Russian Billionaire Arrested over Bank Fraud

Russian billionaire environmentalist Gleb Fetisov, who owned a bank that lost its license last month, has been detained in Moscow on suspicion of grand fraud. Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said Friday that his agency requested the arrest of former senator Fetisov, who was listed as Russia’s 55th wealthiest businessmen in a Forbes rich list last year. Markin said Fetisov was suspected of siphoning out more than 6 billion rubles ($1.7 billion) from Moi Bank’s coffers and failing to pay off insurance compensation to clients following the bank’s closure. A criminal investigation has been launched against Fetisov and his suspected accomplices in connection with the alleged large-scale embezzlement, the spokesman said. Markin added that investigators were looking into Fetisov’s possible involvement in similar criminal activities.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140228/187966327/Russian-Green-Tycoon-Detained-Suspected-of-Bank-Fraud.html

Yanukovych Condemns Interim Ukraine Govt as Violent Usurpers

Viktor Yanukovych said Friday in his first public address since being ousted as president of Ukraine that he will continue to fight for the future of his country and condemned the interim government in Kiev as violent usurpers. Looking nervous while addressing reporters in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, Yanukovych rejected suggestions that he had been overthrown and insisted that he had been forced to leave the country because of threats made to him and his family. “Power in Ukraine was seized by nationalists, neo-Fascist youths that represent an absolute minority of the people,” he said. Yanukovych was making his first appearance in public since fleeing the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, over the weekend. On Saturday, the erstwhile opposition took control over parliament and together with disaffected deputies from the ex-ruling Party of Regions voted to impeach Yanukovych.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140228/187970645/Yanukovych-Condemns-Interim-Ukraine-Govt-as-Violent-Usurpers.html

Ukraine Asks Russia to Extradite Yanukovych

Ukraine’s chief prosecutor asked Russia to extradite deposed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on Friday, as the fugitive leader prepared in Russia to give his first press conference since his disappearance in Ukraine earlier this week. The statement, posted on the Prosecutor’s Office website, said Ukraine “intends to raise the issue of extradition of Viktor Yanukovych, an internationally wanted citizen of Ukraine, in the event of official confirmation of his stay” in Russia.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140228/187968651/Ukraine-Asks-Russia-to-Extradite-Yanukovych.html

Court Puts Navalny Under House Arrest, Bans Him From Internet

A court in Moscow on Friday ruled to place outspoken government opponent Alexei Navalny under house arrest and forbid him from using the Internet. The Basmanny city court made its ruling in connection with an ongoing embezzlement case involving the Russian representative office of French cosmetics giant Yves Rocher. Barring Navalny from using the Internet will ostensibly stop him from accessing his widely followed Twitter account and blog page, both of which he has used to rally supporters and publish accounts of alleged malfeasance by government officials. The house arrest is effective up to April 28. Judge Artur Karpov made his ruling in response to an investigator complaint about Navalny allegedly violating bail terms issued as part of an ongoing corruption probe into the politician’s dealings with Yves Rocher.

http://en.ria.ru/crime/20140228/187966609/Court-Puts-Navalny-Under-House-Arrest-Bans-Him-From-Internet.html

Ukraine Accuses Russian Soldiers in Crimea of 'Invasion'

The interior minister of Ukraine accused Russian troops Friday of blockading an airport in the Crimean city of Sevastopol in what he has described as an armed invasion. While stressing that no direct violent confrontations had taken place, Arsen Avakov said the matter should be dealt with on a diplomatic level before armed clashes broke out. Avakov said on his Facebook account that troops from the Black Sea Fleet, which is stationed in the city, could be seen outside Belbek airport, although the inside of the terminal was controlled by Ukrainian troops. “The airport is not operating. At the external perimeter there are Ukrainian Interior Ministry checkpoints. There have been not been armed clashes,” Avakov said. The alleged presence of Black Sea Fleet troops at the airport, if confirmed, would be in direct defiance of a demand by Ukrainian interim authorities Thursday for Russian troops to refrain from leaving their quarters. That appeal apparently echoed international concern that Moscow may choose to throw its weight behind pro-Russian groups in Crimea seeking to defy interim authorities in Kiev. “Any movement, particularly with weapons, outside official residences regulated by our agreement will be interpreted by us as military aggression,” interim President Oleksandr Turchynov said. Already frayed nerves on the Crimena Peninsula were tested Thursday when a group of apparently pro-Russian gunmen occupied the parliament in the Crimean regional capital of Simferopol, only one day after fistfights erupted outside the building between supporters and opponents of the country’s incoming leadership.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140228/187963690/Ukraine-Accuses-Russian-Soldiers-in-Crimea-of-Invasion-Update1.html

