 at $44.69

a barrel, an increase of $1.86 from the closing price a day earlier.

The global price of oil has been rising for the past week amid speculation that a meeting of OPEC and non-

OPECE producers in Doha, Qatar on April 17 could result in production freezes that reduce the global oil glut

that has depressed prices.

Groysman becomes Ukraine's new prime minister, Parubiy takes over as speaker of parliament

By Olga Rudenko

Kyiv Post, April 14, 2016

https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/groysman-becomes-new-prime-minister-

411971.html

Ukraine’s parliament voted on April 14 to appoint Volodymyr Groysman as the country's new prime minister,

with 257 lawmakers - 31 votes more than needed -- supporting his candidacy.

Groysman, who served as the speaker of parliament since November 2014, replaces Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who

spent two years as prime minister.

Andriy Parubiy, Yatsenyuk's party member and an active participant of the EuroMaidan Revolution that drove

President Viktor Yanukovych from power two years ago, took over as speaker. He served as deputy speaker

for Groysman. Poroshenko's Bloc lawmaker Iryna Gerashchenko was voted in as the new deputy speaker.

Groysman, 38, becomes the youngest prime minister in Ukraine. He is a former mayor of Vinnytsia and a

loyalist of President Petro Poroshenko.

The vote could end a long-running political crisis that started in the middle February, when the parliament tried

and failed to unseat Yatsenyuk, prompting a breakdown of the ruling coalition.

Since then, the largest faction in parliament, the pro-presidential Bloc of Petro Poroshenko, has been trying to

form a new coalition. Yatsenyuk agreed to resign if the bloc could garner enough votes to appoint his

successor. He announced his resignation in a TV address on April 10.

After the former coalition members Samopomich, the Radical Party and Yulia Tymoshenko's Batkivshchyna

refused to form a new majority, Poroshenko Bloc attracted independent lawmakers, grew its numbers and

formed a shaky coalition with the second-biggest faction, Yatsenyuk's People's Front. Together the two parties

have 227 votes - just one vote above the required minimum for a ruling majority.

Apart from the new majority, Groysman's candidacy was supported by 11 independent lawmakers, all 23

lawmakers of Vidrodzhennya (Renaissance), a group that is associated with oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, and 16

lawmakers of Volya Narodu (People's Will).

The lawmakers held a single vote to dismiss Yatsenyuk, cancel an earlier decision that declared his work

unsatisfactory, and appoint Groysman.

The all-in-one vote was criticised by the representatives of the opposition parties, who said the double vote

was against the standing order of the Verkhovna Rada.

Groysman’s Cabinet was appointed with 239 votes.

Several ministers retained their seats in the new Cabinet, including Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, Justice

Minister Pavlo Petrenko, Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak, and Minister of

Sports and Youth Ihor Zhdanov. The health minister seat remains vacant as there is no agreement on the

candidate yet.

Former head of National Bank of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv was appointed economy minister. Deputy Head of

President's Administration Oleksandr Danyuliuk, who worked in the administration of Yanukovych, is the new

minister of finance.

Appointment of Groysman marks a shift of power in Ukraine. After two years during which two parties, those of

Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk, had relatively equal representation and influence in parliament and government,

Poroshenko has strengthened his position through the appointment of a loyal prime minister.

Addressing the parliament before the vote, Poroshenko said that he had to interfere in the coalition formation

because the country was going deeper and deeper into the political crisis.

"I was forced to take the role of a political moderator to enforce the decision that you, lawmakers, must

approve today," Poroshenko said.

In exchange for supporting Groysman’s candidacy, Yatsenyuk’s parliament faction the People’s Front was

given the chance to appoint its member Parubiy as the speaker of parliament. The party also got several

ministerial positions in the new government.

Groysman addressed the parliament before the vote. He named corruption, ineffective state and populism as

three main enemies of Ukraine, and promised

"I swear to do everything so that neither the people, nor the president, nor the parliament regret appointing

me," said Groysman.

Yatsenyuk showed up in the parliament before the vote on April 14 to officially ask the lawmakers to dismiss

him. After a short address, he quickly left the hall.

While addressing the parliament to urge it to support Groysman, Poroshenko warned against lambasting the

Cabinet of Yatsenyuk.

"The resignation of the Cabinet is not a reason to throw rocks in their backs," he said. "Yes, it lost the support

of the parliament. But no Ukrainian government has ever worked in such harsh conditions as this one."

Nevertheless, the representatives of the oppositional parties, including the Opposition Bloc, Tymoshenko's

Batkivshchyna, and Oleh Lyashko's Radical Party addressed the parliament with criticism of both Yatsenyuk

and the new Cabinet and coalition.

Yatsenyuk was defended by his frequent critic, head of Poroshenko Bloc Yuri Lutsenko, who praised him for

"creating a real Ukrainian army" and ensuring Ukraine's energy independence from Russia.

"Yatsenyuk earned his applause today, just like he earned the criticism before," Lutsenko said.

Jewish Wunderkind Turned Ukrainian Prime Minister - Who Is Vlodymir Groysman?

JTA, April 14, 2016

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/features/1.714532

Like many Ukrainian mayors, Vlodymir Groysman used to visit his local synagogue on Rosh Hashanah and

Hanukkah.

But unlike most of them Groysman, the former mayor of Vinnytsia, did not visit the synagogue as a political

gesture. He was going in his private capacity as a member of his central Ukraine city’s Jewish community.

Groysman’s Jewishness is not very unusual, even for a mayor and senior politician in Ukraine, where 360,000

Jews live. But his openness about it was not customary in a country where anti-Semitism and decades of

Communist repression once made it undesirable for politicians to be seen as too Jewish, said the local rabbi,

Shaul Horowitz.

