Interfax: Russia’s ambassador to London explains why Russia-NATO conflict over Ukraine is impossible

Russian Mobile ICBM Parade File Photo

(Interfax – July 29, 2015) Russia’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom Alexander Yakovenko rules out the possibility of a military conflict between Russia and NATO over the Ukraine crisis. An open letter of Russia’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom Alexander Yakovenko was posted on July 29 on the website of the Russian Embassy. “There are, indeed, attempts to frighten the […]

» Read more

MacArthur Foundation to close office in Russia over restrictive new laws

Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Anna Sorokina, RBTH, combined report – July 22, 2015) The U.S.-based MacArthur Foundation has announced that it is to cease its work in Russia in connection with new legislation that seeks to limit the activities of foreign organizations seen as a threat to national security. The MacArthur NGO, which receives no funding from […]

» Read more

Russia’s Satellite Nuclear Warning System Down Until November

Space in Low Earth Orbit with Partial Sun

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – July 1, 2015) Russia has delayed the launch of a new military satellite system by four months, news agency TASS reported Wednesday, leaving Moscow nearly blind in the event of a nuclear missile attack till at least November. Russia’s decaying constellation of Soviet-designed early warning satellites was left nearly blind last year, when one of […]

» Read more

NEWSWATCH New York Times: NATO Returns Its Attention to an Old Foe, Russia

NATO Meeting file photo

The New York Times covers NATO exercises and policies towards Russia. After years of facing threats far beyond its borders, NATO is now reinvigorating plans to confront a much larger and more aggressive threat from its past: Moscow. This seismic shift has been apparent in military training exercises in this former Soviet republic [Latvia], which is now a NATO member […]

» Read more

DOD TRANSCRIPT: Media Availability with Secretary Carter En Route to Berlin, Germany

Ashton Carter File Photo

(US Department of Defense – June 21, 2015) Presenter: Secretary of Defense Ash Carter SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ASHTON CARTER: So the purpose of this trip, the focus of it, this particular trip to Europe, is NATO. And as to take it from the top again, we’ll be going now to Germany, and talking about — to the German defense minister […]

» Read more

NEWSLINK International New York Times/Fiona Hill, Steven Pifer: Putin’s Risky Game of Chicken

TU-95 Bear Bomber File Photo

Russian SU-24 fighter-bombers buzzed a U.S. Navy destroyer in international waters in the Black Sea late in May, just days after the Royal Air Force scrambled to intercept nuclear-capable Bear bombers near British airspace. These dangerous Russian games of chicken are now regular occurrences and come hard upon a Russian threat in March to aim nuclear missiles at Danish warships […]

» Read more

Moscow demands answers from USA on alleged plans to place missiles in Europe

Anatoly Antonov and Others Facing U.S. Official with U.S. and Russian Flags on Table

(Interfax – June 9, 2015) Russian Deputy Defence Minister Anatoliy Antonov has demanded an explanation from the USA regarding alleged plans to deploy ballistic and cruise missiles in Europe, which he has said would mean a US “exit” from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, privately-owned Russian military news agency Interfax-AVN reported on 9 June. “The measures the American sources […]

» Read more

Putin Is No James Bond Villain

Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Leonid Bershidsky – June 9, 2015) Despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars on foreign-language propaganda, all that President Vladimir Putin has achieved outside Russia is the status of a Bond movie villain. He may enjoy it, especially since there’s no 007 in sight to tackle him, but his variety of pop stardom is growing into […]

» Read more

NEWSLINK The National Interest: Avoiding a New ‘Cuban Missile Crisis’ in Ukraine

Map of Ranges of Soviet Missiles on Cuba

The war in Ukraine has already created the most dangerous confrontation between Washington and Moscow since the Cuban Missile Crisis. If Obama scales up arms supplies to Ukraine in response to Minsk II’s collapse, the United States and Russia will be engaged in a military test of wills—on the latter’s doorstep. In 1962, geography favored Washi

» Read more

A Vicious Circle: The More Aggressive Putin Is, the More Russians Love Him

Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, April 29, 2015) Russian polls, admittedly not the most reliable source, suggest that the more aggressive Vladimir Putin is, the more Russians love and support him regardless of the immediate impact of his policies on their lives, a vicious circle that history suggests could lead to a disaster especially given Moscow’s possession […]

» Read more

NEWSLINK New York Times/James Cartwright & Vladimir Dvorkin: How to Avert a Nuclear War

Nuclear Mushroom Cloud

We find ourselves in an increasingly risky strategic environment. The Ukrainian crisis has threatened the stability of relations between Russiaand the West, including the nuclear dimension — as became apparent last month when it was reported that Russian defense officials had advised President Vladimir V. Putin to consider placing Russia’s nuclear arsenal on alert during last year’s crisis in Crimea.

