Russia in Review

A digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for the week of March 18-25, 2011.

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

Nuclear security agenda:

March 23-24 visit by director general of Russian state nuclear corporation Sergei Kiriyenko to the United States.

o During his two-day visit Kiriyenko has met U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, his deputy Daniel Poneman and a group of American nuclear industry managers.

o During their meeting on Thursday Poneman and Kiriyenko announced a seven-year extension of the U.S.-Russian 1995 nuclear security cooperation agreement. The extension was signed between the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Federal Environmental, Industrial, and Nuclear Supervision Service of Russia (Rostechnadzor). Under the agreement, U.S. and Russian officials try to prevent nuclear theft and terrorism by securing material at its source. The agreement is implemented by NNSA’s Material Protection, Control & Accounting (MPC&A) Program. NNSA’s MPC&A Program scope includes 37 Russian nuclear material sites, 73 Russian nuclear warhead sites and 13 non-Russian nuclear material sites, according to this U.S. agency. Poneman said of the extension: “The United States and Russia remain committed partners in improving global nuclear security, combating weapons proliferation, and preventing dangerous nuclear equipment and materials from falling into the wrong hands. This agreement, and NNSA’s ongoing work in Russia, are vital to reducing international nuclear threats and implementing President Obama's ambitious nuclear security agenda.” Rostechnadzor Chairman Nikolay Kutin concurred. “Rostechnadzor is committed to continuing our open partnership with DOE NNSA to improve worldwide nuclear security,” he said.

o Poneman and Kiriyenko also oversaw signing of a $2.8 billion long-term contract between Rosatom's Tekhsnabeksport and U.S. company USEC supply low-enriched uranium to the U.S. starting from 2013. Under the terms of the deal, Russia will provide USEC with 21 million separated work units (SWU), and there is also a possibility of an option contract envisioning a comparable volume the U.S. corporation will be able to receive starting from 2015. Kiriyenko said of the deal: "This is a large-scale contract that will fill the vacuum to be created by the expiration of the HEU-LEU contract.”

o The Rosatom chief also said Russia is seeking U.S. technologies for dry storage of spent nuclear fuel in the wake of the nuclear crisis in Japan. “It looks that very soon we will have to give up the liquid on-site storage and turn to and use the U.S. technology of dry container storage," Kiriyenko said. "We are working now with U.S. companies on the establishment of a joint venture for the production and manufacture of such containments."

o Kiriyenko promised that Russia will share its uranium enrichment technologies with the United States. Russia and the United States are launching detailed talks on plans to establish a joint venture to build a plant in the U.S. that will enrich uranium using Russian technologies, according to Kiriyenko.

o In separate comments, Kiriyenko said response to the nuclear accident in Japan should include stress tests at Russian NPPs in short-term, development of new requirements for future NPPs in medium-term, and development of requirements for the next generation of nuclear technologies in long-term.

(Dow Jones, AFP, Skrin, Interfax, Rosatom and NNSA, 03.24.11).

The U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction program since January has eliminated 10 submarine-launched ballistic missiles, Senator Richard Lugar said. The Nunn-Lugar effort in that period also safeguarded three nuclear arms train shipments and neutralized 66.6 metric tons of chemical warfare materials. (GSN, 03.23.11).

Iran nuclear issues:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in Moscow on Thursday that Russia and Israel will face a common threat if "radical Islamist" states acquire nuclear weapons. "But it will be much worse if radical Islamist regimes acquire nuclear weapons. Terror will be aimed against all. That is why the most important thing now is to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said before his meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. (Reuters, 03.24.11).

NATO-Russia cooperation, including transit to Afghanistan:

“Here is a single fact that continues to amaze me,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said en route to Moscow. “Russia is an integral part of the northern distribution network for supporting our operations in Afghanistan.” (Bloomberg, 03.22.11).
During his March 22 meeting with Gates, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said: "Our positions on Afghanistan coincide in many areas. Russia is interested in the stabilization of the situation in the region and in the success of the coalition forces [there].” (Itar-Tass, 03.22.11).
The United States said on Thursday it would coordinate better with its partners on heroin raids in Afghanistan after rattling Kabul officials with an operation with Russia last year. Russian anti-drugs tsar Viktor Ivanov said Moscow and Washington were planning more joint operations, but declined to give a time frame. (Reuters, 03.24.11).