Last year, his reputation as an honest and effective administrator earned Groysman the title of speaker of the

Ukrainian parliament. And this week, he was appointed prime minister by President Petro Poroshenko, make

Groysman the first openly Jewish person to hold the country’s second highest post and, at 38, the youngest

person to have the job.

Josef Zissels, a leader of the Vaad organization of Ukrainian Jews, pointed to Groysman’s ascent in politics as

proof of the absence of serious anti-Semitism in Ukraine. Russia regularly points to the country’s alleged anti-

Semitism to justify its conflict with Ukraine, including the annexation of Crimea.

“Clearly, Groysman’s nomination shows the opposite,” Zissels said of the claims.

Groysman’s nomination Thursday followed the resignation this week of Arseniy Yatsenyuk over his seeming

failure to fight corruption and implement economic restructuring measures. Members of the coalition headed by

Poroshenko approved Groysman’s nomination in a vote on a cabinet reshuffle following the resignation.

Groysman’s successor as speaker is Andriy Parubiy, a member of Yatsenyuk’s rightwing People’s Party.

Parubiy used to belong to the Social-National Party of Ukraine, a precursor of the far-right Svoboda movement,

whose leaders have a record of anti-Semitic statements. Parubiy, who is not Jewish, is not known to have used

such rhetoric and has himself come under attack in far-right circles where was labelled a Jew and a

homosexual.

“I understand that we are in extremely difficult condition, that the government has a huge responsibility and the

challenges it faces are simply enormous,” Groysman said Wednesday of Ukraine’s $17 billion debt to the

International Monetary Fund, a financial crisis that has halved the national currency’s value against the dollar

and the conflict with Russia. “I also know that with Ukrainian citizens’ support, we’ll strive to end the crisis.”

Horowitz is among those who believe Groysman will succeed where others have failed. The rabbi points to

Groysman’s record as mayor in his native Vinnytsia.

“He’s a man of action who doesn’t talk too much but gets a lot done,” Horowitz said.

When Groysman, a lawyer with a background in business, became mayor in 2006 – at 28 he was the country’s

youngest mayor ever — “the place looked like a Third World city,” Horowitz recalled.

“The roads were [in] disrepair, there were no street lights, fires broke out regularly,” he said.

But today, Vinnytsia, a sprawling city of 370,000, has a reliable tram system, one of Ukraine’s best-functioning

train stations, street lights everywhere and three new hospitals.

Using international connections and attracting oligarchs to set up shop in the city, Groysman nearly doubled its

budget from 500 million hryvna in 2007 (approximately $100 million) to nearly 1 billion hryvna in 2010.

“If Groysman does for Ukraine what he did for Vinnytsia, then he will have done something truly great for this

nation,” said Koen Carlier, a Belgian national who lives in Vinnytsia, where he heads the operations of the local

Christians for Israel group.

Endeavoring to jump-start his city’s economy, Groysman has made use of his ties in Israel. He has family in

the city of Ashdod, which his 69-year-old father, Boris, visits regularly. In 2012, Groysman welcomed Israeli

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman to Vinnytsia for the opening of a state-of-the-art medical diagnostic center

that Israel built there.

That project demonstrated Groysman’s knack for using his broad network to meet the needs of his constituents

and partners, according to one Ukrainian official who spoke to JTA under condition of anonymity because he is

not allowed to speak to the media.

“With fears of growing international isolation, Israel was anxious to demonstrate that it has allies,” the official

said. “Groysman knew this, and he also knew it was a country where politicians are accessible and act fast. So

he worked out a symbiosis to benefit his own city.”

Groysman’s recent rise in Ukrainian politics owes a great deal not only to what but who he knew – especially

Poroshenko, with whom he had had a close relationship long before Poroshenko became president. In 2012,

Poroshenko, an oligarch who made his fortune from chocolates, opened Ukraine’s largest confectionery factory

in Vinnytsia, adding thousands of jobs. Poroshenko, who became president in 2014, also was a partner in the

construction of the Israeli diagnostic center.

Poroshenko asked Groysman to become speaker of the parliament shortly after assuming power following a

revolution that ended with the ousting of his predecessor, Viktor Yanukovych. That bloody insurrection began

amid claims that Yanukovych was a corrupt Kremlin stooge.

In interviews with the Ukrainian media, Groysman spoke of his grandfather Isaac’s survival during the

Holocaust, when he pretended to be dead after being dropped by Nazis into a mass grave.

On January 27, International Holocaust Memorial Day, when Groysman was the chairman of the Verkhovna

Rada, the parliament, he asked other lawmakers to stand for a minute’s silence in honor of the victims of the

Jewish genocide. It was the first time such a gesture took place in parliament.

“Unlike many who either try to hide their Judaism or just not talk about it, Groysman is a warm and open Jew

because he’s part of a new generation in a new country,” Horowitz said.

U.S. limits training in Ukraine to avoid provoking Russia in the region

Jim Michaels,

USA TODAY, April 11, 2016

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/04/11/us-limits-training-ukraine-avoid-provoking-

russia-region/82903402/

The White House has boosted aid for Ukrainian forces battling Russian-backed separatists but limits training to

mainly defensive tactics, triggering criticism the policy is too cautious to blunt President Vladimir Putin's

aggressive moves in the region.

The United States recently turned down Ukraine's request for sniper training for its armed forces because that

is considered an offensive skill. The U.S. policy is aimed at teaching defensive skills in order to avoid

escalating the conflict.

U.S. officials said the distinction between defensive and offensive tactics makes little difference, since the

training is focused on building basic soldier skills, which are similar for offensive and defensive operations.

As a result, U.S. trainers can teach nearly all the skills needed for small and mid-size combat units despite the

focus on defensive operations, commanders say. Skills such as patrolling, for example, are used defensively

and offensively.

