News

Russian President Vladimir Putin has introduced a controversial bill that can reduce the freedom of speech to a level in which it is almost unrecognisable.

The newly introduced law empowers the country the right to register bloggers, journalists and social media users as foreign agents.

That simply means the Russians who use the social media platforms to criticise the Putin’s government are at the risk of falling into the list of foreign agents.

The bill is also a clear threat to the Russian journalists who do not buy the idea of the projection of Mr. Putin as a leader who should not be criticised.

Mr. Putin’s Russia is known for its opposition to the idea of the freedom of speech and expression.

The present Russia is one of the very few countries which are almost completely intolerant towards dissent.

It often suppresses dissent with force. The new bill is seen as a latest method to suppress the possibility of the emergence of dissent.


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Crime News

Serbia has claimed that it has foiled a spy attempt made by its neighbour Russia. The details of the aforesaid attempt have been publicised by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

He said that the incident would not affect the relation between his country, Serbia, and Russia.

Notably, the Serbian President has showed no interest to blame his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. Instead of that, he has tried to give a clean chit to the Russian Supremo.

He said that the Russian President might not be aware about the plan made by the Russian spy agency.

The statement of the Serbian President is considered as a calculated move to avoid the ire of the Russian Supremo.

Serbia is located close to Russia. Serbia also has close ties with Russia – especially in the economic front.

It is not the first time an Russian spy attempt has been caught red-handed.

Anyway, what lies hidden in the statement of Serbia is a clear warning that it would not allow anyone to intrude into its internal affairs.


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News Politics

Within a couple of hours, Russian president Vladimir Putin is set to reach Serbia –the Balkan country which is one of those countries whose request for the membership in the European Union is still pending, along with some of his senior minsters and the heads of his country’s nuclear and space organisations.

Ahead of the visit, Serbia has beefed up its internal security in the regions where the Russian president is likely to pass through and in and around the places where he is supposed to visit. As many as 7,000 police personals have been deployed for this task alone.

Russia president is likely to meet his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic and several other senior minsters and prominent business personals. Russia is expected to sign as many as 21 deals with Serbia. Most probably, the focus area of the discussions is going to be defence and security, energy and science and technology.

The Russian president’s visit comes at a time when the Serbian president suffers his greatest ever existential crisis. Serbia has been witnessing serious protest across the country for last few months against its president’s intolerance towards the opposition and disrespect towards the concept of press freedom.

It is debatable what message Serbia wants to give to the European Union with its latest move. An International relations expert opines that it might be some kind of pressure tactics.

Vignesh. S. G
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