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Press Release
from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism, Belfer Center

Russia in Review

Published: October 1, 2010

An update from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for the week of  September 24 - October 1, 2010.

 

A digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for the week of September 24 - October 1, 2010

 

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

Nuclear security agenda:

  • Russia and the United States will soon be through with a joint analysis of the current challenges and threats, including terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, organized crime, drug trafficking and will draft a relevant document, as has been agreed by the two presidents, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. According to the Russian foreign minister, "special attention is paid to the challenges in the area of missile proliferation, since such issues are directly linked with problems of anti-missile defense, a subject of the most controversy." (ITAR-TASS, 10/01/10).
  • The multi-national Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism convened a three-day conference on terrorist financing in Kazakhstan. More than 150 conferees from the initiative's 82 member states are meeting to discuss ways to thwart terrorist financing and the role that legislative organs can play. According to Russian Foreign Ministry advisor Oleg Postnikov, "no concrete documents or solutions are expected to be adopted during the work of the conference." (Kazakhstan Newsline, ITAR-TASS, 09/30/10).
  • Russian prosecutors have launched an official investigation into allegations that the Institute of Reactor Materials in Yekaterinburg has used research reactor unit IVV-2M to produce Iridium-192 and sell it to Canada's Oracle Trading Ltd, even though this unit was not licensed for such production. (UralBusinessConsulting, 09/28/10).
  • A group of 34 former European ministers and military officials have published a joint appeal for the tactical arsenal in Europe to be reduced and consolidated in the context of a broad reform of alliance nuclear policy. (Guardian, 09/30/10).

Iran nuclear issues:

  • Russia has prohibited Iranian investment in any commercial activity involving uranium production and production or use of nuclear material and technology after a decree was issued by the Russian president. (Interfax, 09/30/10).
  • Russia stands to lose at least $1 billion in arms sales from the Iran ban, as well as damages for reneging on its S-300 contract, according to Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the State Duma's international affairs committee. (Russia Profile, 09/30/10).
  • Russia believes exterritorial sanctions on Iran in connection with its nuclear program are unacceptable, Russian presidential envoy to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, said. (Interfax, 09/30/10).
  • Iran's Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant will begin supplying energy in early 2011, a senior official said, signaling a delay of several months after the spread of a global computer virus believed to have affected mainly Iran. (Reuters, 09/29/10).

NATO-Russia cooperation, including transit to Afghanistan:

  • The Russian Defense Ministry began pondering military-technical aspects of assistance to the U.S.-led operation in Afghanistan right after Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov's return to Moscow from Washington. "Someone suggested the use of the 45th Separate Reconnaissance Regiment of the Internal Troops. With a lot of its officers having seen combat in Afghanistan, this is one of the best formations in all of the Internal Troops and actually throughout the Armed Forces," said a General Staff officer. (Argumenty Nedeli via What the Papers Say, 09/30/10).
  • Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Nikolai Makarov had described as premature the question of Russia's admission to NATO.
  • "We are not prepared - the country, the nation, the armed forces to join the North Atlantic Alliance because we have different tasks and objectives. Therefore I believe that this is a premature issue," he on Sunday. (Interfax, 09/27/10).
  • There are no insurmountable obstacles to Russia's participation in the Russia-NATO summit in Lisbon, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said. (Interfax, 09/30/10).

Counter-terrorism cooperation:

  • No significant developments.

Missile defense:

  • See Item No 1 in Nuclear security agenda.
  • Defense contractor Raytheon Co. said yesterday it had received a $175 million U.S. Defense Department contract for work on a next-generation Standard Missile 3 interceptor. (GSN, 09/28/10).