“At the company and maybe even at the battalion level, there’s not really a big distinction between offensive

and defensive things,” said Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commander of U.S. Army Europe. "What we're trying to do is

make sure the Ukrainians at the tactical level are as capable as they can be."

Some critics worry that the policy reflects an approach that won't work against Putin's expansionist policies.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and other Republican lawmakers have criticized the Obama administration for

limiting aid to Ukraine’s military to “non-lethal” supplies, such as medical equipment, communications gear and

radar.

But the training has received less scrutiny. The United States has several hundred military trainers in Ukraine.

U.S. training efforts began with Ukraine's border forces and national guard, which are responsible for internal

security, but recently expanded to Ukraine's conventional forces.

“If you’re there, why not train them in the way Ukrainians need to be trained to counteract the Russian

offensive,” said Hunter, a member of the House Armed Services Committee who recently visited Ukraine. “How

nice can you be while Putin takes over the world?”

Such training limitations are not new. Many European countries in the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, for

example, had limits on missions they could perform. During the war there, the U.S. military urged its European

allies to lift the restrictions, called national caveats.

In Ukraine, the situation is reversed.

“There are some specific offensive tasks that we just don’t do,” said Col. Nick Ducich, commander of the

multinational training group in Ukraine.

He said U.S. trainers are not teaching Ukrainian troops how to establish an ambush, which is considered an

exclusively offensive skill, in addition to avoiding sniper training.

Canada and Lithuania, which also train Ukrainian forces, do not have similar restrictions.

The Ukrainians face a formidable foe in the separatists in the eastern part of the country.

Russia backs separatists with ammunition, weapons and advisers. Russia also has massed forces at the

border at times and provided deadly fire support to the separatists, using drones as spotters for its artillery.

Michael Carpenter, a deputy assistant Defense secretary, said the U.S. has to walk a line, helping Ukraine

without provoking a Russian response.

“The goal has been to help the Ukrainians be more effective in defending their territory without escalating the

conflict,” Carpenter said.

The United States is providing Ukraine’s military force with about $600 million in training and equipment. The

equipment includes counter-artillery radar, night-vision goggles and other sophisticated hardware.

“There is no other country that is doing even close to what we're doing,” Carpenter said.

Netanyahu, Putin to meet in Moscow on Syria, Palestinians

Times of Israel , April 15, 2016

http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-putin-to-meet-in-moscow-on-syria-palestinians

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday,

to discuss regional security issues.

According to Israel’s Ynet news website, the topics under discussion will include Syria, where Russian troops

have been supporting the regime of embattled President Bashar Assad, and the ongoing Israeli conflict with

the Palestinians.

Israel has also lobbied for Moscow to nix the sale of advanced S-300 air defense systems to Iran, and that

issue may be on the agenda as well.

Israeli officials said in March that Netanyahu would spend April 21 in the Russian capital, with the situation in

Syria at the top of the agenda. Friday is the start of the Jewish holiday of Passover, when Netanyahu will likely

aim to be back in the country.

Putin extended the invitation to Netanyahu during a visit to Russia by President Reuven Rivlin last month,

which came days after the Kremlin announced it was pulling its military forces out of Syria.

During the visit, Rivlin asked Putin to help reestablish the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force

presence on the Golan Heights between Israel and Syria.

Israel is interested in making sure that Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed groups are not able to use a power

vacuum on the Golan Heights to set up a base near the border for attacks against Israel.

According to Channel 2 news, the Israeli president conveyed the message from Netanyahu that the presence

of such Israeli enemies along the chaotic Syrian border was a red line for the Jewish state.

Putin told Rivlin that Russia and Israel “have a large number of questions to discuss linked with the

development of bilateral trade and economic relations and questions of the region’s security,” according to

Russian reports.

“I hope that we’ll be able to discuss them in the short run with the Israeli prime minister, with whom we have

made arrangements for a meeting,” he added.

Netanyahu previously went on the record saying that Syrian peace talks, brokered between Moscow and

Washington, needed to take Israel’s position into account.

On March 14, Putin made a surprise announcement that Russia would withdraw its military force from Syria,

where it had been carrying out bombing runs against jihadists and rebel groups in support of Assad’s army.

Netanyahu last visited Putin in September 2015, shortly after Russia began its military buildup in Syria, to

discuss coordination between the countries’ militaries over Syria’s crowded skies.

Russia’s Vulnerable Side Is at Fore in Putin’s Call-In Show

By Neil MacFarquhar

New York Times, April 14, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/15/world/europe/vladimir-putin-russia.html

A somewhat humbled, or at least not swaggering, President Vladimir V. Putin held his annual, live call-in show

on Thursday, with his answers to the heavily choreographed calls intended to underscore his concern for the

plight of ordinary Russians amid a second, punishing year of recession.

Largely gone were the diatribes against opponents like the United States and Turkey. In their place were

praise for domestic cheese and fish producers and government efforts to keep prices down for everything.

Perhaps the entire 3 hour and 40 minute marathon, the 14th yearly session of the event called “Direct Line,”

could best be summed up in the answer to a first grader named Alina. She asked the president whether he

thought a Russian woman could become president. Her dad had told her that only a man like Mr. Putin could

handle America, she said.

“We should not be thinking about how to cope with America, we should think about how to cope with our

internal problems, our internal issues,” Mr. Putin answered. “Roads, problems with the public health service,

the education system, the development of our economy, economic recovery, problems of setting the pace of

growth.”

If Russia addressed those problems, Mr. Putin, said, it would not have to cope with anyone because the

country would feel “invulnerable.”

But Russians were clearly feeling vulnerable, as questions poured in about high prices, unpaid wages, rising

utility bills, difficulties caused by the low price of oil and the closing of schools, hospitals and kindergartens. In

all, around three million questions were posed, television executives said, of which Mr. Putin answered about

60.

