Research, ideas, and leadership for a more secure, peaceful world

Press Release

Russia in Review

Published: July 15, 2011

An update from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for the week of July 8 - 15, 2011.

A digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for the week of July 8 - 15, 2011

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

Nuclear security agenda:

  • The amended U.S.-Russian Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA) has formally entered into force after an exchange of diplomatic notes by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the State Department on 07.13.11. The amended agreement directs each side to dispose of no less than 34 metric tons of surplus weapon-grade plutonium with the total amount of material to be disposed enough for 17,000 nuclear weapons. The U.S. government will provide Russia with $400 million for the program and Russia will fund the balance of the project, which is estimated to cost some $3 billion.  “Such eliminations are the ultimate in improving nuclear security, as they permanently remove the threat of theft or misuse of nuclear material, at the same time reducing the burden of securing materials,” Laura Holgate, Senior Director, WMD Terrorism & Threat Reduction at the U.S. National Security Council, was quoted in the press release as saying.  Lavrov and Clinton also signed what the Russian diplomat described as a document that “deals with minimizing the risks of radioactive contamination of the environment.” (NNSA, 07.13.11, Belfer Center, 07.14.11., Russian Foreign Ministry, 07.15.11).
  • The U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction program dismantled a ballistic-missile submarine during a two-month reporting period this spring, Senator Richard Lugar announced on Monday. (GSN, 07.12.11).

Iran nuclear issues:

  • During his trip to Washington D.C., Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov  laid out a "step-by-step" approach under which Iran could address questions about its nuclear program and be rewarded with a gradual easing of sanctions. Lavrov said: “We suggest that for each IAEA requirement that Iran must fulfil, a roadmap be drawn up, starting with simpler questions and ending with those whose solution may require more time. We are convinced that in response to each concrete, rather than declarative, step of Iran it is important to make an accommodating step in the form of a freeze on the sanctions against it and, as progress is made, their reduction.” (Reuters, 07.13.11, Russian Foreign Ministry, 07.15.11).
  • U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that  the U.S. will send a team of experts to consult with the Russians on the proposal that Lavrov has made. She has noted, however, Washington remains committed to a "dual track of pressure and engagement" on Iran. (Today.az, AP, 07.14.11).
  • General designer of the Moscow Thermal Engineering Institute Yuri Solomonov said he believes Iran and DPRK have done enough research and development to eventually acquire capability producing ICBMs if they invest enough money and argued that the Russian ministry of defense is wrong to say neither of the two countries will ever be able to produce such missiles. (Kommersant, 07.06.11).

NATO-Russia cooperation, including transit to Afghanistan:

  • Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Washington D.C. that Russia has not been formally invited to the next NATO summit, to be held in May 2012 in Chicago. (Washington Times, 07.14.11).

 

Counter-terrorism cooperation:

  • No significant developments.

Missile defense:

  • Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on 07.13.11: “President Obama has confirmed his readiness … to reach an understanding of common policy and creating strong political framework that will let us start practical cooperation” on missile defense.  (Washington Times, 07.14.11).
  • Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during his visit to the United States that missile defense is "the single irritator of considerable importance in the Russian-American relations.” “Missile defense situation is the crux of the matter of indivisibility of security,” he said.  Lavrov also said Russian military planners fear the U.S. missile defenses in Europe could undermine Russian security. (CSIS, 07.13.11, AP, 07.13.11).
  • Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the joint threat assessments, which the U.S. and Russia and NATO and Russia agreed in 2009 and 2010 respectively to conduct, should be completed before actual cooperation can begin. (Kommersant, 07.14.11).
  • Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and his U.S. counterpart Ellen Tauscher are to hold   talks on missile defense in the week of 07.18.11-07.24.11 within framework of the presidential commission’s Arms Control and International Security Working Group. The talks are to focus on the missile defense declaration that that Obama and Medvedev were to have signed on sidelines of the G-8 summit in Deauville, France on 05.26.11.  A Russian diplomat said of the declaration: “The fact that the Americans themselves proposed this idea first inspired optimism – it was Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller who first stated it.” (Kommersant, 07.12.11).

Nuclear arms control:

  • The United States is in talks with NATO to remove American tactical nuclear weapons from Europe, in a push toward a nuclear-weapons-free world and to cut costs. In-depth discussions will take place in coming months and the talks should conclude by the time Chicago hosts a NATO summit next May, influential Asahi Shimbun said, citing a senior U.S. official tasked with nuclear disarmament policies.  If a complete abolition in Europe is agreed, it could give impetus to U.S.-Russia nuclear disarmament talks, the mass-circulation newspaper said. (AFP, 07.16.11).
  • U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chairman Gen. James Cartwright suggested that the future role of each leg of the nuclear triad must be fundamentally re-examined so that desired capabilities and quantities are maintained, rather than determined by budget-cutting drills or political horse-trading. With the growing possibility today that the first modern detonation of a nuclear weapon could be at the hands of a terrorist rather than a foreign government, the game has changed, said Cartwright. "You may actually decide that you're going to stay [with] mutual assured destruction with one country, but the other one is not going to be that," Cartwright said. (GSN, 07.14.11).

