Press Release
Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for the week of May 25 - June 1, 2012
Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for the week of May 25 - June 1, 2012
I. U.S. and Russian priorities for the bilateral agenda.
Nuclear security agenda:
· More than 100 capsule cradles aimed at protecting officials' babies from a nuclear blast and chemical or biological attack have been ordered by Russia’s security service. (Russia Today, 05.24.12).
Iran nuclear issues:
· Rosatom deputy head Nikolai Spassky said Russia is ready to help Iran build a new nuclear plant. (RFE/RL, 05.29.12).
NATO-Russia cooperation, including transit to Afghanistan:
· No significant developments.
Counter-terrorism cooperation:
· No significant developments.
Missile defense:
· Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy assistant Yuri Ushakov held out hope for progress on bridging divisions over a U.S.-backed missile shield in Europe, saying the talks may take a different direction after the U.S. presidential election in November. (Reuters, 05.29.12).
· Despite the growing rancor on Capitol Hill demanding an advanced missile defense shield on the East Coast, the Pentagon does not have the money or desire to build such a system in the eastern United States, DOD spokesman Capt. John Kirby said. (The Hill, 05.31.12).
· “Let me be clear. While we can work cooperatively together, we cannot agree to the pre-conditions outlined by the Russian government,” special envoy Ellen Tauscher said. (The Hill, 05.31.12).
· "We do not see legally binding guarantees as a real solution," Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow said. (Estonian Public Broadcasting, 05.29.12).
Nuclear arms control:
· Russia and the United States are in the midst of implementing drawdowns in each country's nuclear arsenals, guided by mandates in the New START treaty. The Pentagon and their Russian counterparts expect to have a drawdown plan in place by February 2018, said Gen. Bob Kehler, head of Strategic Command. He said Washington will not significantly shrink its nuclear weapons arsenal as long as Moscow and Beijing possess their own atomic arms that could target the United States. (The Hill, U.S. News and World Report, 05.30.12).
Cyber security:
· Russian security firm has spotted a cyber supervirus that tops Stuxnet. Kaspersky Labs says the complexity and targets of the Flame virus—which is infecting computers in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East—imply its creator is a government. (CMS, 05.29.12).
· From his first months in office, President Obama secretly ordered increasingly sophisticated attacks on the computer systems that run Iran's main nuclear enrichment facilities, significantly expanding America's first sustained use of cyberweapons, according to participants in the program. (New York Times, 06.01.12).
Energy exports from CIS:
· No significant developments.
Access to major markets for exports and imports:
· No significant developments.
Other bilateral issues:
· Prior to Vladimir Putin’s inauguration, U.S. President Barack Obama had sent him a long letter, detailing a way forward in the relations on a wide range of issues and inviting the president-elect to visit the White House for a working meeting in addition to attending the G-8 summit in Camp David. Putin responded in kind, suggesting to Obama that working groups on military-technical cooperation and cyber security be added to the U.S.-Russian presidential commission, according to Putin’s foreign policy assistant Yuri Ushakov. Putin and Obama are to issue a joint declaration on further cooperation at their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Mexico in June, he said. (Gazeta.ru, RIA Novosti, 05.29.12).
· Ambassador Michael McFaul said that in 2009 Russia had "put a big bribe on the table" to get Kyrgyzstan to order the U.S. out of a transit base being used to support operations in Afghanistan. He said the U.S. had offered its own bribe—"about 10 times smaller." The Foreign Ministry expressed "extreme bewilderment" Monday at Mr. McFaul's remarks, which it said went "far beyond the boundaries of diplomatic etiquette." It also accused him of misrepresenting Russia's stance on several issues. To state that Russia suggested exchanging Iran for Georgia, and human rights in Russia for North Korea means to know nothing about Moscow's position, in which matters of principle, including the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, have unquestionable priority and are not subject to any bargaining, the Foreign Ministry said of McFaul’s speech. (BBC, Rossiya 24. 05.28.12. Wall Street Journal, 05.30.12).
· The Russian government has finalized a much-touted visa agreement with the United States and drafted the corresponding bill, though it was unclear Wednesday when the State Duma would hear it. (Moscow Times, 05.31.12).
· Russia is prepared to retaliate if the U.S. Congress passes the Magnitsky bill, which would freeze assets of and deny U.S. visas to Russian officials linked to human rights abuses, President Vladimir Putin’s foreign adviser Yuri Ushakov said Tuesday. On Friday, U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul said he drew up the as-yet unpublished roster of affected officials and that it includes some who are associated not with the Magnitsky case but with other violations. (WP, 05.22.12).
· Russia’s Deputy Communications Minister Naum Marder has been denied US entry visa, reportedly over allegations of being connected to money laundering. He was also prohibited from entering U.S. on his Israeli passport. (Nezavismaya Gazeta, 06.01.12).
· Moscow has attacked the U.S. State Department's report on human rights for 2011, among other things accusing it of bias, "cynical falsification," "selective stereotyped assessments," and "extensive use of double standards." (Interfax, 05.28.12).
· Moscow City Court has sentenced former Russian army colonel Vladimir Lazar to 12 years in jail for selling what's described as "secret" maps to a U.S. agent. (RFE/RL, 05.31.12).