The first questions came from two studio anchors who directed them from various social media platforms, one

about the steep rise in prices and the second about when the economy would hit bottom.

“The government’s economic officials keep telling us that we have hit the bottom in the crisis and are now on

the way up again,” noted the caller. “They’ve already said this seven times. Where is the Russian economy

now as you see it?”

Mr. Putin, who had previously predicted that economic growth would rebound by now, was more cautious this

time, calling it a “gray period.” The president admitted that the economy had shrunk by 3.7 percent last year,

but said he expected it would only contract by 0.3 percent in 2016 and register modest growth after that.

He also said there was enough money in the two main sovereign wealth funds and other reserves to tide

Russia over for the next four years.

That is a far rosier picture than outside analysts have predicted. The World Bank, for example, estimated this

month that the economy would contract by 1.9 percent this year and said that about 20 million Russians were

now living below the poverty line. Other analysts have put the contraction figure lower, about 0.9 percent.

There have also been widespread predictions that the main sovereign wealth fund, the Reserve Fund, could

run dry by next year at current spending levels.

Mr. Putin spent some time defending the higher prices caused by a ban imposed on some food imports from

Western nations in retaliation for their sanctions over Russian military actions in Ukraine. In the long run it

would make Russia more secure by producing more of its own food, he said, adding that, “all in all, I fully

understand, I’m fully aware that that’s a burden for people, for consumers.”

He also said that the government would maintain a high level of orders to military factories even as the Kremlin

has cut defense spending, a claim immediately questioned by experts.

A poll taken by the Levada Center in the weeks leading up to the call-in show indicated that economic matters

were very much on people’s minds, far outpacing their interest in foreign policy. Asked their main concern at

the moment, 49 percent said income level and the economy; 28 percent said social benefits and medical costs;

21 percent said price hikes and the rest all had to do with the economy or related issues like corruption,

housing and bad roads.

“People want to know how long will this situation last, when some improvement can be expected,” Aleksey

Grazhdankin, the deputy head of the center, wrote in an analysis that accompanied the numbers. The poll of

1,600 people was conducted at the end of March in 48 regions, the release said.

There were a few unscripted moments. As questions sent by text message flashed by on the screen, one

referred to allegations that associates of Mr. Putin had siphoned off some $2 billion into an offshore account

set up through a law office in Panama. “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are,” the

question said, quoting a Russian proverb.

As he did when the news first broke, Mr. Putin denied there was any substance to the allegations and

suggested that others were trying to embarrass Russia, naming Goldman Sachs as the owner of Süddeutsche

Zeitung, the German newspaper that was the recipient of the leak known as the Panama Papers.

There were complaints from members of the studio audience on perennial issues, like business inspections

carried out by government agents that impeded entrepreneurial work. Mr. Putin said that the number of such

inspections had been reduced by one-third.

Even as he was speaking, however, two economic behemoths were being put under the microscope.

Inspectors were combing through the offices of Mikhail D. Prokhorov, the billionaire owner of the Brooklyn

Nets, whose RBK newspaper has published a string of articles critical of figures close to Mr. Putin.

Investigators seized documents related to tax matters and fraud, the Interfax news agency cited a law

enforcement source as saying.

Inspectors also raided the corporate offices of Ikea, the Swedish retail giant, according to an announcement by

the company’s lawyer. Officials have long cast an envious eye on the booming trade that the chain maintains in

Russia, and there is now a fight over the land on which one of its biggest stores in Moscow sits.

Some problems seemed to be addressed instantly. After the very first caller, from the city of Omsk, complained

about the poor state of the roads there, the city posted on Twitter pictures of new asphalt being laid down

before Mr. Putin was off the air. A complaint about unpaid wages in a far eastern factory prompted an

immediate investigation.

Amid all the economic issues, there were some questions on foreign policy. Mr. Putin said that the Russian

military had stabilized the situation in Syria and left enough forces behind to allow the government to carry on

offensive action if needed.

He praised President Obama for admitting that Libya was his biggest mistake, while noting that Russia was

preventing the United States from making a similar mistake in Syria.

When asked who he would save first if he saw both President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine and President

Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey drowning, he gave a subtle smile and said, “If someone has already decided

to drown, it’s impossible to save them.”

He demurred when asked to endorse an American presidential candidate, but in response to a question about

the lack of choice in Russian politics, he pointed to the United States to defend his record. Bushes or Clintons

had been running America for many years, he said, with another Clinton now running.

“So much for being removable,” he said. “I’m not saying it’s that bad, there are benefits and there are

drawbacks.”

On a personal note, Mr. Putin was asked when the next Mrs. Putin might be introduced to the public, now that

his ex-wife had remarried. He said he and his former wife, Ludmila, were getting along better than ever, but

tried to brush off the question with a joke about, well, the economy.

“I’m happy with my life,” he said, while suggesting that saying more might have unpredictable consequences. “I

don’t know how that will affect the exchange rate or oil price.”

U.S. Warns Of 'Accelerating' Rights Abuses Worldwide

RFE/RL, April 13, 2016

http://www.rferl.org/content/us-report-accelerating-rights-abuses-worldwide/27673237.html

The U.S. State Department says in a new report that the world faces a "global governance crisis" as both

governments and nonstate actors increasingly infringe on human rights.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in the State Department's human rights report, released on April 13,

that Washington saw "an accelerating trend by both state and nonstate actors to close the space for civil

society, to stifle media and Internet freedom, to marginalize opposition voices, and in the most extreme cases,

to kill people or drive them from their homes."

Kerry also denounced governments for cracking down on freedom of expression by "jailing reporters for writing

critical stories" or targeting nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) "for promoting supposedly 'foreign

ideologies' such as universal human rights."

