(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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WASHINGTON, February 4 (RIA Novosti) The US State Department’s top arms control official will visit Moscow next week to discuss a range of bilateral issues with her Russian counterparts, the State Department said Monday. Rose Gottemoeller, the US undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, is scheduled to hold three days of meetings with Russian officials, beginning […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – February 5, 2013) The Justice Ministry has called on the ministry’s regional branches to get approval from the central office before applying the controversial law on “foreign agents.” The move was prompted by the Saratov branch issuing a warning to a local non-governmental organization that the central office considered “not fully lawful,” Vedomosti reported Monday, […]
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(Interfax – February 3, 2013) Recognition that no clues can be found to the most acute present-day problems without Russia ranks among major results of the Munich Security Conference, said State Duma International Affairs Committee Chairman Alexei Pushkov. “The speakers conveyed one fundamental idea: in NATO’s opinion it will be extremely difficult to find solutions to global present-day problems without […]
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(RIA Novosti – Fyodor Lukyanov – January 31, 2013) Fyodor Lukyanov is Editor-in-Chief of the Russia in Global Affairs journal, an authoritative source of expertise on Russian foreign policy and global developments – eng.globalaffairs.ru Soft power has become the recent focus of discussion around Russia’s foreign policy. Observers argue that Moscow, which still believes in the decisive role of […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 31 (Interfax) – The main risks that Russia faces are not external, but internal, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at an expanded government session on Thursday. “And all the main risks are not external, but internal. I’m referring to the forecast reductions in the working-age population, the low quality of state management, the far-from-ideal investment climate, the […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 30 (Interfax) – The attempts of the new Georgian authorities to improve relations with Russia have affected the attitudes of Russians toward that country, sociological studies indicate. Presently, the number of positive comments on Georgia exceeds the number of negative, sociologists from the Levada Center told Interfax on Wednesday. Thus, while in January last year 36% of Russians […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – January 28, 2013) When Ali applied for asylum in Austria, he thought that any kind of life would be better than facing rampant power abuses in Russia’s restive republic of Chechnya. Instead, he found himself fending off questions about whether he was a terrorist. And the scrutiny continued after his asylum was […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 28 (Interfax) – The State Duma is ready to accept apologies from television journalist Vladimir Pozner, saying the draft “Pozner law” will be “put on hold.” Pozner apologized for his earlier criticism of the State Duma on his program on Sunday evening. After that criticism, parliamentarians drew up a bill prohibiting journalists who have another country’s citizenship in […]
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(Government.ru – January 23, 2013) Question (as translated): Good morning! We have Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev here today. Forty-five minutes from now, he will deliver a keynote speech here in Davos, at the World Economic Forum. Mr Prime Minister, thank you for coming. By the way, you are the first leader who agreed to be interviewed without wearing a […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Jonas Parello-Plesner – January 24, 2013) Jonas is Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He served as Denmark’s Senior Advisor on China and North East Asia from 2005-2009. Russia-watchers have long been interested in her place on the international arena. Now, with China at the centre of the growing power game, the question […]
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(Russia in Global Affairs/Russia Beyond the Headlines – Fyodor Lukyanov – January 14, 2013) Fyodor Lukyanov is the editor-in-chief of the journal Russia in Global Affairs and chairman of the Presidium Council for Foreign and Defense Policy. First published in Russian in Russia in Global Affairs. The year 1913 figured as a sort of milestone for the Soviet Union and […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – January 15, 2013) When President Vladimir Putin gave Russian citizenship to French actor Gerard Depardieu, the story became the biggest Internet hit and a subject of political controversy over the long New Year’s vacation. It was the first time in modern Russian history that someone who was not a former spy but […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – January 15, 2013) President Vladimir Putin has introduced a bill into the State Duma calling for tougher penalties for Russians and foreigners who violate registration rules, in a bid to “civilize” internal migration. The bill, introduced into the lower house of Parliament last Wednesday, echoed an earlier proposal by Russian lawmakers to […]
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(Russia in Global Affairs – Igor Zevelev – 27 December 2012 – http://eng.globalaffairs.ru/number/A-New-Realism-for-the-21st-Century-15817) Igor Zevelev is Doctor of Political Science. Resume: Maintaining a balance between the Euro-Atlantic vector and the Asian-Pacific vector of Russian foreign policy should not be a game of U-turns one way or the other, but should rather be characterized by flexibility and readiness to adapt to […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 4 (Interfax) – A Russian analyst has argued that this year Russian President Vladimir Putin will keep the leading role in global politics attributed to him by Foreign Policy magazine, which declared Putin the world’s most influential political, business and public figure in 2012. “The fact that President Putin is recognized as the most influential person of the […]
