(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – January 31, 2013) When the now-infamous ban on U.S. adoptions was first introduced in the State Duma in mid-December, some Russians suggested that a more appropriate response to the United States’ sanctions-imposing Magnitsky Act would have been to push their compatriots to adopt American children. “We shouldn’t ban the adoption of our […]
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WASHINGTON, January 30 (By Maria Young for RIA Novosti) – Russia’s ambassador to the United States agreed Wednesday to convey to Moscow the concerns expressed by a dozen US senators in a closed-door meeting about Russia’s recent ban on adoptions by US citizens, but stopped short of offering renewed hope to American families and Russian children whose adoptions have been […]
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(RIA Novosti – January 30, 2013) Reports on 30 January that two US NGOs have closed their Russian branches and taken Russian staff to Lithuania over concerns for their safety prompted a mixed reaction from public figures and commentators. Some said the move was understandable in light of changes to legislation, introduced in November 2012, which require foreign-funded NGOs to […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 30 (Interfax) – A decision of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to terminate the Russian-U.S. agreement on law enforcement and drug control cooperation aims at a new level of bilateral relations, Foreign and Defense Policy Council Chairman Fyodor Lukyanov told Interfax on Wednesday. “This is absolutely not a cold war; why would we do that? This is a […]
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WASHINGTON, January 30 (RIA Novosti) Basketball, bone marrow and 250-year-old telescopes: 2012 saw a wave of initiatives strengthening US-Russia ties at a time of escalating tensions between the two countries. Russian-speaking representatives from organizations across the United States gathered in the US capital Wednesday for the second annual Silver Archer USA awards, presented to Russian-American projects that contribute to […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, 30 January: The newly confirmed US Secretary of State, John Kerry, is a clear-headed politician who played an important role in the development of the “reset” (in US-Russian relations), the chairman of the Federation Council’s International Affairs Committee, Mikhail Margelov, thinks. John Kerry does not think that Russia is America’s enemy, the senator told Interfax. “It is […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 31 (Interfax) – Presently, Russians think better of the European Union than of the United States and believe it would be best for Russia to follow foreign policy objectives in Western Europe and CIS, a poll indicates. During a poll in January, 64% of the respondents said they held a positive attitude to the EU, and 22% a […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 31 (Interfax) – The Russian Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) has announced that relations between Moscow and Washington in combating drugs will be developing despite Russia’s withdrawal from an agreement in law enforcement with the United States. “Today Russian-American relations in the sphere of drug control are on the rise and continue advancing,” Interfax was told at the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – January 30, 2013) Moscow pundits gave a warm welcome to John Kerry on Tuesday, as U.S. senators were expected to confirm their veteran colleague as secretary of state. But they warned that U.S.-Russian relations were set for a potentially bumpy ride during President Barack Obama’s second term, contrasting with the “reset” […]
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WASHINGTON, January 30 (RIA Novosti) The United States and Europe should work to persuade Russia’s leadership to let their country become more “integrated” with the West despite challenges in relations with Moscow, outgoing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in an interview published Tuesday. “It’s going to have to be a mutual effort, Europe and the United States both […]
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MOSCOW, January 29 (RIA Novosti) Russia confirmed on Tuesday it is extending its “Dima Yakovlev” blacklist to include more US citizens deemed to be human rights violators, who will be banned from entering the country in the latest tit-for-tat retaliation for the US Magnitsky Act. “The Foreign Ministry is carrying out the law known as the Dima Yakovlev Law, […]
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(Government.ru – January 27, 2013) Fareed Zakaria: Mr Prime Minister, thank you for agreeing to this meeting. In 2009, when you were President of Russia, you wrote a very interesting and important essay about Russia’s future. You said that the two major problems of the Russian economy were excessive dependence on oil and excessive corruption. A look at current statistics […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – January 28, 2013) Washington has effectively ended a key working group with Moscow for discussing human rights and democracy, arguing that the panel had become meaningless given recent restrictions on civil society in Russia. The United States’ withdrawal from the Civil Society Working Group of the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission, announced […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Fyodor Lukyanov – January 28, 2013) Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs [http://eng.globalaffairs.ru/], is chairman of the presidium of the Moscow-based Council on Foreign and Defense Policy. U.S. President Barack Obama’s re-election in November generated hope for progress in U.S.-Russian relations. Only two months later, not a trace of that hope remains. What’s […]
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(Voice of America – James Brooke – January 27, 2013) James Brooke is VOA Moscow bureau chief, covering Russia and the former USSR. Scenes from three weeks of watching US-Russia relations in New York, Washington and Moscow: Kate, an old high school classmate, tracks me down to ask it if will be safe for her to take her 17-year-old […]
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(Interfax – January 28, 2013) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has described as an intentional legal mistake the adoption of the Magnitsky Act by the U.S. Congress. “I think that the whole situation is bad. It is not beneficial for either Russian-American relations or international law and order,” he said in an interview with CNN, the transcript of which is […]
