Russia in Review

Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for December 6-13, 2013

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

Nuclear security agenda:

“Our presidency in the G8 will be targeted at the solution of acute nonproliferation problems, counteraction to international terrorism, and struggle against drugs trafficking,” President Vladimir Putin said Thursday in the annual state-of-the-nation address to both houses of parliament. (Itar-Tass, 12.12.13).
Rosatom director Sergei Kirienko visited the United States on December 9-11 to meet with U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, his deputy Daniel Poneman and Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller. During these meetings the U.S. and Russian officials signed memoranda to establishing procedures for work to support bilateral cooperation in nuclear and radiological material security, reactor conversion, combating the illicit trafficking of nuclear and radiological material. They also agreed to advance collaborative projects under a bilateral agreement, which provides the legal framework necessary to expand cooperation between U.S. and Russian nuclear research laboratories, and extend the Russian-origin Research Reactor Fuel Return program. Rosatom plans to complete this program in 2016. Kirienko and his U.S. counterparts also discussed conversion of the first Russian HEU research reactor and cooperation on Multi-Purpose Fast Reactor Research International Center. Kirienko’s visit was timed to coincide with completion of 1993 U.S.-Russia HEU Purchase Agreement. The program’s last shipment of LEU arrived at the Port of Baltimore from Russia December 10th and subsequently departed for USEC’s Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky. USEC will continue to purchase LEU from Rosatom’s Tenex under a multi-year contract signed between the two companies in March 2011. (Prime, Itar-Tass, Nuclear.ru, U.S. Department of Energy, World Nuclear News, Interfax, 12.10.13-12.11.13.)

Iran nuclear issues:

“"This year the breakthrough on Iranian nuclear program has been made and this is only the first step," he said. "It's necessary to keep looking for a wider solution which guarantees Iran's right for peaceful nuclear energy and security of all countries in the region, including Israel,” President Vladimir Putin said in his annual address to the parliament. (People’s Daily, 12.12.13).
Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow wants to continue to help Iran develop its nuclear-energy industry. Lavrov said after talks in Tehran with his counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, that "we see such interest on the Iranian side, and we know about Iran's plans to build more power units identical to Bushehr." Zarif said that Tehran will not drop its deal with Moscow on the purchase of the Russian S-300 air defense system, insisting that Russia should comply with the contract terms and deliver the missile shield to Iran. (FNA, 12.11.13, RFE/RL, 12.11.13).
Echoing Iran, Russia said on Friday that a new U.S. measure targeting companies and individuals for supporting Tehran's nuclear program violated the spirit of a deal reached with major powers last month and could hinder its implementation. (Reuters, 12.13.13).

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

Russian Ambassador to Tajikistan Igor Lyakin-Frolov said: “The most favorable scenario is assumed to be that the current regime is retained only in Kabul and most of the provincial capitals, with the support of the United States and NATO troops.” (Kommersant, 12.13.13).
U.S. military officials insisted a top-secret Pentagon study proved the need to buy Russian helicopters for Afghanistan's security forces. But the study actually recommended an American-made rotorcraft, according to unclassified excerpts. (AP, 12.11.13).

Missile defense:

“It was the Iranian nuclear program in particular that at one time served as the main argument for deploying the missile defense system,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said during an annual address to both houses of the Russian parliament.“Now what’s happening? The Iranian nuclear program is going away, but the missile defense system stays – and not only stays but continues to be developed.” (CNSNews.com, 12.12.13).
"[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has put the question correctly: the issue of Iran goes away and the European missile shield remains? The agreement with Iran destroys the remaining grounds for the missile shield's necessity," head of the Russian State Duma committee on foreign affairs Alexei Pushkov said.(Interfax, 12.12.13).

Nuclear arms control:

Without naming the United States, President Vladimir Putin described the U.S. program of developing "prompt global strike" weapons as an attempt to tilt the strategic balance in its favor and warned that this tilt, coupled with further development of missile defenses, “could nullify all previous agreements on the limitation and reduction of strategic nuclear weapons and disrupt the so-called strategic balance of forces.” Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has earlier warned that the U.S. “may experiment with conventional weapons on strategic delivery platforms, but they must bear in mind, that if we are attacked, in certain circumstances we will of course respond with nuclear weapons.” "We have never underestimated the role of nuclear weapons ... as a 'great equalizer,'" Rogozin added. (Kremlin.ru, m AP, 12.12.13, the Moscow Times, 12.11.13).
A new U.S. defense authorization bill for fiscal 2014 conference bill includes limits on nuclear arms control efforts, but the restrictions are not as prohibitive as some House Republicans wanted. The bill does require the administration to give Congress advanced notice of NATO's position on such reductions and related Russian actions. But it does not make NATO approval or complementary moves by the former Soviet Union prerequisites to such actions. (GSN, 12.12.13).