Energy exports from CIS:

  • No significant developments.

Access to major markets for exports and imports:

  • Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on 07.13.11: “At the meeting I had today with President Obama, we completely agreed on the need to soon close the issues that remain in the way of Russia's WTO accession.” (Russian Foreign Ministry, 07.15.11).
  • Russia won’t lift incentives that encourage foreign carmakers to produce parts in the country in exchange for World Trade Organization membership, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned on Friday. (AP, 04.15.11).

Other bilateral issues:

  • The White House says President Barack Obama told Russian President Dmitri Medvedev that the U.S. is prepared to support Russian-led negotiations in Libya.
  • However, Obama told the Russian president the U.S. would only back the negotiations if they lead to a democratic transition and longtime Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi steps aside. (AP, 07.11.11).
  • U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov discussed on Wednesday the situation in Libya, Syria and Yemen, the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, the settlement of the conflict around Nagorny Karabakh.  In a statement, the White House said Obama and Lavrov had also discussed the "tragedy" of the prison death of Russian anticorruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.  (Itar-Tass, 07.14.11, RFE/RL. 07.13.11).
  • Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday during a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington that a new visa regime between the two countries would be signed by Christmas. (RIA Novosti, 07.14.11).
  • Following 13 months of complicated talks, Russia and the U.S. have finally agreed on child adoption rules. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed a bilateral agreement on cooperation that will make the process of adoption more transparent and safe. (Voice of Russia, 07.14.11).
  • Cyber-Security Coordinator of the Obama Administration Howard A. Schmidt announced on 07.12.11 that he and Russian National Security Council Deputy Secretary Nikolay Klimashin met on 06.21.11-06.23.11 within framework of U.S.-Russian Working Group for discussions of confidence-building measures, with the goal of preventing misunderstanding and inadvertent escalation of cybersecurity incidents and resolved to complete the following steps by 2012. (White House, 07.12.11).
  • Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the United States is "acting like hooligans" and "abuses its monopoly" on printing money. (Moscow Times, 07.12.11).
  • The U.S. Energy Department loaned $730 million to the North American arm of Severstal, one of Russia’s largest steel companies to modernize its Detroit-area plant. (AP, 04.13.11).
  • One of Russia's biggest film distributors, Walt Disney Studios Sony Pictures Releasing, has lost a court appeal against tax authorities who accused it of underpaying 73.5 million rubles ($2.6 million) in taxes. (The Moscow Times, 07.14.11).

  1. II. Russia news.

Domestic Politics, Economy and Energy:

  • Divers retrieved more bodies as they finished a search of all inner compartments but the engine room of the sunken Bulgaria riverboat on the Volga riverbed Wednesday, bringing the confirmed death toll to 104, including 20 children, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.
  • A team of 200 ministry divers worked in and around the decrepit 55-year-old vessel, which was overloaded with at least 208 people when it sank in just three minutes during a storm Sunday, the ministry said. The ship had room for 140 passengers, emergency officials say. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday that the ship had been in poor condition and warned that far too many such 'rust tubs' were being used in Russian waters. In a separate incident at least five people were killed and 30 injured when a Russian plane made an emergency landing on a Siberian river on Monday after an engine caught fire.  (Moscow Times, 07.14.11, Reuters, 07.11.11).
  • Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged top businessmen to decide who they want to see as the country's next president amid the uncertainty ahead of key polls, a report said on Wednesday. At a Kremlin meeting this week, Medvedev told tycoons that it was time for them to pick sides between him and his mentor Vladimir Putin, Vedomosti business daily said, citing several unidentified business people who attended the gathering. (AFP, 07.13.11).
  • Several members of Moscow’s elite business and economic circles have suggested that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin may run for president and, when he’s inaugurated, select longtime Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin as the country’s next prime minister. (Wall Street Journal, 07.08.11).
  • President Dmitry Medvedev has promised leaders of the State Duma factions to introduce changes to liberalize election laws and the political system. At a meeting at his Gorki residence on Monday, Medvedev told party leaders that his amendments to election laws "would not be limited" to a bill reducing the threshold for parties at national elections from 7 to 5 percent of the vote. The bill would take effect after Duma elections in December.  (Moscow Times, 07.13.11).
  • President Dmitry Medvedev gave initial approval Monday to an ambitious plan to more than double the size of the Russian capital, making space to move legions of bureaucrats and bankers out of the traffic-clogged center into surrounding suburbs. (Wall Street Journal, 07.12.11).
  • The popularity of employment in the civil service is indicative of the high level of corruption in Russia, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday. (RIA Novosti, 07.14.11).
  • Russian liberal opposition leader Vladimir Ryzhkov said his coalition submitted a court appeal on Friday of a Justice Ministry ruling that denied it the party registration needed to participate in December parliamentary elections. (Reuters, 07.15.11).
  • "I honestly believe that Putin is a person who was sent to Russia by fate and by the Lord at a difficult time for Russia," Kremlin first deputy chief of staff Vladislav Surkov was quoted by Interfax as telling state-run Chechen TV. Putin was "preordained by fate to preserve our peoples," Surkov said. (Reuters, 07.11.11).
  • Russia's capital outflows this year will likely come to a halt as confidence grows that the country's finances are stabilizing on the back of higher oil prices, the central bank said. June had net capital inflow of $3 billion, after $31 billion of outflows in the first five months of the year. (Wall Street Journal, 07.12.11).