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[USA to reckon with ‘Putin factor’ after magazine power rating – pundits – BBC Monitoring/Ekho Moskvy Radio – January 4, 2013 – no open link exists to this product] Ekho Moskvy Radio addresses what it terms Foreign Policy magazine’s move to call Russian President Vladimir Putin the world’s the most powerful person, including the fact that the magazine actually listed […]
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(Voice of America – Russian Service Crossfire – Donald N. Jensen – January 3, 2013) Russian state has struggled unsuccessfully since 1991 to reconcile three disparate, somewhat contradictory sources of legitimacy. It portrays itself as democratic, but the trashing of the 1990s by the Putin regime deprives the current system of a founding myth. During the Putin era there have […]
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(Interfax – January 2, 2013) Moscow does not rule out negotiations on Russia’s entry to the OECD may be accompanied by “political risks” linked to the case of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergey Magnitskiy’s death, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s economic cooperation department Aleksandr Gorban said, as reported by Interfax on 2 January. “These concerns are fair. There are […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 21, 2012) A local human rights organization has become the first NGO to voluntarily submit an application for being registered as a foreign agent to better understand the practical implementation of the new law regulating activities of nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign funds. Human rights organization Shchit i Mech, or Shield and Sword, registered […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 12 (Interfax) – State Duma International Affairs Committee Chairman Alexei Pushkov has stressed the importance of foreign policy provisions in the state-of-the-nation address presented by President Vladimir Putin to parliament on Friday. “This (foreign policy) part of the presidential message contained a number of significant provisions, primarily the emphasis on the sovereignty of Russia and its policy. The […]
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(RIA Novosti – Dec. 10, 2012) Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks that Russia must find its place in the geopolitical transformation (of the world), but not on conditions of confrontation. “In this geopolitical transformation, we must find our place. Can we do it? Of course we can, with our vast territory, with our traditions, with our growing economy. But, without […]
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MOSCOW, December 12 (RIA Novosti) President Vladimir Putin warned against foreign interference in Russia’s domestic affairs during his state-of-the-nation address Wednesday, casting local political actors who get money from abroad as a fifth column serving foreign interests. “Direct or indirect interference from outside in our internal political processes is unacceptable,” he said. Someone “who receives money from abroad for […]
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[Russia may change its image in bid to find more allies – Russia Today – Dec. 3, 2012 – http://rt.com/politics/russia-change-bid-find-128/] Russia Today writes on Russian foreign policy ambitions following an assembly of Russia’s Council for Foreign and Defence Policy. In part, Russia Today cited attendees as highlighting military spending, including conventional forces: Conference members also observed that in modern times […]
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MOSCOW. Nov 27 (Interfax) – President Vladimir Putin’s video address on December 1 will highlight Russia’s priorities as the G20’s coordinator, the daily Kommersant wrote on Tuesday. “Putin’s special video address will highlight the strategy of Russia’s presidency in this organization,” the newspaper writes. Also, a Web site will be launched on December 1 to cover Russia’s G20 presidency, it […]
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(The Caucasus Emirate Goes Global – Stratfor.com – Gordon Hahn – Dr. Gordon M. Hahn is Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. – www.stratfor.com/other-voices/caucasus-emirate-goes-global) Gordon Hahn writes on the influences of international Islamic terrorism upon unrest in the Caucasus: For a decade almost all observers ignored, downplayed, and obfuscated an ugly truth about […]
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MOSCOW. Oct 31 (Interfax) – Civil Society Development Fund Head Konstantin Kostin thinks there is no reason to criticize the latest amendments to the Law on State Secrets. He called the negative reaction of certain human rights activists “emotional.” “I have seen nothing extraordinary in these amendments. Any country wants to protect its interests, including state secrets,” he told Interfax […]
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MOSCOW. Oct 31 (Interfax) – The procedure for registering NGOs – foreign agents proposed by the Justice Ministry is comparable to Stalinist methods, head of the Agora human rights association Pavel Chikov said. “The document forms are reminiscent of Soviet documents for confessing guilt of spying for the benefit of foreigners in the 1930s – when, where, under what circumstances, […]
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(Irina Filatova – Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – October 9, 2012) The European Union might be dragging out the possible cancellation of the visa regime with Russia, since the main reason this goal can’t be reached could be of a political nature, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday. “We have a feeling that … the reasons on the side of […]
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Yekaterina Kravtsova – Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – September 24, 2012 The State Duma tentatively approved a bill on Friday to broaden the legal definition of high treason, seen by human rights groups as part of a continuing crackdown on foreign-funded organizations in Russia. While lawmakers contend that the bill would make the work of law enforcement authorities more effective, […]
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By Natalya Krainova – Moscow Times – September 19, 2012 President Vladimir Putin has revised the state’s repatriation program, simplifying the process for former compatriots to move back to Russia and bring relatives along with them. But analysts doubt that the changes will significantly alter migration flows. Earlier this year, the president said that if the demographic decline is not […]
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