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Russia in Review

Published: February 1, 2013

Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for January 25 - February 1, 2013.

Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for January 25 – February 1, 2013

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

Nuclear security agenda:

  • U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, Rose Gottemoeller, is expected to visit Moscow in the middle of February to discuss, among other topics, the future of the Nunn-Lugar program. (Interfax, 01.31.13).
  • The distribution of powers among the deputies of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has been finalized. In addition to running the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov will command the ministry’s 12th Main Directorate, Directorate of the Commander of Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces, Directorate of Nuclear and Radiation Safety, as well as Main Directorate of Deepwater Research. (Kommersant via WPS, 01.30.13).
  • A growing confidence among U.S. officials that Russia is serious about limiting the use of highly enriched uranium in the production of radiological isotopes for medical procedures may slow efforts to establish an HEU import ban, sources say. (GSN, 01.29.13).

Iran nuclear issues:

  • No significant developments.

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

  • No significant developments.

Missile defense:

  • Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said: “There's no ease in relations over missile defence, no flexibility has been shown. We are sticking to our former positions.” (CNN, 01.27.13).
  • NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he hoped that U.S.-Russian dialogue about the placement of a U.S. missile defense system in Eastern Europe would progress now that the U.S. presidential election was over. (Moscow Times, 02.01.13).
  • The troubled “kill vehicle” for the United States' principal homeland long-range antimissile system received a boost on Saturday when a flight test of the “modified” Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle indicated that fixes to the component were working, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said. (GSN, 01.28.13).

Nuclear arms control:

  • U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this weekend in Munich and National Security Advisor Tom Donilon will travel to Moscow in February to try to kick-start a new round of U.S.-Russia nuclear reduction negotiation. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), the chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, wrote in a letter to Biden that Donilon intends to transmit a personal letter to President Vladimir Putin from Obama “articulating his plans for further U.S. arms reductions and perhaps even agreements about U.S. missile defenses to entice Russia to the negotiating table.” (Foreign Policy, 01.30.13).
  • Kommersant daily reported on Friday that U.S. President Barack Obama has no plans to pay a separate visit to Russia in summer as previously expected because the sides have reached no breakthrough in the sphere of arms reduction. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said on Friday that Obama is unlikely to visit Russia until September, when he is due to attend the G20 leaders' summit in St. Petersburg. (RIA Novosti, 02.01.13).
  • Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama's nominee for defense secretary, said during his confirmation hearing in Senate on Thursday that the “Congress has to be involved” in any Administration efforts to negotiate reductions with Russia. Hagel told senators that any arms-control deal with Russia must be “bilateral and verifiable.” He also also denied he would not support unilateral U.S. nuclear cuts. (Wall Street Journal, Washington Times, AP, 02.01.13).

Counter-terrorism cooperation:

  • No significant developments.

Cyber security:

  • The U.S. Defense Department's Cyber Command will increase by more than 4,000 people, up from 900. (New York Times, 01.28.13).

Energy exports from CIS:

  • The Shah Deniz consortium, responsible for one of the world’s largest natural gas fields in Azerbaijan, will soon announce that its partners, including BP, Statoil and Total, are buying into the main Trans-Anatolian Pipeline planned to bring gas to the European Union through Turkey. (National Interest, 01.30.13).
  • Gazprom said it would invest 509.6 billion Russian rubles ($16.89 billion) expanding its pipelines to take gas to southeastern Europe via the South Stream. (Wall Street Journal, 01.29.13).
  • On January 23, Gazprom sent Ukraine’s Naftogaz a $7 billion bill for natural gas that the Ukrainians didn't consume in 2012, but, according to Gazprom, are obliged to pay for under a “take-or-pay” clause in the contract. The bill amounts to around half of what Ukraine has already paid Russia for the gas it received last year. Kiev said it won't acknowledge the $7 billion debt. (Moscow Times, 02.01.13, Financial Times, Itar-Tass, 01.28.13).

Bilateral economic ties:

  • No significant developments.

