MOSCOW. Sept 24 (Interfax) – Russian Accounts Chamber head Alexei Kudrin has announced an upcoming visit to Russia by representatives of the U.S. Government Accountability Office, who will exchange experience with their Russian colleagues. “We are expecting a delegation from the U.S. as early as next year,” Kudrin told reporters at the XVIII INTOSAI Congress after the signing of a […]
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“… Condoleezza Rice … asked whether Russian meddling swung the 2016 election …: ‘I don’t think there is any evidence of that. … I really don’t think that that’s a good conversation to have. … that really does devalue the people … who decided to vote for … Trump . … [L]et’s give … credit to … Americans who went […]
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MOSCOW. Sept 12 (Interfax) – Russia is ready to discuss with the United States alternative solutions on the issue of prolonging the New START Treaty if Washington expresses its readiness to achieve them, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. “We will continue working on getting the Americans to have a substantive discussion of these ideas, or to discuss some […]
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“… Deripaska’s debt shuffle is part of a shift in the Russian economy that accelerated when the West began to impose sanctions … after Moscow annexed the Crimean Peninsula and launched a covert military operation in eastern Ukraine. Though some sanctions were meant to split Russia’s economic elite from the Kremlin, they have pushed sanctioned individuals closer to the Russian […]
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MOSCOW. Sept 10 (Interfax) – The chances of timely agreements on renewing the New START treaty on strategic offensive arms have increased with the resignation of U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton, Russian Federation Council International Affairs Committee head Konstantin Kosachyov said. “The hope for the New START’s renewal is still alive, and will be as long as it is […]
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“… Over the course of this decade, Russia has consciously enlarged its engagement and commitments, at home and in the wider world, in battling both tuberculosis (TB) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Despite these positive steps, Russia remains a serious global health security threat. … [with] a live risk of uncontrolled HIV/AIDS and drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) epidemics within Russia itself … […]
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MOSCOW. Sept 10 (Interfax) – Oleg Smolenkov, who some media have described as a former high-ranking Russian official who spied and ultimately defected for the United States, has never served at the Russian Presidential Affairs Directorate, Yelena Krylova, the directorate’s spokesperson, told Interfax. “Such a person hasn’t worked for us,” Krylova said when asked by Interfax to comment on the […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Ivan Kurilla – September 6, 2019) Ivan Kurilla is a professor of history at the European University in St. Petersburg, Russia. Contrary to what some contemporary observers may think, Russia did not emerge as a focus of domestic U.S. political debates during the years of the Cold War, much less during the presidential contest of […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – September 3, 2019) A majority of Russians don’t believe in the authorities’ claim that Western powers are to blame for election protests in Moscow this summer, according to the independent Levada Center polling agency. Weeks of demonstrations over elections for the city legislature have turned into the biggest sustained protest movement in Russia since 2011-2013. […]
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“… two U.S. senators, Republican Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Democrat Chris Murphy of Connecticut, were trying to visit Russia, but they say Russia denied their visas. At the same time, prominent Russians [like Anatoly Karpov] say they are having trouble getting U.S. visas. ….” Click here for “Since Relations Soured, Getting A U.S. Visa Has Been Tough For Russians” […]
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“The Trump administration is slow-walking $250 million in military assistance to Ukraine, annoying lawmakers and advocates who argue the funding is critical to keeping Russia at bay. … Trump asked his national security team to review … the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative … to ensure the money is being used in the best interest of the United States, a senior […]
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“This brief summarizes a report that comprehensively examines nonviolent, cost-imposing options that the United States and its allies could pursue across economic, political, and military areas to stress – overextend and unbalance – Russia’s economy and armed forces and the regime’s political standing at home and abroad. Some of the options … are clearly more promising … any would need […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – August 26, 2019) A new round of U.S. sanctions on Russia over the poisoning of a former spy in Britain last year has gone into effect on Monday. Washington imposed an initial batch of sanctions last year on Russia after determining that Moscow had used a nerve agent against a former Russian double agent, Sergei […]
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“… Trump said on Tuesday that Russia should be readmitted to the Group of 7 industrialized nations, a call for ending Moscow’s pariah status …. Speaking a few days before his planned departure for the summit, … Trump said … Moscow’s exclusion since 2014 from the group of leading economic powers should be reversed and, ignoring Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, […]
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“Russia will not deploy new missiles as long as the United States shows similar restraint in Europe and Asia, Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu said …. The United States formally left the … INF[] treaty with Russia … after accusing Moscow of violating the treaty and deploying one banned type of missile, allegations the Kremlin denies. Russia has also pulled […]
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(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – WASHINGTON, Aug. 16, 2019 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/u-s-special-envoy-to-ukraine-says-russian-propaganda-hindering-peace-efforts/30112993.html) The U.S. special peace envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, says Russian propaganda is making it a challenge to solve the conflict in the east of the country. Speaking to RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service in Washington, Volker said Moscow’s […]
