The Real Russia. Today.
The widow of a Chernobyl engineer remembers, Yandex faces off with the FSB, and luggage handlers walk off the job at Sheremetyevo
Tuesday, June 4, 2019
This day in history: 58 years ago, on June 4, 1961, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev sparked the “Berlin Crisis” by threatening to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany that would end American, British, and French access to East Berlin. The crisis culminated in the city's de facto partition with the East German erection of the Berlin Wall.
- The widow of a Chernobyl engineer remembers her husband and describes returning to work at the power plant after the 1986 nuclear accident
- Russian tech giant facing FSB requests for its encryption keys argues ‘law enforcement is possible without violating privacy’
- A Russian TV anchor aired corruption accusations against regional government officials. They accused him of using the segment itself to demand bribes.
- Sheremetyevo passengers spend hours waiting for bags after salary cuts led airport luggage loaders to quit en masse
- Yekaterinburg cathedral protester faces criminal charges for insulting a police officer
- Tinder: ‘We have not given any data to the Russian government’
In 1985, Anatoly Sitnikov became the deputy chief engineer charged with operating the first and second reactors at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. During the accident in April 1986, Sitnikov examined the power station’s exploded fourth reactor, receiving a lethal dose of radiation. He died several weeks later in Moscow. Sitnikov’s wife, Elvira, accompanied him to the capital, where she also cared for other ailing “liquidators.” She spoke to Meduza about her late husband, how first responders were treated after the accident, and why she ultimately went back to work at the Chernobyl power plant.
Read Elvira Sitnikova's story: “The widow of a Chernobyl engineer remembers her husband and describes returning to work at the power plant after the 1986 nuclear accident”
Another encryption key battle with the FSB 🔐
On June 3, reports surfaced that Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has repeatedly requested the encryption keys that the tech company Yandex uses to protect user data. The scope of Yandex’s services is similar to that of Google’s: it provides web search, email, advertising, and machine translation tools, among others. According to the news outlet RBC, the Russian company has not yet complied with the FSB’s demands.
Read Meduza's report: “Russian tech giant facing FSB requests for its encryption keys argues ‘law enforcement is possible without violating privacy’”
On May 31, longtime TV anchor Andrey Karaulov posted an interview with Krasnoyarsk Krai Accounts Chamber Chairperson Tatiana Davydenko on his YouTube channel. In the interview, Davydenko described large-scale illegal logging in her region. She said local government officials have dealt poorly with forest fires and simultaneously facilitated lumber theft schemes. Davydenko also asserted that the has received threats of forced resignation and criminal charges due to her interest in the issue.
Read about what happened next: “A Russian TV anchor aired corruption accusations against regional government officials. They accused him of using the segment itself to demand bribes.”
Sheremetyevo's luggage collapse 🧳
Over the weekend, the luggage transport systems in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport collapsed, and passengers found themselves waiting for hours to pick up their suitcases. Numerous departing flights also experienced substantial delays. Airport representatives said the holdup was caused by the start of the summer vacation season and that the problem would be solved by the end of the month. However, individual airline and airport employees have said that the luggage bottleneck actually stemmed from a labor shortage after porters quit en masse due to salary cuts.
Read Meduza's report: “Moscow passengers spend hours waiting for bags after salary cuts led airport luggage loaders to quit en masse”
News briefs
- ⚖️ Yekaterinburg resident Stanislav Melnichenko, who took part in mass protests in the city of Yekaterinburg to prevent a new cathedral from being built in a central square, has been charged with insulting a government representative. Read about this dastardly crime.
- 🔥 The mobile dating app Tinder has commented on its inclusion in a Russian government registry for “information-dissemination organizers.” While services listed on the registry are legally obligated to save their users’ correspondence for half a year at a time and yield that information at the request of Russian security agencies, a Tinder representative said the company does not intend to share user data with the Russian government. Read about Tinder's non-compliant compliance.
Yours, Meduza