» Read more

NEWSWATCH AUDIO National Public Radio: New START Nuke Deal With Russia May Be Aging – But It’s Not Over

Russian Mobile ICBM Parade File Photo

NPR covers U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control and assessments of New START. ‘ [click here for transcript – click here for article – audio follows below] Five years ago, another big nuclear deal was being signed … known as the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) … its aim … simple: to limit the number of nuclear weapons the United States and Russia have pointed at […]

» Read more

Fight Over Ukraine Darkens Future of Russia-U.S. Nuclear Arms Control

Russian Mobile ICBM Parade File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Matthew Bodner – April 8, 2015) The rhetoric of the Ukraine crisis has amplified long-standing apprehensions in Moscow and Washington and halted progress on arms control for the time being. Five years after the United States and Russia signed the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty, the spirit in which it was signed is dead. […]

» Read more

New Cold War conditions imperil global nuclear security

Russian Mobile ICBM Parade File Photo

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – April 7, 2015) As a result of the chill in relations between Moscow and Washington over Russia’s involvement in the Ukrainian crisis, Russia has already left the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, and the future of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces and START treaties hangs in doubt. How serious a threat do these developments […]

» Read more

NEWSLINK Wall Street Journal: As Tensions With West Rise, Russia Increasingly Rattles Nuclear Saber. Bellicose rhetoric has soared since start of Ukraine conflict to rival Cold War levels

Russian Mobile ICBM Parade File Photo

Amid the wave of bellicose rhetoric that has swelled in Moscow since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, officials as high up as President Vladimir Putin have been making open nuclear threats, a public saber-rattling with weapons of mass destruction largely unseen even in the days of the Cold War. Remarks about Russia’s nuclear strength play well to Mr. […]

» Read more

Military specialists advised using all means of deterrence in ‘Crimean Spring’ – documentary

Russian Mobile ICBM Parade File Photo

(Interfax – March 16, 2015) Some military specialists suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin should have used all means of deterrence in the Crimea situation but Putin declined to do so, it was said in a documentary, Crimea – Return to the Motherland, aired by the Rossiya-1 channel on Sunday. “We were told by the Defense Ministry later that certain […]

» Read more

NEWSWATCH: How to spot a Russian bomber

TU-95 Bear Bomber File Photo

[“How to spot a Russian bomber” – BBC – February 20, 2015] The BBC covers recent incursions by Russian bombers into UK’s area of interest, including information on how to recognize Russian bombers. Two Russian bombers have been escorted from near UK territory – the latest in a series of similar incidents. How easy is it to spot a Russian […]

» Read more

Russia left without ballistic missile early warning system

File Image of Earth Orbit and Asteroids

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – February 13, 2015) The launch of Russia’s first Unified Space System satellite Tundra has been delayed until June 2015 for technical reasons, Russian business daily Kommersant has reported, citing sources in the space industry and Russia’s Defense Ministry. The satellite was due to enter orbit in 2013 and replace the outmoded OKO-1 satellites. […]

» Read more

From a Munich in Moscow to a Munich in Minsk — How Europe has Come to Putin’s Aid

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 12, 2015) In the 1930s, Hitler pursued a simple policy: he simply said one thing and did another. Putin has innovated: he not only lies but uses forces to do his bidding for which no one holds him responsible and thus has the chance to be accepted by some in the […]

» Read more

Russians Say They Fear Hunger, Unemployment and Nuclear War

Nuclear Mushroom Cloud

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – January 30, 2015) A recent state poll asking Russians about their fears has laid bare a telling change in attitudes: more than double the number of respondents said they feared a nuclear war compared to two years ago. Russia’s deteriorating relations with the West and the economic turmoil that followed sanctions imposed […]

