ConflictBarometer_2016

EUROPE
ing the ''gay propaganda” law. On May 1, police arrested
around 20 LGBT-activists during the annual Labor Day Parade
in St. Petersburg, after authorities had previously banned
them from participating.
As in previous years, the government prosecuted opposition
leader Alexei Navalny, his Anti-Corruption Foundation
(FBK), and affiliates. On April 6, the attorney general started
an investigation against FBK. On April 8, the Moscow City
Court halted the proceedings against Navalny and Pyotr Ofitserov
in the KirovLes timber company embezzlement case.
This followed a European Court of Human Rights judgment
from February, which found that the case violated the European
Convention of Human Rights. On April 19, four FBK
candidates withdrew from municipal elections in Barvikha,
Moscow Oblast, protesting against cases of fraud during previous
rounds of voting. On May 17, around 20 people, among
them several alleged policemen, attacked Navalny and several
FBK members at Anapa Airport, Krasnodar district, beating
and injuring them. On November 16, the Supreme Court
of the Russian Federation repealed a lower court's ruling to
give Navalny a five-year suspended sentence on corruption
charges and ordered a retrial.
The government repeatedly prosecuted the opposition news
agency Ekho Moskvy. On July 5, federal security agents
searched its Moscow offices. The investigation was linked to
correspondence between the editorial staff and Kremlin critic
Andrei Piontkovsky, who went into exile on February 19. Russian
lawmakers accused Piontkovsky of inciting ethnic hatred
after he had published a critical article about the North Caucasus
on January 23. On November 2, the municipal authorities
sealed Amnesty International's Moscow Office without prior
notice.
On September 18, in the State Duma elections, the ruling
party, United Russia (UR), achieved countrywide victories, obtaining
a constitutional majority of 343 seats. The liberal opposition
parties Yabloko, The Greens, PARNAS as well as the
right-wing and nationalist opposition parties Party of Growth
and Patriots of Russia did not manage to secure seats, while
Rodina and the Civic Platform secured one seat each. On July
7, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the Yarovaya bill,
amending existing counter-terror laws. The amendments enhanced
surveillance capabilities, expanded authorities of law
enforcement agencies, and increased the penalty for ''extremism”
from four to up to eight years of imprisonment.
The situation in the Chechen Republic, headed by President
Ramzan Kadyrov, deteriorated. Prior to the September 18
elections, the persecution of Kadyrov's critics increased. On
May 12, in the village of Kenkhi, Sharoni district, Chechnya,
a group of men set the house of government critic Ramazan
Dzhalaldinov on fire. In April, Dzhalaldinov had uploaded a
video on YouTube, urging Putin to take action against corrupt
officials in Chechnya. On May 30, on his Instagram account,
Kadyrov published a video of Dzhalaldinov apologizing for his
allegations. On November 4, Dzhalaldinov disappeared after
police temporarily detained him and his son the previous day.
On September 18, Kadyrov was reelected as head of the
Chechen Republic with 97 percent of votes. cbe
45
RUSSIA – ESTONIA
Intensity: 2 | Change: | Start: 1994
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
Russia vs. Estonia
territory, international power
The non-violent crisis between Russia and Estonia over territory
and international power continued. The contested territory
comprised the borders between Estonia and the Russian
oblasts Leningrad and Pskov. A border treaty that would acknowledge
the current border demarcation was still pending
Russian ratification.
Throughout the year, Russian officials repeatedly accused
Estonia and Latvia of discriminating against their Russianspeaking
minorities and announced to defend the rights of
Russians living abroad [→ Estonia (Russian-speaking minority)]
[→ Latvia (Russian-speaking minority)].
On several occasions, Estonia along with the other Baltic
states and Poland advocated a continuation of sanctions
against Russia and called on Russia to fulfill the Minsk Agreement
[→ USA, EU et al. – Russia].
Throughout the first half of the year, Estonian officials repeatedly
termed Russian behavior aggressive and called for increased
NATO presence in the region. On June 13, NATO announced
the deployment of several multinational battalions
to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
On November 18, Russian and Estonian officials met in
Moscow for political consultations. They discussed the announced
NATO deployment, possible areas of cooperation,
and the current state of the border treaty.
After several Russian congratulatory notes to newly elected
Estonian government officials, on December 6, the Russian
Ambassador to Estonia, Alexander Petrov, expressed Russia's
willingness for cooperation with the new Estonian government
and reaffirmed Russia's acceptance of Estonian membership
in NATO and EU.
Estonia accused Russia of violating its airspace on six occasions
throughout the year. However, the Russian Defense
Ministry denied those allegations. vpa
RUSSIA – GEORGIA
Intensity: 2 | Change: | Start: 1992
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
Russia vs. Georgia
international power
The non-violent crisis over international power between Russia
and Georgia continued. Georgia supported parts of the
EU-led sanctions against Russia, which Russia condemned.
On January 13 and April 18, Russia conducted military exercises
with up to 2,000 troops in the South Ossetian mountains,
minor military drills on March 16 in South Ossetia and
Abkhazia, and large-scale KAVKAZ exercises in September [→
Georgia (Abkhazia); Georgia (South Ossetia)].
From May 11 until May 26 and again from November 10 until
November 20, Georgia conducted military exercises with