“Putin’s political spetsnaz,” Rodina Reborn.

                         Dep PM Dimitry Rogozin with a group of Union of Orthodox Banner -bearers.

“Putin’s political spetsnaz,” Rodina Reborn.(RN).A nationalist party that once called itself “Putin’s political spetsnaz,” or special force, was reinstated in Moscow on Saturday, six years after the Kremlin had it canceled.
Rodina (“Fatherland”) will remain staunchly loyal to President Vladimir Putin because of his patriotic stance, which is also at the core of the party’s ideology, said the new Rodina leader, Alexei Zhuravlyov.
Zhuravlyov, a member of the ruling United Russia, was unanimously voted the head of Rodina at a congress in Moscow. The party will be applying for official registration with the Justice Ministry, a prerequisite to participate in any elections in Russia.
Rodina, then headed by Dmitry Rogozin, was a rising force in Russian politics in the early 2000s, peaking during the 2003 parliamentary elections, when its brand of populist nationalism brought it 37 of 450 seats in the State Duma.
But the Kremlin, concerned with Rodina’s rising influence, had it merged in 2006 along with two other independent parties into the leftist and pro-government A Just Russia. Rogozin was made Russia’s envoy to NATO and later became a Deputy Prime Minister.
Rogozin endorsed the newly established party at the congress on Saturday, but opted not to join.
It remained unclear whether any of the 64 State Duma deputies with A Just Russia will leave their current party to join Rodina.
Russia has no prominent nationalist parties except for the populist and pro-Kremlin Liberal Democratic Party. However, Rodina faces stiff competition from 32 new parties of all political stripes that were registered in recent months after the liberalization of party legislation, as well as dozens that are pending registration. Hmmmm......As i warned before "Rogozin a man with a vision".Read the full story here.

Russian Duma Mulls Religious Offense Bill after attacks on Orthodox Christian sites.

The draft law also comes after four wooden crosses were chopped down in Russia’s regions last month 

Russian Duma Mulls Religious Offense Bill after attacks on Orthodox Christian sites.(RN).
Russia's parliament is considering amendments to the country's criminal code, under which causing religious offense will be a crime punishable by measures ranging from a one-off fine to five years behind bars. The initiative has so far found broad cross-party support in parliament, Yaroslav Nilov from the Liberal Democrat Party of Russia (LDPR) told journalists on Wednesday. "The LDPR worked with all the other parliamentary parties and a member of the Federation Council to prepare the draft law, and now the draft law on tightening responsibility for causing religious offense has been submitted" he said. Sergei Obukhov of Russia’s Communist Party, told RIA Novosti his party supports the draft law and said he hopes that it will come onto the statute book this session. “The state has a duty to protect the rights of its citizens to their religious views. Antireligious campaigns risk destabilizing society, and in the interests of public order, peace, and security there is a real need to toughen punishment for causing religious offence” Obukhov said. The Chair of the Duma Committee on Security and Anticorruption Measures, Irina Yarovaya, also backed the draft law, claiming offending religious sensibilities presents a very real danger to society as a whole, not just to the individual offended, because this "creates an atmosphere of conflict and mistrust." "Believers not only value what they themselves hold holy, but also the confidence that they have in the state's protection," she added.Read the full story here.

Related: Over 80% of Russians Favor ‘Blasphemy’ Draft Law - Survey.

"Боже мой" - Russia cracks down on 'Blasphemists', Orthodox activists create Moscow patrol squads.