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MOSCOW, January 25 (RIA Novosti) The United States has no place in any dialog between Russia’s government and opposition movements opposed to President Vladimir Putin’s rule, Putin’s spokesman has told a US journal. “The dialog between the Russian government and the opposition cannot be a subject of the bilateral relationship between Moscow and Washington, and in no way can […]
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WASHINGTON, January 24 (RIA Novosti) US President Barack Obama’s nominee to be the next US Secretary of State, Sen. John Kerry, told a Senate panel on Thursday that the United States must find a way to work with Russia. “I would like to see if we can find some way to cooperate,” Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 25 (Interfax) – Igor Ivanov, Russia’s former foreign minister and former Security Council secretary, who is now president of the Russian International Affairs Council, said he expects U.S. foreign policy to be more energetic and even tough during Barack Obama’s second presidential term. Ivanov also said John Kerry, who was nominated for the post of secretary state in […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Michael Bohm – January 25, 2013) Michael Bohm is opinion page editor of The Moscow Times. The decades-old legal battle over the “Schneerson library” reached a new peak after a U.S. district court in Washington ruled last week that Russia must pay an unprecedented fine of $50,000 every day until it returns the 12,000 religious […]
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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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MOSCOW. Jan 22 (Interfax) – The Russian Foreign Ministry’s human rights commissioner, Konstantin Dolgov, has blamed U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul for crudely distorting facts by saying that by denouncing the Russian-American agreement on cooperation in child adoptions, Russia has lost the opportunity to monitor the lives of Russian children adopted in the United States. “We have read with […]
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(Voice of America – Anna Malinovskaya – January 22, 2013) Perhaps all international students discover at some point that going to college in the States costs more than they pay in money terms. I have experienced personal costs that will impact my life long after my education here is done. Some I was prepared to encounter, and others caught me […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 22 (Interfax) – Former Russian foreign minister and former secretary of the Russian Security Council and International Affairs Council President Igor Ivanov said that the “reset” in Russian-American relations has exhausted itself and the two countries should move further. “Getting back to ‘reset,’ I think it has fulfilled its mission and exhausted itself,” Ivanov said in an interview […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 21 (Interfax) – U.S. President Barack Obama wants to continue the “reset” policy in Russian-American relations during his second term, said political analyst Nikolai Zlobin. “I think Obama would like to continue the ‘reset’ policy. I understand, the accent will be put in this reset on conventional arms reductions, nuclear weapons and the attainment of the global status […]
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Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 From: Robert Bridge <robertvbridge@yahoo.com> Subject: Letter to the editor re “Expect More Anti-Americanism in 2013” (JRL 2013-#12) Dear JRL, I can’t help but the see the incredible hypocrisy in the article entitled, “Expect More Anti-Americanism in 2013” (The Moscow Times, January 18), when this publication – Moscow’s only English-language daily – has practically declared itself […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines/Rossiyskaya Gazeta – www.rbth.ru – Fyodor Lukyanov – January 21, 2013 – http://rbth.ru/opinion/2013/01/21/washington_and_moscow_hope_for_reset_2_22039.html) Fedor Lukyanov is the editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs magazine and chairman of the Council of Foreign and Military Policy. The opinion is abridged and first published in Russian in Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Barack Obama is back in the White House. A second term […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – David Edwards – January 21, 2013) David Edwards is chief copy editor at The Moscow Times. An obscure Washington state politician once said her votes on proposed legislation were based on conscience, constituency and caucus in that order. She may be on to something. United Russia deputies in the State Duma who voted for […]
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(Voice of America – James Brooke – January 18, 2013) Russia’s new law banning American adoptions of Russian orphans is polarizing Russians into two camps: pro-West and anti-West. Russia’s parliament voted overwhelmingly last month to bar Americans from adopting Russian orphans. But the vote triggered this last week the largest protest Moscow has seen since President Vladimir Putin was inaugurated […]
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(Interfax – January 18, 2013) Over 70 per cent of Russians support the recently adopted law which bans adoption of Russian children by US families, Interfax news agency reported on 18 January, quoting a poll conducted by the pro-Kremlin All-Russia Public Opinion Research Centre (VTsIOM). Details of the poll were posted on the centre’s website on the same day (http://wciom.ru/index.php?id=459&uid=113548). […]
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(Interfax – January 18, 2013) Russia’s Justice Ministry has said that it has so far found no NGOs headed by or financed by citizens of the USA whose activities could be suspended under the “anti-Magnitskiy” law (also known as the Dima Yakovlev law). The law, better known for its controversial Article 4, which bans US citizens from adopting Russian children, […]
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WASHINGTON, January 17 (RIA Novosti) The United States government disagrees with a federal court’s decision to impose a $50,000-a-day fine on Russia for failing to comply with an earlier order to hand over religious texts to a New York-based Orthodox Jewish group, a US State Department spokeswoman said Thursday. On Wednesday a federal judge in Washington ordered Russia to […]