Counter-terrorism cooperation:

No significant developments.

Missile defense:

Acknowledging that Russia still has uncertainties about the defense shield, Gates said that both nations are committed to resolving the differences and eventually collaborating, including on launch information, a data fusion center and conducting joint analysis. In his March 21 speech at the Kuznetsov Naval Academy in St. Petersburg Gates said that the U.S. system poses "no challenge to the large Russian nuclear arsenal." (Wall Street Journal, New York Times, St. Petersburg Times, 03.22.11).
During his March 22 meeting with Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, Gates said: “We continue to have an intensive discussion on missile defense cooperation and although we still have differences that need to be resolved, we continue to make progress.” Serdyukov said there is no simple answer to the missile defense debate. "There is a common understanding that cooperation is better than confrontation. Discussions will continue between experts and, of course, within the specialized working group,” Serdyukov said. (Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, St. Petersburg Times, 03.22.11, Bloomberg, Reuters, 03.21.11).
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that an agreement between NATO and Russia on the issue of European missile defense would be a test on the alliance's sincerity in reference to its statements on the indivisibility of security. (RT, 03.23.11).
Russian and U.S. officials have met multiple times in Moscow and Washington since January to consider sharing data from sensors that could detect the launch of a ballistic missile from Iran or another hostile country. (Washington Post, 03.21.11).
The U.S. wants access to data from radar sites based in Russian territory, which could expand the European-based system's ability to identify and shoot down incoming missiles. But the U.S. and its NATO allies want to control the system and don't want to give Moscow the power to decide when missile defenses can be used against prospective targets, diplomats said. (Wall Street Journal, 03.22.11).
Russia's government is seeking a defense technology cooperation deal with the Pentagon that will permit them to gain access to U.S. hit-to-kill missile defense know-how. (Washington Times, 03.24.11).

Nuclear arms control:

American tactical nuclear weapons' removal from Europe to its national territory is a must for starting talks between Moscow and Washington on tactical nuclear weapons reduction, a high-placed military-diplomatic Russian source said. (Interfax, 03.22.11).
Russia and the United States have recently started swapping data on their strategic nuclear arsenal assets in compliance with the New START, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller said. "Our Nuclear Risk Reduction Center transmitted the U.S. database to Russia over this past weekend. Such information includes data on the parties' missiles, launchers, heavy bombers, and warheads subject to the treaty," Gottemoeller said. (RIA Novosti, 03.22.11).
The Obama administration has begun examining whether it can make cuts to its nuclear weapons stockpiles that go beyond those outlined in a recent treaty with Russia. The classified review is not expected to be completed until late this year. (AP, 03.23.11).

Energy exports from CIS:

Russia's bid to build South Stream, which is a rival to a US-backed gas pipeline to Europe, received a major boost Monday when the project was joined by the hydrocarbon subsidiary of the German powerhouse BASF. (AFP, 03.21.11).
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor to sign an agreement to form a joint venture to construct and manage the Slovenian section of the South Stream pipeline. (RFE/RL, 03.22.11).
Gazprom will divert some of its Europe-bound deliveries of liquefied natural gas to Japan. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that Japanese companies can participate in production of natural gas in eastern Russia. He said that the delivery of more than 1 million tons of LNG will “really help” the energy-starved nation, following its devastating earthquake and tsunami that also damaged its nuclear plants. He said Gazprom will increase its supplies of natural gas to Europe by 60 million cubic meters a day to compensate for the diversion. (AP, 03.19.11).
Russia's Rosneft vowed to push ahead with a strategic alliance with BP, despite a block on the deal by the British oil company's partners in joint venture TNK-BP. (Reuters, 03.25.11).

Access to major markets for exports and imports:

See section Other bilateral issues.

