(Ambassador Michael McFaul – Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – February 8, 2013 – Michael Mcfaul is the U.S. Ambassador in Russia) A year ago, I arrived in Moscow to represent my country as the U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation. This is a good moment to reflect on the state of U.S.-Russian relations and my role in developing […]
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WASHINGTON, February 11 (By Carl Schreck for RIA Novosti) As commander-in-chief of the US armed forces, President Barack Obama has the power to act unilaterally to drastically slash Washington’s deployed nuclear arsenal-an initiative he reportedly hopes to explore with Russian President Vladimir Putin and is planning to address in his State of the Union speech Tuesday. “If he has […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 12 (Interfax) – A total of 69 Georgian wine and mineral water producers have applied to export product to Russia, Russian consumer safety watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said. “All of the documents received have been forwarded to Rospotrebnadzor experts for study. Priority will be given to those 31 organizations that have submitted information for the documentary check in full. The […]
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YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK. Feb 11 (Interfax) – The Russian Foreign Ministry’s office in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk has suggested to the Sakhalin division of the Russian Geographic Society naming an unnamed Kuril island after Soviet diplomat Andrei Gromyko. The Sakhalin division backed the proposal and submitted it to the Moscow office of the Russian Geographic Society for approval, Vladimir Nosov, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s representative […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – February 11, 2013) Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, said Friday that they had agreed to end their dispute over the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which Russia rents from the Central Asian nation. Putin, who received Nazarbayev in the Kremlin, said that amid increasing cooperation between the two countries, there […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, 10 February) The USA needs to be inured to conducting business on the basis of equality and respect for mutual interests, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. “The USA will not change overnight. It has to be inured to the fact that business can only be conducted on the basis of equality, the balance of interests […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Eradzh Nidoev – February 11, 2013) Unless you have traveled forward in time from the beginning of the 20th century, writing rhymes might not seem like the hippest thing to do. Such an old-fashioned skill probably won’t even get you a date. But this preconception is changing thanks to a group of young poets who […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 11 (Interfax) – The Russian Presidential Experts Directorate has compiled several measures aimed at de-offshorization of the Russian economy, the head of the directorate, Ksenia Yudaeva, said. As well as privatization inside Russia, reforming regulations for investing pension savings and easing the tax regime for investors, the measures suggested include the creation of a special arbitration court and […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 8 (Interfax) – The Russian Foreign Ministry has recommended that the Culture Ministry and the Russian State Library go to court to claim a fine imposed on the U.S. Library of Congress for holding seven books lent to it in 1994 from the so-called Schneerson Library, i.e. a collection of tens of thousands of old Judaic books and […]
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NOVO-OGARYOVO. Feb 11 (Interfax) – President Vladimir Putin has emphasized the need for “soft force” mechanisms in Russian Foreign Ministry operations. “Obviously, ‘classic’ diplomacy is, if not particularly out of date, then seriously transformed. You and your colleagues have to deal with the economy, developing business relations, supporting various economic projects and opening new promising markets,” Putin told Russian Foreign […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova and Oleg Sukhov – February 11, 2013) A Moscow court on Saturday placed outspoken leftist opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov under house arrest in connection with criminal charges that he orchestrated anti-government riots last year. The ruling marks the first time since the rise of the opposition movement in December 2011 following disputed State […]
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(RIA Novosti – February 9, 2013) The number of supporters of the Soviet political system among Russians is growing, and the number of supporters of Western-style democracies is falling, Russian RIA Novosti news agency reported on 8 February, quoting an opinion poll carried out by Levada Centre. According to political analysts, an increase in the number of supporters of the […]
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(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 23 – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – Pavel Felgenhauer – February 7, 2013) According to Russian diplomatic sources, during a meeting last weekend in Munich on the sidelines of the annual international security conference, United States Vice President Joseph Biden assured Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Washington wants to put bilateral relations “back […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 7 (Interfax) – Russia will soon present the UN with the results of its research on the extent of the continental shelf in the central Sea of Okhotsk, and later in the Arctic Ocean more than 200 miles from the shore, official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Lukashevich said at a Thursday briefing. “Russia has long […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Michael Bohm – February 8, 2013) Michael Bohm is opinion page editor of The Moscow Times. Russia’s ban on U.S. adoptions has been accompanied by a massive propaganda campaign filled with many distortions and fabrications. Below are the 10 largest myths spread by children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov, United Russia Deputy Vyacheslav Nikonov and other […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Alaa Omar, special to RBTH – February 8, 2013) In response to Russia’s support of Bashar Assad in Syria, Russia has been condemned in Arab media and press as hostile to Islam, exporting only “immoral values” to the region. Independent journalist and political analyst Alaa Omar takes a look at the other side […]
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MOSCOW, February 8 (RIA Novosti) – The United States has expressed its readiness to cooperate with Russia’s Investigative Committee (IC) in legal cases involving violence against Russian children adopted by Americans, committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said on Friday. In the course of a working meeting on Wednesday, Investigative Committee officials handed a letter from IC head Alexander Bastrykin to US […]