Kerry said nonstate actors like Islamic State militants and Boko Haram in 2015 committed "crimes against

humanity," including genocide.

He said such groups "flourish in the absence of credible and effective state institutions."

In its annual human rights report, the U.S. State Department says that "authoritarian governments" are reacting

against an increasingly strong "civil society" throughout the world "because they fear public scrutiny, and feel

threatened by people coming together in ways they cannot control."

"In 2015, this global crackdown by authoritarian states on civil society deepened, silencing independent voices,

impoverishing political discourse, and closing avenues for peaceful change," the report says.

The report accuses governments across the former Soviet Union of both overt repression of political freedoms

and bureaucratic measures aimed at stifling opposing voices.

Russia's Repression

It criticizes the Kremlin for "a range of measures to suppress dissent," including "new repressive laws" and

selective prosecution "to harass, discredit, prosecute, imprison, detain, fine, and suppress individuals and

organizations engaged in activities critical of the government."

The report also accuses Russia of "especially" targeting individuals and organizations that have opposed the

Kremlin's forceful and illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and Moscow's support for separatists who

are fighting Kyiv's forces in eastern Ukraine.

Russian authorities controlling Crimea, the report adds, have subjected Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars on the

peninsula to "systematic harassment and discrimination."

Moscow has repeatedly rejected such accusations by Western governments in the past and typically responds

angrily to criticism it faces in the U.S. State Department's human rights report.

The latest report, meanwhile, denounces what it calls repressive actions taken by authoritarian governments

across Central Asia.

It says Tajikistan's government "took steps to eliminate political opposition in 2015," including the Islamic

Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), which was recently banned and whose leaders have faced prosecution

in secret trials.

The State Department report says Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan in 2015 all enacted new legislation

against nongovernmental groups "that could restrict operating space for civil society organizations."

The report also accuses law enforcement authorities in Kyrgyzstan of using arbitrary arrests, torture, attacks,

threats, and extortion.

It says Kyrgyzstan routinely violated "procedural protections" in the judicial process during 2015. And it says

sexual and ethnic minorities faced "police-driven extortion."

The report says "members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community

reported police regularly monitored LGBTI chat rooms and dating sites and arranged meetings with LGBTI

users of the sites to extort money from them when they met."

Other human rights abuses in Kyrgyzstan during 2015 noted in the report included poor prison conditions, as

well as the harassment of activists, journalists, and employees of domestic and international nongovernmental

organizations.

It also says Turkmenistan "already had and enforced a restrictive NGO law."

Azerbaijan's Crackdown

The report from Washington also says that nongovernmental organizations in Azerbaijan face a "severely

constrained" space.

"Multiple sources reported a continuing crackdown on civil society" in Azerbaijan, the report says, "including

intimidation, arrest, and conviction on charges widely considered politically motivated."

The government of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has faced scathing criticism from international rights

groups and Western officials over its crackdown on political opponents and independent journalists in recent

years.

Azerbaijani authorities in March released 16 jailed opposition politicians, journalists, and rights activists listed

by human rights groups as "political prisoners."

Twelve more rights campaigners and journalists on that list remain in prison.

They include opposition leader and rights activist Ilgar Mammadov, and investigative journalist and RFE/RL

contributor Khadija Ismayilova.

The report says citizens of Belarus continued to face human rights violations in 2015, including an inability to

"change their government through elections," restrictions targeting former "political prisoners," and a failure to

account for long-standing cases of politically motivated disappearances."

Macedonian Scandal

The report also accuses Macedonia's government of failing to fully respect "the rule of law" -- citing "high-level"

corruption, "cronyism," and selective prosecution.

The release of the State Department's report comes a day after President Gjorge Ivanov announced a decision

to halt criminal proceedings against politicians and government officials suspected of involvement in

wiretapping thousands of people.

Ivanov's April 12 announcement has triggered violent street protests in Macedonia and both domestic and

international criticism.

The report says Macedonian authorities in 2015 continued "efforts to restrict media freedom, interfere in the

judiciary, and selectively prosecute offenders."

"Political interference, inefficiency, cronyism and nepotism, prolonged processes, violations of the right to

public trial, and corruption characterized the judicial system," the report said.

Hours before the release of the report on April 13, State Department spokesman John Kirby said Washington

was "deeply concerned" by Ivanov's announcement "to pardon persons subject to investigation in connection

with the wiretapping scandal."

"If implemented, this decision will protect corrupt officials and deny justice to the people of Macedonia," Kirby

said.

In Iran, the report says authorities subjected independent rights groups and other nongovernmental

organizations to "continued harassment because of their activism."

It says such groups also were threatened with closure by Iranian government officials following prolonged and

often arbitrary delays in obtaining official registration."

Freedom House: Economic Troubles Threaten Stability In Ex-Soviet 'Dictatorships'

By Antoine Blua

RFE/RL, April 12, 2016

http://www.rferl.org/content/freedom-house-economic-troubles-threaten-post-soviet-

stability/27668684.html

In a new report, Freedom House warns that economic woes are threatening the stability of "entrenched

dictatorships" in the former Soviet Union, the migration crisis is fueling populism in Eastern Europe, and

reforms in the Balkans are in retreat.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's "naked embrace of autocracy" deepened in 2015, the U.S.-based human

rights group says.

Freedom House made the assessments in its annual Nations In Transit report, which monitors the democratic

development of 29 countries in the former Soviet Union, the Balkans, and Central Europe. It was published on

April 12.

The report assigns each country a score to measure democratic progress. Weighted for population, the

average Democracy Score in the 29 countries covered has declined for 12 years in a row.

On The Brink

The situation is particularly grim in the former Soviet Union, where seven countries are led by "dictators" who

have been in power for at least 10 years -- Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan,

and Turkmenistan.

