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Press Release

Russia in Review

Published: September 29, 2012

Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for the week of September 21-29, 2012

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

Nuclear security agenda:

  • Russia on Friday called for a preventive mechanism to counter nuclear terrorism threats at the end of the Strazh 2012 international exercises in countering nuclear terrorism."Highlighting the importance of providing global nuclear security, the participants (of the exercise) agreed on the necessity to develop the systems of early response to nuclear terrorism threats," said the Russian Federal Security Service. During the two-day event, the Russian Defense Ministry and Rosatom demonstrated the latest technology for detecting nuclear materials and radioactive substances. Special relief units were also put to test in dealing with an aftermath of a simulated nuclear terrorism attack. (Xinhua, 09.28.12).
  • NNSA announced the commissioning of the Abramovo Counterterrorism Training Center in Russia. The center will be used by the Russian Ministry of Defense to train personnel for Russia’s nuclear sites in security tactics and measures. (NNSA, 09.21.12).
  • NNSA and Rosatom officials were to meet on Monday and Tuesday in Moscow to discuss collaborative nuclear forensics projects. (BPC newsletter, September 2012).
  • The research reactor at Poland’s National Center for Nuclear Research was converted to LEU fuel. In total, 27 kilograms of Russian-origin HEU fresh fuel and 61.9 kilograms of HEU spent fuel from the facility were returned to Russia. (NNSA, 09.25.12).
  • A congressional attempt to bring the United States in line with two nuclear security agreements appeared to stall late last week as a Republican senator sought changes to a compliance bill cleared this summer by the House of Representatives. The legislation is intended to ensure the United States meets legal standards required under the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism. The bill would also bring the United States in line with a 2005 amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material. (GSN, 09.27.12).
  • Acting Under Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller said:  “Ratification of the CTBT would be a significant affirmation of the importance the United States attributes to the international nonproliferation regime.” (State Department, 09.26.12).

Iran nuclear issues:

  • Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “We have no indications that Iran has taken a political decision to go military in its nuclear program,” but “we have concern that the Iranian nuclear program might have a military dimension because the IAEA presented to them several questions which remain unanswered for quite a considerable period of time.” “By threatening and sanctioning again and again, we`re not making Iran more cooperative,” he said. (PBS, 09.25.12).

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

  • NATO hopes to sign the first commercial agreement with Russia on use of the Ulyanovsk transit base for withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan within the next few months. (RIA Novosti, 09.26.12).
  • NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Wednesday met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, with security cooperation at the top of the agenda. Mr. Fogh Rasmussen thanked Russia for its support of the NATO-led ISAF mission in Afghanistan, which includes expanded transit arrangements through Ulyanovsk. (Depro, 09.27.12).

Missile defense:

  • Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “We still have time. It is not unlimited.” (PBS, 09.25.12).
  • NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow said: "For geographical, scientific and numerical reasons, NATO's missile defence cannot and will not change the strategic balance nor pose any threat to Russia's assured second-strike capability." (NATO, 09.27.12).
  • Russian atomic-powered cruiser Pyotr Veliky has completed a series of anti-missile system tests in the Arctic, a step in its effort to expand sea- and land-based missile defense systems to counter any U.S. ballistic missile strikes. (GSN. 09.21.12).

Nuclear arms control:

  • Russia appears to hold about 2,000 operational nuclear bombs while several thousand more have been withdrawn and are due to be disassembled, according to a new analysis by veteran issue specialists Hans Kristensen and Robert Norris. (GSN, 09.25.12).
  • A U.S.-Russia commission has completed a regular meeting in Geneva on the implementation of the New START treaty. The U.S. and Russian delegations agreed that the “inspecting Party shall have the right to use tamper detection equipment that is brought to points of entry on the territory of the inspected Party.”  They also agreed that “the Parties shall, upon request, provide each other with the opportunity to acquire telemetric information playback equipment for which a demonstration was conducted.”(GSN, State Department, 09.21.12).

