Evening Medusa

The police came to Navalny's supporters, whose addresses were leaked to the Internet. What awaits the women of Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban. We tell the story of Grigory Rankov (aka “Grisha-explosive package”)

Good evening,

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This is Meduza's daily newsletter about the most important things that happened that day. Good news came from Thailand today: the authorities of this country have in principle approved the entry to resorts of Russians who have been vaccinated with Sputnik V. True, the decision has not yet entered into force - but you can already rejoice!

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Pulse

The main thing about the situation in Afghanistan

• Representatives of the Taliban* gave their first press conference after coming to power - and, in particular, promised that there would be no place in the country for terrorists who attack the United States and other states.
• The Taliban opened fire on protesters in defense of the Afghan flag. Several people died.
• The Foreign Ministry of the United Arab Emirates reported that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled the country, is in the UAE .

Other news

• Yesterday evening in Moscow, the police came to supporters of Alexei Navalny, whose addresses appeared on the Internet after a leak from the “Free Navalny!” website. We talked to some of these people.
• The Communist Party of the Russian Federation demanded that the Central Election Commissionremove RT TV channel employee Maria Butina from the State Duma elections due to foreign funding.
• The Georgian socio-political publication Ambebi published a fake interview with Navalny, which he allegedly gave from the colony.
• Today, the fourth of the five who escaped from the detention center in Istra was detained . Only the accused of murdering the “sausage king” Vladimir Marugov remains at large.

* The Islamist Taliban movement is included in the list of organizations recognized as terrorist in Russia, its activities are prohibited.

Texts of the day

We tell the story of Grigory Rankov, who worked as a teacher, and then ended up in United Russia - and earned the nickname “Grisha the explosive package”

Now Rankov heads the council of deputies of the Smolninskoye district in St. Petersburg. For two years now, he has been in conflict with opposition deputies, who received 16 of the 20 mandates in the district thanks to Smart Voting. On August 4, the opposition was holding a meeting on the porch of the municipality (because they were no longer allowed inside), when suddenly there was an explosion. Three deputies were subsequently diagnosed with concussion and other injuries. It has not yet been proven that it was Rankov who caused the explosion, but lately he has been acting really strange. For example, he publishes a video on Instagram in which he fires a Kalashnikov assault rifle and threatens the opposition. We tell you how Rankov ended up in politics, came into conflict with deputies and turned into “Grisha the explosive package.”

What awaits Afghan women after the Taliban comes to power? We talked about this with Amy Ferris-Rothman, who worked as a reporter in Kabul and then helped local women become journalists

Ferris-Rothman discussed how Afghanistan has changed over the past 20 years and people's views on the role of women in society. For example, men have become accustomed to their daughters going to school, and women themselves have become more aware of their rights. Although the tradition of marrying off underage girls has not gone away. Quote from the interview :

— So we can say that the Taliban realize that they can’t just undo 20 years of progress?

“I think they understand that if they try to do this, they will be shooting themselves in the foot.” They claim not only international legitimacy, but also public support. Therefore, I don’t want to give them too much credit in advance, but I want to hope for the best.

Russia considers the Taliban terrorists, but has “good relations” with them. Should we expect the Taliban to be removed from the list of terrorist organizations?

As crazy as it may sound, the authorities have this opportunity - although it will not be easy. The Federal Law “On Combating Terrorism” will have to be amended. But first, remove the Taliban from the UN Security Council sanctions list and, on this basis, appeal the 2003 Supreme Court decision recognizing the Taliban as a terrorist organization. We tell you more in our cards .

An Afghan woman fled from the Taliban who were trying to force her into marriage. Russian authorities sent her back

The young woman (in the BBC article she is called M.) and members of her family were detained on June 1 in Vyborg. The family unsuccessfully tried to move from Afghanistan to Finland - due to the fact that members of the Taliban movement tried to force the girl into marriage. The next day, the Vyborg City Court decided to expel M. from Russia . The girl’s defense tried to appeal the decision, emphasizing that deportation threatened her life and health, but to no avail. The girl herself, her elderly parents and their relatives - two men, three women and a 12-year-old girl - were expelled from Russia. At the same time, women and children were sent separately from men.

Podcast “What Happened”

Through the hands of the Taliban, Pakistan took control of Afghanistan. It turns out that another full-fledged nuclear superpower is emerging in Central Asia?

Pakistani authorities have long been accused of supporting the Taliban. At the dawn of the movement, Taliban members trained and rested in Pakistan. The capture of Afghanistan strengthens Islamabad's influence in Central Asia. Now the interests of five nuclear powers converge in the region: Pakistan itself, as well as India, China, Russia and, as before, the United States. What will their coexistence be like? How will Pakistan expand its expansion further north? Natalya Zamaraeva, Candidate of Historical Sciences, senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Center for the Study of the Near and Middle East, explains.

Listen to “What Happened” on Meduza and on YouTube , and also subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , Castbox , Yandex.Music and other podcast services.

Video of the day

Boston Dynamics robots do parkour

And they do backflips! It is not very clear how useful these skills will be to robots in everyday life, but it looks impressive. In general, what else can I add here? It’s better to see it once .

Shout “PARKOUR!”, like Michael Scott from “The Office”, your “Medusa”