Russia in Review

Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for February 7-14, 2014

I. U.S. and Russian priorities for the bilateral agenda.

Nuclear security agenda:

Suppliers are being sought by Russia for equipment to handle and transport used nuclear submarine fuel currently stored at Andreeva Bay. Such fuel has been stored at the site for over 50 years. (WNN, 02.07.14).
World leaders at next month's summit in the Netherlands could move closer to establishing international standards for locking down nuclear material. According to multiple sources familiar with ongoing preparations for the March event, the United States, Netherlands and South Korea are encouraging summit participants to pledge that they will adopt and be bound by existing international guidelines for the physical protection of nuclear materials. (GSN, 02.07.14).
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Simon Limage said: “Despite our many nuclear security successes, the threat that highly enriched uranium or plutonium could be obtained by terrorists or other criminals intent to cause harm continues to represent one of the most pressing threats to global security…. Seizures of weapon-grade nuclear material in Georgia in 2010 and Moldova in 2011 suggest that such materials remain in illegal circulation on the black market, and we must work together to locate and secure materials currently outside regulatory control.” (U.S. State Department, 02.11.14).

Iran nuclear issues:

Russia said Tuesday that new U.S. measures targeting businesses for evading sanctions against Iran would hinder progress on ending the standoff over Iranian nuclear activity following a landmark interim deal between Tehran and six world powers. Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev will visit Iran in April to discuss a broad range of trade issues, he said Wednesday, playing down reports from Tehran that a barter deal involving Iranian oil exports was in the offing. (Reuters, 02.12.14).

NATO-Russia cooperation, including transit to and from Afghanistan:

Russia and NATO are drawing up plans for a rare joint naval operation in the Mediterranean to protect the U.S. ship that will destroy Syria's deadliest chemical weapons, officials and other sources said. (Reuters, 02.14.14).
The 2014 work plan of the NATO-Russia Council omits all topics related to nuclear weapons policy. Meetings of nuclear experts under the auspices of the council have been put on hold.(Arms Control Today, January/February 2014.)
"We cooperate with the Americans. It will be difficult to pull coalition troops from Afghanistan. They are now analyzing and generalizing the combat experience gained in Afghanistan as well as the combat experience of Soviet troops in that country," Deputy Head of the Committee on Defense under the State Duma lower house of the Russian parliament Frants Klintsevich said. (Itar-Tass, 02.11.14).

Missile defense:

"We can go around in circle, convene meetings, but if we fail to resolve the fundamental issue of providing reliable legal guarantees of non-direction of the US and NATO missile system against Russian forces of nuclear deterrence, we can expect no improvements,", Russia's Permanent Representative to NATO, Alexander Grushko, said. (Voice of Russia, 02.10.14).
The USS Donald Cook docked in the southern port of Rota, Spain, from where it will operate as an anti-missile platform and take part in other tasks such as maritime security and NATO deployments. (AFP, 02.11.14).

Nuclear arms control:

Some senior Republicans are urging that the United States act against Russia for testing a new cruise missile in possible violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. (GSN, 02.07.14).

Counter-terrorism cooperation:

This year's first planning conference of Vigilant Eagle 2014, the command post antiterrorist exercise involving Russia, the United States, and Canada, has begun in the city of Colorado Springs. (Interfax, 02.12.14).
"We're quite satisfied with the level of cooperation we have now," outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said of the U.S.-Russian cooperation on security during the Olympic Games.(GSN, 02.10.14).
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said he sees a "high degree" of attack risk in the region of Russia's Sochi Olympics. "I've never seen a greater threat certainly in my lifetime," he said.(GSN, 02.10.14).
"The guards, gates and guns portion of this is really unparalleled for an Olympic game," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said. (GSN, 02.10.14).
Russians "are still reluctant to give intelligence that they feel would allow us to determine their sources and methods," House Homeland Security member, U.S. Representative Peter King (R-NY) said of the U.S.-Russian cooperation on security during the Olympic Games. (GSN, 02.10.14).
"We aren't getting the kind of cooperation that we'd like from the Russians in terms of their internal threats," said U.S. Representative Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, in a Fox News interview. "It means that we're less effective in protecting our people, and that's a frustration." (GSN, 02.10.14).
A federal judge ordered Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, accused in the Boston Marathon bombings, to stand trial in November, rejecting defense lawyers’ arguments that they need nearly a year longer than that to sift through thousands of pieces of evidence and interview witnesses around the globe as they prepare for the complex death penalty case. (Boston Globe, 02.12.14).

Cyber security:

No significant developments.

