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Press Release

Russia in Review

Published: November 23, 2011

A digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for November 18-23, 2011

A digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for November 18-23, 2011

  1. I. U.S. and Russia priorities for the bilateral agenda.

Nuclear security agenda:

  • Russia submitted its annual declaration that contains data on its holdings of civilian plutonium. According to the declaration, as of the end of 2010 Russia had 48.4 tonnes of unirradiated separated plutonium, 0.7 tonnes more than in 2009. (Fissile Materials Blog, 11.14.11).

Iran nuclear issues:

  • Russia called new sanctions against Iran "unacceptable," saying the new punishments would hurt efforts to talk with Tehran. (CNN, 11.22.11).

NATO-Russia cooperation, including transit to Afghanistan:

  • Russia expects explanations from the U.S. about its plans to create military bases in Afghanistan after withdrawing troops from there in 2014. "One thing (the withdrawal of troops) appears to contradict the other (the creation of military bases). We would like to get to the bottom of that," Lavrov told a press conference in Moscow on Monday. (Interfax, 11.21.11).
  • Viktor Ivanov, director of Russia's Federal Service for the Control of Narcotics, said on U.S.-Russian cooperation in fighting Afghanistan's drug industry: “This year, four joint operations have been conducted and a few more are scheduled.” (Chicago Tribune, 11.17.11).

 

Counter-terrorism cooperation:

  • No significant developments.

Missile defense:

  • President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday that Russia will deploy short-range Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, placing weapons in other areas in Russia's west and south to target U.S. missile defense sites, if Washington goes ahead with the planned shield despite Russia's concerns.  He also said Russia will equip long-range missiles with warheads capable of foiling the U.S. anti-missile shield in Europe.“I have ordered the armed forces to develop measures to ensure, if necessary, that we can destroy the command and control systems” of the U.S. shield,” Medvedev said. “These measures are appropriate, effective and low-cost.” On Monday Medvedev said: "We will have to make responsible decisions, and I will voice them in the near future. There is no doubt that our actions will be reasonable and sufficient and will not close the way to the discussion of the situation with the missile defense systems in Europe with our partners in NATO.” Medvedev made the Wednesday statement because he received no assurances from U.S. President Barack Obama at the past APEC summit that the missile defense system in Europe would not target Russia, according to Russia’s missile defense envoy Dmitry Rogozin. (AP, Reuters, Bloomberg, RBC, 11.23.11, Interfax, 11.21.11).
  • A Russian military official said Monday that if talks with the United States on missile defense broke down, Russia was prepared to deploy tactical missiles to Belarus, the southern region of Krasnodar, and the western enclave of Kaliningrad.  (New York Times, 11.22.11).
  • "We are absolutely not going to close the door and will continue working with the Americans and within the Russia-NATO Council framework, but we will continue working based on our firm position on the need for guarantees that [the missile shield] is not targeted" against Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, adding that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and he had discussed this issue on the sidelines of an ASEAN summit in Bali on Saturday. (Interfax, 11.21.11)
  • U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta said: “We are also hoping that missile defense will provide NATO and Russia an avenue for its most meaningful cooperation yet, presenting an opportunity for former adversaries to firmly turn a page on the past and deal meaningfully and effectively with the real threats that emanate out of the Middle East. (U.S. Department of Defense, 11.18.11)
  • U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has warned that the European missile defense program could be threatened if the special deficit reduction committee should fail to work out a deal. “A missile defense system for NATO? It’s going to be hard to keep people committed if they think the U.S. is picking up the tab for Europe,” former U.S. ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker said when commenting on Pentagon budget cuts. (AP, 11.19.11).

Nuclear arms control:

  • In a boost to Israel, Russia joined the U.S. and Britain on Tuesday in backing the Jewish state’s view that the Middle East cannot be turned into a nuclear arms-free zone without progress on regional peace. (AP, 11.21.11).

Energy exports from CIS:

  • No significant developments.

Access to major markets for exports and imports:

  • No significant developments.

Other bilateral issues:

  • The United States said on Tuesday it will stop sharing data with Russia under the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, saying it was doing so four years after Moscow halted its participation in the pact. (Reuters, 11.22.11).
  • Foreign hackers caused a pump at an Illinois water plant to fail last week, according to a preliminary state report. A report dated Nov. 10 and collected by an Illinois state intelligence center blamed the damage on the actions of somebody using a computer registered to an Internet address in Russia.  (Washington Post, 11.18.11).
  • Russia will seek tougher punishment for an American couple convicted in the U.S. of the involuntary manslaughter of a 7-year-old boy they adopted from the country, authorities said Saturday. (Moscow Times, 11.19.11).

  1. II. Russia news.

 

Domestic Politics, Economy and Energy:

  • Presidential Economic Aide Arkady Dvorkovich said the real tax burden on the economy amounted to 40 percent of gross domestic product. (RIA Novosti, 11.21.11).

Defense:

  • The aerospace defense forces under construction in Russia will manage to combine the capabilities of the air and missile defense, early warning and space control systems, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Tuesday. This integration of systems will make it possible to intercept any air or space target at speeds reaching the hypersonic level," Serdyukov said. (Interfax, 11.22.11).
  • Vitaly Shlykov, a former Soviet intelligence agent who spent years in a Swiss prison after being convicted of espionage and later became an internationally known military analyst, has died at 77. (AP, 11.21.11).

Security and law-enforcement:

  • No significant developments.

Foreign affairs:

  • The U.N. General Assembly’s human rights committee Tuesday condemned Syria for crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators. Russia and China abstained, according to an official U.N. tally, which diplomats said could indicate a shift in their positions. (Reuters, 11.22.11).
  • The U.N. General Assembly Friday condemned an alleged plot -- blamed by U.S. authorities on Iranian agents -- to kill Saudi Arabia's envoy to the United States and urged Iran to obey international law. Countries that abstained included Russia and China. (Reuters, 11.18.11).
  • Russia's oil and gas policy should be not just an important part of the country's foreign policy but one of its main instruments, said Mikhail Margelov, the Russian president's special envoy for Africa and head of the International Affairs Committee of the Federation Council.  (Interfax, 11.18.11).
  • France has become the latest Western country to publicly criticize Russia's investigation into the death of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in pretrial detention in 2009. (Moscow Times, 11.23.11.).

 

Russia's neighbors:

  • By going to war with Georgia in 2008, Russia halted NATO's expansion eastward, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday. (RIA Novosti, 11.21.11).
  • Negotiations on the separatist region of Trans-Dniester will resume next week in Lithuania, five years after they stalled, Moldova’s prime minister announced Tuesday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a visit to Moldova Tuesday that Trans-Dniester should have a special status within Moldova. (AP, 11.22.11).
  • The president of Ukraine has granted permission for his fiercest rival, Yulia Tymoshenko, to receive medical treatment outside the prison where she is being held after her condition was described as “very bad.” (Irish Times, 11.23.11).
  • The Armenian military has pledged to respond "disproportionately" to the deaths of two Armenian soldiers in skirmishes with Azerbaijani forces reported in the breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh. (RFE/RL, 11.21.11).
  • A Russian pilot and his Estonian colleague were freed from prison by a court in Tajikistan on Tuesday, drawing a line under a smuggling case that soured relations between the Kremlin and a key Central Asian ally on the border with Afghanistan. (Reuters, 11.22.11).