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Press Release

Russia in Review

Published: November 30, 2012

Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for 21-30, 2012

Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for November 21-30, 2012

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

Nuclear security agenda:

  • The National Nuclear Security Administration and the Russian Federation’s Ministry of Internal Affairs-Internal Troops announced the commissioning of the Ozersk Training Center. The training center will be used by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to train personnel for Russia’s civilian nuclear sites. (Skrin, 11.22.12).
  • Rosatom proposes to recover sunken nuclear submarines and reactor compartments in framework of the G8 Global Partnership program, which is planned to extend for another 10 years,Oleg Kryukov, director of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Directorate of Rosatom said. (Nuclear.ru, 11.22.12).
  • Russia is developing an unprecedented project for the removal of spent nuclear fuel from Vietnam by air. (Itar-Tass, 11.21.12).
  • As of the end of 2011 Russia had 49.5 tonnes of unirradiated separated plutonium, 1.1 tonnes more than was declared in 2010. (IPFM Blog, 11.23.12).

Iran nuclear issues:

  • There are plans to bring Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant to full capacity after it is reloaded with fuel in the last week of December, Russian contractors said. (Interfax, 11.29.12).

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

  • NATO countries assured Russia on Wednesday that the planned deployment of Patriot missiles to Turkey was a defensive measure as the alliance and Moscow resumed ambassador-level meetings after a gap of nearly a year. Russia opposes the possible deployment by NATO of Patriot missiles near Turkey's border with Syria, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.  (Reuters, 11.28.12).

Missile defense:

  • The U.S. Senate will not vote on building a new missile defense system on the East Coast of the United States. That means a House-Senate conference committee will decide the fate of the GOP East Coast missile defense proposal. (Defense News, 11.29.12).
  • Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he received confirmation during Tuesday talks with his U.S. counterpart, Hillary Clinton, that the Obama administration hopes to work toward a deal on European missile defense. (RFE/RL, 11.21.12).

Nuclear arms control:

  • No significant developments.

Counter-terrorism cooperation:

  • No significant developments.

Cyber security:

  • No significant developments.

Energy exports from CIS:

  • BP PLC is in early talks with the Gazprom-led Nord Stream pipeline consortium over an extension of the link to carry the gas into the U.K. (Wall Street Journal, 11.26.12).
  • Gazprom clinched a long-term deal on Monday to export natural gas to private companies in Turkey. (Reuters, 11.26.12).

Access to major markets for exports and imports:

  • Senator Chuck Grassley says he doubts the Senate will change much in House legislation passed November 16 by a 365-43 vote to grant Russia Permanent Normal Trade Relations. (WHOTV, 10.27.12).
  • Sales in the United States account for 83% of exports by Russia’s Izhmash gun maker, which makes Kalashnikov submachine guns and hunting rifles, among other weapons. (Gazeta.ru, 11.29.12).

Other bilateral issues:

  • The Senate voted unanimously Thursday night to bar the Pentagon from using U.S. taxpayer funds to purchase any goods from Russia's main arms exporter, including helicopters for use in Afghanistan. (Foreign Policy, 11.30.12).
  • Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday discussed Magnitsky list.  "Clinton knows that we will reply accordingly," Lavrov said of the list. U.S. President Barack Obama could sign the Magnitsky act into law by the end of this year. (Moscow Times, 11.21.12).
  • NASA and Russia's space agency are pushing ahead with plans for a yearlong stay in space, choosing the two men who will undertake the mission. (LAT, 11.26.12).
  • Canadian police were tipped off by the FBI to a possible security breach by a Canadian navy intelligence officer who later pleaded guilty to espionage. (AP, 10.29.12).

II. Russia news.

 

Domestic Politics, Economy and Energy:

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that Russia can introduce direct elections of senators, but he warned that the Russian Constitution should be amended for this purpose. (Itar-Tass, 11.30.12).
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin will give the so-called "Big Press Conference" on December 20. (Itar-Tass, 11.26.12).
  • The Kremlin has played down a decision by Japan's prime minister to put off a visit to Russia amid speculation about President Vladimir Putin's health Putin's back troubles stem from a recent bout of judo, according to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. (Reuters, 11.28.12, BBC, 11.30.12).
  • Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said he is not ruling out a return to the Kremlin after his 2008-2012 single term as Russian head of state but was happy working as premier under his mentor Vladimir Putin. (AFP, 11.26.12).
  • According to a new poll published Thursday, the approval ratings of President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev have fallen over the past seven months. Putin's approval rating is down from 69 percent in May to 63 percent in November, and Medvedev's from 64 percent to 54 percent over the same period, according to statistics posted on the independent Levada Center's website. (Moscow Times, 11.30.12).
  • President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree relieving Dmitry Rogozin of his post as chairman of the supervisory board of state-run nuclear corporation Rosatom. Boris Gryzlov, currently chairman of United Russia's supreme council, will be his replacement. (Moscow Times, 11.20.12).
  • Russia may have to raise interest rates and tighten rules on lending next year to crack down on inflation, the OECD said on Tuesday. (Reuters, 11.27.12).
  • Rosneft will sign a final binding deal in December with a consortium of Russian billionaires to buy their 50% stake in TNK-BP Ltd. (Dow Jones, 11.30.12).

