Promoting interest in Russia and her neighbours in order to enhance understanding
This page was moved to www.scotlandrussiaforum.org/newsroundup.html from the HOME page in June 2019, because now inactive.
Scotland-Russia News Round-Up
2019
25 January: Publication of the SRF magazine - The FORUM, no. 40, Winter 2019 . Articles on Pussy Riot, the Nenets and Borodino in 1965 plus a wide range of book reviews, and SRF news. 20 January: SRF bulletin. SRF 2018 November, December: The “Anonymous” hack of the Integrity Initiative, part of UK think tank the Institute for Statecraft (a Scottish charity because its founder is Scottish), in November and December is attributed to Rossiya Segodnya’s subsidiaries Sputnik and RT, who both report it extensively. Integrity Initiative statement on the hack. The row escalates when the Sunday Times 23 Dec publishes the names of senior staff at Sputnik’s Edinburgh HQ and Russian sources retaliate with lists of BBC Moscow employees. 22 November: SRF e-bulletin. SRF. 24 October: A Presidential Ukaz announced the award of the Pushkin Medal to SRF Vice-President Dairmid Gunn and to Scots banker Sir Angus Grossart: http://pravo.gov.ru/laws/acts/84/535756.html [NB Lt Cmdr Gunn is not SRF vice-chairman, as in the Ukaz, but an Hon. Vice-President], Herald (31.10.2018), Times (1.11.2018). Medal awarded to Sir Angus by Putin on 4 Nov Tass/Getty Images, en.kremlin.ru, www.rusemb.org.uk/video/370. 8 October: Edinburgh University and Sputnik feature in updated Institute of Modern Russia report Hybrid Analytica: Pro-Kremlin Expert Propaganda in Moscow, Europe and the U.S.: A Case Study on Think Tanks and Universities. 12 September: SRF e-bulletin. SRF 7 September: SNP MP Angus Neil will continue to appear on RT. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-45445848 6 September: Ian Blackford, the SNP's leader at Westminster, has called for stronger action against Russia in the wake of the Salisbury nerve agent attack. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-45432713 5 September: Oliver Bullough: How the super-rich used Scotland to subvert democracy https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/oliver-bullough-how-super-rich-used-scotland-to-subvert-democracy-1-4794892 25 August: Alex Salmond will continue to present his RT show https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-scotsman/20180825/281625306161509 18 August: Pussy Riot at the Edinburgh Book Festival (and Summerhall) in August https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/news/freedom-is-your-own-feeling-of-fighting-for-yourself-says-pussy-riot-s-maria-alyokhina 7 August: SRF e-bulletin. SRF 20 July: More on the role of Scottish SLPs in corruption in FSU countries. Herald 14 June: SRF bulletin. SRF. 14 June: SRF magazine, the FORUM, summer issue, no.39. SRF. June: Scottish court turns down Russian extradition request for Alexander Shapovalov. Court proceedings (interim), Court proceedings - judgement, Stopfake, Daily Record. 22 May: Serov's portrait of Tsar Nicholas II in the uniform of the Royal Scots Greys is on loan to the National Gallery of Scotland for 3 years. Edinburgh Reporter, Russian Art & Culture 22 April: Russkiy Mir's £1/4m financial contribution to Edinburgh University. Sunday Herald, Herald 14 April: "Moscow's Scottish links". Times 22 March: UK plans to ban SLPs. Herald 18, 25 March: Edinburgh University under pressure from politicians to cut links with Russkiy Mir. Herald, Sunday Post 20 March: Holodomor debate, Scottish Parliament. 20 March: SRF news bulletin 20.3.2018. SRF 18 March: "Our organisation has a reputation problem" (Sputnik Editor in Edinburgh) Herald 14 March: Motion to the Scottish Parliament about Russian backed media outlets. Scottish Parliament Motion S5M-11018 . 14 March: Statement from the SRF chair on the nerve agent attack. SRF 26 February: SRF news bulletin 26.2.2018. SRF 26 February: Syrian protest outside the Russian Consulate in Edinburgh. Scotsman 21, 22 February: More controversy about Sputnik UK's Scottish HQ - new editor, membership of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce. Scotsman, Herald. 30 January 2018: "The Real Reason 'The Death Of Stalin' Touched A Nerve" (about the ban on Scottish director Iannucci's "The Death of Stalin" in Russia).RFERL, RFERL 2 Feb 26 January 2018: SRF magazine, the FORUM, winter issue. SRF 19 January 2018: SRF news bulletin 19 Jan. SRF 7 January 2018: Scottish SLPs contd - the laundering of funds from Yanukovich and others. Al Jazeera, Sunday Herald. 2017
13,14 December 2017: Russian internet trolling on Scottish independence in 2014. Guardian, Herald. 7 December 2017: Russian company TechnoNICOL has invested c£50m in Stirling company Superglass since acquiring them in 2016. BBC. 1 December 2017: SRF news bulletin. 20 November 2017: Almost 400,000 Twitter messages about Scottish independence were posted by fake accounts, most believed to be Russian. Herald, Times. 10 November 2017: Kilmarnock, formerly twinned with Sukhumi and retaining a friendship link, is persuaded to remove a memorial to the dead of the war in 1992-3 because it bears the flag of the breakaway Abkhaz Republic, recognised and supported by Russia. DFWatch, STV News 14 Nov. 30 Nov Press release from East Ayrshire Council. 6 November 2017: The Scottish connections of George Papadopoulos’s mysterious London professor Joseph Mifsud.
28 October 2017: SFR news bulletin 28 September 2017: SRF news bulletin 27 September 2017: Publication of issue 37 of the SRF magazine, the FORUM. 19 September 2017: Russian Arctic Convoys Museum Project (RACMP) newsletter - reports on their summer of activities. 14-17 September 2017: Glasgow University Russian Dept. celebrates its centenary / conference 13 September 2017: Aberdeen businessman convicted of fraudulent salmon sales to Russia (The Fish Site, Aberdeen Evening Express, Press and Journal) 4 September 2017: The Scottish firms that let money flow from Azerbaijan to the UK (Guardian) 31 August 2017: SRF news bulletin. 27,28 August 2017: Exposed: the Scottish firms busting sanctions for Russia (Herald); How a Scots council house was secret base for criminals busting Putin sanctions (Herald) 7 August 2017: Russian Laundromat Investigation Targets Royal Bank of Scotland (OCCRP) August, October 2017: Russia-related events at the summer and autumn 2017 Edinburgh festivals 20 July 2017: Scottish Economics Minister meets Russian Consul General to discuss a permanent Scottish Government-funded trade hub in Russia and business in Kaluga. Human rights issues not raised (STV News) 20 July 2017: CGG donates full software suite to Heriot-Watt's Petroleum Learning Center in Russia (World Oil) 20 July 2017: 19C Fife artist Christina Robertson and her success in Russia (Fife Today) 13 July 2017: Russian envoy mocks Royal Navy's Faslane as not worth spying on (Herald) 3 July 2017: Lorraine Bacchus interviewed Russian artist Genadii Gogoliuk who lives in Edinburgh. 9 June 2017: SRF news bulletin |