Counter-terrorism cooperation:

  • No significant developments.

Cyber security:

  • In the wake of a 2010 incident in which the U.S. Air Force lost contact with 50 intercontinental ballistic missiles, the service is figuring out how to protect its command-and-control systems from cyber attack -- a nonexistent threat when the missiles were designed decades ago.(Foreign Policy, 09.25.12).

Energy exports from CIS:

  • No significant developments.

Access to major markets for exports and imports:

  • The U.S. National Association of Manufacturers joined eight other business organizations in urging President Obama and congressional leaders to extend Permanent Normal Trade Relations with Russia. U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk has  urged lawmakers to approve long-delayed legislation to upgrade trade relations with Russia when they return after the Nov. 6 U.S. elections. (NAM, 09.25.12, Reuters, 09.19.12).

Other bilateral issues:

  • Mr. Frank Kenlon, Acting Director for International Cooperation, hosted the second meeting of the U.S.-Russian Defense Technology Cooperation Sub-Working Group in Washington on August 14-15. Col. Oleg Vaschenko, Chief of the MOD's IPR and Military Technical Cooperation Directorate, led the Russian delegation. (BPC Newsletter, September 2012).
  • Using some of his harshest language yet, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that the adoption of the Magnitsky bill by the U.S. Congress would have disastrous consequences for U.S.-Russian relations. (Moscow Times, 09.28.12).
  • Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “There were cases when Russians were literally kidnapped for being accused of something which they never did, only for intentions and intentions having been provoked by the FBI agents.” (PBS, 09.25.12).
  • Assistant Secretary of State Philip H. Gordon said: “I want to be clear: the United States will continue to support civil society, democracy and human rights in Russia.” (State Department, 09.21.12).
  • The Russian government has refused to backtrack on a demand that the U.S. Agency for International Development cease operations in the country by Oct. 1, despite laments from nongovernmental groups and a reported request for an extension from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. (Moscow Times, 09.21.12).
  • U.S. government-funded Radio Liberty has reiterated its commitment to operating in Russia after Nov. 10, when a new law forces it to discontinue AM broadcasts and after dozens of journalists and editors left the organization last week. (RFE/RL, 09.25.12).
  • Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg will meet with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Monday to discuss cooperation on startups at the Skolkovo innovation hub. (Moscow Times, 09.28.12).
  • “Russia’s GDP growth is at 4 percent. And we’re at 1.3. This is unacceptable,” Republican presidential nominee  Mitt Romney said. (AP, 09.27.12).
  • Republican VP nominee Paul Ryan said:  “We’re seeing countries stifle freedom in Iran, in Russia, in all these other areas.” (New York Times, 09.25.12).

 

II. Russia news.

 

Domestic Politics, Economy and Energy:

  • The government has decided to almost halve export duties on oil produced at new fields in eastern Siberia Energy Minister Alexander Novak said. (Moscow Times, 09.25.12).
  • Russia is on the brink of stagnation and only has limited time to brace for an impending global slump according to former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin. "In an $80 oil price scenario, the economy would shrink by 3-4 percent," he said. (Reuters, 09.21.12).
  • A ceremony has been held to mark the formal acceptance for commercial operation of unit 4 of the Kalinin plant by its owner, Rosenergoatom. (WNN, 09.26.12).
  • Leading Russian non-government organizations said Thursday they would defy a new Kremlin law requiring those who receive funding from abroad to register as “foreign agents.” (AP, 09.27.12).

