Kommersant
Moscow police learn to apologize
About a thousand activists gathered on Pushkin Square in downtown Moscow on Sunday for an authorized opposition rally. Sergei Udaltsov, head of the Left Front movement was the first to address the crowd. He called Saturday’s unrest on Manezh Square “a disturbing sign” and suggested the opposition switch tactics and “stage rallies without asking for permits.” He then invited the protesters to proceed to city hall where an unauthorized Day of Wrath protest was to be held.
The rally was not over when about 100 fully equipped riot police officers appeared on the square and began baton charging the protesters. Sergei Udaltsov was clearly their target. They cuffed him and led him away.
During the chaos, prominent Izvestia photographer Anatoly Zhdanov, who spent almost 10 years working in the Kremlin pool, was injured.
“I was standing on a parapet, taking pictures of the riot police detaining Sergei Udaltsov,” he told Kommersant. “I felt something hit me hard in the back and then a strong push.”
The journalist fell to the ground, hitting his shoulder. “At that moment I saw the riot police officers’ boots coming down on me,” Zhdanov said. “I believe they pushed me on purpose since I was not in anyone’s way.”
Doctors yesterday diagnosed Zhdanov with a complex clavicle fracture. He now faces a serious surgical operation and a long period of rehabilitation. Early on Monday, Moscow police spokesperson Viktor Biryukov called the journalist, and advised him to keep the matter quiet.
“I decided not to lock horns with them,” Zhdanov told Kommersant. “Police officials visited me later, learnt some of the details of what happened and officially apologized.”
The reporter will be treated at the Interior Ministry hospital for free.
This is not the first time riot police have targeted journalists while breaking up protests. On May 31, Gazeta.ru correspondent Alexander Artemyev was detained at an unauthorized opposition rally on Moscow’s Triumfalnaya Square. Later he received multiple fractures to his arm while in detention at the police station. After a lengthy investigation, the police apologized and acknowledged that one of the officers on duty had caused the injury.
Vedomosti
Putin overwhelmed by defense program spending
Russia is about to adopt a new arms procurement program with a daunting budget of 20 trillion rubles ($650.56 billion.)
A meeting in Severodvinsk on Monday put the finishing touches on a state arms procurement program until 2020. A Defense Ministry source said the program is expected to be approved by the president by the end of the year.
Putin admitted to feeling overwhelmed by the budget. However, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov justified the figure by arguing that most of the existing weapons will have to be written off by 2020. Nearly one quarter, or 4.7 trillion, will be spent on the Navy, with one-third of the funding to be provided by 2015, Putin said.
Altogether, 1,300 new types of weapons and military equipment will be put into production before 2020, with 220 of them needing new production facilities.
The key priority of the state program will be strategic nuclear forces, said First Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin.
The Navy is being allocated too much funding, considering its limited objectives, believes Mikhail Barabanov, editor of Moscow Defense Brief.
A considerable part of these allocations will be spent by 2015 on Project 955 and 855 submarines, a new Black Sea Fleet, repairs and upgrading of the air group for the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, and purchases of all-purpose landing ships of the Mistral type, he said.
Moskovsky Komsomolets
Overpasses solution to Moscow traffic misery
You can’t force all motorists to use public transport so Moscow is going to have to come up with a more imaginative way of solving the city’s traffic problems. Engineers at Moscow’s Automobile and Road University have come up with a solution: overpassses.
The project’s authors started by designing special overpasses for cars and taxis. Their plan involves building a network of overpasses linking Moscow and the suburbs. Overpasses carrying three lanes of traffic would duplicate the existing roads connecting Moscow with satellite towns; they would be built using innovative technology and lightweight materials.
These overpasses will flow into a new central Moscow transport ring resembling an elevated transparent tube. Their only flaw is that they will only serve electric cars or hybrids.
“Once a car reaches the ring, it enters a special carriage which automatically carries it to the required exit,” Sergei Zege, PhD, from the university’s tunnel and bridge department explained. “There is also the option of leaving the car at a park-and-ride and traveling along the ring in an individual compartment.” The new system will offer maximum comfort to anyone who can afford it.
This “tube” network would replace monorail trains or light railways. Carriages would travel at speeds of 35 mph and passenger compartments at 25 mph. The tubes could also be used to connect shopping centers with freight terminals, to build a ring linking the city’s most remote metro stations, or even airports.
The project’s authors do not fear competition from German engineers who have been trying to realize their own Moscow tube project for several years. They are confident that the separation of light and heavy transport will make all the difference.
They believe limiting overpass use to cars alone will significantly ease the heavy traffic flow currently seen on the city’s streets. The project would not have to be entirely funded by the government; private investment is also welcome. The technology they propose using means it will not take long to build the overpasses.
The engineers expect to patent the idea soon. Russian lawmakers are apparently also showing interest.
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