Freedom House says the collapse in global commodity prices, especially oil, combined with U.S. and

European sanctions on Russia and Russian countersanctions, has driven economies of the region "to the

brink."

Economic troubles have pushed Russia into recession and triggered similar currency crises and budget

shortfalls in other oil- and gas-producing countries including Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan.

The crisis has also rippled through non-energy-based economies that are dependent on Russia through

subsidies and migrant labor, with Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan "also facing possible

recession in 2016," the report says.

Nate Schenkkan, project director of Nations In Transit, told RFE/RL that these states now have to face the

consequences after years of failing to diversify their economies or create transparent and accountable systems

of government.

"It's certainly likely that there's going to be considerably more social protest in this year," he said. "There was

probably more in 2015 already."

"Anecdotally, we know that there are large numbers of labor migrants returning, especially to Tajikistan,"

Schenkkan added. "This then creates a large class of unemployed young men…and that of course is a very

potent potential protest group."

Harsher Crackdown

Schenkkan said that leaders in the region had responded with measures intended to "reaffirm their control."

In Russia, the report says, Putin's "naked embrace of autocracy since his return to the presidency in 2012

deepened in 2015 with an ever-harsher crackdown on civil society and political organizing."

It says Russian "innovations in authoritarianism," such as restrictions on nongovernmental organizations,

spread further within the region.

"One of the foremost among those [new tactics] is the 'foreign agents' law, the branding of NGOs as foreign

agents which in Russia has been frankly very effective in driving NGOs underground or forcing them to leave

the country or to cease their activities," Schenkkan said. "And you've seen this imitated in a number of

countries in Eurasia.

"You have in Tajikistan quite similar legislation that's been applied somewhat arbitrarily and unevenly -- but has

been applied," he said. "In Kazakhstan, you have a different kind of NGO restriction…that's also having very,

very pernicious effects now that it's being applied in 2016. And in Kyrgyzstan, a 'foreign agents' law has been

debated in parliament now for over a year."

The report says Tajikistan's government pursued "one of the harshest crackdowns the region has seen in

years," banning the main opposition party and imprisoning its leaders.

The country "began prosecuting lots and lots of civil society activists as well as people like the lawyers of those

members who were arrested as well as the lawyers of the lawyers," Schenkkan said.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev held early elections to reaffirm his mandate while signing a new law to

"increase control over civil society," he said.

Schenkkan also said that governments were increasingly prosecuting people for speech on online platforms,

and that the "charge of inciting ethnic or social hatred is now being applied more widely."

In Kyrgyzstan, he said, the government had been "using the tools of the state, especially the security services,

to blacken the names of the opposition and to put its opponents on the back foot and try to prevent them from

organizing rallies or organizing expressions of discontent."

The Nations In Transit report says Azerbaijan "continued a crackdown that began in the summer of 2014,"

citing last year's sentencing of investigative journalist and RFE/RL contributor Khadija Ismayilova to 7 1/2

years in prison.

In Belarus, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka freed political prisoners and allowed "mild criticism" ahead of a

presidential election in October, in an effort to "court the EU and replace the patronage that Russia can no

longer provide," the report says.

Ukraine "remains the single most important opportunity for establishing democracy" in the region, it adds.

The government achieved "some progress" in reforms in 2015, but continuing Russian occupation of Crimea,

the separatist conflict in the country's east, widespread corruption, and impunity for crimes during the political

upheaval of 2014 are holding back further progress."

"Ukraine is really at a pivot point where they have to go forward," Schenkkan warned. "And if they don't, there's

a real significant threat that Ukraine falls back and continues a tradition of very, very corrupt governance."

Balkan Retreat

In the Balkans, Serbia and Montenegro have begun the EU accession process, Albania and Macedonia are

official candidates, while Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo are potential candidates.

But Freedom House says reform "has slowed and now retreated," with the region's average Democracy Score

back to where it was in 2004, as the EU struggled to find a balance between ensuring short-term stability in the

Balkans and pressing for convergence with European norms.

There has been modest movement "backward," Schenkkan said. In part, he said, that is because some

leaders who have dominated their countries' political systems have been "eroding checks and balances and

eroding independent institutions that might push back against them."

"That's certainly the case that we see in Serbia, it's very much what we saw in Macedonia, and to another

degree in Montenegro," Schenkkan added.

The report says that state-building in Kosovo and Bosnia has reached an "impasse," with governmental

structures built to keep the peace preventing progress, and political and economic stagnation fueling popular

frustration.

It also describes "gradual success in functionalizing local governance and protecting media" in Kosovo.

These developments risk being compounded by European border closings to prevent migrants from reaching

the EU, the report notes.

With crippling youth-unemployment rates, turning the Balkans "into an island inside Europe would be

catastrophic for the region's development," Schenkkan warned.

Rising Populism

Meanwhile, Freedom House warns that the EU's "disjointed response" to the migration crisis has left the door

open to xenophobia and nationalism in Central Europe.

It says several leading politicians in the region joined Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in using

xenophobic rhetoric to denounce migrants, positioning themselves as protectors of their countries' Christian

identity against a Muslim "invasion."

Schenkkan said that renewed nationalism, as well as the erosion of freedom of movement and other

fundamental principles, were threatening the consolidation of democracy in Eastern Europe and the entire

European project.

"The European Union is a project that requires countries to give up some sovereignty in exchange for other

benefits. So this very aggressive, nationalist approach to politics and to policy challenges the values of the EU

but it also challenges the policies of the EU," he said.

"And as we are seeing, the EU is having a very hard time now transforming and finding new policies in part

because of this kind of rejectionist approach by leaders who are not necessarily interested in finding a solution

within the EU."