Counter-terrorism cooperation:

Two U.K. men pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges in federal court in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. prosecutors said. Prosecutors said the pair were members of a group that supported Muslim rebels in Chechnya, the Taliban and other terrorists. (Bloomberg, 12.11.13).

Cyber security:

No significant developments.

Energy exports from CIS:

Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Saturday that Russia would pump more than 520 million tons of crude oil in 2013, a post-Soviet record. (RIA Novosti, 12.08.13).
Pipeline operator Transneft plans to invest up to 540 billion rubles ($16.5 billion) through 2020. (The Moscow Times, 12.13.13).
Gas export monopoly Gazprom has promised to present proposals this week to end a year-long investigation into its business practices and avert a possible fine of as much as $14.3 billion. (Reuters, 12.10.13).
European Union regulators expect to make a decision early next year on how much Russian gas can flow from Gazprom's Nord Stream pipeline through Germany's Opal link. (Reuters, 12.08.13).

Bilateral economic ties:

During his visit to the United States Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov proposed a series of bilateral trade negotiations with the United States under the umbrella of a hoped-for new trade agenda between the two countries. He floated the idea of establishing a framework for talks that could lead to up to five separate deals, beginning with a pact on investment. A spokeswoman for U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said the United States looked forward to working with Russia to address outstanding issues, including those related to Russia's implementation of its World Trade Organization commitments. (Reuters, 12.12.12).
American aircraft maker Boeing signed a raft of deals on Wednesday to create a pilot training center at Moscow's state-run Skolkovo technology park. (The Moscow Times, 12.13.13).

Other bilateral issues:

The United States and Russia face a potential renewed blacklist war as a deadline looms this week for Washington to report on controversial sanctions against alleged Russian rights abusers. (RIA Novosti, 12.09.13).
Despite certain progress achieved over issues concerning Syria and Iran, Russia-U.S. relations remain in stalemate because of the so-called Magnitsky Act, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Friday. (Xinhua, 12.13.13).
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov held negotiations with US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland on Monday. (Voice of Russia, 12.10.13).
The Russian Finance Ministry and the Central Bank have been given until January 20, 2014 to draft an agreement on bilateral cooperation to implement the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which requires banks to provide the U.S. customs service with information about accounts opened by U.S. tax payers and legal entities affiliated with them. (Interfax, 12.13.13).
US prosecutors have filed charges against 49 Russian diplomats, including some of the most senior figures in the New York mission. They and their families are accused of feigning poverty, while spending “tens of thousands” on luxury clothes and holidays. The foreign ministry in Moscow declared itself “miffed” as to why the indictment was made public “without consultation through diplomatic channels." “ (Russia Today, 12.06.13).
Russia’s Romir Holding held a joint poll with the U.S. Leger Market Research in the fall to question one thousand city residents in Russia and the United States. The results indicate that Americans still picture Russia in a Soviet-era context, such as communism (14%), the Cold War (11%), the USSR (5%), the KGB (2%), socialism (2%) and nuclear weapons (2%). Another 14% said that the word "Russia" immediately brought to mind Vladimir Putin. Russians associate America with the dollar (12%) and various symbols of freedom (12%). Ten percent of the respondents described the United States as "the evil empire", "an impudent country acting with impunity and seeking global dominance" and the same number associated the U.S. with wars and aggression. Three percent of Russians said that the United States meant democracy. (Interfax, 12.11.13).
The U.S. rock band Metallica has visited Russia's Bellingshausen station. (Interfax, 12.13.13).