"Боже мой" - Russia cracks down on 'Blasphemists', Orthodox activists create Moscow patrol squads.(MN).Orthodox activists are up in arms to protect their priests and sacred places with patrol squads scouring Moscow for the “enemies of faith.” Ivan Otrakovsky, head of Orthodox Christian movement Holy Rus, said seven teams had already started operating in the Russian capital, BBC Russian service reported on Wednesday. “The time has come to remind all apostates and theomachists that it is our land and we forbid blasphemous, offensive actions and statements against the Orthodox religion and our people,” Otrakovsky wrote in his call for volunteers at the end of last week.
 ‘Blasphemy, heresy, defilement and lechery’ The offensive actions can take various forms, but they can be “a kind of ‘art’, marches, lectures or anything else that comes laden with blasphemy, heresy, defilement and lechery,” it has to be stopped, according to Otrakovsky.
If troop members spot someone vandalizing churches or sneering at priests, they will have to “take actions to detain [this person] and call police,” he told the BBC.
The devout defender of Orthodoxy hopes to see these troops operating nationwide, but said that they would not be bringing more violence to Russia’s streets. “An Orthodox believer in God is very calm and moderate,” he said. “We don’t have any personal enemies, just the enemies of faith.”
‘Spiritual terrorism’ Otrakovsky’s call for volunteers was published on the day after a Moscow court sentenced three members of female punk band Pussy Riot to two years in a penal colony for performing an anti-Kremlin punk-prayer in Russia’s main church. The sentence was protested by numerous supporters of the group and saw several other Russian churches desecrated by unknown people. Dimitry Smirnov, an Orthodox cleric in charge of the church’s relations with the army and law enforcement bodies, is going to prepare a report on the need to fight “spiritual terrorism” and increasing protection of Orthodox places of worship, Interfax reported.
‘Every religion must have its own patrol squads’ The secular powers that be, however, don’t seem to favor the idea of Orthodox groups patrolling the streets. “I think it is a wrong approach. This will, to the contrary, cause a split in society – we have a multi-confessional state,” Alexei Mayorov, head of Moscow’s regional security department, told Interfax. The Internal Affairs Ministry also believed this initiative to be “premature,” Interfax’s source said. Human rights activists also frowned upon the proposal. “Every religion must have its own patrol squads then, and atheists too,” Lyudmila Alexeyeva told RIA Novosti. She described Otrakovsky’s idea as “nonsense.”Read the full story here.

Autocratic Russia and the Union of Orthodox Citizens are planning to register an “Orthodox” political party.

Autocratic Russia and the Union of Orthodox Citizens are planning to register an “Orthodox” political party.(RN).Autocratic Russia and the Union of Orthodox Citizens are planning to register an “Orthodox” political party, Izvestia daily reported on Thursday. The organization’s founders said they see Russia as a monarchy with a special role for the Russian Orthodox Church and the patriarch of Moscow and all Russia as the country’s spiritual leader. “We are registering a party that will struggle for the revitalization of Russia and our country’s traditions that were lost after the criminal Bolshevik coup,” Autocratic Russia leader Dmitry Merkulov said. “We want the [Orthodox] Church to enhance its role in the life of our state,” he said, adding that the Russian Orthodox Church was key to the existence of a Russian Orthodox state. Russia needs to reunify with its canonical territories, first and foremost with Belarus and Ukraine, and elect an Orthodox monarch to lead the country to its former greatness, he said. 
The new party will work to reinstate religious instruction in schools and emphasize traditional spiritual, moral and cultural values. Valentin Lebedev, head of the Union of Orthodox Citizens, said the Russian Orthodox Church is currently under fierce attack because it is “the last pillar of Russian statehood, traditions and culture.” 
As of late the Russian Orthodox Church has come in for unprecedented criticism both at home and abroad over the punk group Pussy Riot case.
On April 22 the ROC conducted a “defense of the faith” nationwide prayer to protect it from attacks by “anti-Russian forces.” The Church’s Supreme Council said it had been targeted by “those pushing through radical liberal values” over its opposition to same-sex marriages and consumerism. Orthodox Church head Patriarch Kirill was condemned by opposition figures for his public backing of Vladimir Putin in the run-up to the ex-KGB officer’s landslide victory at March 4 presidential polls. The patriarch called the 12 years of Putin's rule a "miracle of God" in a televised meeting. Top Church officials have also been criticized by bloggers and by opposition media for their “lavish” lifestyles. The anti-Putin Novaya Gazeta newspaper also alleged in February a pre-patriarch-era Kirill profited from Church tobacco and alcohol sales in the early 1990s. Patriarch Kirill was also at the center of a scandal earlier this year regarding a $30,000 Breguet watch, which was airbrushed – although its reflection remained intact – out of an official Church photo following public indignation over his possession of the luxury timepiece. The patriarch had admitted owning the watch in an interview prior to the row, but said he never wore it.Read the full story here.

Russian Activists to Sue Madonna for $10 Mln over Concert.