Russia to Lift Ban on US Pork

Russia is planning to lift a ban on the importation of US-produced pork beginning March 10, a federal sanitation regulator said Thursday. The import of US pork, beef and turkey was halted last February over concerns about the safety of human consumption of the growth-stimulant ractopamine, a common additive in animal feed in the United States. The US government and the food industry lobby insist that ractopamine has been shown to be safe for human consumption, but meat from animals fed the chemical is prohibited for sale in Russia and more than 150 countries, including all EU member states. The ban on turkey was lifted earlier this week, and so far poultry from three US companies has been certified as ractopamine-free, according to Russian sanitation authority Rosselkhoznadzor. The number of US pork producers that would meet that requirement has yet to be determined, the agency said. US meat producers exported $589 million of beef and pork to Russia in 2012, a spokesman for the US Meat Export Federation told RIA Novosti last year.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140228/187937985/Russia-to-Lift-Ban-on-US-Pork.html

Dagestan Lawmaker Accused of Laundering $2.7 Bln

A lawmaker in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Dagestan has been accused of laundering 100 billion rubles ($2.7 billion) in a banking scheme involving fly-by-night firms, police said Thursday. The municipal assembly deputy, who has not been named, is believed to be part of a criminal group of bankers that was exposed in a major operation in March. The cash laundered in the scheme was disguised as printed materials and flown to Moscow from the capital of Dagestan, Makhachkala, and later distributed among clients, which included major finance and credit organizations. Four people were arrested when they received over 500 million rubles ($14 million), police said. Authorities believe the deputy under investigation headed a group that recruited legal entities to use their accounts for illicit banking operations.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140227/187934175/Dagestan-Lawmaker-Accused-of-Major-Cash-Laundering-Scheme.html

Armed Standoff in Crimea, Ukraine

With the Russian flag planted atop the regional Parliament, Crimea raised the specter of secession from Ukraine on Thursday, threatening renewed civil conflict and a showdown between Ukraine’s fledgling government and the Kremlin. Across the region’s capital, Simferopol, a well-orchestrated power grab by pro-Russian forces played out: Armed militants took control of government buildings; crowds filled the streets chanting “Russia, Russia,” and legislators called for a vote to redefine relations with Ukraine. The region is currently autonomous, meaning it has greater local control over its affairs. Police officers, nominally under the control of the Ministry of Interior in Kiev, made little or no effort to control the crowds and, in some cases, even applauded their pro-Russia zeal. The police stood aside as the armed militants who seized government buildings overnight on Thursday built a barricade outside the regional legislature. The authorities ordered an emergency holiday, leaving streets mostly empty except for the protesters chanting for Russia, and many shops closed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/world/europe/ukraine-tensions.html?hpw&rref=world

Russian Ex-Official Pays Steward, Airline Over Drunken Brawl

A former Russian deputy governor who forced a plane to make an emergency landing after drunkenly attacking a flight attendant has had charges against him dropped Thursday after paying compensation to the offended parties. Former Chelyabinsk deputy governor Andrei Tretyakov hit the headlines in December after being arrested for assaulting a steward who refused to let him to use a business class toilet. Tretyakov was traveling economy on a Krasnoyarsk-Moscow flight, which was forced to land midway in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk as a result of the incident. Flight attendant Anton Chernyshov, who police said was hospitalized with bruising and a head injury after the sustained attack, says the former deputy governor paid him 1.25 million rubles ($34,700) in damages. Chernyshov said he asked a court in the Siberian city of Ob to drop the case after receiving compensation. Tretyakov told the court Thursday that he had also paid the airline, Globus, “about 300,000 rubles” ($8,300) for the aborted flight. He had been facing up to two years in prison for causing bodily harm to the flight attendant.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140228/187938383/Ex-Official-Pays-Steward-Airline-Over-Drunken-Brawl.html