Other bilateral issues:

  • The Russian government announced that it has scrapped an agreement with the United States on cooperation in law enforcement and drug control because it “does not address current realities and has exhausted its potential.” The United States said it “regrets” the Russian government’s decision.  (RFE/RL, 01.31.13).
  • Russia confirmed on Tuesday it is extending its “Dima Yakovlev” blacklist to include more U.S. citizens deemed to be human rights violators, who will be banned from entering the country in the latest tit-for-tat retaliation for the U.S. Magnitsky Act. (RIA Novosti, 01.29.13).
  • The Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday unanimously approved the nomination of Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) to succeed Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.  (Foreign Policy, 01.29.13).
  • U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton charged Iran and Russia with continuing and in some cases increasing their lethal support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in a parting shot before she leaves her post as the U.S.'s top diplomat on Friday. (Wall Street Journal, 01.31.13).
  • U.S. Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton said: “It’s going to have to be a mutual effort, Europe and the United States both bilaterally and together, working to try to persuade Russia, and particularly Russian leadership that they should become more integrated into and connected with Europe and the West.” (RIA Novosti, 01.29.13).
  • “It's not yet clear what will come of [U.S. natural gas exports to Europe] because there are pricing problems and ... ecological problems,” Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in response to a question suggesting that a worsening of U.S.-Russia relations could be attributed to U.S. gas exports. (Moscow Times, 01.29.13).
  • The U.S. nongovernmental organization International Republic Institute is denying a Russian media report saying it has relocated its staff from Russia for fear of persecution. (RFE/RL, 01.30.13).
  • The Kremlin plans to set up a nongovernmental organization in the United States to monitor the fate of Russian children adopted by American families. A total number of Russian children adopted into foreign families last year was 152, including 55 children adopted into the United States. (Moscow Times, 02.01.13, Itar-Tass, 01.29.13).
  • Max Kampelman, an American diplomat famous for leading arms talks with the Soviet Union during the Reagan administration, died at 92 of congestive heart failure. (Moscow Times, 09.30.13).
  • 53 per cent of Russians polled by the Levada Centre in January said they like the USA in general (44 per cent in January 2012), and 40 per cent said they disliked that country (34 per cent in 2012). At the same time, a majority (55 per cent) negatively assessed the current relations between Moscow and Washington, describing them as “cold”, “tense” and even “hostile.” 40 per cent, on the contrary, consider them “friendly”, “good” and “calm.” (Interfax, 01.30.13).

II. Russia news.

 

Domestic Politics, Economy and Energy:

  • President Vladimir Putin has decided that the state will sell major assets that are being privatized exclusively on the Moscow Stock Exchange, and not on foreign trading floors. (Vedomosti, 01.29.13).
  • The Russian economy will remain stable up to 2030, but it will be growing by no more than four percent a year, as follows from the Economic Development Ministry's long-term social and economic development forecast. (Itar-Tass, 01.30.13).
  • Russia's Oil Wealth Fund will be totally consumed if world oil prices plunge to $60 per barrel and stay at that level for a year, experts from the Russian School of Economics said on Tuesday. (RIA Novosti, 01.29.13).
  • The dramatic growth in venture-capital funds raised by Russia is striking. In 2006, according to the VentureSource data, Russia raised just €5 million. Over the last four years the amount raised has gone up by nearly a factor of 10, from €25.9 million in 2009, €37.76 million in 2010 to €185.79 million in 2011 and €236.55 million last year. (Wall Street Journal, 01.30.13).
  • Russia has hired U.S. banking giant Goldman Sachs in a $500,000 deal to polish the image of the country's investment potential abroad and lure foreign cash, Deputy Economics Minister Sergei Belyakov said. (RIA Novosti, 01.29.13).
  • Russia intends to expand its Arctic zone by means of other Russian territories. The bill “On the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation,” developed by the RF Ministry of Regional Development and published for expert discussion, deals with inclusion in the Arctic of part of Karelia and the city of Vorkuta (Komi Republic). (Itar-Tass, 01.28.13).
  • The installation of two 300-tonne tanks has taken the project to build Russia's first floating nuclear power plant a step further towards completion. (World Nuclear News, 01.29.13).
  • President Vladimir Putin appointed Ramazan Abdulatipov as the acting president of Dagestan. His predecessor Magomedsalam Magomedov was made deputy chief of the Kremlin staff. (RFE/RL, Gazeta.ru, 01.28.13).
  • The Kremlin is not considering the early resignation of Kirov region governor Nikita Belykh, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. Belykh has been questioned in the case over the theft of Urzhum distillery shares .(Itar-Tass, 02.01.13).
  • Using archive footage and interviews, a mysterious YouTube video presents Dmitry Medvedev as weak and ready to surrender Russian interests to a conniving America - “no loyal ally”, in the words of ex-premier Yevgeny Primakov, one of those who seems to have spoken to the anonymous film-maker. The video, professionally produced, specifically condemns Medvedev for having allowed the passage of U.N. resolutions that led in 2011 to the overthrow and killing of Libyan leader Gaddafi. A spokeswoman for Medvedev declined to comment on the video.(Reuters, 02.01.13).
  • The annual report of the U.S.-based rights watchdog Human Rights Watch said that Russia has just gone through its worst year for human rights since the collapse of the Soviet Union more than two decades ago. But member of the Russian Public Chamber political analyst Sergey Markov said the report was politically motivated.(RFE/RL, 01.31.13, Interfax, 01.02.13).
  • Russian media experts said on Wednesday the country deserves its 148th position out of 179 on the 2013 Press Freedom Index, six points down from last year.(RIA Novosti, 01.30.13).

