Thread by @NoYardstick

This week's @BearMarketBrief is out. You can read about the non-existent Victory Day celebrations, whether regional budgets are really running out of money, new policies to support Arctic development & more. Subscribe!

For stories from the regions that didn't make the cut, 👇🧵

https://twitter.com/BearMarketBrief/status/1656827667314876424

1. Crackdown on some regional “systemic” opposition personalities has continued apace. In Samara an aide to Mikhail Abdalkin (who mocked Putin’s speech in February) was detained, as well as another aide to another deputy. t.me/horizontal_rus…

1/b. Earlier, it emerged that Roskomnadzor blocked access to the website of Nikolay Bondarenko, a media-savvy communist deputy from Saratov, because his team refused to share user data with the authorities. t.me/roskomsvoboda/…

1/c. On this topic, @RiddleRussia has an insightful recent article on how the war has impacted systemic opposition parties, especially in the regions. ridl.io/fleeing-the-wa…

2. A propos regional opposition: residents of a village in Bashkortostan “elected” a new mayor by acclamation – a local activist –this week, as they were fed up with the local authority for a planned gold mining project. t.me/Govorit_NeMosk…

3. In Komi, a court approved a request by local communist deputy Viktor Vorobyov and obliged the prosecution to re-examine a complaint against governor Vladimir Uiba who called conservationist protesters “eco-waste” t.me/horizontal_rus…

4. Three sitting governors, Gleb Nikitin (Nizhny Novgorod), Alexander Gusev (Voronezh) and Viktor Tomenko (Altai Territory) got de facto approvals from Putin for re-election over the past week at face-to-face or video meetings barnaul.org/news/prezident…

5. In Novosibirsk, a local school that refused to teach pro-war propaganda as part of the curriculum, was charged by prosecutors with public safety offenses. The fine will set the school back by the cost of a whole computer lab. #priorities zona.media/news/2023/05/1…

6. Govorit NeMoskva contrasted the rapid growth of timber exports from the Kostroma Region to China with disgruntled local residents who face prosecution for collecting firewood. t.me/Govorit_NeMosk…

7. The “Zvezdochka” factory in the Arkhangelsk Region is reportedly ready to produce Icebreaker-7 class propellers for ships Russia plans to use on the Northern Sea Route. However, according to the press release, the production is only 80% localized. neftegaz.ru/news/Suda-i-su…

8. Yakutia will expand the development of the Elginsky coal deposit, which according to the plans will allow the region to raise its coal production from 20 to 45 million tons, though due to transit capacity issues this already counts as a delay. vostok.today/45922-na-jelgi…

This is your weekly reminder of the importance of journalists who are based or venture beyond Russia's capitals and do vital research in the regions. Some are foreigners (#FreeEvan), most are Russians. Read and support them if you can.