Tag: U.S.-Russian Relations
Putin doesn’t expect Western sanctions to be lifted soon, says Russia to keep countersanctions in place
MOSCOW. April 14 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin does not expect the Western sanctions to be lifted from Russia in the near future. “I don’t think our partners will decide to lift the restrictions and limitations from our country in the near future,” Putin said during a Q&A session on Thursday. “Even though the Minsk Agreements on southeastern Ukraine […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK The National Interest/Alexander Decina and Eugene Steinberg: “How to Play Putin’s Game in Syria. Moscow wants prestige. That means the conflict is not as zero-sum as it may seem.”
NEWSLINK RBTH/Izvestia: “Russian experts: U.S. can’t do without Russia in Syria. Russian and American servicemen are secretly working together in Syria as part of the fight against ISIS, say Russian analysts, who argue that cooperation is unavoidable”
Putin: Obama ‘Personally’ Invited Russian President to Nuclear Summit
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – April 8, 2016) Russian President Vladimir Putin said U.S. President Barack Obama had “personally” invited him to attend the nuclear summit held in Washington last week, but he declined over insufficient prominence offered to Russia at the event, and Moscow’s complaints about implementation of a disarmament deal. “Yes, I was invited, and […]
» Read moreRussia’s Inability to Deal with Its Past Imperils Its Future, Inozemtsev Says
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, April 7, 2016) Russians love to compare themselves and their country with others and especially with the United States and to ask why others have done better than they have, Vladislav Inozemtsev says; but in general, Russians focus on differences in economic, legal or belief systems rather than on the critical problem […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Mikhail Lesin’s Strange Death in U.S. Follows a Fall From Russia’s Elite” – New York Times
It took more than four months for the city’s medical examiner to announce the cause of death … not a heart attack … but rather ‘blunt force injuries.’ But the autopsy left the manner of death undetermined. … fuel[ing] speculation … Lesin might have been murdered, presumably by a financial or political rival …. *** police … continue to treat […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK Newsweek.com/Ben Nimmo: “PUTIN’S PARANOIA IS DRIVING HIS FOREIGN ADVENTURES”
The Soviet Adventures Of Steve Jobs
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Carl Schreck – April 1, 2016) In the summer of 1985, a young commercial attache at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow sat down with two representatives of the California computer company Apple who were visiting the heart of the Soviet empire. One was an “older guy,” the attache, Mike Merin, recalls. The other was “this lanky, […]
» Read moreTrump’s New Russia Adviser Has Deep Ties to Kremlin’s Gazprom
Carter Page brings a “real-world” resume-and says his close relations with Russian business are a strength. (Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Zachary Mider – March 30, 2016) A globe-trotting American investment banker who’s built a career on deals with Russia and its state-run gas company, Carter Page says his business has suffered directly from the U.S. economic sanctions imposed after Russia’s […]
» Read moreRussian Karjakin to Compete in Chess World Championship Title Match
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – March 30, 2016) Grandmaster Sergei Karjakin will become the first Russian since 2008 to compete in a title match of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) championship, after he defeated Fabiano Caruana of the United States in Moscow on Monday, according to an announcement on the FIDE website. Karjakin, playing the white pieces, […]
» Read moreNuclear cooperation still key for Russia, despite boycott of U.S. summit
Despite refusing to attend the final Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C., Moscow remains committed to nuclear nonproliferation and securing radioactive waste. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – VLADIMIR MIKHEEV, SPECIAL TO RBTH – March 30, 2016) Russia will not be in attendance at the fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit, taking place March 31-April 1 in Washington, D.C. […]
» Read moreBudweiser Is Having a Ball in Russia
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Ilya Khrennikov – March 30, 2016) Budweiser is enjoying an unlikely source of growth in Russia’s declining beer market, even as the all-American brand continues to struggle at home. In a country where brewing output has fallen more than 30 percent since 2008, the self-proclaimed King of Beers is growing sales at a double-digit pace, according […]
» Read moreRussian minister and U.S. ambassador discuss privatization, sanctions