Energy exports from CIS:

Russia expects its oil output to reach 525 million tons, or 10.54 million barrels per day this year, up 0.4 percent from 2013, Deputy Energy Minister Kirill Molodtsov said — a figure that would set a post-Soviet record high. The gas production figure would also set a record since the collapse of the Soviet Union, reaching 700 billion cubic meters this year. (Reuters, 02.14.14).
Gazprom has not yet satisfied the European Commission's concerns over pricing and the European Union's executive body may still charge the state-controlled Russian gas monopoly with antitrust abuses, the EU competition chief said on Friday. (Reuters, 02.10.14).

Bilateral economic ties:

No significant developments.

Other bilateral issues:

U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, on Sunday, accused the Russian government of leaking his private conversations.(Washington Post, 02.09.14).
A Gallup poll shows 60 percent of Americans view Russia unfavorably -- the highest that number has risen since at least 1994, the oldest polling data available from Gallup. The new Gallup poll also shows Americans' views of Russian President Vladimir Putin continue to decline, with 63 percent viewing him unfavorably -- nine points higher than last year. (Washington Post, 02.13.14).
The Russian academic community reacted with shock and alarm to the recent decision by the Washington, D.C.-based Woodrow Wilson Center to shut down the Moscow office of the Kennan Institute. (RBTH, 02.11.14).

II. Russia news.

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

President Vladimir Putin said hydrocarbons could no longer serve as a driving force of economic growth in Russia. (Itar-Tass, 02.12.14).
Russia's central bank left its interest rates unchanged Friday but noted that it is ready to tighten policy if the recent selloff of the ruble begins to pose a risk of higher inflation. Since the start of the year the ruble had weakened dramatically, losing 6 percent of its value, which will boost prices this year.(Wall Street Journal, 02.14.14).
The Federal Migration Service and the Economic Development Ministry have drawn up a law, which simplifies naturalization for businessmen who invest at least 10 million rubles in Russia and foreign alumni of Russian colleges and universities who work in Russia for at least three years. (Interfax, 02.12.14).
Russia may have to spend up to $7 billion over the next three years to maintain infrastructure and venues around the Olympic host city of Sochi. The number of tickets sold for the 2014 Winter Olympics has exceeded the landmark of one million with less than a week into the 14-day marathon of the Games. (RIA Novosti, 02.13.14, 02.14.14.).
President Vladimir Putin formally nominated outspoken Kremlin critic Ella Pamfilova as Russia's next human rights ombudsman on Thursday, saying he expected her to watch Russia's political life with "a critical eye." (RIA Novosti, 02.14.14).
Russia's oldest human rights organization, the Moscow Helsinki Group, has been forced to cut its staff size several times due to the notorious law on NGOs. (Interfax, 02.10.14).
Only a single NGO has registered as a foreign agent under a hotly contested 2012 Russian law to regulate the activities of foreign-funded organizations, the Justice Ministry said on its website Friday. (RIA Novosti, 02.14.14).
Russia came 148th out of 180 countries on this year's press freedom rankings from Reporters Without Borders, keeping the same spot that it occupied last year. (The Moscow Times, 02.12.14).

Defense:

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, on Wednesday, dismissed online rumors that the Russian armed forces are virtually non-existent as "utter nonsense."(RIA Novosti, 02.12.14).

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

An Islamic insurgency leader in Russia's North Caucasus Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria claimed responsibility for six killings in the southern Stavropol Krai region last month. Tengiz Guketlov said the deaths had nothing to do with the Islamic insurgency's previous warning that it would disrupt the Winter Olympics in Sochi. (RFE/RL, 02.10.14).
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak said there was no video surveillance in bathrooms or rooms in Sochi and any rumors to this effect were aimed at defaming the games. (Channel 1, 02.09.14).
Murder cases motivated by ethnic hatred rose from 19 in 2012 to 21 in Russia last year, but the overall number of attacks provoked by racial intolerance dropped from 210 to 199 in the same period, according to the Sova Center. (The Moscow Times, 02.14.14).
Russian ex-defense minister’s brother-in-law Valery Puzikov, who is facing fraud and embezzlement charges, was put on Russia’s federal wanted. (Itar-Tass, 02.12.14).
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has asked Russian authorities to clarify why an ecology activist in Sochi has been sentenced to three years in a penal colony. Yevgeny Vitishko was handed a three-year suspended sentence in 2012 for spray-painting the fence of a property in a forest where construction was banned.(RFE/RL, 02.13.14).