II. Russia news.

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

President Vladimir Putin, in his state-of-the-nation address on Thursday, acknowledged that internal factors fueled a downturn in Russia's economy, but insisted the government shouldn't cut back on promised spending. He also announced that the government would begin to tax Russian offshore companies and no longer support foreign-registered enterprises. (Wall Street Journal, The Moscow Times, 12.13.13).
"Those who violate migration rules will be banned from coming to Russia for a period of three to 10 years, depending on the gravity of the offence," President Vladimir Putin said in his annual address to the parliament. He also criticised “reckless and impudent natives of some southern regions, corrupt law enforcers who cover up ethnic criminal groups, and the so-called Russian nationalists, the so-called separatists, who take any tragedy as a reason for vandalism and bloodbaths." (RFE/RL, RIA Novosti, 12.12.13).
In his annual address to the Russian parliament on Thursday President Vladimir Putin said said that on the international arena Russia sees itself as a defender of conservative values against what it considers an assault of "genderless and fruitless so-called tolerance" which he said "equals good and evil". (The Guardian, 12.12.13).
President Vladimir V. Putin exerted new control over Russia's state news media on Monday, dissolving by decree one of Russia's official news agencies, RIA Novosti, along with its international radio broadcaster as he continues a drive to strengthen the Kremlin's influence at home and abroad. (New York Times, 12.10.13).
Russia's Finance Ministry predicted serious difficulties Friday for the budget in 2016 and 2017 as slowing economic growth means there will be insufficient funds available to honor spending commitments. (RIA Novosti, 12.06.13).
The International Monetary Fund has again lowered its growth forecast for Russia. The IMF said Tuesday that it now expects Russia's economy to expand by 2% in 2014, slashing its forecast for the fourth time this year from its initial call for 3.8% growth. (Wall Street Journal, 12.10.13).
Director general of Rosatom Sergei Kirienko told a small group of reporters in Washington that a floating nuclear power plant, which could be moored near a load center, was ''entering its finalization stage.'' The units will be built in pairs near St. Petersburg, Russia he said, and the first pair are to be installed in Russia in 2016. (New York Times, 12.13.13).
Russian able-bodied population may dip by 10 mln by 2025, Federal Migration Service head Konstantin Romodanovsky said. The country needs 300,000 migrants per year, he added. (Interfax, 12.06.13).
Xenophobia and national intolerance are growing in Russia, Russian Federal Migration Service Chief Konstantin Romodanovsky said. (Interfax, 12.08.13).
Russia will stop issuing domestic passports in 2017-2018 and replace them with plastic cards. (Interfax, 12.08.13).
Russia has chosen an official symbol for its national currency. It is the Russian letter R—which looks like a P in Latin script (Wall Street Journal, 12.11.13).
Russia jumped 14 places in Forbes' list of the Best Countries for Business in 2013, to 91st place. (Interfax, 12.05.13).

Defense:

“Let no one have illusions that he can achieve military superiority over Russia. We will never allow it,” President Vladimir Putin said in his annual address to the parliament. (Russia Today, 12.12.13).
President Vladimir Putin told a Defense Ministry meeting on December 10 that Russia should have "all levers for the protection of [its] security and national interests" in the Arctic. Last week, Canada said it planned to file with the United Nations a claim to the North Pole and surrounding Arctic waters.(RFE/RL, 12.10.13).
“We will allocate 23 trillion rubles for armament,” President Vladimir Putin said in his annual address to the parliament. (Kremlin.ru, 12.12.13).
The task is "to create a global reconnaissance and target acquisition system, involving the aerospace grouping, President Vladimir Putin said in his annual address to the parliament.(Itar-Tass, 12.12.13).
“To further strengthen our nuclear triad we are developing new strategic missile systems for land, sea and air,” President Vladimir Putin said in his annual address to the parliament.(Kremlin.ru, 12.12.13).
Russia has started building storage for more than 100 Bulava missiles some 120 kilometers from the border to Norway. (Barents Observer, 12.13.13).
The army has received more than 250 modernized T-72B3 tanks from the Uralvagonzavod plant so far this year, and expects another 20 vehicles in the weeks before 2014 rolls in. (The Moscow Times, 12.11.13).

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

Security forces in Russia's North Caucasus Republic of Dagestan have killed at least five alleged militants in the western Khasavyurt district.. (RFE/RL, 12.05.13).
A special operation in Russia's North Caucasus has resulted in the arrests of 52 suspected members of the banned Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir, including an "international emissary" of the group who is a Kyrgyz citizen. (Moscow Times, 12.10.13).
Over five past years, Russia has revealed 242,000 corruption crimes, and 3,500 people were convicted in 2013 for corruption-related crimes, Russia's presidential envoy on international cooperation in fighting terrorism and trans-national organised crime Alexander Zmeyevsky said. (Itar-Tass, 12.08.13).
The economic amnesty declared in Russia has been applied to almost 1,500 people already, Russian business commissioner Boris Titov said. (Interfax, 12.09.13).
An amnesty drafted by Russian President Vladimir Putin could free the two jailed Pussy Riot protesters and the Greenpeace Arctic 30 campaigners. Some opposition activists involved in unrest in May 2012 could also be released. (BBC, 12.09.13).
Greenpeace says the environmental group's activists who were detained in Russia in September have been denied exit visas. (RFE/RL, 12.13.13).
Jailed oil tycoon and former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who is set to be freed next year, may face new criminal charges, the Deputy Prosecutor General said. About 15 experts, who were preparing an independent study on the verdict returned over the "second Khodorkovsky case," are suspects in the so-called "third Khodorkovsky case," source familiar with the matter told Interfax. (Vedomosti, 12.08.13, RBTH, 12.11.13).
The Spanish police together with Interpol have arrested eight Russians suspected of having links to an organized criminal group that was active in Russia and Spain. (The Moscow Times, 12.12.13).
The pilot who sent a Boeing 737 into a near-vertical dive in Kazan, killing all 50 people on board, might have had a fake license, investigators said Friday. (AP, 12.08.13).