» Read more

Russia Beyond the Headlines: Russia to safeguard its own nuclear facilities without American help

Radioactivity Symbol

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Galiya Ibragimova, special to RBTH- January 27, 2015) Russia has decided to safeguard its own nuclear facilities without the help of the United States. However, Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom has said in a statement that Moscow is willing to continue cooperating with Washington on global nuclear security. Moscow has announced that it will […]

» Read more

Interfax: Russia’s Rosatom ready to continue nuclear safety cooperation with US

Radioactivity Symbol

(Interfax – Moscow, January 22, 2015) Russia and the United States will continue cooperation in global nuclear safety in 2015. According to a press release by the state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, the sides have special responsibility for ensuring the safety and security of nuclear materials, preventing them from falling into the hands of terrorist organizations and ensuring their reliable […]

» Read more

Putin Signs New Military Doctrine: Core Elements Unchanged

File Photo of Russian Tanks in Military Parade

(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 12, Issue 2 – Roger McDermott – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – January 6, 2015) President Vladimir Putin has introduced a new Military Doctrine in the context of the Ukraine crisis, deteriorating relations with the United States, the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as shifts within the international security environment. […]

» Read more

Is Moscow Setting the Stage for Using Tactical Nuclear Weapons in Ukraine?

Iskander Missile with Launch file photo

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, December 14, 2014) One of the most accurate leading indicators of what Moscow is planning to do in Ukraine are the charges it makes that the West is about to do the same thing there. That pattern, well-established over the last year, makes the latest such suggestion – that the US supposedly […]

» Read more

Interfax: Updated Russian military doctrine has no preemptive nuclear strike provision – source

Russia ICBM on Mobile Launcher

(Interfax – December 10, 2014) A new edition of the Russian military doctrine does not contain a preemptive nuclear strike provision but it clearly defines circumstances under which strategic nuclear forces can be used, a source involved in the drafting of the document told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday. “The updated version of the military doctrine will not have a provision regarding […]

» Read more

The ‘return’ of nuclear weapons: The current crisis unfolding in Ukraine has brought the issue of nuclear weapons back into sharp focus.

Russia ICBM on Mobile Launcher

(opendemocracy.net – NIKOLAI SOKOV – November 28, 2014) Dr Nikolai Sokov is a Senior Fellow at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Nonproliferation. The current crisis unfolding in Ukraine has brought the issue of nuclear weapons back into sharp focus. In recent years, nuclear disarmament has proved unexciting. The unilateral reduction of the US nuclear weapons stockpile under George W. […]

» Read more

Interfax: Moscow hopes six mediators, Iran overcome differences in further talks

Map of Iran with Stylized Radar Sweep and Radiation Symbol Background Image

MOSCOW. Nov 25 (Interfax) – Moscow hopes another extension of the six-party talks with Iran will be the last, says Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. “With respect to the decisions, the last four days have been more important than the last four months, and the issues that remain are so obvious and clear that we are very hopeful that […]

» Read more

Moscow Times: Iran Talks Show Why West Still Needs Russia

Iran Map and Flag

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – November 25, 2014) As Monday’s negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program failed to yield a deal and resulted in Iran, Russia, the U.S., China, Britain and Germany setting a new deadline of July 1, analysts hailed the talks as a rare remaining area of cooperation between Russia and the West. The U.S. recognizes […]

» Read more

Putin Proposing Molotov-Ribbentrop-Style Grand Bargain to West, Illarionov Says

Map of Iran with Stylized Radar Sweep and Radiation Symbol Background Image

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, November 13, 2014) Vladimir Putin is proposing the kind of grand bargain to Barack Obama that Hitler proposed to Neville Chamberlain and then to Joseph Stalin, in which the West would accept Russia’s annexation of Crimea in exchange for Moscow’s cooperation on Iran, according to Andrey Illarionov. Chamberlain rejected that bargain but […]

» Read more

Preventing nuclear threats trumps political fray: Russia and U.S. reaffirm nuclear security as priority over politics

Radioactivity Symbol

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Andrei Reznichenko, special to RBTH – October 30, 2014) Despite strained relations, the United States and Russia are continuing to collaborate on a radioactive waste management program that has been in place for the past 15 years. At the opening of the VI ATOMEX 2014 International Forum of Nuclear Industry Suppliers in Moscow […]

» Read more

A new nuclear arms race?