Weeks after ‘pullout’ from Syria, Russian military is as busy as ever

By Michael Birnbaum

Washington Post, April 12, 2016

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/weeks-after-pullout-from-syria-russian-military-is-as-

busy-as-ever/2016/04/11/d150a004-fd77-11e5-a569-2c9e819c14e4_story.html

Russia portrayed last month’s drawdown from Syria as a victory and a homecoming after a six-month

deployment in which its air force turned the tide of the long-running conflict. So it was a surprise when Russian

state outlets reported in recent days that powerful new Russian helicopters were seeing Syrian combat for the

first time.

Even after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s sudden March 14 announcement that cut short Russia’s Syrian

deployment, officials said they would maintain a muscular presence on twin air and naval bases in coastal

Syria. But the current level of activity would suggest that the pullout has been minor at best, despite last

month’s fanfare — returning aviators were greeted with bouquets and brass bands, while military officials

declared victory — and Russian officials’ insistence that they have withdrawn from Syria.

The discrepancy leaves the Kremlin running a large-scale operation in war-torn Syria even as Russia’s

powerful state media insists otherwise. The Russian activities on the ground are a sign that the Kremlin has

little intention of dialing back support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Russia also does not appear ready

to cede space in Syria to other nations involved there, including the United States.

The Kremlin has portrayed its Syrian operations as successful in helping Russia elbow its way back to the

international negotiating table after the isolation that followed its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. It

appears committed to holding on to its spot.

On March 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would begin pulling its military from

Syria, potentially winding down nearly six months of airstrikes. The alliance between Russia and the regime of

Bashar al-Assad goes back decades. Here's a bit of historical context that explains why Russia was fighting to

prop up its closest ally in the Middle East. (Ishaan Tharoor and Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)

“Our active efforts in combating international terrorism have gone some way to improve our relations with the

leading powers,” Putin said Thursday.

Now, Russian minesweepers are checking Palmyra’s ancient ruins for explosives. Russian military advisers

are whipping Syrian government forces into shape and planning attacks. Russian special forces are on the

front lines, calling in targeting information for airstrikes. Russian warships continue to steam through the

Bosporus and deliver supplies to Assad.

The activity comes in a nation with a bitter history of far-flung military operations: The Soviet Union’s

Afghanistan intervention helped hasten the Soviet system’s demise. But Putin, by announcing the pullout, has

lowered the stakes for Russia’s Syrian deployment while easing some of the pressure that had built over more

than five months of a grueling operational tempo, diplomats and analysts say.

Even if the activities remain the same, the goals appear to have changed. Putin said in September that Russia

was going to defeat the Islamic State. This week, he said that Russia had fulfilled its goals in Syria — which he

said were to keep Assad in power and strike a blow against Assad’s opponents.

Russia’s combat sorties have dropped since the peak of the Russian airstrike effort in February. At one point,

Russia was flying nearly 100 sorties a day. It was flying 20 to 25 late last month in its campaign to take

Palmyra back from the Islamic State, according to a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman.

“Now there is the beginning of a peaceful process, but unfortunately the peaceful process will stop if Russia

stops military activities,” said Vladimir Yevseyev, a Middle East military expert at the Moscow-based Center for

Social and Political Studies who has tracked Russian military activity in Syria.

But if warplanes have stilled their engines, helicopters are ­taking a newly prominent role in the fighting. Last

month, the ­Kremlin-owned Sputnik news website said that brand-new ­Mi-28N attack helicopters fired antitank

missiles against Islamic State armored vehicles near Palmyra.

On Tuesday, one of the advanced Russian helicopter gunships crashed in Syria, killing two Russian crew

members aboard, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The Mi-28N helicopter was not shot down, the ministry’s press service said, and the bodies of the two crew

members were recovered in a rescue operation. The reason for the crash was not immediately given, although

Russian state media reports suggested adverse weather conditions may have played a role.

And last week, Russian Kamov Ka-52 “Alligator” helicopters took part in the Syrian government effort to retake

al-Qaryatayn, a central Syrian city in between Damascus and Palmyra, Sputnik reported. Syrian state news

published a video of the combat. The Ka-52 helicopters are an advanced, highly maneuverable aircraft.

The helicopters “are tested there now, yes, and they show very good results,” said Ivan Konovalov, a military

analyst who is the director of the Moscow-based Center for Strategic Conjunctures. “The targets that are set

for them are destroyed.”

Western diplomats, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal assessments, said they believe

about one-third of the Russian fixed-wing aircraft were pulled from Syria in the days after the withdrawal

announcement; they are unsure when the helicopters were sent in.

The current Russian military activity is broadly considered in keeping with a late-February cease-fire because it

is supporting the fight against the Islamic State, which was not included in the truce. Russian forces have held

to the cease-fire, even as forces loyal to Assad have not, officials say.

Russian officials have also offered fresh clarity about the extent to which Syrian government advances since

last fall were the product of their assistance. Russian military advisers embedded with the Syrian army on the

ground after the beginning of Russian operations in September, said Col. Gen. Alexander Dvornikov, the

commander of Russian forces in Syria, in an interview late last month with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the official

newspaper of the Russian government.

“Our advisers were most actively involved in planning combat operations, and that surely helped to improve the

situation,” Dvornikov said. The advisers also helped during combat and trained Syrian forces on how to use

Russian equipment, Dvornikov said.

Dvornikov also made the first official acknowledgment that Russian special forces were operating on the

ground in Syria, after months in which Russia insisted that it was operating only in Syrian skies. The special

forces do reconnaissance of possible targets, call in airstrikes and perform “other special tasks,” he said.

Six Russian servicemen are officially acknowledged to have died during combat in Syria, and the Russian

media has reported on an additional two dead men who may have been working for private military

contractors. The Russian Defense Ministry recently posted a tender commissioning 10,000 medals for

participation in the Syrian operations.