Foreign affairs and trade:

“Together with partners we managed …to place chemical arsenals of Syria under international control. Their elimination is an important step in strengthening the regime of nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction.,” President Vladimir Putin said in his annual address to the parliament.(Kremlin.ru, 12.12.13).
“We have always been proud of our country, yet we do not aspire to super-power status, which is understood as a claim to global or regional hegemony,” President Vladimir Putin said in his annual address to the parliament. (Interfax, 12.12.13).
Sanctions against Russia in the form of the possible European "Magnitsky List" may have a negative effect on EU-Russia relations, according to Head of the EU Delegation to Russia Vygaudas Usackas. (Voice of Russia, 12.13.13).
Russia has urged European colleagues to take action to lay bare lawlessness of the Extraordinary Rendition Program of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, RF Foreign Ministry’s Special Representative for Human Rights Konstantin Dolgov said. (Voice of Russia, 12.13.13).
European Union commissioner Viviane Reding will not go to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics in February over what she said was Russia's treatment of minorities, joining German President Joachim Gauck in a snub to the host nation. (Reuters, 12.11.13)

Russia's neighbors:

President Viktor Yanukovych has entered talks with opposition and other leading politicians as Ukrainian protests continue over his decision last month not to sign a landmark deal with the European Union. Yanukovych had said he would attend a "roundtable" discussion with former President Leonid Kravchuk, other politicians, and church leaders. All three main opposition leaders agreed to attend the "roundtable" discussion in a bid to defuse the crisis. (RFE/RL, 12.13.13).
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for talks on trade and economic ties. Speaking on television afterwards Yanukovych said there was no alternative to restoring trade relations with Moscow. Ukraine will sign agreements on the elimination of the majority of trade contradictions with Russia in Moscow on December 17, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said. (Interfax, 12.13.13, Wall Street Journal, 12.06.13, Reuters, 12.10.13).
Russia does not dictate anything to others, but is prepared to push ahead with integration projects with Ukraine if Kiev agrees and is ready to continue the work on the level of experts on Ukraine's joining several agreements in the framework of the Customs Union, President Vladimir Putin said in his annual address to the parliament. Russia's Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, has earlier criticized the visits of top Western officials to Ukrainian anti-government protests, calling them "interference in Ukraine's internal affairs." (Russia Today, 12.06.13, Itar-Tass, 12.12.13).
Seeking to ease tensions and move the discussion on Ukraine in a constructive direction, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said Russia is ready to negotiate on any type of customs agreement, even one with the participation of the European Union. (RBTH, 12.13.13).
The European Union’s top diplomat Catherine Ashton said that Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych had “made it clear to me that he intends to sign” a trade agreement with the bloc. But protesters weren’t buying it and spent the day bolstering the five formidable snow and ice barricades that protect their long-running encampment. “This is real, this is absolutely real,” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Leonid Kozhara, told the Interfax news agency Thursday, adding that Ukraine might sign on with Europe as early as next spring. (Washington Post, 12.12.13).
U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden expressed his deep concern about the tense situation in Ukraine during a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and urged him to open a political dialogue with the opposition. (Moscow Times, 12.11.13).
The U.S. State Department is considering imposing sanctions on the Ukrainian government in an effort to make the country restart trade deal negotiations with Europe and defuse a standoff with protesters, who continued to hold a vigil in central Kiev on Thursday. (The Moscow Times, 12.12.13).
Ukrainian opposition leaders - Vitali Klitschko of the UDAR party, Arseny Yatsenyuk of Batkivshchyna (Fatherland), and Oleh Tyahnybok of Svoboda (Freedom) - have met with the U.S. assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, Victoria Nuland. Earlier, Nuland hailed Georgia's "remarkable progress" in meetings with top officials in Tbilisi. (RFE/RL, 12.06.13, Interfax, 12.06.13).
The National Bank of Ukraine said Friday that foreign-currency and gold reserves fell to $18.79 billion as of Dec. 1, from $20.6 billion one month before. (Wall Street Journal.12.06.13).
Moldova’s Constitutional Court has ruled that the "Moldovan" language will be replaced by Romanian as the former Soviet republic's official tongue. (RFE/RL, 12.05.13).
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he does not know whether he will run in the next presidential elections and gave the impression that he is fed up with his job. (Moscow Times, 12.11.13).
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was in Yerevan on December 12 for a meeting of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation group. It was the first visit to Armenia by a high-level Turkish official in nearly five years. On the sidelines of the gathering, Davutoglu met with Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian. (RFE/RL, 12.13.13).
Baku has requested $300 billion in "damages" caused by Armenia's occupation of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region. (RFE/RL, 12.10.13).

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