Defense:

  • Pavel Grachev, a former Russian defense minister who led troops into Chechnya in the 1990s, died on Sunday. (AP, 09.23.12).
  • Russia's Defense Ministry has abandoned plans to set up a unified command structure for the country’s nuclear triad. (RIA Novosti, 09.24.12).
  • The Teikovo missile division of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces has been fully equipped with advanced Topol-M and Yars ballistic missile systems. (RIA Novosti, 09.20.12).
  • Russia is readying for service new Kh-101 cruise missiles designed to carry nuclear or non-atomic warheads. (GSN, 09.27.12).
  • Russian-Japanese naval maneuvers will be held in the Peter the Great Strait after Japanese warships end their visit to Vladivostok on September 26. (Interfax, 09.25.12).
  • Russian military-political leadership is strengthening measures for the defense and protection of the former nuclear test site in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.  (Nezavisimaya Gazeta via WPS, 09.28.12).
  • A group of 16 Russian and Norwegian researchers who sailed to take radiation measurements surrounding a Russian nuclear submarine that was scuttled for nuclear waste off the coast of Novaya Zemlya, have found no radioactive leaks. (Bellona, 09.25.12).

Security and law-enforcement:

  • Russia's parliament has advanced sweeping spy legislation. The bill broadens the definition of "spies" to include Russian nationals who help foreign states or organisations upset the country's "constitutional order, sovereignty or territorial and national integrity." (AFP, 09.22.12).
  • Police in Dagestan say four men were shot dead after opening fire on police officers. (Moscow Times, 09.25.12).

Foreign affairs:

  • Iraq could become the biggest importer of Russian weapons the Vedomosti reports, referring to possible arms deals worth $4.3 billion it says could be signed during a visit by Iraqi officials to Moscow in October. (Vedomosti via Reuters, 09.28.12).
  • Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on chemical weapons in Syria: “We can say that for the time being it is safe. The biggest risk for these chemical weapons to get into the wrong hands is if they are if the sites are taken by al Qaeda and the like.” (PBS, 09.25.12).
  • “A significant share of responsibility for the continuing bloodshed rests upon the states that instigate the opponents of Bashar Assad to reject the cease-fire and dialogue and at the same time to demand unconditional capitulation of the regime,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. “Such an approach is unrealistic and in fact it encourages terrorist methods that the armed opposition is using more and more often.” (AP, 09.26.12)
  • German prosecutors have filed espionage charges against two alleged Russian agents whom they accuse of spying for information on European Union and NATO strategy. (AP, 09.27.12).
  • Russia has criticized the European Parliament for nominating three jailed members of the group Pussy Riot for a human rights prize.  (RFE/RL, 09.26.12).

Russia's neighbors:

  • Moldovan police have detained seven suspected members of a group that traded firearms and uranium-235, operating in the separatist Transdniestria region. (Reuters, 09.21.12).
  • NNSA announced the completion of a workshop to locate, identify, and secure radioactive sources within Afghanistan and Tajikistan. (NNSA, 09.26.12).
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay an official visit to Dushanbe on October 5. Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said the two countries will "very soon" sign an agreement extending Russia's military presence in Tajikistan.  (RFE/RL, 09.27.12).
  • On Oct. 1, Georgians will vote in the least-predictable election that the country has had since it gained independence more than 20 years ago. The parliamentary campaign between the ruling United National Movement party, headed by President Mikheil Saakashvili, and the Georgian Dream opposition coalition that is headed by Georgia’s richest man, Bidzina Ivanishvili, has been divisive.  (Bloomberg, 09.27.12).
  • A parliamentary election in Belarus boycotted by the main opposition was dominated by candidates loyal to President Alexander Lukashenko. (Reuters, 09.25.12).
  • Belarus has dodged about $1 billion in customs duties payments to Russia this year by exporting gasoline and other oil products under the guise of solvents and thinners. (Reuters, 09.28.12).
  • Armenia's Defense Ministry says Azerbaijani troops shot dead a 19-year-old Armenian soldier along the border with Azerbaijan. (RFE/RL, 09.276.12).
  • Police in Kazakhstan said Thursday they are seeking two members of a radical religious organization for last month’s murder of 12 people at a national park near Almaty. (AP, 09.27.12).
  • Kazakhstan's president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, on Monday appointed his long-serving prime minister to be his chief of staff to balance the rival groups vying for influence. (Reuters, 09.24.12).

 


Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for the week of September 21-29, 2012