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“… the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced a bill that would impose sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 (NS2) pipeline … currently under construction … [that] could bring up to 55 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas directly to Germany. … [T]he House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee approved a companion bill. The rationale for the sanctions (beyond […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – RM Staff- August 6, 2019) This blog post is a joint product of the Russia Matters project and the Belfer Center’s U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism (IPNT). Is the risk of a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia now higher than at the height of the Cold War? Yes, it is, according to […]
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(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – August 13, 2019 – article text also appeared at https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s-envoy-to-north-korea-favored-as-next-ambassador-to-russia/30106846.html) U.S. envoy to North Korea Stephen Biegun is President Donald Trump’s likely choice to be the next ambassador to Russia, Vox News and Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the matter inside the White House. The current ambassador […]
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“… August 8, two soldiers and five staff from a nuclear research center in Sarov died in an explosion in the Arkhangelsk region while testing some of Russia’s latest ‘hardware.’ … monitors … recorded raised levels of background radiation … and part of the White Sea has been closed to shipping. The United States … announced openly … the accident […]
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“After the … death of the [INF Treaty], a new arms race appears to be taking shape … [with] more players … money and … weapons …. [N]ational security adviser … Bolton[] has talked about letting the last strategic-arms control treaty, New START, die in February 2021, without extending it another five years, as foreseen in the accord …. With […]
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TBILISI. Aug 8 (Interfax) – The United States urges Russia to implement the ceasefire agreement of August 12, 2008, and to pull its troops stationed in Abkhazia and South Ossetia to the line that existed before the August 2008 conflict, U.S. Charge d’Affaires in Georgia Elizabeth Rood told the press on Thursday in connection of the 11th anniversary of the […]
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“Jon Huntsman, … U.S. ambassador to Russia, will resign … in early October … ahead of what is widely seen as a bid to again seek election as Utah’s governor. The 59-year-old Republican was ambassador to China under … Obama, resigned that post to run for president in 2012, then was selected by … Trump to be ambassador to Russia […]
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“… Trump … signed an executive order imposing new sanctions on Russia, responding to growing pressure from Congress to further punish Moscow after a nerve agent attack …. the second round of sanctions by the administration after a botched attempt in March 2018 to fatally poison a former Russian military intelligence officer, Sergei Skripal, in … Salisbury [in the UK]. […]
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“… a U.S. Senate report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election … relayed intelligence assessments that Russian government hackers scanned electoral systems in all 50 states, looking for weaknesses …. Russian meddling reportedly continued as the 2018 midterm elections neared … [DHS indicated that there were] ‘numerous actors … regularly targeting election infrastructure, likely for different purposes, including […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – July 30, 2019) With the historic INF Treaty more than likely to terminate, and the future of New START in doubt, what guiding principles for interstate nuclear arms control can we hope for? Of eight U.S., Russian, European and Chinese experts surveyed by Russia Matters, most agree that bilateral agreements between the world’s two nuclear […]
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(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – August 1, 2019 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/russian-army-called-in-to-fight-siberia-forest-fires/30085889.html) U.S. President Donald Trump has offered to help Russia battle widespread forest fires in Siberia as he seeks to repair Washington’s fractious relationship with Moscow. Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin to make the offer, the Kremlin said […]
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“[NSA] will create a cybersecurity directorate later this year as part of a wider effort to more closely align the agency’s offensive and defensive operations, U.S. officials said. Anne Neuberger has been tapped to lead the new directorate, slated to become operational Oct. 1. The creation of the directorate and selection of … Neuberger coincide with a broader fusion of […]
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“[Compared to Russia,] … China[‘s] economy is six times larger (at purchasing-power parity) … its power is growing … as Russia’s fades. … Russia is evolving into a Chinese tributary. … Russia is still a nuclear-weapons state with a permanent seat on the [UNSC]…. It has modernised its armed forces and, as in Syria, is not afraid to use them. […]
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“Russia’s central bank lowers its main rate to 7.25%” “… With signs mounting that the world economy is slowing, the [Federal Reserve] is widely expected to lower interest rates for the first time in over a decade …. The European Central Bank signaled … it is preparing to cut short-term interest rates for the first time since early 2016 …. […]
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KYIV. July 26 (Interfax) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker and U.S. Representative to the European Union Gordon Sondland have discussed the current situation in the area of Kyiv’s Joint Forces Operation in Donbas, including the disengagement of forces and military hardware near Stanytsia Luhanska. “The sides expressed hope that the ceasefire enacted […]
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“After so much waiting – a hundred and twenty-four days, to be precise, since Robert Mueller’s report was delivered – perhaps it was bound to be a disappointment. Still, three hours after the former special counsel took the witness stand on Wednesday to testify about his investigation of President Trump and Russian interference in the 2016 election … MSNBC anchor […]
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“… Mueller said Russia’s interference is continuing and will be repeated in the 2020 presidential election. ‘Over the course of my career, I have seen a number of challenges to our democracy,’ … Mueller said. ‘The Russian government’s effort to interfere in our election is among the most serious.’ He added: ‘They’re doing it as we sit here, and they […]