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(Interfax – February 8, 2013) Half of Russia’s trade turnover is with the EU, and EU countries are the main sources of foreign investment in the Russian economy despite the crisis, Russia’s permanent envoy to the EU Vladimir Chizhov told reporters before Diplomats’ Day, which is marked on Feb. 10. “Russian-EU relations can’t stagnate because the Russian economy and the […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 7 (Interfax) – The rate of Russian economic growth this year will not be any more than 3%-3.5%, Citi economist for Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States countries Natalya Novikova thinks. Novikova told the press on Thursday that Citi analysts are not expecting a significant decline in the price of oil this year, but the problem for the […]
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(www.opendemocracy.net – Ivan Krastev – February 7, 2013) Ivan Krastev is chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia, and permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna (IWM). The incompatibility of an anachronistic and arbitrary regime with the modern world is leading many to consider that democratic change is possible likely even in Russia. But […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Elena Shipilova, RBTH – February 8, 2013) Russia is set to privatize three large-scale holdings in 2013, and Putin wants shares sold on the Russian market. Experts, however, believe privatizing state-owned companies via the Moscow Stock Exchange as opposed to London or New York is likely to make them less successful, […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova – February 8, 2013) The countrywide celebrations marking the one-year countdown to the start of the Winter Olympics in Sochi were overshadowed Thursday by a high-profile dismissal at the Russian Olympic Committee. During a two-day inspection of Olympic construction sites, President Vladimir Putin fired the committee’s deputy president, Akhmed Bilalov, because of skyrocketing […]
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(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – Tatiana Stanovaya – February 7, 2013 – imrussia.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=386:medvedevs-government-a-vegetative-life&catid=53:politics&Itemid=95&lang=en) A large-scale campaign directed against Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev is underway in the Russian media. It is difficult to say who is behind itMedvedev’s opponents include the security services, liberals, Putinists, and even his own former backers. Tatiana Stanovaya, head of the analytical department at […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – February 8, 2013) Japan scrambled four fighter jets to intercept two Russian fighters it said invaded Japanese airspace near Russia’s Kuril Islands for about 11 seconds on Thursday, as Japan celebrated a national day of commemoration calling for the disputed archipelago seized in World War II to return to the Japanese. Russia’s […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – February 8, 2013) Investigators on Thursday raided the apartment of Vladimir Ashurkov, director of the Foundation for Fighting Corruption and an anti-Kremlin activist, in connection with a criminal case against opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Navalny, who started the foundation, is accused of stealing 100 million rubles ($3.3 million) from the now-defunct Union […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – February 8, 2013) Eleven prominent rights groups have sent a complaint against Russia’s so-called foreign agent law, which targets NGOs engaged in political activities, to the European Court of Human Rights. The organizations argued on Thursday that the legislation violates the Constitution and fundamental human rights such as the freedoms […]
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(RFE/RL – www.rferl.org – Daisy Sindelar – February 8, 2013) Many people enjoy the fireworks and celebrations that come with Chinese New Year. Not everyone, however, is enthusiastic about the upcoming Year of the Snake, which begins February 10. For one thing, the Year of the Snake is traditionally considered a less fortuitous cycle in the 12-year Chinese zodiac than […]
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MOSCOW, February 8 (RIA Novosti) The market value of Russia’s government owned assets is more than 50 percent higher than the country’s 2012 GDP, but the authorities say the property’s management is not always effective. The Russian government held a meeting Thursday to try to work out a concept in the sphere of managing federal property. Russia’s Federal Agency […]
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(Interfax – February 7, 2013) Russian Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev has said that public officials of all levels should leave the boards of directors of state companies, Russian privately-owned Interfax news agency reported on 7 February. He also criticized the procedure for approving state company directors. “In future only professional directors should work on boards; state employees should leave,” Medvedev […]
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Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2013 From: Mary McGuire <mcguire@freedomhouse.org> Subject: New Report: U.S. Needs Post-Reset Policy on Russia Freedom House FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Mary McGuire at +1-202-747-7035 or mobile, +1-202-683-0909 New Report: U.S. Needs Post-Reset Policy on Russia Washington February 6, 2013 As President Obama enters his second term, he and his administration should formulate an approach […]
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PARIS. Feb 6 (Interfax) – Moscow continues to insist on being provided with legally-binding guarantees by NATO, and primarily the United States, that the missile defense system being deployed in Europe will not be targeted against Russia, State Duma Chairman Sergei Naryshkin said at debates with French National Assembly deputies. “We need guarantees backed by objective technical parameters that this […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – February 7, 2013) Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday that the “number of phony doctorates surpasses all possible limits,” and that he supported a crackdown on plagiarism in Ph.D. dissertations. Allegations of plagiarized dissertations have hit some of the state’s highest officials, including Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky and even President Vladimir Putin, who the Brookings […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – February 7, 2013) One year before the Winter Olympics are to kick off, it looks like Sochi 2014 is getting mired in controversy. While the country’s leaders have made it clear that the Olympics are a matter of national pride and prestige, national and international media attention is increasingly focused on […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Yulia Ponomareva, Combined report – February 7, 2013) Disputes about Stalin’s role in history have flared up again, as the legislature of the city of Volgograd rules that the city shall be called Stalingrad on dates commemorating key anniversaries of World War II. Volgograd, one of 15 Russian cities with a population of […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 6, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/02/window-on-eurasia-russian-regions.html) Encouraged by Vladimir Putin, Russian regions over the last year have come up with new and often harshly reactionary legislation that taken together has the effect of undermining something the incumbent Russian president took so much pride in creating during his first two terms, a common legal […]