Russia ICBM on Mobile Launcher

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alexander Bratersky, special to RBTH- October 13, 2014) The current breakdown in bilateral relations between the U.S. and Russia has brought a return to rhetoric and attitudes previously associated with the Cold War. When a group of Russian high schoolers were shown an artificial launching site during an excursion to a Cold War-era […]

» Read more

Russia’s Nuclear Euphoria Ignores Reality

Russia ICBM on Mobile Launcher

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Golts – October 7, 2014) Muscovites are staging a campaign against Western sanctions called: “Fighting sanctions with fashion.” Participants trade in their old T-shirts with Western slogans for new shirts bearing such inscriptions as: “Sanctions? My Iskander laughs at sanctions,” or “The Topol couldn’t care less about sanctions” – references to Russia’s Iskander and […]

» Read more

Interfax: Gen. Baluyevsky: New Russian military doctrine to have no provisions on preventive nuke strike, potential enemy

Russia ICBM on Mobile Launcher

MOSCOW. Sept 5 (Interfax) – The updated Russian military doctrine will not designate a potential enemy and conditions of a preventive nuclear strike against it; such information is available in classified directives, former Russian General Staff Chief Gen. of the Army Yuri Baluyevsky, who co-authored the 2010 military doctrine of Russia, told Interfax-AVN on Friday. “The state military doctrine is […]

» Read more

Justice Ministry Adds Nuclear Research Center to ‘Foreign Agents’ List

Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – September 4, 2014) Russia’s Justice Ministry added a Moscow-based think tank that specializes in nuclear arms research to its controversial list of “foreign agents” on Wednesday. The designation means that the PIR Center, founded in 1994, has been found to receive funding from abroad and to conduct political activities, thus meeting two criteria that require […]

» Read more

Interfax: Russia’s NATO envoy says nuclear treaty debate is aimed at setting summit tone

File Photo of Nuclear Weapon, B61 Gravity Bomb

Brussels, 28 August: Attempts to draw NATO into a public discussion of Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (IRNFT) issues look artificial, Russia’s NATO envoy Aleksandr Grushko has said. “We noted that the stove piping on IRNFT came in the lead-up to the summit. This clearly benefits those who would like to present Russia as the enemy. Recall that the Treaty has […]

» Read more

Interfax: Moscow stays committed to INF Treaty despite new security threats – Russian Defense Ministry

File Photo of Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan at Table Signing Documents

(Interfax – August 14, 2014) Russia remains committed to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), although the situation has changed significantly in the world since this document was signed, and almost 30 countries hold such weapons today, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov has said. “One cannot fail to admit that the military and political situation in Europe and […]

» Read more

Interfax: Pushkov not ruling out Russia’s pull-out from INF treaty

Alexei Pushkov file photo

MOSCOW. Aug 14 (Interfax) – The head of the State Duma International Affairs Committee, Alexei Pushkov, has not ruled out the possibility that Russia could withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. “Russia is not planning a series of denunciations of international agreements but it could exit those which no longer meet its national interests, those such as the […]

» Read more

Moscow Times: Experts I.D. Russian Missile That U.S. Claims Breached Treaty

Iskander Tactical Nuclear Weapon with Mobile Launcher File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexey Eremenko – July 31, 2014) Russian analysts have tentatively identified the mysterious missile at the center of Washington’s recent claims that Moscow had violated a perestroika-era arms treaty, but have noted that the missile in question had never been used to target Ukraine. The Likely Culprit The deployment of Russia’s state-of-the-art R-500, a powerful […]

» Read more

Russia Beyond the Headlines: Loss of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex will cost Russia $938 million

File Photo of Russian Nuclear Missile on Mobile Launcher Near Woods

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Nikolai Litovkin, RBTH – July 23, 2014) The business newspaper Kommersant has reported the findings of a special working group of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), which has quantified the costs of ceased collaboration with Ukrainian military-industrial enterprises. Russia will need to spend $938 million (33 billion rubles) to mitigate the negative […]