Defense:

  • President Dmitry Medvedev urged the Russian military on Tuesday to buy weapons from abroad in order to ensure its forces are properly armed. "You shouldn't buy junk," Medvedev told Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov. "If they (domestic arms makers) offer equipment which does not satisfy you, place your orders with other firms, or, ultimately, import them," Medvedev said. (Reuters, 07.12.11).
  • More than 50% of the Russian Defense Ministry budget will be spent on defense procurement in 2012, Deputy Defense Minister Mikhail Mokretsov, who is in charge of military economic provision and financing of the Armed Forces, said in a report on Thursday. (Interfax-AVN, 07.14.11).
  • Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has decided to carry out annual appraisals of officers during which a decision on the officers' future is to be made, head of the ministry's main personnel directorate Lt.Gen. Viktor Goremykin has said. More than 30,000 officers sacked after appraisals in 2010, he said. (Interfax, 07.12.11).
  • Russia's Central Military District will end its summer training with the Tsentr-2011 (Center-2011) strategic exercise on 09.19.11-09.26.11. They will be spread across seven ranges in Russia and also Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, the District's press office said. (BBC, 07.08.11).
  • The personnel of the 210th Order of the Red Star Anti-aircraft Regiment, armed with the newest S-400 "Triumf" surface-to-air missile systems, will be deployed on Sunday. (Interfax-AVN, 07.12.11).

Security and law-enforcement:

  • A Russian court on Monday handed down sentences ranging from 10 years to life in prison to 12 members of the country’s most vicious neo-Nazi gang convicted of 27 hate killings, which included a videotaped decapitation of one of their own gang members and other crimes. (AP, 07.11.11).
  • A headmaster who was opposed to his female students wearing headscarves was killed in Russia's Muslim North Caucasus by militants, local officials and Islamist rebels have said. (Reuters, 07.11.11).
  • Military investigators suspect director general of Ship Repairing Center “Zvyozdochka” Fyodor Barashko of having embezzled 265 million rubles allocated for repairing of the Pyotr Velikiy nuclear powered cruiser. A criminal case has been opened. (Gazeta.ru, 07.15.11.).

Foreign affairs:

  • The Libyan government is denying a Russian newspaper report that allegedly quoted the Kremlin’s special envoy to Libya as saying Muammar Gaddafi has threatened to blow up Tripoli if it falls into rebel hands. (AP, 07.14.11).
  • The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday condemned "in the strongest terms" attacks by demonstrators on the U.S. and French embassies in Damascus. (Reuters, 07.12.11).
  • The Quartet of Middle East peace mediators failed to announce any progress toward reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks after a lengthy meeting on Monday, saying there are still gaps between the two sides. (Reuters, 07.11.11).

Russia's neighbors:

  • Russia is not planning to increase the size of its armed force in Abkhazia, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told the press in Sukhumi on Wednesday. (Interfax-AVN, 07.14.11).
  • The personal photographer for Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and two others were charged Saturday with spying for Russia. (LA Times, 07.10.11).
  • Ukraine says it has enough money to start construction of a new shelter on the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster. Anton USO, a spokesman for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development - which manages the project - said international donors have so far pledged some $940 million.  The final price tag for the project is estimated at $1.04 billion.    (RFE/RL, 07.14.11).
  • Lithuania’s president has signed a law that will break Gazprom’s control over natural gas supplies and distribution in the Baltic country. (AP, 07.13.11).
  • Malaysia’s national energy company Petronas has drawn its first natural gas from a field off the coast of the Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan. (AP, 07.12.11).
  • Lithuania on Thursday chose the U.S.-Japanese consortium Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy as the strategic investor in a nuclear power plant in Lithuania. (AP, 07.14.11).
  • Leaders of Turkmenistan's exiled opposition say they plan to accept President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov's invitation to return home and participate in elections next year. (RFE/RL, 07.13.11).
  • Explosions killed 15 people at a military depot outside Turkmenistan's capital last week, a special government commission said on Sunday, breaking days of official silence after opposition reports of up to 200 dead. (Reuters, 07.10.11).
  • “Nagorno-Karabakh is ready for compromise,” Nagorno-Karabakh Bako Sahakyan said, but it has to have the opportunity “to discuss the issue with Azerbaijan directly.” (Washington Post, 07.08.11).