Other bilateral issues:

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called U.S. President Barack Obama to discuss Russia’s entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO), crisis in Libya and developments in the Middle East as well as the US missile defense shield in Europe. Medvedev told his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama on Thursday that the deaths of Libyan civilians during a western military intervention must be prevented, the Kremlin said in a statement. Obama thanked Medvedev for "positive statements" about the mandate of a UN resolution implementing a no-fly zone over Libya, according to the White House. The two leaders also a "new moment" in Russia's progress toward joining WTO and Obama affirmed his support for Russia's accession into the organization this year, according to the Kremlin. The White House statement also announced that Obama and Medvedev would have the latest of their frequent meetings on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Deauville, France in May. (Reuters, AFP, 03.24.11).
Compared to early 2007, the number of Russians who consider the USA "an aggressor that is striving to bring all of the countries in the world under its control has decreased by 10 percent (from 76 to 65 percent). At the same time, the number of those who call this country "a defender of peace, democracy and order" has increased from 8 to 11 percent, according to results of a poll conducted by Levada Center in 130 Russian settlements. (Interfax, 03.21.11).
U.S. leaders achieved higher worldwide approval ratings last year than the leaders of China, Russia, Japan, France, Britain, and Germany, a new Gallup poll said Thursday. The survey of people from more than 100 countries gave U.S. leadership a 47 percent approval rating. Russia's leadership had the lowest approval at 27 percent. (Reuters, 03.24.11).

II. Russia news.

Domestic Politics, Economy and Energy:

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's approval rating fell in March to the lowest level since mid 2005 on perceptions of economic stagnation a year before Russia's presidential vote, the Levada-Center pollster said on Thursday. Putin remains Russia's most popular politician but his rating fell to 69 percent from 73 percent in February while President Dmitry Medvedev's rating fell to 66, the lowest since he took office in 2008, from 69 percent. (Reuters, 03.24.11).
President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a law which partially cancels the majority election systems in the regions. Amendments to the Law on Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights imply that proportional representation should be used during election to local representative bodies made up of more than 20 deputies along with the majority system. (Russia Today, 03.23.11).
President Dmitry Medvedev has signed into law a raft of measures aimed at easing the lives of foreigners and protecting them from official corruption, the Kremlin said Wednesday. The law, which came after heavy lobbying by foreign businesses, reverses legislation that toughened registration rules and came into force Feb. 15. (Moscow Times, 03.24.11).
The state corporations Rosatom and the Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Supervision have started checking safety at Russian nuclear power plants in the wake of the accident in Japan, programs director at Rosatom, Sergei Boyarkin announced on Tuesday. (Itar-Tass, 03.23.11).
Rosatom programs director Sergei Boyarkin said: "After we get a detailed report from Japan, we will develop an in-depth program for testing the safety barriers of our nuclear power plants. If an in-depth analysis reveals vulnerable points, the units will be temporarily suspended, will undergo modernization, and will be put into operation again.” (Interfax, 03.22.11).
Russia is building the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant in Turkey at a location in the region least susceptible to seismic activity, Rosatom programs director Sergei Boyarkin said. (Interfax, 03.22.11).
Russia will invest $10 billion in a new direct investment fund it is setting up to attract foreign investment in an attempt to help modernize the economy, a government official said Monday. (Wall Street Journal, 03.22.11).
The economy should brace for a stronger ruble and painful institutional reforms after the 2011-12 election cycle, as a weak currency can no longer drive growth, top government expert Vladimir Mau, who co-chairs the panel, said. (Reuters, 03.24.11).
The Finance Ministry has prepared a proposal to selectively raise taxes to add 1.9 trillion rubles ($66.9 billion) to the federal budget in 2012-14. A fourfold increase in the excise tax on alcohol by 2014 would have the greatest impact among the proposed increases. (Moscow Times, 03.25.11).
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is convinced that in 2012 Russia will restore its GDP to the pre-crisis level and this will mean the completion of the crisis. (Interfax, 03.21.11).
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will head the supervisory board of the 2018 World Cup to be hosted by Russia, the country's government said Friday. (Reuters, 03.18.11).
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said that he is not obsessed with power, and gets a lot more satisfaction from "concrete actions" and self-fulfillment. When making decisions about the future of the country, Putin said he thought about how his father used to check their electricity meter on the stairwell outside his apartment. The recollection helps him focus on how government decisions can affect ordinary citizens, he said. (Moscow Times, 03.22.11, Russia Today, 03.21.11).
According to latest data from the WHO, there were an estimated 440,000 new multidrug-resistant tuberculosis cases in 2008, with three countries -- China, India, and Russia -- accounting for more than 50 percent of all cases globally. (Reuters, 03.23.11).