(Interfax – March 28, 2016) The Russian privatization and sanctions against Russia were discussed during the meeting between Russian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev and UEc.S. Ambassador to Russia John Tefft in Moscow on March 28, along with other aspects of the Russia-U.S. trade and economic cooperation. “We have discussed a broad spectrum of the Russian-American economic ties, including both […]
» Read moreRussian, U.S. Chess Grandmasters Face-Off In World Champions Tournament
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – March 29, 2016) Eight of the world’s top chess grandmasters have converged on Moscow to compete for the right to challenge reigning World Chess Federation (FIDE) champion Magnus Carlsen for the championship title, the FIDE website reported. Going into the final round on Monday, Sergei Karjakin of Russia and Fabiano Caruana of the United States […]
» Read moreU.S. Embassy: No way of exchanging Savchenko for Bout and Yaroshenko
(Interfax – March 29, 2016) Washington is not considering the possibility of exchanging Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, who has been sentenced in Russia to 22 years in prison, for Russian citizens Konstantin Yaroshenko and Viktor Bout, currently serving prison terms in the United States for drug trafficking and arms dealing respectively, the U.S. Embassy in Russia has said. “No, we […]
» Read moreTRANSCRIPT: [Putin] Meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry
Vladimir Putin received in the Kremlin US Secretary of State John Kerry. Mr Kerry arrived for a meeting with the Russian President after his talks with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Secretary of State, colleagues, I would like to heartily welcome all of you here. We are always glad to host you as your […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “U.S.-Russia thaw? Kerry arrives in Moscow for Syria talks. Though a breakthrough is unlikely, there is a growing cooperation on Syria, which many Russians hope will ease the tensions between the Washington and Moscow.” – Christian Science Monitor
It Isn’t Time to Normalize With Russia Yet
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Marc Champion – March 22, 2016) Marc Champion writes editorials on international affairs. He was previously Istanbul bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal. He was also an editor at the Financial Times, the editor-in-chief of the Moscow Times and a correspondent for the Independent in Washington, the Balkans and Moscow. He is based in London. […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH Reuters: “Risk of nuclear war in Europe growing, warns Russian ex-minister [Igor Ivanov]”
The East-West standoff over the Ukraine crisis has brought the threat of nuclear war in Europe closer than at any time since the 1980s…. said Igor Ivanov, Russia’s foreign minister from 1998 to 2004 and now head of a Moscow-based think-tank founded by the Russian government. … Russia and the United States have cut their nuclear arsenals [but] the pace […]
» Read moreInterfax: Russia submits proposals to U.S. on monitoring truce in Syria
(Interfax – March 21, 2016) The Russian Defense Ministry submitted proposals on the provision and monitoring of the cessation of hostilities in Syria to the United States on Feb. 25 through military diplomatic channels, Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi, head of the Main Operative Department of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, has said. “This document specifies a mechanism of consultations […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “How Putin Could Make Russia Great Again” – Newsweek.com/William Courtney, Donald Jensen
After Russia annexed Crimea … Obama dismissed it as a regional power that acts ‘out of weakness.’ [ ] Russia is more … but a penchant for zero-sum statecraft and coercing neighbors lessens its stature. By cooperating more in the international arena, Russia could become a greater power. … Putin’s announcement of a military drawdown in Syria hints that Russia […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “SYRIA: U.S.-RUSSIAN TEPID WAR. Syria appears unlikely to serve as a vehicle to improve the wider U.S.-Russia relationship in any sustainable way. A U.S.-Russian Tepid War can still lead to plenty of collateral damage.” – Valdai/Paul Saunders
NEWSWATCH: “Don’t Fear the Russians” – New York Times/Anatol Lieven
Writing in the New York Times, Anatol Lieven argues for greater U.S.-Russian engagement on Ukraine and Syria. If you believe many of the commentators and policy makers in Washington … Putin … is an expansionist on the march. … he annexed Crimea and fueled a destabilizing conflict in eastern Ukraine. … intervened in the Syrian civil war and rescued his […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “What is the best way to describe Vladimir Putin’s Russia?” – Reuters/John Lloyd
