0655GMT//Putin apologises for shooting down Azerbaijani airliner; Kremlin supports Nobel Peace Prize for Trump; Internet freedom NGO shuts
PUTIN APOLOGISES FOR SHOOTING DOWN AZERBAIJANI PLANE: Vladimir Putin publicly apologised to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for the first time for shooting down an Azerbaijani passenger jet on Christmas Day last year. The two men met in Dushanbe for the first time since Russian air defence systems shot the jet above Grozny. It crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people. The shooting down of the jet triggered a collapse in bilateral relations. Putin blamed Ukrainian drones for flying into airspace around Grozny and a malfunction in air defence systems for shooting down the airliner. (COMMENT: This was a remarkable climbdown by Putin, whose only previous public statement on the shooting down of the Azerbaijani airliner came at the end of December when he blamed the pilots and called it a "tragic accident". Now he has admitted that Russian air defence systems downed the airliner. He clearly wants to move on to rescue Azerbaijan as a Russian ally, telling Aliyev that it was time to "finally put an end" to the situation. This highlights just how important Azerbaijan is to Russia. It sits on an important trade route to India and has become an important purchaser of Russian gas, which it then sells on to Europe. It's unclear how Aliyev will react. He didn't give anything away yesterday.)
PUTIN OFFERS NUCLEAR SUPPORT TO TAJIKISTAN: Putin told Emomali Rakhmon, the president of Tajikistan, that Russia was prepared to help Tajikistan develop its nuclear power capacity at a bilateral meeting in Dushanbe ahead of a meeting of CIS leaders. (COMMENT: This is unsurprising. Tajikistan, like other countries in Central Asia, has been struggling to meet power generation demands. Russia uses its nuclear energy prowess as a geopolitical tool to bind allies. The Kremlin is involved in developing nuclear power in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan -- so why not Tajikistan, too?)
KREMLIN SUPPORS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE FOR TRUMP: The Kremlin supports Donald Trump's push to win a Nobel Peace Prize, Yuri Ushakov, a top adviser to Vladimir Putin, said on Thursday. Ushakov said: "I think at this point [Russia] would support [the Nobel Committee’s decision to award the prize to Trump] if we were asked." (COMMENT: The Kremlin knows how to play Trump and appeal to his vanities. By supporting Trump's push for a Nobel Peace Prize, the Kremlin is playing international diplomacy.)
CENTRAL BANK EYEING UP ANOTHER RATE CUT: Elvira Nabiullina, the head of the Russian Central Bank, said that there was still room for another interest rate cut in Russia this year despite inflationary pressures. She said that a rise in petrol prices that has driven up inflation was "temporary". (COMMENT: Nabiullina's comments will cheer businesses, which have been pushing for more interest rate cuts despite built-in inflation in the system and the prospect of a VAT rise in January. Russia's interest rate is currently at 17%, down from 22% earlier this year.)
INTERNET NGO SHUTS: Roskomsvoboda, an independent Russian NGO that monitors Kremlin surveillance of the internet, said that it was shutting down. Its leader, Artyom Kozlyuk, said that the "mental stress and psychological fatigue" made it impossible to continue. (COMMENT: Roskomsvoboda was set up in 2012 by free internet activists. Since December 2022, it has been labelled as a "foreign agent" by the Kremlin, and its activities have been severely limited. This announcement that it was finally closing has been coming. Free speech and anti-government activists in Russia have nowhere to operate.)
CONTRACTORS STRIKE AT POWER STATION: Contractors repairing a coal-fuelled power station in Primorskaya region in Russia's Far East have gone on strike over unpaid wages, reports said. Reportedly, 60 fitters, welders and electricians have put down their tools. (COMMENT: This is just a small insight into the economic problems that Russia is currently facing.)
CEMENT-MAKER PLACES STAFF ON 4-DAY WEEK: Cemros, Russia's largest cement-maker, has put its workers on 4-day workweeks until the end of the year as construction demand sinks. A Cemros spokesman told Reuters that this was the only way to protect the jobs of the company's 13,000 workers. (COMMENT: Cemros joins other large companies in Russia that are placing workers on 4-day workweeks. Last week, The Memo reported that AvtoVAZ, Russia's largest carmaker, had placed its staff on 4-day workweeks to cope with a slump in demand. Van-maker GAZ and truck-maker Kamaz have also placed workers on 4-day workweeks. Independent Russian economists have said that Russia's non-military economy has contracted by more than 5% since the start of the year.)