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(Interfax – February 6, 2013) A senior Russian government minister has dismissed allegations that migrant workers involved in preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi are being cheated out of wages and denied adequate rest, food and housing, the privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported on 6 February. With almost exactly a year to go until the Games, Dmitriy […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova – February 7, 2013) [Chart here http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/sochi-scorecard-lots-of-progress-but-lots-to-be-done/475172.html] An inflatable 8-meter brown bear floating off into the Moscow sunset followed by applause from the stands during the closing ceremony of the 1980 Summer Olympics is perhaps one of the most colorful moments in the country’s sports history. It took Russia 30 years to win […]
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(Interfax – February 7, 2013) Despite the fact that members of the Kirov regional Legislative Assembly have dropped the idea of holding a vote of no confidence in Governor Nikita Belykh, his possible dismissal is still under consideration, Vedomosti reported on Thursday. “The issue of Belykh’s dismissal has not been removed from the agenda, and it is still quite likely,” […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – February 7, 2013) The government reported on Wednesday that there were around 2,500 more deaths than births in Russia last year, representing a steep decline in the natural population loss but also a 20th straight year of natural decrease in the country. President Vladimir Putin and other top officials have in recent […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Ekaterina Zabrovskaya, Combined report – February 6, 2013) Following a reported Israeli air strike on Syria in late January, the Russian Foreign Ministry has called for another gathering of parties in the Syria Action Group. Russia hopes to continuing working within the framework of the Geneva Communiqué, which was adopted at the last […]
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(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 21 – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – Roger McDermott – February 5, 2013) Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is considering signing into law a new “defense plan,” setting out in a comprehensive document the long-term threat assessment and strategic environment facing Russia over the next few decades. It will mark an effort on a grand […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – February 4, 2013) Anna Arutunyan is the politics editor of The Moscow News Just when I thought I was done, they pull me back in. Nearly one year since the girls staged the punk rock dance that got two of them sent to penal colonies, they are still one of the world’s […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova – February 4, 2013) The story, as told by Yekaterinburg-based journalist Aksana Panova on her Facebook page, is nothing short of amazing. Znak.com, an online portal where Panova works, decided to place banners with quotes from the Russian Constitution on the city streets. The banners went up – but not without a struggle. […]
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(Caucasus Reporting Service – Issue 674 – IWPR Institute for War & Peace Reporting – iwpr.net – Sofo Bukia) From: “IWPR Institute for War & Peace Reporting” <mailing@iwpr.net> Subject: Caucasus Reporting Service – Issue 674 Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2013 Despite their election defeat last October, President Mikhail Saakashvili’s political allies want the Georgian constitution to be changed to force […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 6 (Interfax) – Negotiations on peace and security could help build confidence between North Korea and the other participants in the six-party talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Russian Ambassador to Pyongyang Alexander Timonin said. “As follows from the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s and the State Defense Committee’s recent statements, Pyongyang also does not object to […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Lena Smirnova – February 6, 2013) Bill Mayfield is utterly convinced Russia is ready to embrace more expat workers. He’s so sure it’s not hard for foreigners even those who don’t speak a single word of Russian to find work here that he’s written a book about it. “What are expats good at […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – February 6, 2013) Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov on Tuesday asked for an additional $1.4 billion in farming subsidies this year, as grain prices are growing and WTO commitments are taking effect. Total federal spending on supporting farmers was initially projected at 158 billion rubles ($5.3 billion) this year. Following a less-than-spectacular crop […]
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(Interfax – February 6, 2013) The share of food and beverages (including alcohol) in the consumer basket of Russians is one of the highest in the world, said the Central Bank. That share is 37.7% in Russia, versus 23.1% in Brazil, 21.6% in South Africa, 19.1% in Japan, 5.3% in the USA and 13.5% in Germany. In India, the share […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 6 (Interfax) – The law on “foreign agent” NGOs has not had a legal effect as yet, Presidential Human Rights Council Chairman Mikhail Fedotov told a press conference at Interfax. “The law in its current form has had a psychological rather than legal effect,” he noted. Not a single organization has been registered as a foreign agent, Fedotov […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Kristen Blyth – February 4, 2013) He’s young and slim, with a narrow face and dark beard. Deeply religious and intensely conservative, he supports all the precepts of traditional Christian values: church, family, God. He’s anti-abortion, anti-homosexuality, and opposes teaching evolution in schools. “It’s crazy to think that the world is millions or billions of […]
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