Russian Activists to Sue Madonna for $10 Mln over Concert.(RN).A group of Russian activists are preparing to file a $10.5 million lawsuit against U.S. pop diva Madonna over what they say was the “moral damage” caused during her recent concert in St. Petersburg. Activists from the Union of Russian Citizens, the People’s Assembly civil group and the New Great Russia Party will file the lawsuit with the Moscow District Court in St. Petersburg on Friday, a spokeswoman for the Union of Russian Citizens’ Moscow branch told RIA Novosti. “We demand that she pay for moral damage suffered by St. Petersburg residents as a result of her actions during the show on August 9,” Daria Dedova said. “We must defend our right to normal cultural life without propaganda of values and views that contradict the Russian culture,” she added.
Lawyer Alexander Pochuyev explained that the “moral damage” was a result of “psychological stress and emotional shock” experienced not only by those who attended Madonna’s show – during which he said the 53-year-old mother of four “trampled down” an Orthodox cross – but also by many internet users who have seen videos from the concert posted online and read news about the show.
 “While speaking of tolerance, she abuses the feelings of believers,” the lawyer said. Madonna should also bear responsibility for what his defenders believe was the “open promotion of homosexuality” during the concert, the lawyer said.
During her show at St. Peterburg’s largest concert hall, which was attended by 25,000 people, Madonna complained about a “growing intolerance” in the world and called for solidarity with gays and lesbians. She had pink armbands distributed in the audience and asked her fans to raise their hands in a sign of support for homosexuals.
Madonna also spoke out in support of all-female group Pussy Riot. Three members of the band could be jailed on Friday over a February protest in Moscow’s largest cathedral against Orthodox Church support for Vladimir Putin ahead of the March 4 presidential polls that returned him to the Kremlin for a third term. A group of activists from the St.Petersburg-based civil group Parental Control earlier asked police to probe Madonna’s actions, claiming that the concert was attended by children as young as 12 and accusing the singer of violating a local law prohibiting the promotion of homosexuality among minors. The activists have pledged to spend the money they hope to receive from Madonna on charity projects for children and families.Read the full story here.

Playboy Wants Pussy Riot for Centerfold

Playboy Wants Pussy Riot for Centerfold.(RN).Playboy magazine’s Ukrainian edition has offered a member of the Russian female punk band Pussy Riot, who is currently awaiting verdict in a trial in Moscow on hooliganism charges, to pose for its centerfold, Russian daily Izvestia reported on Wednesday. “Our readers are active users of social networks where Pussy Riot girls have been the main heroines of the past few months,” Playboy Ukraine’s editor-in-chief, Vlad Ivanenko, told the paper. “We consider Nadezhda Tolokonnikova an artist and believe that her appearance in a Playboy Ukraine centerfold would be well received by the audience,” he said, adding that his deputy “dreams of marrying Nadezhda.” Tolokonnikova, 22, along with two other Pussy Riot participants, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, are facing up to seven years in jail for performing a “punk prayer” in Moscow’s main cathedral in February, asking the Virgin Mary to “drive Putin out.”
The three women were arrested shortly afterwards and charged with hooliganism aimed at "inciting religious hatred." They have dismissed the charges, saying that their stunt was intended to highlight the close alliance between the Orthodox Church and the state in Russia. The verdict in the controversial trial, which has sparked heated debates in Russia and triggered strong criticism from Russian and international rights groups, is expected on Friday. Ivanenko said Playboy had already contacted Tolokonnikova’s defense to arrange a photo shoot if the court decides to free the women on Friday.Read the full story here.

Madonna Breaks 'Gay Propaganda' Law - St. Petersburg Lawmaker

Madonna Breaks 'Gay Propaganda' Law - St. Petersburg Lawmaker.(RN).A city councilor in St. Petersburg has accused U.S. pop star Madonna of violating a controversial local law banning "homosexual propaganda" during her concert there. Vitaly Milonov, the author of the law, said the city's "public organizations" will take either the singer or gig organizers to court. "We have video footage showing there were 12-year-old children there," Milonov, who belongs to the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, told journalists. But the organizers PMI group said the tickets clearly stated those under 18 were not advised to attend the concert.
During her show in St. Petersburg on Thursday, Madonna told her fans that homosexuals had the same rights as anyone elese to be treated with dignity and tolerance. She also took off her shirt to reveal the words "No Fear" written across her back. The law, signed by St. Petersburg's governor in March, makes it a crime to "disseminate homosexual propaganda" to minors. It stipulates fines of up to 5,000 rubles ($160) for individuals, 50,000 rubles ($1,600) for officials and up to 500,000 rubles ($16,000) for organizations that violate it. Several politicians and church figures have called for the legislation to be passed at the federal level. Homosexuality was only decriminalized in Russia in 1993, and anti-gay sentiments, including among officials, remain strong. In 2007, former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov described attempts to hold a Gay Parade in the capital as "satanic." There has never been a sanctioned Gay Parade in Russia. According to a 2010 survey by Russia's independent Levada Center polling agency, 74 percent of respondents said gays and lesbians were "amoral" and "mentally defective," while only 45 percent said they should enjoy the same rights as heterosexuals. Madonna used her Moscow concert on August 7 to speak out in support of three members of the all-female punk group Pussy Riot, on trial for hooliganism.Hmmmm......Free publicity money can't buy this promo.Read the full story here.