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Russia in Review

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Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for January 11-18, 2013.

Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for January 11-18, 2013

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

Nuclear security agenda:

  • No significant developments.

Iran nuclear issues:

  • Russia says it is working hard to firm up plans for a new round of talks between global powers and Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme. Iranian news agency ISNA said on Wednesday that Iran and six world powers would resume talks in late January, but a European Union official said the two sides had yet to agree a date. "Russia is concerned about this and we continue to work, including with our Iranian partners, to resolve this issue as soon as possible," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said (Reuters, 01.17.13).

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

  • The U.S. Defense Department cannot purchase weapons from Rosoboronexport, Russia’s state-owned arms export agency, under a provision of the fiscal year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act. The ban lasts for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.  (Arms Control Today, January/February 2013).

Missile defense:

  • The United States’ principal homeland missile defense program against a feared long-range attack by North Korea or Iran made little demonstrable headway last year in moving beyond a restricted capacity to defeat a small-scale threat, according to a new Pentagon report.  (GSN, 01.16.13).

Nuclear arms control:

  • No significant developments.

Counter-terrorism cooperation:

  • No significant developments.

Cyber security:

  • A five-year campaign of cyberattacks targeting diplomatic, governmental and scientific-research organizations, mainly in former Soviet-bloc countries, has been uncovered by a Russian anti-malware company. Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab said the main purpose of the operation appears to have been to gather classified information and geopolitical intelligence. The largest number of attacks occurred in Russia, where Kaspersky reported detecting 35 infections, while Kazakhstan suffered 21 infections, Azerbaijan 15 and Armenia 10. Elsewhere in the region, there were seven infections in Turkmenistan and six in Ukraine. The lab's report suggests the 'Red October' malware  was controlled by a series of some 60 command-and-control servers based in Germany and Russia, although they in turn may be controlled by another "mother ship" server at an unknown location. (Wall Street Journal, 01.18.13).

Energy exports from CIS:

  • About 42 percent of Gazprom's gas traveled through Ukraine in the first 10 days of this year. Once the route for two-thirds of Europe-bound gas from the east, the country ceded the position as Gazprom grew its transporting opportunities elsewhere. (Moscow Times, 01.11.13).
  • Ukraine moved one step closer to a breakthrough shale-gas deal with Royal Dutch Shell on Wednesday after local authorities in the Donetsk region approved a planned production-sharing agreement. Ukraine is said to have Europe’s third-largest shale gas reserves at 1.2 trillion cubic meters.  (Reuters, 01.17.13).

Bilateral economic ties:

  • The United States could become the world's biggest crude producer this year, overtaking Russia, according to a BP report. (Moscow Times, 01.18.13).

Other bilateral issues:

  • Russia denied entry to Rear Admiral Jeffrey Harbeson, former commander at the Guantanamo U.S. Naval Base in Cuba who now oversees Europe, NATO and Russia affairs at the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, in retaliation for a U.S. law intended to punish Russian human rights violators, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Denisov said on Friday. (Reuters, 01.18.13).
  • The blacklist of American officials compiled by the State Duma as part of the recently passed "Dima Yakovlev" law has reached 60 individuals. In December, there were only 11 individuals on the list, said Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the State Duma's International Affairs Committee. All of those individuals were officials from the Bush administration believed to be involved in human rights violations that occurred at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.  "As for the new officials and ordinary U.S. citizens added to the list, they can be divided into three categories: judges, investigators, members of the Justice Department and agents of the intelligence services involved in the criminal prosecution and conviction of Russian citizens Viktor Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko for a long term," Pushkov said.  (Moscow Times, 01.18.13).
  • Russia's federal child rights commissioner said Thursday that American citizens in the final stages of adopting children here would be allowed to take custody and return to the United States, providing some clarity after more than two weeks of confusion over a new law banning adoptions by American citizens. (New York Times, 11.18.13).
  • 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, Jake Sullivan, director of the State Department's Policy Planning Office, said. (Interfax, 01.15.13).
  • Russia's Lower House has refused to take action on the public petition to cancel the amendment to the Dima Yakovlev Law that bans US adoptions of Russian children. (Russia Today, 01.14.13).
  • 76 percent of Russians support the ban for American adoption of the Russian children /the so-called Dima Yakovlev Law/, Russia's oldest polling institution, VCIOM, reported on Friday following its survey. (Itar-Tass, 01.18.13).
  • Thousands of Russians marched Sunday to condemn the Parliament’s move to ban the adoption of Russian children by American families. (New York Times, 01.14.13).
  • The Russian government warned on Thursday that it would retaliate against any effort by the United States to enforce a ruling by a federal judge in Washington who has ordered Russia to pay fines of $50,000 a day for refusing to return a disputed collection of Jewish books and documents to the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic group. (New York Times, 11.18.13).
  • The Magnitsky Law states that no later than 120 days after its Dec. 14 signing, the president must submit to Congress the names of those facing sanctions. That list is likely to contain Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. (Moscow Times, 11.16.13).
  • Russia on Thursday decreed a national park in its remote Far Eastern Chukotka region, paving the way for a joint US-Russian nature reserve spanning the Bering Strait, an idea first proposed by the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed the decree to create the new national park called Beringia, Russia's World Wildlife Fund said. (AFP, 01.17.13).
  • Major Russian banks should beware of dealing with two blacklisted Syrian financial institutions, a senior U.S. Treasury official said, adding that U.S. and other banks could shun them as a result. (Reuters, 01.13.13).
  • Sen. John Kerry will have his nomination hearing to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Jan. 24. (Foreign Policy, 11.18.13).
  • Russia's Central Election Commission claims the US presidential election failed to meet democratic standards and international obligations and therefore its results cannot be considered objective. The commission’s report will be officially presented on the eve of Barack Obama's inauguration scheduled for January 21. (Russia Today, 01.16.13).

