The Moscow Times - August 25,, 2023

 

Dear reader, Welcome to The Moscow Times' weekly email digest, where we bring you the best of our reporting, opinion pieces and photo galleries every week. It's been a dramatic week of news from Russia. Here are the top stories: The head of the Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin was apparently killed in a plane crash north-west of Moscow. Rumors quickly swirled that President Vladimir Putin may have been somehow involved in the crash, which the Kremlin dismissed as "absolute lies." Putin himself called the incident a "tragedy" and sent his condolences to the victims' families in a televised address. Makeshift memorials to Prigozhin appeared outside Wagner's headquarters in St. Petersburg, as well as in other Russian cities. A Moscow court extended the pre-trial detention of the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe to receive our newsletter every Friday. Prigozhin Plane Crash: What Do We Know? Here’s everything we know about the crash, reactions from world leaders and analysis of what it could mean for Russia. Read more. Leaked Audio Reveals Governor's Predetermined Election Victory Moscow Governor Andrei Vorobyov is projected to receive some 70% of the votes in next month's gubernatorial elections, according to the leaked audio. Read more. Navalny Urges Russians to Vote Out Kremlin Candidates Navalny warned he expected high levels of fraud in the upcoming elections and that the Moscow mayoral elections had "no meaning" at all. Read more. Russian Region Partially Sealed Off After Anthrax Outbreak Authorities in the Voronezh region declared a local state of emergency, banning unauthorized persons from entering the Paninsky district until Nov. 16. Read more. A sunset view of the village of Khatanga. The village is at the centre of a major effort to clean up pollution from industrial waste in Russia's far north. Opinion Prigozhin Has Lost, but Putin is Struggling to Win By Ivan Fomin By focusing on Prigozhin, we overlook that the problems Putin faces are not limited to the Wagner leader and cannot be solved by assassination alone. Moscow Has Shown it Will Not Cross Its Own Red Lines in the War By Joshua R. Kroeker Moscow’s threats have been all bark and no bite. The West should recognize they are hollow and continue to deliver weapons to Ukraine.  Why Kadyrov's Personal Militia Will Not Fill Russia's Wanger-Shaped Void By Harold Chambers The Kadyrovtsy have not stepped into Wagner’s place on the front lines, and cannot sustain large losses. But they still threaten Ukrainian civilians. Podcast: Eurasian Climate Brief 🎧 Angelina Davydova and Boris Schneider spoke to Vitaly Servetnik, a campaigner at Russia's Friends of the Earth and the Russian Socio-Ecological Union, about the challenges facing environmental NGOs in Russia, as wildfires continue to engulf eastern Siberia.  Before we go... The Moscow Times is on Telegram! Get access to longer articles, in-depth analysis, and exclusive content that goes beyond our Twitter and Facebook accounts. Subscribe here.