Suspect in case over Putin assassination plot attacked in Kiev: The media reports on last week's attempt on the life in Kiev of Adam Osmayev and his wife Amina Okuyeva, who fought as volunteer fighters against rebels in eastern Ukraine. Osmayev and the suspected killer have been hospitalized with gunshot wounds. Press recalls that Osmayev had been suspected by Russia of involvement in plotting an assassination attempt on President Putin. Meanwhile, MK dismisses Ukrainian media reports that the suspected killer, Artur Denisultanov-Kurmakayev, had been involved in the killing in Vienna in January 2009 of Umar Israilov, a former bodyguard of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, as by that time, Denisultanov had been deported from Austria and denied entry into the EU. (MK, Novaya Gazeta)
American filmmaker Stone's Putin documentary: In an interview with American film director Oliver Stone aired by Showtime, President Vladimir Putin argued that the US was to blame for the rise of al-Qaeda and also accused the US of financing militants in Chechnya during the two Chechen wars. Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports that the documentary touches upon the Russian-US relations, Russia's alleged interference in the US election, NATO expansion, deployment of a missile defense system in Europe, crises in Syria and Ukraine, Snowden's revelations, as well as Russia's domestic policy. (Gazeta.ru, RG, RT)
Proposal to hold international conference on humanitarian aid: According to Kommersant, the Presidential Administration is considering a proposal to hold in Russia an international conference on humanitarian aid. Grozny (capital of Chechnya) is mentioned as a possible venue for the conference. (Kommersant)
Editorial lines
Vedomosti, 21 June
'Culture of homophobia'
The ECHR's ruling that Russia's law on 'gay propaganda' is discriminatory coincided with a number of events, making the violation of LGBT rights in Russia a topic of international scale, writes Vedomosti.
Yet, although external pressure has previously resulted effective, for instance by halting actions against the LGBT community in Chechnya, the propagandist effect of the law is based on a profound homophobia in Russian society.
As an allegedly 'traditional value', the prevalence of homophobia is further enforced by government representatives' statements on the topic of 'Gay-Europe', notes the newspaper.
https://www.vedomosti.ru/opinion/articles/2017/06/21/695271-gomofobiya