II. Russia news.

 

Domestic Politics, Economy and Energy:

  • Russia is to become Europe's leading economy by 2030, surpassing Germany, and pushing the UK out of the top 10 by 2050, according to a new report titled BRICs and Beyond released by PricewaterhouseCoopers. (Guardian, 01.18.13).
  • According to the World Bank study, the 2012 GDP growth rate for the Russian Federation is expected to be 3.5 percent, compared to 4.3 pct the year before. (Itar-Tass, 01.16.13).
  • An estimated $56bn left Russia last year in capital outflows, according to the central bank. The year's estimate is down sharply from 2011 when outflows topped $80bn, and net outflows dropped sharply following Vladimir Putin's return to the presidency in March. (Financial Times, 01.12.13).
  • Private oil and gas companies could receive licenses for up to 20 percent of Russia's continental shelf and join their state-owned counterparts already working in the environmentally sensitive area, a minister said. (Moscow Times, 01.16.13).
  • First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said Wednesday that the government would not raise taxes for business before 2018, provided that events of a "global" scale do not influence the situation. (Moscow Times, 01.16.13).
  • President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Tuesday making the head of the Federal Migration Service a federal minister, signaling that the service's powers will likely be expanded. (Moscow Times, 01.16.13).
  • In terms of supply and demand Russia is an "adoptee's market" with over 128,000 children waiting for adoption and only 18,000 families ready to take them, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said Monday.  (RIA Novosti, 01.14.13).
  • Five ministers in Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's Cabinet have failed to live up to the expectations of certain Kremlin administration officials, according to a survey conducted by Izvestia.  However, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev believes that evaluation of the government efficiency is an exclusive area of the Russian president. (Interfax, Moscow Times, 01.15.13).
  • The "tandem" government era in Russia is over, argued former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov. (Interfax, 01.15.13).
  • The political reform launched during Dmitry Medvedev's presidency has failed to reach its goal as it has not lead to more competition between political parties in Russia, says a think-tank established by the sacked Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin.  (Russia Today, 01.15.13).
  • Pew asked people in seven countries whether they prefer democratic government or one with a "strong" leader. Russia's results were 57 percent for "strong hand," and 32 percent for democracy. (Washington Post, 01.11.13).
  • Russian Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov said on Wednesday that only one non-governmental organization in Russia has so far registered as a foreign agent under a recently introduced law on NGOs. (RIA Novosti, 01.16.13).
  • The non-Baltic former Soviet Union now rivals the Middle East as one of the most politically and socially repressive regions in the world, according to the latest edition of "Freedom in the World," the annual report compiled by U.S.-based rights watchdog Freedom House. (RFE/RL, 01.16.13).

Defense:

  • Russia is planning to start building the next two submarines of its Borey class this year. (Interfax, 01.14.13).
  • The Central Command Post of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces conducted a simulated missile launch on Wednesday in the presence of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. (RIA Novosti, 01.16.13).
  • Russian warships will hold the biggest-ever exercises in the Mediterranean Sea, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said. The Defense Ministry's press service reported earlier that an inter-fleet force of the Russian Navy comprising ships from the North, Baltic, and Black Seas and the Pacific Fleet would conduct exercises in the Mediterranean and Black Seas in late January. (Interfax, 01.11.13).
  • Russia's military will retire foot wraps, or portyanki -- the pieces of cloth that Russian rank-and-file have used in place of socks for more than three centuries -- according to recently appointed Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. (Wall Street Journal, 01.15.13).