Defense:

  • Tactical exercises of the Russian Navy in the eastern Mediterranean involving ships of the North, Baltic and Black Sea Fleets will end within days and the naval group will be disbanded. (Interfax, 01.29.13).
  • The Russian Defense Ministry’s opacity makes it difficult to determine whether anti-corruption reforms are being carried out, Transparency International said in a report released on Tuesday in which it gave Russia a D- on an A-to-F corruption index. (Moscow Times, 01.30.13).

Security and law-enforcement:

  • Interior Ministry officials in the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria say a police colonel was killed by an unknown assailant.  (RFE/RL, 01.28.13).

Foreign affairs and trade:

  • A leading Syrian opposition source said the opposition would meet officials from the United States, Russia and the United Nations in Munich on Saturday to discuss a political transition for Syria. (Reuters, 02.01.13).
  • Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made a “fundamental, perhaps fatal” mistake by not implementing political reforms and drawing in the opposition more quickly. Medvedev said: “I think the chances for his (Syrian president’s) survival go down with every new week and month.” (CNN, RFE/RL, 01.27.13).
  • Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested that Turkey join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Erdogan described the group as “better and more powerful” than the E.U. and as comprising members - such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - with which Turkey has “common values.” (New York Times, 01.29.13).
  • The European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has expressed concern over Russian lawmakers' initial approval of legislation that would impose penalties for spreading alleged “homosexual propaganda” to minors. (RFE/RL, 01.30.13).

Russia's neighbors:

  • With planning for the Western military withdrawal from Afghanistan in full swing, officials in Uzbekistan want to make a deal: “we will provide the roads out if you leave some of those extra vehicles and supplies behind for us.” The requests have gone from relatively common items like night-vision goggles to large and expensive American-made goods like MRAP vehicles, the 14-ton armored utility trucks that help protect troops from roadside bombs. (New York Times. 02.01.13).
  • A Ukrainian court has sentenced the Interior Ministry's former surveillance department chief, General Oleksiy Pukach to life in prison for the murder of investigative reporter Heorhiy Gongadze. (RFE/RL, 01.29.13).
  • Paruyr Hairikian, candidate in Armenia's upcoming presidential election has been wounded in a shooting in Yerevan. (RFE/RL, 01.31.13).
  • Kazakhstan, the world leader in uranium production, is reporting a new record for uranium output - 20,900 tons in 2012.  (RFE/RL, 01.25.13).
  • Russia and Kazakhstan have signed a document to establish a joint regional air-defense system. (RFE/RL, 01.30.13).
  • Sources at the Russian Federation Defence Ministry report that after the failure of the controversial talks between Baku and Moscow on extending the lease on the Qabala radar station, Vladimir Putin cancelled the decision to sell Azerbaijan a third battalion of the S-300 Favourite surface-to-air missile system. (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 01.30.13).
  • The Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers have met for internationally mediated talks aimed at settling the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.  (RFE/RL, 01.29.13).
  • Six suspected members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) have been arrested in the south of Tajikistan. (RFE/RL, 01.28.13).
  • The International Monetary Fund warned that political friction in Georgia could endanger the country's economic prospects, but the IMF believes that the country's economic health could benefit greatly from a restoration of trade ties with powerful neighbor Russia. (RFE/RL, 01.30.13).

 

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