Defense:

  • More than 100 new spacecraft, including those designed for missile attack warning, communications, cartography, and navigation, are to be put into orbit in accordance with the State armament program scheduled for 2020. (Itar-Tass, 11.26.12).
  • "First time in two decades we are going to exceed the limits of only two missile divisions rearmament. In 2013, we will rearm missile regiments in three divisions and prepare for rearmament of two more missile divisions," Commander of the Strategic Rocket Forces said. (Xinhua, 11.21.12).
  • A Russian General Staff insider said that reports the military would field a new ICBM in 2014 were incorrect. (Interfax, 11.26.12).
  • "The Aerospace Defence Troops in the shape in which they were created in effect only protect the region around Moscow, no more," former Chief of the Strategic Missile Troops Main Staff Col-Gen Viktor Yesin said. (Interfax, 11.28.12).

Security and law-enforcement:

  • Russia’s top investigative agency has accused opposition supporters of attending training abroad as part of foreign-backed plans to overthrow the government. (AP, 11.30.12).
  • British officials are investigating the unexplained death of a Russian businessman, a key witness against Russian officials who allegedly stole $230 million from a London hedge fund in a money laundering scheme.(AP, 11.29.12).
  • Russian authorities have filed posthumous charges of tax evasion against anticorruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in prison in 2009.  (RFE/RL, 11.29.12).
  • The Interior Ministry on Wednesday named former Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik as a witness in a criminal investigation into a $16 million fraud at the ministry. (Moscow Times, 11.29.12).
  • St. Petersburg authorities have dismantled a syndicate they say cost the city $100 million by installing some 600 kilometers of substandard heating and water pipes. (Moscow Times, 11.30.12).
  • Yevgeniya Vasilyeva, close associate of a former Russian defense minister, was placed under house arrest Friday on charges of defrauding the state of millions of dollars. (AP, 11.23.12).
  • After a two-day riot in a Russian prison ended with injuries and arrests, the local governor has confirmed inmate claims of torture and extortion at the penal colony in the Urals Region.(Russia Today, 11.27.12).
  • The UN's top anti-torture body criticised Friday the lack of accountability in Russia for perpetrators of torture. (AFP, 11.23.12).

Foreign affairs:

  • St. Petersburg will host a G20 summit on September 5 and 6,2013. (Interfax, 11.27.12).
  • President Vladimir Putin is visiting Turkey and Turkmenistan next week, signaling that he is fit for travel again after a two-month hiatus that raised speculation about his health. (Moscow Times, 11.26.12).
  • Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met with outgoing Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing on Wednesday to discuss bilateral cooperation and potential weapons sales, the first trip by a Russian official to China following a leadership change in the powerful Asian nation. (Moscow Times, 11.21.12).

Russia's neighbors:

  • Workers have raised the first section of a colossal arch-shaped structure that eventually will cover the exploded nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl power station. (AP, 11.29.12).
  • European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has held talks with President Mikheil Saakashvili and Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili in the Georgian capital. (RFE/RL, 11.26.12).
  • Prosecutors in Georgia have launched a new probe into the 2005 death of Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania.  (RFE/RL, 11.27.12).
  • Georgia’s new prime minister said Thursday he would move quickly to expand the Cabinet’s powers, a change that would take away even more influence from the ex-Soviet nation’s beleaguered pro-Western president. (AP, 11.22.12).
  • Georgia’s new foreign minister Maia Panjikidze told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Washington that Georgia remains her country’s most important ally. She also brushed off U.S. concerns about arrests of allies of President Mikhail Saakashvili. (AP, 11.30.12).
  • Georgia's government will pursue a policy targeted at deepening cooperation with the United States, Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili said after a meeting with US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Eric Rubin on Tuesday. (Itar-Tass, 11.27.12).
  • The U.S. and EU ambassadors to Ukraine have visited jailed former Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko at a prison labor camp. (Moscow Times, 11.26.12).
  • The European Union's foreign-policy chief, Catherine Ashton, has held talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev in Astana.  On November 28, Ashton was in Uzbekistan and  on November 27 she visited Kyrgyzstan. She discussed security and energy issues with foreign and deputy foreign ministers from five regional states.(RFE/RL, 11.30.12).
  • U.S. oil firm ConocoPhillips has announced it is selling its stake in Kazakhstan's Kashagan oil field to an Indian company for some $5 billion.  (RFE/RL, 11.26.12.)