In January of this year, a British judge, Robert Owen, said … Putin … was ‘probably’ a murderer. * * * Litvinenko’s widow, Marina … called on Prime Minister David Cameron to expel all Russian spies … and for a range of … sanctions … on several figures close to the murder … includ[ing Putin] himself. * * * In […]
» Read moreTRANSCRIPT: “Ukrainian Reforms Two Years After the Maidan Revolution and the Russian Invasion” – Senate Testimony by Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland
(U.S. Department of State – March 15, 2016) Testimony of Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Statement Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Washington, DC As prepared Thank you Chairman Corker, Ranking Member Cardin, members of this committee for the opportunity to join you today and for the personal investment so many of you have made […]
» Read moreRussia ups investment in U.S. Treasuries $4.8 billion in January
MOSCOW. March 16 (Interfax) – Russia increased investment in US Treasuries for the third successive month in January, this time by approximately $4.8 billion, according to data from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve. Russian investment in UST grew $6.1 billion last year as a whole. Russia, which held $96.9 billion in UST at the end […]
» Read moreObama: ‘Putin is Not Completely Stupid’
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – March 11, 2016) Vladimir Putin wants to be seen as the peer of U.S. leaders and remains businesslike during top-level meetings, U.S. President Barack Obama said in an interview published in the April issue of U.S. magazine The Atlantic. Despite the Kremlin’s official rhetoric, Obama said Putin “understands that Russia’s overall position […]
» Read moreHawks See Obama’s NATO Pick as Soft on Russia
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Josh Rogin – March 11, 2016) At a crucial moment in the U.S. relationship with Europe, President Barack Obama has chosen a No. 2 for NATO whom some Republican lawmakers see as the face of a wrongheaded approach to Russia. On Tuesday, the Obama administration informed NATO allies that it will recommend the undersecretary of state […]
» Read moreU.S. officials unhappy with Russian plans to upgrade spy planes
Russia plans to enhance the surveillance technology it uses to observe the territory of the U.S. and Canada – but American officials have expressed concern over the plans. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – NIKOLAI SHEVCHENKO, RBTH – March 14, 2016) U.S. officials want Washington to deny Russia the right to observe strategic infrastructure facilities in the U.S. from […]
» Read moreObama: Ukraine ‘Vulnerable’ To Russian ‘Military Domination’ No Matter What U.S. Does
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – March 10, 2016) U.S. President Barack Obama said that Ukraine “is going to be vulnerable to military domination by Russia no matter what” the United States does. In one of a series of interviews published on March 10 that formed the basis of an article in The Atlantic magazine, Obama said that Ukraine was clearly a […]
» Read moreTwo Faces of Russia’s Foreign Policy
(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Maxim Trudolyubov – March 9, 2016) Originally many in the West tended to view Russia’s Syrian adventure as yet another one of “Moscow’s gambits.” Commentators described Ukraine and Syria in the same breath. But Russia is eager to demonstrate that the two projects could hardly be more different and that Moscow can be two things […]
» Read moreThe U.S. Election’s Echoes of 1996 Russia
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Leonid Bershidsky – March 7, 2016) The very strange U.S. presidential election bears some surprising similarities to the 1996 campaign in Russia — a momentous event that undermined a fragile democracy and led to the emergence of Vladimir Putin’s dictatorial regime. This precedent could be especially telling if Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump end up their […]
» Read moreNancy Reagan played important role in improving U.S-USSR relations – Gorbachev
MOSCOW. March 7 (Interfax) – Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has expressed grief over the death of former U.S. First Lady Nancy Reagan. “It was with deep sorrow that I learnt the sad news and I can rightfully say: well done, Nancy! She said to Ronald Reagan: when you quit the post of U.S. president, you need to go as […]
» Read moreMoscow grateful to U.S. for return of stolen archive documents, expect such cooperation in other areas – foreign ministry
MOSCOW. March 4 (Interfax) – The Russian Foreign Ministry hails the return from the U.S. of the documents that disappeared from Russian archives, back in 1990s, and hopes that this experience in Russia-U.S. cooperation will be in demand in other areas too. “We are grateful to the American side for the cooperation in the discovery and repatriation to Russia of […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “US returns stolen archival material to Russia” – AP