Security and law-enforcement:

  • Russian investigators are said to be near a decision on whether to charge the country's ex-defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov amid the biggest anti-graft drive of President Vladimir Putin's 12 years in power, according to two officials.  (Bloomberg, 01.18.13).
  • Law enforcers have apprehended Nikolai Ryabykh, the acting head of Defense Ministry's logistics department within their probe into the embezzlement case that already caused the dismissal of the country's defense minister. (Russia Today, 01.16.13).
  • Investigators are looking for Marina Lopatina, a senior official at an Oboronservis subsidiary who is suspected of illegally selling $10 million of Defense Ministry property.   (Moscow Times, 01.18.13).
  • Final charges in a grand embezzlement case have been brought against Russian opposition figurehead Alexei Navalny, the Investigative Committee said on Friday. (RIA Novosti, 01.18.13).
  • Russian investigators brought a new charge against billionaire Alexander Lebedev on Thursday, in addition to the public disorder and battery charges he already faces in a case that could land him in prison for up to five years. (RIA Novosti, 01.17.13).
  • The Federal Security Service has announced that it found no evidence to support the claims made against the opposition via a film shown on NTV, which alleged that the opposition's protest events had been financed from abroad. (BBC, 01.14.13).
  • 517 terrorist crimes were committed in the 11 months of 2012 in Russia, Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Ivan Sydoruk said.
  • Magomed Magomedov, a judge on Dagestan’s Supreme Court, was killed in a shooting attack in the center of the capital Makhachkala on January 15. (RFE/RL, 01.16.13).
  • Aslan Usoyan, one of Russia's biggest criminal bosses was gunned down in the center of Moscow on Wednesday. (Washington Post, 01.17.13).

Foreign affairs and trade:

  • Russia on Tuesday granted Bangladesh a $1 billion loan for weapons purchases and $500 million to help one of Asia's poorest countries build its first nuclear power plant. (Reuters, 01.15.13).
  • Subsidiary of Russian state-owned nuclear operator Rosatom, ARMZ said it had agreed to pay $1.3 bn to acquire the 49 per cent of Toronto's Uranium One. (Financial Times, 01.17.13).
  • Russia is starting to implement a "soft power" program set by President Putin to improve the country's image abroad and promote its interests. The main efforts will be aimed at increasing the number of Russian science and culture centers abroad and working with Russian expats and foreign youth.  (Kommersant, 01.16.13).
  • Russian opposition activist Alexander Dolmatov, who was seeking political asylum in the Netherlands, has committed suicide while being held in a refugee centre. Russia’s Foreign Ministry has demanded that the Dutch government urgently investigate the death. The death was not triggered by the refusal to grant him asylum in the Netherlands, the Dutch ambassador to Moscow said. (AFP, Interfax, BBC, 01.18.13).

Russia's neighbors:

  • Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in February. (Interfax, 01.17.13).
  • Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his newly appointed Ukrainian counterpart, Leonid Kozhara, had a series of meetings on Sunday and Monday to underline the importance of fostering strategic ties between the two countries, with Ukraine's potential accession to the Russia-dominated Customs Union a central topic. (Moscow Times, 01.15.13).
  • Former Soviet states' involvement in Eurasian integration does not herald a return to the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Friday. (RIA Novosti, 01.18.13).
  • U.S. Assistant Secretary Robert Blake told reporters in Bishkek that talks about the future use of the Manas transit center in Kyrgyzstan are continuing. On January 16, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev reportedly told Blake that no military units or military equipment should remain at Manas by the end of 2014. (RFE/RL, 01.17.13).
  • Some 190 prisoners have been released from custody in Georgia as part of an amnesty that came into effect on January 13. (RFE/RL, 01.13.13).
  • Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said that this year's defense budget will rise to $3.7 billion, up from $3 billion last year. (RFE/RL, 01.17.13).
  • Russia is hastily preparing an agreement on the development of military-technical cooperation with Armenia. (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 01.18.13).
  • Senator Robert Menendez (Democratic-New Jersey) is set to take over the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, replacing President Barack Obama's nominee for secretary of state, John Kerry. Menendez, whose home state of New Jersey has the second-largest Armenian-American population in the country, questioned U.S. military sales to Azerbaijan, warning of their potential use in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. (RFE/RL, 01.15.13).
  • Russian mobile phone service giant MTS says its subsidiary in Uzbekistan has filed for bankruptcy.  (RFE/RL, 01.16.13).

 

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