0613GMT//Pyongyang-Moscow train to start running again; Russian official wants less web surfing, more sex
THE PYONGYANG-MOSCOW EXPRESS: A train will run between Moscow and Pyongyang for the first time in five years, Russian Railways said on Monday. It said that the 10,000km journey will take eight days. (COMMENT: The Moscow-Pyongyang rail service is an important symbolic link for both Russia and North Korea. Vladimir Putin has been desperate to thank North Korean dictator Kim Jung-un for sending thousands of conscripts to fight Ukraine's forces. The new service will open from June 19 and will run twice a month. The service had been cut during the coronavirus epidemic.)
PROFIT FOR PUTIN'S FRIENDS: A company considered close to Arkady Rotenberg, a childhood friend of Putin, has bought the largest soda-producing factory in Russia from the government. Russian media on Monday reported that the Russian government had sold its 57.4% stake in the Bashkir Soda Company to Roskhim three months after Putin ordered it to be taken off a list of strategic assets that couldn't be sold to a private company. (COMMENT: Arkady Rotenberg and his brother Boris have been major beneficiaries of Russia's war in Ukraine. At least three other large chemical plants in Russia have been sold to Roskhim after being seized by the Russian state. Rotenberg's press officers have previously denied any link to Roskhim. Putin is generous to his allies and friends.)
LESS INTERNET, MORE SEX: Russia should turn off the internet at night to encourage young people to have more sex rather than surf social media, a regional MP from Russia's Western Bryansk region said on Monday. (COMMENT: Encouraged by the Kremlin, Russian officials in the regions are obsessed with coming up with schemes to increase birthrates. This has included winning an apartment for giving birth on Lenin's birthday.)
KIDNAPPED BLOGGER ARRESTED: A blogger kidnapped by Chechens at a train station in central Moscow last week has been charged with "inciting ethnic violence". His six Chechen kidnappers, though, have been released from police custody. (COMMENT: The Russian press said that Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, or somebody close to him, ordered the kidnapping of Areg Shchepikhin after he insulted Islam. Shchepikhin was released by his kidnappers after an intervention by the FSB but looked beaten and bruised. His subsequent arrest and the release of his kidnappers is an insight into Russia's lawlessness and Kadyrov's power, even in central Moscow.)
FUEL SPILL: A ship towing two barges down the Yeseni River in Siberia ran aground and sunk, spilling 30 tonnes of fuel. Russian media reported that the oil slick now runs 50km along the riverbank. The Yeseni River is 3,500km long, the fifth longest in the world. It empties into the Arctic Ocean. A state of emergency has been declared.
COMMUNAL TARRIF RISE: Russians should prepare for a jump in tariffs on communal services on July 1, officials warned on Monday. The average jump in tariffs will be 12% but will rise to around 20% in more remote parts of Russia such as North Ossetia and Dagestan. (COMMENT: The rise in tariffs is a consequence of inflation driven by sanctions and the Kremlin's war in Ukraine. Russia's federal and local governments have also been putting off making repairs to infrastructure, instead prioritising funding its war in Ukraine. This sort of tariff rise is a reminder to ordinary Russians of the impact of the war in Ukraine.)
KEBAB INFLATION: the cost of the ever-popular shwarma kebab in Russia has risen by 39% in the past year, the Kommersant newspaper reported. (COMMENT: These price rise insights are important. Although Russia's Central Bank claims that inflation is slowing and is now around 8%, the rising price of individual products undermines this data.)
AGRICULTURE SLUMP: Production of sugar, sunflower oil and flour has fallen significantly this year because of Russia's wonky economy, Russian state statistics agency Rosstat has reported. It said that between Jan. and April, sugar production fell by 32%, sunflower oil by 15.5% and flour by 8%. (COMMENT: Russia keeps on experiencing food price crises. In 2024 it was butter and this year it is potatoes. Next year it could likely be sugar or sunflower oil. Producers said that the high cost of loans, higher taxes and the lack of imported seed and equipment made production unprofitable. Russian agriculture is limping from one major crisis to the next.)
NEWS MATRIX:
As interesting as it is, a call for the internet to be cut at night to encourage more young people to have more sex is probably not that important. The rising cost of a kebab in Russia, though, is.