Defense:

Russia intends to purchase 36 ICBMs and a pair of ballistic-missile submarines in 2011, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Friday. Also, a high-level Russian navy insider said a future ballistic-missile submarine would also carry cruise missiles. (GSN, 03.21.11).
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russia will double production of intercontinental ballistic missiles and operational-tactical missiles starting from 2013. Russia’s missile industry as a whole will receive 77 billion rubles ($2.73 billion) from Russia’s 20 trillion ruble armament program for 2011-2020. The entire defense industry is to spend 3 trillion rubles ($106 billion) in 2011-2020 to modernize its production capacity with 60 percent of this money coming out of federal coffers, according to Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov. (Kommersant, Gazeta.ru, 03.22.11).
The aerospace defense forces will be created on the basis of the Space Forces by 1 December 2011. "A decision has been taken to combine the existing air-defense and missile-defense, ballistic missile early warning and space control systems under a single strategic command directorate by 1 December 2011," Space Forces spokesman Col Aleksey Zolotukhin said. (Interfax, 03.24.11).
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday said his nation within this decade would arm each of its military air-defense regiments with advanced S-400 Triumph and Pantsir-S interceptors. (GSN, 03.22.11).
The Russian Navy plans to create a Far Zone Command by 2013 to protect navigation from piracy, an informed source from the Navy General Staff told Interfax-AVN on Tuesday. "A group of Black Sea Fleet ships will form the basis of the new structure, while the Soviet Navy's 5th Mediterranean Squadron and the 8th Indian Ocean Squadron will serve as its prototype," the source said. (Interfax, 03.22.11).
The measures aimed at strengthening discipline and prevention of violations and crimes in the army have helped reduce the total number of accidents and crimes by almost 20 percent from 2009, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said. "The stealing of ammunition and explosives has gone down 50 percent. The percentage of military service evasion has gone down 49 percent. The number of illegal actions by servicemen against civilians has gone down 32 percent," the minister said. (Interfax, 03.18.11).

Security and law-enforcement:

"Virtually half of all registered crimes, according to the statistic which is publicly available, remain unresolved, i.e. 45.4 percent,” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting at the Interior Ministry in Moscow on Tuesday. (Interfax, 03.22.11).
President Dmitry Medvedev fired six police generals, the Kremlin said Monday, without elaborating on the reason for the dismissals. Among those fired were the chiefs of the Tver and Tambov regional police and the heads of two Interior Ministry colleges. The last two served at the Interior Ministry's anti-extremism department and the traffic police department for the North Caucasus Federal District. (Moscow Times, 03.22.11).
President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday submitted to the State Duma a long-awaited bill to provide the police with social security, a measure aimed at reducing rampant corruption. A lieutenant—one of the lowest police ranks—will earn about 40,000 rubles ($1,400) a month, double what he makes now, Medvedev told Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev at a ministry meeting. Medvedev did not elaborate on other important benefits such as health care or real estate allowances. (Moscow Times, 03.23.11).
The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service promised an investigation Monday after a Moscow-based military unit kicked off a tender offering a whopping 46 billion rubles ($1.6 billion) to private contractors to maintain its fleet of foreign-built cars and buses. (Moscow Times, 03.22.11).
Six men were convicted Thursday by a Russian court for the 2009 hijacking of the Arctic Sea freighter with a Russian crew that caused an international uproar. (AP, 03.24.11).