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“The Mueller reports highlights many shortcomings in American democracy, but also reveals a deeper failure that informs our broader politics: the silence of the experts. Those well-positioned to comment on the investigation – academic Russia watchers, political science experts on elections, and non-partisan national security specialists – too often ceded the debate to partisans. … [T]he expert community should have […]
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“China vowed to step up military cooperation with Russia, a day after the two countries’ first joint air patrol triggered a rare confrontation over the Sea of Japan and stoked U.S. concern about the intensifying partnership …. Releasing a new defense ‘white paper’ … China accused the U.S. of undermining regional stability by strengthening its alliances, and sharpened a warning […]
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“… Russia is waging campaigns … [to influence world affairs with a] significant number of … tactics … [falling] between routine statecraft and direct and open warfare …. Americans … familiar with Russia’s disinformation efforts in the United States and its use of ‘little green men’ in Ukraine … may be less attuned to stepped-up Russian political and economic coercion […]
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“Russians still brim with pride over being the first nation to send a human into space. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin … circling the Earth in 1961[] remains a national hero whose story is taught to Russian schoolchildren. But ever since the U.S. leapfrogged the Soviet Union by landing a man on the moon 50 years ago this month, Russia has […]
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“Russia’s Foreign Ministry has … denied visas for teachers at a [Moscow] school … run by Western embassies … American officials suggested [the action] was an effort to exert political pressure on the United States by curtailing schooling for the children of diplomats. It is not clear why the Russian government denied entry to 30 teachers, about one fifth of […]
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“… Putin is a gambler. Russia’s population is shrinking, its real-terms wages and gross national income per head are tumbling, it has failed to create successful industries and services and is blighted by entrenched corruption – and yet its president behaves like a poker player with a royal flush. … form[ing] a close relationship with [China’s] President Xi Jinping … […]
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BRUSSELS. July 17 (Interfax) – Russia urges the United States and other NATO countries to store their nuclear arsenals only in their national territories. “Russia deploys and stockpiles all its nuclear weapons exclusively on the national territory. We call upon U.S. and NATO to follow this practice,” Russian Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said on Twitter […]
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MOSCOW. July 16 (Interfax) – Russia and the United Stated do not have much time left to draw up a new nuclear arms treaty, which should be comprehensive and should not be worse than the 2011 New START Treaty, First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee Vladimir Dzhabarov said. “It seems to me that the architecture […]
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“India and Russia have agreed on a new payment method through their national currencies for multi-billion-dollar defense deals … [seeking] to avoid risks created by the U.S. threat of sanctions and banking restrictions. … [and to] enable India to pay the first installment … for two warships … Russia is building for its navy …. Defense contracts will be settled […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Nicholas Trickett – July 11, 2019) Nicholas Trickett is editor in chief of BMB Russia and an associate scholar with the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He specializes in the domestic and international political economy of the Russian energy and infrastructure sectors and Russian foreign policy, and is currently finishing an MSc in international political economy […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – July 12, 2019) New Russian payment system laws could lead the world’s largest credit and debit card companies Visa and Mastercard to exit the country’s market, the Kommersant business daily reported on Friday. U.S.-based Visa and Mastercard stopped servicing bank cards in annexed Crimea after the United States imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014. Russia […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, July 9, 2019) The decision of Moscow and Washington to dispense with arms control agreements, the attitude behind that which holds that the most powerful countries must not be constrained by such accords, and the lack of understanding among the leaders in both capitals about the nature of war all make a […]
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“New report reveals that Mueller’s investigation missed key evidence to support its central claim that Russia was 100% responsible for election interference.” “… Mueller’s [Special Counsel] report lacks substantiating evidence supporting the central claims of Kremlin interference in the 2016 election, according to … RealClearInvestigations. … discrepancies over the timeline, details, and conflicts of interest from key players in the […]
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“During a single visit to Asia … Trump embraced not one, not two, but three dictators. He became the first American president to set foot in North Korea, where he praised his ‘great friendship’ with North Korea’s despotic leader, Kim Jong Un; he held another cringe-worthy press availability with … Putin, where Trump joked about Russia’s electoral interference; … he […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Paul Saunders – July 3, 2019) Paul Saunders is the chairman and president of the Energy Innovation Reform Project and a senior fellow in U.S. foreign policy at the Center for the National Interest. This op-ed is written in response to “The Osaka Meeting: Is the Tide Turning in US-Russian Relations?” by Thomas Graham. [russialist.org/the-osaka-meeting-is-the-tide-turning-in-us-russian-relations/] […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Thomas Graham – July 1, 2019) Thomas Graham, Managing Director at Kissinger Associates, was the senior Russia expert on the National Security Council staff during the George W. Bush administration. To the consternation of his bitterest opponents and to the surprise, and relief, of many, U.S. President Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin […]
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“A divided America is failing to counter Moscow’s efforts to undermine democracy and cast doubt on U.S. alliances, says the report, which warns of a surge in ‘political warfare.’” “…. The more than 150-page white paper, prepared for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and shared with POLITICO, says the U.S. is still underestimating the scope of Russia’s aggression, which includes […]
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