At least two battalions of Russian troops, or 800 people, are expected to remain in Syria long-term, said Viktor

Ozerov, the chairman of the Defense and Security Committee of Russia’s upper house of parliament,

immediately after the pullout announcement.

Russia has long had a small military presence at its Tartus naval base on the Syrian coast. It now also

operates the Khmeimim air base, in Latakia province, where it plans to leave in place its S-400 antiaircraft

weapon system, which gives Russia effective control over Syrian airspace. And it can redeploy its warplanes in

a matter of hours.

That Putin announced the pullback at all may be a sign that he was cautious about overcommitting to Syria,

said Ruslan Pukhov, a military analyst who leads the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and

Technologies.

“Putin understands his voters, the Russian people, much better than any leader before him till Stalin,” Pukhov

said. “We have a painful experience of Afghanistan. The first signs that people were worried, they already

appeared.”

Corruption Is The New Communism

By Brian Whitmore

RFE/RL, April 12, 2016

http://www.rferl.org/content/corruption-is-the-new-communism/27669638.html

Soviet tanks roll into Budapest and Prague.

Russian banks set up secretive offshore accounts and shady shell companies that stealthily buy influence and

gobble up strategic assets across Europe.

Quislings in the East and fellow travelers in the West toe the Leninist line.

Business and industrial lobbies in both East and West parrot Putinist talking points.

A network of Communist parties and front groups advance Moscow's interests.

A web of opaque front corporations, murky energy deals, and complex money-laundering schemes ensnare

foreign elites and form a ready-made Kremlin lobby.

Past, meet present.

In many ways, Russian corruption is the new Soviet Communism. The Kremlin's black cash is the new Red

Menace.

In the East, an alliance of satellite states with Soviet-style socialist command economies and authoritarian

political systems has been replaced with a loose grouping of kleptocracies with Russian-style crony-capitalist

economies and dysfunctional governance.

And the Soviet Union's attempts to subvert the West with the power of an idea has given way to Vladimir

Putin's Russia seeking to corrupt it with the lure of easy money.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

"The Kremlin does not need to be the outright leader of a bloc of nations a la Warsaw Pact; instead, it can

exacerbate existing divides, subvert international institutions and help create a world where its own form of

corrupt authoritarianism flourishes," Peter Pomerantsev and Michael Weiss wrote in their widely circulated

report, The Menace of Unreality: How the Kremlin Weaponizes Information, Culture, and Money.

Capturing Elites

The Soviet Union sought to spread Communism and establish a bloc of nations loyal to Moscow. Vladimir

Putin's Russia seeks to spread its corrupt business model to establish a bloc of nations dependent upon the

Kremlin.

The Soviet Union was primarily concerned with its immediate neighborhood, Eastern Europe, but also sought

to spread its socialist model outward.

Putin's Russia is also concentrating on its immediate neighborhood, the ex-USSR, but has also set its sights

on pushing kleptocracy farther afield.

It has used murky energy schemes with opaque ownership structures like RosUkrEnergo, EuralTransGas, and

Moldovagaz as carrots to capture and control elites in former Soviet states like Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova.

Farther West, the Kremlin has deployed shifty shell companies like Vemex, an energy trading company with a

mindbogglingly opaque ownership structure ultimately leading to Gazprom, which has captured between 10-12

percent of the Czech energy market.

The Kremlin has indeed mastered the art of the corrupt deal to create patron-client relations well beyond

Russia's borders.

"Gazprom, with the silent support of the Kremlin has set up 50 or so middleman companies, silently linked to

Gazprom and scattered throughout Europe," the late energy analyst Roman Kupchinsky, former director of

RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, said in testimony before the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee in June

2008.

Kupchinsky cited the Vienna-based Centrex group, owned by a Cyprus-based Holding company and RN

Privatstiftung in Austria, as well as the Gazprom Germania network.

Such fronts, he added, "do not add any value to the price of Russian gas being sold on European markets; yet

they earn enormous sums of money which appears to simply vanish through shell companies in Cyprus and in

Liechtenstein."

Kupchinsky also told the committee that "in Hungary, shady companies with suspected links to organized

crime and to Gazprom seek to control large segments of the domestic gas distribution and power generation

business."

'This Is The Story Of An Invasion'

There is also evidence that Putin has recruited some members of his old intelligence network in the East

German Stasi to set up front companies throughout Europe.

A September 2007 investigative report by German journalist Hans-Martin Tillack uncovered how Gazprom

Germania was "something of a club for former members of the East German security services."

"This is the story of an invasion. A massive campaign, planned well in advance. The General Staff is located

far away in the east, in Moscow, the capital of Russia. The target area is Germany -- and the rest of Western

Europe," Tillack wrote.

"But the story of this invasion is teeming with ex-Stasi officers and shady figures. It is a story of letterbox

companies that do not even have a letterbox, of companies nestled within companies. The overriding

impression? That they are concealing the flow of funds."

But it is an invasion in which many elites in the West are either willing -- or unwitting -- participants.

"Acquiescence to Russian corruption, with illicit funds regularly laundered throughout the West, works to the

Kremlin’s advantage both domestically and internationally," Pomerantsev and Weiss wrote.

"If the premise of the neoliberal idea of globalization is that money is politically neutral, that interdependence

will be an impulse towards rapprochement, and that international commerce sublimates violence into harmony,

the Russian view remains at best mercantilist, with money and trade used as weapons and interdependence a

mechanism for aggression."

Communism, despite its faults, attempted to appeal to universal human ideals and aspirations. But in practice,

it cut against human nature.

Corruption appeals to the most universal and basest human instinct -- greed. And sadly, it is often in sync with

human nature -- which makes the new Red Menace potentially more dangerous and insidious than the old one.

Corruption isn't just a matter of good governance anymore. It's now a national security issue and needs to be

treated as such.