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Eastern Europe
February 2, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
Despite the heavy police presence the police reac- tion to the gatherings remained muted. There have been few reports of violence and only a few minor scuffles broke out between protestors and police. A total of 186 people had been detained
as of 4pm Moscow time, according to local media reports. Police have not tried to clear the streets of protestors in Moscow despite the lack of official permission to assemble.
The Kremlin is terrified of radicalising the people, especially after the two Maidan revolutions in Ukraine, and so have refrained from violent police action.
“This is not about personal challenges. It is about compliance or noncompliance with Russian
law,” Putin’s spokesman Dimitry Peskov told reporters. “Certainly, if the right to hold them
Ukraine's appeal against ruling to repay $3bn "Yanukovych debt" to Russia ends inconclusively
bne IntelliNews
A hearing over the disputed $3bn bond issued by Ukraine under former president Viktor Yanukovych and bought by Russia came to an end last week in the English Court of Appeal without a conclusive result.
In March last year the High English Court ruled that Ukraine had to repay this debt to Russia, which came due in 2016 but was defaulted on by Kyiv. Ukraine appealed the decision.
is denied based on existing law, unpermitted rallies will have certain implications in terms
of violations of the law,” he said on Friday in a suitably understated manner that highlights the Kremlin’s soft touch policy when it comes to containing the protests.
The opposition are left in the frustrating position where despite being able to march, there is lit- tle they can do to follow through. The authorities have run an effective programme of harassment and attrition that has contained the opposition.
A total of four candidates will run in the presi- dential elections; in addition to Putin, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the head of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), Pavel Grudinin for the Communist Party, and socialite Ksenia Sobchak will contest the election.
Analysts say that the case will be further consid- ered by the UK courts and a decision on the ap- peal is likely to be made in the next few months, but will probably go against Ukraine. If forced to pay, that will hurt Ukraine, which currently has
a total of just over $18bn as gross international reserves (GIR).
In their press releases following the hearing, which was held on January 30, the Russian