Russian media silent as U.S. extends sanctions against Moscow
The U.S. has extended its economic sanctions regime against Russia. While the mass media kept quiet on the news, one or two outlets speculated about the possible reasons behind the decision as well as about the likely outcome of a coming EU vote on whether to follow suit. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – NIKOLAI SHEVCHENKO, SPECIAL TO RBTH […]
» Read moreWhy Russia sympathizes with Trump: Super Tuesday in the Russian press
Following big wins for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the contests for the Republican and Democratic nominations for the U.S. presidency on Super Tuesday, Russian media offered their interpretations of the leading candidates’ credentials. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – ANNA SOROKINA, RBTH – March 3, 2016) Super Tuesday, the day on which 11 U.S. states hold their […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Russia Achieves Tactical Success in the Middle East, But No Strategic Victory; Russia needs good ties with the West more than short-term gains in Ukraine and Syria” – Thomas Graham/YaleGlobal Online
… From the beginning of its military operation in Syria, Moscow has operated on the now indisputable proposition that … rampant unrest in the Middle East and … mounting challenges to the unity of the European Union are inextricably linked. The wager was that Europe would eventually seize an offer of cooperation in Syria to constrict the migrant flow and […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK TASS: “Thomas Graham: US-Russian relations have entered a new era. One of the leading US experts on Russia, Thomas Graham, in an interview with TASS.”
Russia, Syria Said Using Migrant Crisis As ‘Weapon’ Against West
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – March 2, 2016) NATO’s top commander warned that Russia and Syria have turned the refugee crisis into a “weapon” against the West at a time when it lacks resources to counter a “resurgent, aggressive” Russia. U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, who commands the 28-member military alliance, said the flow of hundreds of thousands of migrants […]
» Read moreInterfax: Russia ready to resume cooperation with USA but has little trust – top diplomat
(Interfax – February 29, 2016) Moscow is ready to resume all types of cooperation with Washington but is losing trust in it as a reliable partner, a top Russian diplomat said on 29 February, according to privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax. “Moscow will be ready to resume cooperation at any time and through all channels, including within the presidential commission, […]
» Read moreFitch Says Russia Forces Choice Between Sanctions and Ratings
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Anna Baraulina, Anna Andrianova – February 29, 2016) Fitch Ratings Ltd. said it will probably stop issuing local ratings on Russian companies under new rules that make it impossible to abide by European Union and U.S. sanctions against Moscow. The rules create a dilemma for international firms because they run counter to the penalties imposed by […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “US and Russia in partnership over Syria” – BBC
NEWSLINK Indian Punchline/M.K.Bhadrakumar: “Putin can’t bend like Beckam, tensions with US will rise.
The Presidential Candidates’ Views on Russia
Subject: The Presidential Candidates’ Views on Russia Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2016 18:56:45 +0000 From: Melinda Wuellner <mwuellner@cfr.org> Council on Foreign Relations CFR has developed a tool that compares the U.S. presidential candidates’ positions on eleven different issues (immigration, trade, ISIS, Iran, and much more). Our team of journalists continuously updates this guide with an aim to offer independent, nonpartisan […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Obama’s Ukraine policy in shambles. Distracted by ISIL, frustrated by infighting in Kyiv, the administration makes little progress against Putin in Europe.” – Politico/Michael Crowley
NEWSLINK: “America Needs Russian Cooperation in Syria. Washington should be clear-eyed about what Moscow can bring to the table.” – The National Interest/Adriel Kasonta
NEWSLINK TASS: “Moscow expects no warming in relations with US after presidential elections – diplomat”
NEWSWATCH: “Trump being advised by ex-U.S. Lieutenant General who favors closer Russia ties [Lieutenant General Michael Flynn]” – Reuters
Donald Trump is receiving foreign policy advice from a former U.S. military intelligence chief who wants the United States to work more closely with Russia to resolve global security issues … three sources … former foreign policy officials in past administrations, said retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, who was chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency under … Obama … 2012-2014, […]
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