» Read more

Interfax: Russia optimistic about comprehensive agreement on Iranian nuclear program – diplomat

Map of Iran with Stylized Radar Sweep and Radiation Symbol Background Image

(Interfax – June 12, 2014) Moscow welcomes progress in clearing a comprehensive agreement on the Iranian nuclear program before negotiations between the P5+1 group of world powers and Iran in Vienna, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said following a meeting with an Iranian delegation in Rome. “I can say in summing up the results that the work on a […]

» Read more

NEWSLINK: Why the US should keep cooperating with Russia on nuclear security

Radioactivity Symbol

[“Why the US should keep cooperating with Russia on nuclear security” – The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists – Peter E. Davis, Siegfried S. Hecker – May 29, 2014]  Stanford University’s Peter E. Davis and Siegfried S. Hecker consider U.S.-Russian cooperation on nuclear security in the aftermath of Russia’s annexation of occupied Crimea: We were surprised that without exception every one of our Russian […]

» Read more

Ukraine Crisis Stirs Fears of New Nuclear Arms Race

File Photo of Russian Nuclear Missile on Mobile Launcher Near Woods

(Voice of America – Cecily Hilleary – May 14, 2014) U.S. forces are conducting large-scale nuclear “deter and detect” drills this week, just days after Russia conducted similar military exercises simulating retaliatory strikes to a hypothetical U.S. or NATO nuclear attack. Their timing – during the tense standoff over Ukraine – combined with Cold-War-era rhetoric coming out of Moscow, have […]

» Read more

Russia-U.S. arms reduction: What future for START III?

File Photo of Stealth Bomber in Flight

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Viktor Litovkin, special to RBTH – April 10, 2014) The START III Treaty on arms reduction came into force in 2011 and is not due to expire until 2021. How effective is the agreement as a measure to limit the strategic offensive capabilities of Russia and the U.S., and do recent political differences threaten […]

» Read more

Interfax/Kommersant: U.S. to stop financing nuclear safety efforts in Russia – paper

File Photo of Russian Nuclear Missile on Mobile Launcher Near Woods

MOSCOW. April 8 (Interfax) – Washington has announced it is halting financing of work on improving the security of Russian nuclear facilities, citing its disagreement with Moscow’s actions in regard to Ukraine, national daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday. The U.S. has suspended all work on physical protection of nuclear facilities in Russia, National Nuclear Security Administration representative Anne Harrington said, […]

» Read more

Russia, US Complete Warheads-for-Fuel Program

File Photo of Russian Nuclear Missile on Mobile Launcher Near Woods

MOSCOW, April 7 (RIA Novosti) – The United States has completed payments under a historic agreement providing for the import of Russian highly-enriched uranium for electricity production, Russia’s state-owned uranium producer and trader Techsnabexport said Monday. “We received the final payment from the United States Enrichment Corporation in March,” the company said, adding that its obligations under a contract for […]

» Read more

What the Crimea crisis will do to US-Russia relations

File Photo of Stealth Bomber in Flight

(Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – thebulletin.org – Pavel Podvig – March 27, 2014) A physicist trained at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Podvig works on the Russian nuclear arsenal, US-Russian relations, and nonproliferation. … Over the years it has become cliché for commentators on US-Ru ssian affairs to observe that the relationship between the two countries has […]

» Read more

TEXT: Joint Statement by the United States and Ukraine

File Photo of Russian Nuclear Missile on Mobile Launcher Near Woods

(The White House – Office of the Press Secretary – For Immediate Release – March 25, 2014) On the occasion of the third Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague, the United States and Ukraine today reaffirm their strategic partnership and emphasize the important role of nuclear nonproliferation in that relationship.  The United States values its 20-year partnership with Ukraine on […]

» Read more

Ukraine not planning to restore nuclear status – ministry

File Photo of Russian Nuclear Missile on Mobile Launcher Near Woods

KYIV. March 25 (Interfax) – Ukraine is not planning to restore its status as a nuclear nation, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said. “Ukraine neither was, nor is planning to renew its nuclear status,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevhen Perebyinis said at a Tuesday briefing. Such a position was clearly expressed by Acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsa during his visit to the […]

» Read more
1 4 5 6 7 8