Foreign affairs:

Libya:

The Western-led military action in Libya provoked a rare public split in Russia's ruling tandem Monday, as President Dmitry Medvedev appeared to scold Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, for publicly criticizing the effort. "It's absolutely unacceptable to use phrases that in effect lead to conflict between civilizations, such as 'crusades,' and the like," he said. He was speaking just hours after Mr. Putin criticized the U.N. resolution saying, "the whole thing reminds me of some kind of medieval call to the crusades." On Tuesday Putin deferred to Medvedev. "As for agreement or disagreement among the Russian leadership on what is going on in Libya," Putin said, "it is the Russian president who is in charge of foreign policy and there can be no divergence [of views]." (Wall Street Journal, RFE/RL, 03.22.11).
During his Tuesday meeting with Gates, Medvedev said that Russia is concerned over possible civilian casualties in what he called the "indiscriminate" use of force in Libya" and voiced his concern over how the U.N. Security Council resolution on imposing a no-fly zone is being implemented. (Reuters, 03.22.11)
During his Tuesday meeting with Gates, Russian Defense Minister Serdyukov called for an immediate cease-fire since it is the best way to avoid civilian casualties. Gates told Serdyukov: "The coalition is going to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties and most of the targets are air defense targets isolated from populated areas." Gates said after the meeting Serdyukov: “I'm a little curious frankly about the tone that has been taken. It's perfectly evident that the vast majority, if not nearly all, of the civilian casualties have been inflicted by Gaddafi." Gates also said of Serdyukov’s statement: "I think he threaded his way pretty well" between Medvedev and Putin. "It sounded to me like his comments were closer to President Medvedev." (Itar-Tass, AP, Reuters, Kommersant, 03.22.11).
Vladimir Chamov, Russia’s ambassador to Libya—who was sacked by President Dmitry Medvedev—suggested in remarks published on Thursday that Russia had betrayed its interests in Libya, the latest sign of discord over Moscow's response to the upheaval. Chamov, who has not been dismissed from the Foreign Ministry, denied reports he had called Medvedev a traitor in a telegram from Tripoli, both in remarks upon his return to Russia on Tuesday and in the interview. (Reuters, 03.24.11).
Russia's former ambassador to Libya, Vladimir Chamov, said Col. Moammar Gadhafi is surrounded by aides willing to fight with him to the end but can't hold off Western-led forces for more than a few months because of dwindling supplies of food and fuel. (Wall Street Journal, 03.24.11).
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday that Russia has a duty to cooperate with the Security Council resolution that approved air strikes on Moammar Gadhafi's forces after Russia voiced strong objections to the coalition operation. (AFP, 03.22.11).
The U.N. Security Council resolution imposing a no-fly zone over Libya will play into the hands of violators of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction regime, said Alexei Arbatov, the head of the International Security Center of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences. (Interfax, 03.18.11.).

Other news:

Russia's Yury Fedotov, the head of the United Nations' Office on Drugs and Crime called on Monday for more money and effort to stem a flow of illicit narcotics that earns drug lords $320 billion a year. Russia, the world's largest per capita heroin consumer, has up to 3 million addicts, and it is now facing an HIV/AIDS epidemic that is spreading among drug users from dirty needles. (Reuters, 03.24.11, 03.21.11).
Israel is handing back ownership of a czarist-era landmark in the heart of Jerusalem to Russia, defusing a long-simmering dispute between the two countries right before Israel's leader visited Moscow. (AP, 03.21.11).

Russia's neighbors:

Ukraine's former President Leonid Kuchma said on Thursday he had been formally charged in connection with the 2000 death of investigative journalist and regime critic Georgy Gongadze. (RIA Novosti, 03.24.11).
Tajikistan has leased 2,000 hectares of farmland to China this month. The Tajik government has not released financial details of the land lease terms. It says more such agreements are planned. (Reuters, 03.25.11).
Repression is on the increase in Uzbekistan and veteran leader Islam Karimov may end up openly fighting his own people like Libya's Moammar Gaddafi with disastrous consequences for the region, according to Memorial, a prominent Russia-based human rights group. (Reuters, 03.18.11).