II. Russia news.
Domestic Politics, Economy and Energy:
· Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and current premier, has been elected head of the United Russia party, which he urged not to be afraid of opposition. (AP, 05.26.12).
· The Public Opinion Foundation, a respected polling agency that works for the Kremlin, on Thursday published figures showing the number of Russians answering “Do you trust Vladimir Putin?” with ‘Yes’ stood at 48 percent at the end of May, down from 55 percent March when he won re-election with 63 percent of the vote. A 7 point fall in three months is the fastest the key score has fallen in recent memory. (Financial Times, 05.31.12).
· Russia’s Investigative Committee charged three people Sunday and Monday with inciting unrest and attacking riot police officers during clashes between the police and anti-government protesters earlier this month. (New York Times, 05.28.12).
· The ruble reached a three-year low against the dollar Thursday, with the average value for the day coming in at 32.91 rubles to the dollar. (Moscow Times, 06.01.12).
· Yandex, Russia's biggest search engine, drew a record 19 million visitors each day last month, outstripping the country's most popular state-run television channel for the first time. (RFE/RL, 05.25.12).
· BP, the British oil company, plans to sell its 50 percent stake in its Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, after being approached by potential buyers of a holding that analysts think could command a $30 billion price tag. The announcement came after Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman on Monday unexpectedly announced his resignation as chief executive of TNK-BP. (New York Times, 06.01.12, AP, 05.28.12).
· Russian citizens invested $12 billion in real estate abroad in 2011. (Forbes.ru, 05.31.12).
Defense:
· Russia’s Defense Ministry and United Shipbuilding Corporation have signed a contract for the delivery of five new Borey class (Project 955) strategic nuclear submarines. Once completed and equipped with next-generation Bulava ballistic missiles, the planned line of ballistic missile submarines would provide Russia's strategic nuclear weapons with maneuverability and a clandestine action capability nearer to matching those of the United States, according to State Duma’s defense committee chairman Vladimir Komoyedov. (GSN, 05.30.12, RIA Novosti, 05.28.12).
· The second command center of the space-based early-warning system is reported to have entered combat duty on 30 April 2012 near Komsomolsk-on-Amur. (Russianforces.org, 05.29.12).
· Russia's President Vladimir Putin has signed an edict relieving an impressive group of top-ranking officers of their posts, including Colonel General Anatoliy Nagovitsyn and deputy chief of the General Staff Major General Igor Sheremet. (BBC/KP, 05.30.12).
· Russia's inability to complete elimination of its chemical weapons stockpile before 2015 is connected to lower-than-expected financial assistance from other nations. (GSN, 05.29.12).
Security and law-enforcement:
· Officials in Dagestan have blamed militants for killing a teacher and burning a school in the Tsuntinsk district. (RFE/RL, 06.01.12).
Foreign affairs:
· After meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Vladimir Putin said during his visit to Germany on Friday Russia wants to help U.N. envoy Kofi Annan achieve “positive results” and prevent an all-out civil war in Syria. He said Moscow was not supporting any party to conflict in Syria. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says she doesn't quite buy the claim that Russia is neutral in the Syrian conflict. (AP, 06.01.12).
· French President Francois Hollande will host Russian leader Vladimir Putin for a "working dinner" Friday night to discuss a variety of international and bilateral issues, topped by the worsening crisis in Syria, diplomats and press officials indicated here. (KUNA, 06.0.12).
· Russia has grown increasingly critical of the Syrian regime in recent months, but Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s latest comments were unusually strong. Although he said opposition forces have terrorists among them, he put the blame for 15 months of carnage primarily on the Syrian government. (AP, 05.28.12).
· Russia criticized Western nations on Wednesday for expelling Syrian envoys, calling the move "counterproductive," and warned them not to seek new U.N. Security Council action on the crisis in the Middle Eastern state for the time being. (Reuters, 05.30.12).
· On June 3–4, the European Union's top dogs will head to St. Petersburg to meet with Russia's leaders. (Wall Street Journal, 05.29.12).
Russia's neighbors:
· Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbaev has called the apparent killing of a group of Kazakh guards along the Kazakh-Chinese border “a terrorist act.” Nazarbaev spoke to the heads of Kazakhstan's law-enforcement agencies in Astana on June 1 after the burned bodies of 14 border guards and a civilian forest ranger were found at a checkpoint that was set ablaze. (RFE/RL, 06.01.12).
· Tens of thousands of opponents of the president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, staged a political rally in the capital on Sunday in a stronger-than-expected opening to their campaign for a parliamentary election scheduled for this fall. (New York Times, 05.27.12).
· Reports from Azerbaijan say the government has recalled its ambassador to Iran "for consultations." (RFE/RL, 05.31.12).
· A court in the northern Tajik city of Khujand has handed down lengthy prison sentences to 17 men linked to the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. (RFE/RL, 05.31.12).
· Security services in Azerbaijan say they have arrested 40 suspects and seized weapons as they thwarted a series of planned terror attacks against the Eurovision Song Contest. (AP, 05.30.12).
· Ukraine's ruling party has triggered violent protests with a move to upgrade the official role of the Russian language. (Reuters, 05.25.12).