Russiabot Newsletter 6 [08.07.2020]
Yandex enters the finance game, a world class wrestler killed in counter-terror raid? Nat.Guard fights some VDV veterans, Hackers steal voter information, and SPb metro gets new boss
The Russiabot Newsletter
Friday , August 7th, 2020
(WikiCommons)
Here are your top stories, as reported by Russian media today:
Yandex Registers Brands, Indicates Entry into Financial Services Market
A Counter-Terrorist Operation in Ingushetia Claims to have Neutralized a former Pan-Asia Wrestling Champion
Russian National Guard Brawls With Airborne Veterans
Hackers Conduct Dark Web Sale of Data Stolen from Voters in Constitutional Referendum
Saint Petersburg Metro System Gets New Boss
1. Yandex Registers Brands, Indicates Entry into Financial Services Market
Yandex –Russia’s answer to Google—is getting into the financial services market.
This news comes following Yandex’s registration of several brands, including one for “Yandex.Money”. This venture is set to provide a full range of banking functions, including brokerage, insurance, and currency trading offerings. Reports indicate that VTB bank –a leading Russian financial institution—will be the tech company’s partner in guaranteeing transactions, in addition to investments received earlier in July from Sberbank.
Yandex’s business diversification follows a greater market trend of IT companies offering credit, payment, and investment services, including brands launched in recent years by Apple, Samsung, and Google.
Yandex was established in 1997 as a Russian-language search engine, and now operates several business ventures across 17 countries, including the Silicon Valley-based Yandex Labs, which shuttered operations in 2012. The company made headlines across Russia in 2019 following its refusal to grant encryption keys to the Federal Security Service—as part of the “Yarovaya” laws—which would have otherwise granted the agency access to the personal data of Yandex users.
(Vedomosti, Vesti, The Bell, Fontanka)
2. Counter-Terrorist Operation in Ingushetia Claims to Neutralize a former Pan-Asia Wrestling Champion
An anti-terrorist operation in Ingushetia –an autonomous Republic in Russia’s southern Caucasus region—resulted in the death of two militants allegedly planning a terrorist attack within the region.
The operation took place in the town of Nazran, and was led by the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, the Federation-wide counter-terror governing body incorporating elements of country-wide security services, such as the FSB, as well as local law enforcement.
Conflicting reports are emerging as to who exactly security forces engaged during their operation, with officials claiming Kyrgyz star wrestler Muslim Evolev was one of two gunmen killed during the ensuing firefight. These claims have been refuted by local media, as well as Ingushetia’s sporting community, although the one-time Pan-Asia champion appears to be missing.
Ingushetia, as neighboring Chechnya, was once the site of an Islamic insurgency against the Russian government, although combat operations officially ended in 2015. Scattered elements of militants remain in the Republic’s vast mountain ranges many belonging to the republic’s franchise of the Caucasus Emirate terrorist group, which in turn swore allegiance to the Islamic State terror group in 2014.
This is the second counter-terror operation launched in Ingushetia this Summer, following a May 30th shootout between Federal Forces and a group of 20-30 militants in the town of Sunzha.
(RBC, Kavkaz Uzel, RBC Kavkaz, KNews)
3. Russian National Guard Brawls With Airborne Veterans
A brawl between the Russian National Guard and Veterans of Russia’s Airborne Troops (VDV) resulted in the sentencing of a former VDV serviceman to house arrest.
The fight broke out during the annual VDV Day Celebrations in Moscow on August 2nd, where patrolling National Guard Troopers attempted to detain an intoxicated VDV trooper. According to footage from the event, other VDV revelers stepped in to assist their comrade, driving a tense situation into an all-out brawl, which –according to National Guard testimony—resulted in bodily injury to two of their service members.
This year’s festivities marked a date of special importance to the Airborne troops, as their outfit commemorates 90 years since the first parachute jump by the armed forces. VDV Days are notorious festivities in public lore, with annual August 2nd commemorations involving plenty of physical feats, outdoor gatherings with friends and family, in addition to general alcohol-infused fun.
(Novaya Gazeta, TASS, Kommersant)
4. Hackers Conduct Dark Web Sale of Data Stolen from Voters in Constitutional Referendum
Hackers have gained access to the personal data –including passport information—of over 1 million individuals who participated in the online voting option during online voting for changes to Russia’s constitution earlier this summer (06/25-07/01).
Investigators determined that personal data was being sold in bulk on the dark web for roughly $1.50 for a line of voters’ information, with some 1.1 million lines of such information available in select criminal e-marketplaces. An estimated 30,000 individuals have had their data successfully sold through this arrangement.
Authorities point out that although passport numbers are worthless without additional blocks of personal information, the data becomes far more valuable when combined with a given individual’s name, as it opens the floodgates to a range of criminal opportunity, including identity theft.
Critics point to this incident as further evidence that the governing bureaucracy does not have the adequate know-how to fully grasp the difficult task of protecting the personal information of voters. This is particularly alarming, given that the Russian government is implementing continued online-voting options for future elections across regional and federal-level offices, as Russiabot reported on July 27th.
Voting, with an online options, will take place in Kursk and Yaroslavl Oblasts from September 11-13 to elect representatives to the Federal Duma.
(Kommersant, Novaya Gazeta, Gazeta, Echo of Moscow)
5. Saint Petersburg Metro System Gets New Boss
The Saint Petersburg metro system Is now under new management, following the departure of former boss Vladimir Garyugin. The 77 miles of the transit system will no be overseen by acting director Evgeniy Kozin, who has worked nearly the entirety of his career for the Metro System.
Kozin –a railway engineer by education—has been with Saint Petersburg’s Metro since 1993, starting out as an assistant foreman, and eventually working up to the rank of deputy director of the metro system by 2011.
Although seemingly the ideal candidate for the job, Kozin’s long career with the transit bureaucracy overlaps with a parallel history of questionable management of the metro’s financial resources, in part overseen by administrators in control of the transit system since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In 2014, the Chamber of Control and Accounts revealed financial irregularities for more than 9 billion rubles taking place over the course of 3 years of the metro’s operations.
Evgeniy Kozin heads up the transit in a time of difficult transition, as the city continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Fontanka, ASNInfo, SPbVedomosti, Ria)