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Moscow, January 17, Interfax – Russian presidential representative for international cultural cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoy is perplexed by a U.S. court order on the so-called Schneerson collection, as he thought Russia and the United States had earlier settled the problem. “Russia earlier honored all agreements on this issue. The problem was discussed within the Gore-Chernomyrdin commission’s framework, and we reached quite […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky -January 18, 2013) The United States could become the world’s biggest crude producer this year, overtaking Russia, according to a BP report. The breakthrough would come on the back of rising U.S. output of biofuels and unconventional oil, the company said in its annual Energy Outlook 2030. Saudi Arabia would slide to the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Michael Bohm – January 18, 2013) Michael Bohm is opinion page editor of The Moscow Times. An increase in anti-Americanism stands out as one of the most dominant features of the Kremlin’s policy in 2012. Since the propaganda campaign worked so effectively on many Russians, we can expect even more state-sponsored anti-Americanism in 2013. The […]
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(Voice of America – James Brooke – January 16, 2013) James Brooke is VOA Moscow bureau chief, covering Russia and the former USSR. During my two-week vacation in the United States, American friends again and again looked at me intently, and then asked: How do Russians see the new ban on Americans adopting Russian children? During the last three months […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – January 16, 2013) On the State Duma’s first day back to work this year, deputies sparred over whether to abolish a ban on adoptions of Russian children by American families, a measure passed late last year that has drawn fierce criticism. Members of the Just Russia faction submitted a bill that would […]
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WASHINGTON. Jan 15 (Interfax) – The U.S. administration cannot fathom Russia’s recent ban on the adoption of underage Russians by Americans but does not see it as a serious threat to U.S.-Russian relations in general, according to a senior American diplomat. Jake Sullivan, director of the State Department’s Policy Planning Office, said during an online conference that neither he personally […]
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[“They’ll Be in America While We’ll Be Left to Deal with the Authorities” – Moskovsky Komsomolets – January 15, 2013 – no public link to English-language version] Moskovsky Komsomolets covers adoptions of Russian orphans by Americans. According to the Deputy Prime Minister for Social Policy Olga Golodets, Russia has nearly 130,000 orphan children in need of a family, with fewer […]
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WASHINGTON, January 14 (By Carl Schreck for RIA Novosti) – US President Barack Obama’s nomination of veteran Washington lawmakers John Kerry and Chuck Hagel for his next national security team portend a pragmatic approach to US-Russia relations in his second term but few prospects for breakthroughs, analysts said. Obama has tapped Kerry for secretary of state and Hagel for defense […]
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(Interfax – January 15, 2013) The impossibility to continue funding pseudo-human rights organizations was the true reason behind last weekend’s protests against the so-called Dima Yakovlev law in Russia, the country’s ombudsman for children’s rights Pavel Astakhov said. “The protests are not not against the fact that they [orphans] are allegedly doomed to some sort of existence or even death […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – January 15, 2013) A State Duma committee on Monday discussed an online petition opposing the “Anti-Magnitsky Law” passed late last year, but it appeared to delay until at least April any action that could result from the petition. The petition, published on the website of opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta last month, was […]
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WASHINGTON, January 10 (RIA Novosti) – The US will continue its cooperation with Russia despite differences on a number of issues, such as the Russian adoption ban, US Department of State Spokesperson Victoria Nuland said on Wednesday. “Our overall approach remains to try to cooperate with Russia as much as we can on as many issues as we can that […]
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MOSCOW, January 10 (RIA Novosti) A Russian news website has provoked a furor after publishing what it claimed was an appeal from a Russian teenage orphan whose adoption by a US family was prevented by a new law banning adoptions by Americans. The 1obl.ru news portal in the Chelyabinsk region published a story claiming a boy in a local […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 9 (Interfax) – The fact that Foreign Policy magazine has declared Russian President Vladimir Putin last year’s most influential figure in global politics, business and public affairs means “the so-called ‘Putin factor’ will play a significant role in the foreign policy of the United States for the next five years,” a Russian political scientist said. “Foreign Policy is […]
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(Interfax – January 9, 2013) The U.S. can help Russian children through cultural, educational, and medical assistance programs, Russian presidential children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said. “With the termination of the adoptions agreement, we have to expand cooperation in the sphere of education, cultural exchange, education programs, and programs that make it possible to take in children for treatment,” Astakhov […]
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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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(Radio Liberty Forced to Make Hard Choices in Russia – Wall Street Journal – Letter to the Editor – Steven Korn – January 7, 2012 – click here for full letter) In a Wall Street Journal letter to the editor, Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty president Steven Korn discusses changes in how RFE/RL tries to reach listeners in Russia, including […]
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(Russian politics: Herod’s law: Russian civil society is outraged by a law that bans Russian orphans from being adopted by American families – The Economist – January 5, 2013 – click here for full article) The Economist reports the Russian goverment’s move to ban U.S. adoptions of Russian orphans, adopted in response to U.S. legislation that provides for sanctions against […]
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(A revolution in space but calmer streets at home; Pundits predict a loss of momentum for the protest movement at home and see little scope for improvement in relations with the West – Russia Beyond the Headlines – Artem Zagorodnov – January 4, 2013 – click here for google cache version of article) Russia Beyond the Headlines takes a look […]
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