Foreign affairs and trade:

Field Marshal Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, a universally acknowledged but unannounced presidential candidate, received an early endorsement on Thursday from President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Field Marshal Sisi's stated purpose was to negotiate a deal for Egypt to buy Russian weapons with money donated by the Persian Gulf sponsors of the new military-backed government -- reportedly as much as $2 billion. (New York Times, 02.14.14).
Russia's foreign minister has accused the United States of using peace talks to seek "regime change" in Syria. Speaking in Moscow on Friday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the issue of a transitional government, a key focus for opposition negotiators, must not dominate the talks in Switzerland. (Al Jazeera, 02.14.14).
U.S. President Barack Obama has accused Russia of blocking action against Syria in the UN Security Council. Obama criticized Russia for opposing the resolution, saying it is not just "the Syrians that are responsible" for the suffering of civilians but "the Russians, as well." (RFE/RL, 02.12.14).
After rejecting a United States-backed draft resolution on humanitarian aid access in Syria, Russia presented its own version to the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, one that includes calls to condemn ‘‘terrorism’’ in the conflict, Reuters reported, quoting Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov. (New York Times, 02.14.14).
Russia upended talks on Syria's civil war on Thursday by explicitly rejecting a proposal to begin discussing the possible removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power during any political transition, said a person close to the talks, making a peace deal even more unlikely. (Wall Street Journal, 02.14.14).
The High Court has quashed a decision by the British government not to hold a public inquiry into the murder of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died in London in 2006 after being poisoned with a radioactive substance. (Reuters, 02.12.14).

Russia's neighbors:

Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych has returned to Kyiv after holding crisis talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi. (RFE/RL, 02.08.14).
A Ukrainian judge involved in a case involving pro-EU activists in the country's central Poltava region has been shot dead. Ukraine's Interior Ministry said on Wednesday that unknown attackers shot the judge, Oleksandr Lobodenko, in the city of Kremenchuk late on the previous evening. (RFE/RL, 02.12.14).
Ukraine’s state security service said Saturday that it was not investigating the bugging of a phone call between American diplomats in which they weighed which opposition leaders to back for a possible new government to replace Ukraine’s current pro-Russian one. (New York Times, 02.09.14).
A Ukrainian court has rejected an appeal by jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to ease her detention conditions. (RFE/RL, 02.11.14).
Since 2010, for over three years, one dollar in Ukraine cost about eight hryvna. Already by February 2014, the exchange rate grew to around nine hryvna for one dollar. (Itar-Tass, 02.10.14).
Russia is not transferring the second tranche of a multi-billion dollar loan to Ukraine. "We are waiting for the Ukrainian side to follow its obligations," Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters on Saturday. (Itar-Tass, 02.08.14).
Ukraine has received no concrete proposals from the European Union on financial assistance to the country, Acting Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara said on Wednesday. (Itar-Tass, 02.12.14).
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has once again warned the West against interfering in the political crisis in Ukraine. Speaking on Friday at a news conference with his visiting German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Lavrov said Ukraine's citizens should be allowed to resolve matters themselves. (RFE/RL, 02.14.14).
Russia accused the European Union on Friday of seeking to create a "sphere of influence" on its borders by pressing Ukraine to choose closer ties with the Western bloc at the expense of relations with Moscow.(Reuters, 02.14.14).
Russia expects Ukraine to return to a process of integration with a Moscow-driven economics union stretching from Europe to the Pacific Ocean, Russian presidential advisor Sergei Glazyev said. (RIA Novosti, 02.13.14).
The U.S. House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed a resolution expressing support for "democratic and European aspirations" in Ukraine and calling on authorities there to respect democratic rights and free protest detainees. (RFE/RL, 02.11.14).
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will host Ukrainian opposition leaders next week as protesters try to raise pressure on the government to step down. (Bloomberg, 02.14.14).
.The Ukrainian people have been divided into two equal camps regarding their opinions of the Euromaidan, according to a survey conducted by the Sociopolis Institute at the request of the Situations Modelling Agency. When being asked about their attitude to the Euromaidan, 49 percent of the respondents support, while 45.5 percent oppose it, the research said. (Interfax, 02.05.14).
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said he may extend the longest reign of any former Soviet leader by running for a fifth term in 2016. (Bloomberg, 02.12.14).
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev has ordered the government and central bank to allot 1 trillion tenges ($5.4 billion) from the National Fund to support economic growth after the national currency, the tenge, was devalued by 19 percent earlier this week. (RFE/RL, 02.14.14).
Currency-exchange points in Tajikistan's capital, Dushanbe, have stopped selling U.S. dollars as the national Tajik currency, the somoni, has lost 3 percent of its value against the dollar since February 11. (RFE/RL, 02.14.14).
Azerbaijan's foreign minister has said during a visit to Baghdad that his country is open to shipping Iraqi natural gas to Europe. (RFE/RL, 02.10.14).
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has signed an amnesty decree for 859 prisoners. (RFE/RL, 02.14.14).

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