Ratification of the New START treaty:

  • Passage of New START by the U.S. Senate is far from guaranteed. Because several states will hold special elections in November, with winners sworn in immediately--as opposed to January--a potential shift in power could complicate Democrats' efforts to win approval. (Council on Foreign Relations, 09/30/10).
  • US spy chief James Clapper briefed senators Wednesday on intelligence issues tied to a landmark nuclear treaty with Russia, amid worries about Moscow's compliance. (AFP, 09/29/10).
  • The Consensus for American Security - a bipartisan group of senior former military and national security leaders who support the New START treaty and other common sense measures to reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism and proliferation - sent a letter today to Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell urging the Senate to approve the treaty before the end of the year. (Nukes on a Blog, 09/28/10).

Energy exports from CIS:

  • The Sakhalin-1 consortium operated by Exxon Mobil Corp. will launch commercial production at a new oil field off Russia's Pacific coast this week at a ceremony attended by President Dmitry Medvedev, the U.S. oil giant said Monday. (Wall Street Journal, 09/27/10).
  • Lukoil, Russia's second-largest oil company, and investors led by UniCredit SpA have spent nearly $2.4 billion to buy 5 % of Lukoil shares from U.S. oil company ConocoPhillips - half the amount allowed in an option that expired Saturday. (AP, 09/26/10).

Access to major markets for exports and imports:

  • Russia may complete talks on joining the World Trade Organization in two to four months and another six months may be needed for the formal accession procedure, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told reporters in Yalta today. (Bloomberg, 10/01/10).
  • Russia is ready to restrict itself to the limitations of WTO only after Moscow's admission to the organization, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. (Xinhua, 09/30/10)

Other bilateral issues:

  • Thailand's prime minister said Thursday that he will have the final say in the politically sensitive extradition of alleged Russian arms smuggler Viktor Bout to the United States, noting that one side is bound to be disappointed. (AP, 09/30/10).
  • Two U.S. Congressmen, Benjamin Cardin and James McGovern, introduced a bill Wednesday that would freeze assets of and block visas for individuals responsible for the death of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. Magnitsky died of health problems in a pretrial detention center in Moscow last November. He was placed under arrest by Interior Ministry investigators after he accused senior ministry officials of embezzling millions of dollars in government funds. (St. Petersburg Times, 10/01/10).

 

II. Russia news.

Domestic Political, Social and Demographic News

  • President Dmitry Medvedev fired Yury Luzhkov, the entrenched and defiant mayor of Moscow, on Tuesday. The dismissal represents Medvedev's biggest power play since his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, installed him in the Kremlin in 2008. Moreover, unlike many previous political decisions announced by Medvedev, this one is widely being perceived as his own, rather than one devised by the Medvedev-Putin tandem. (Moscow Times, 09/29/10).
  • Presidential Envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District Aleksandr Khloponin presented before the Federation Council the "Development Strategy for Caucasus until 2025." The program's execution will require creation of special economic zones and application of a special system of administration. (Izvestia, 09/30/10).
  • Russia has reopened criminal probes into the deaths of five journalists following an appeal by a media rights group that ranks Russia as one of the most dangerous countries for journalists. (Reuters, 09/30/10).

Economy, and Energy:

  • Russian nuclear power corporation Rosatom expects construction of a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the Krasnoyarsk Region to be completed by the end of this year, Rosatom Deputy CEO Yevgeny Yevstratov told reporters Tuesday. (PRIME-TASS, 09/29/10).
  • Russian net exports plummeted an annual 34.3 % in the second quarter, the Federal State Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today. (Bloomberg, 10/01/10).
  • Russia's foreign debt fell to $41.54 billion as of Sept. 1 from $41.7 billion a month earlier, according to a statement on the Finance Ministry's website. (Bloomberg, 10/01/10).
  • Russia's international reserves rose $6.4 billion in the week to Sept. 24 to $487.7 billion, the central bank said in an e-mailed statement today. (Bloomberg, 10/01/10).
  • Russia's budget deficit may be as low as 5 % of gross domestic product this year, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said today in Yalta. (Bloomberg, 10/01/10).
  • Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has signed the paperwork needed to introduce the draft 2010 and 2012-2013 budgets to the State Duma. (Interfax, 09/30/10).
  • A private Russian space firm and a state-controlled spacecraft manufacturer are planning to build and operate the world's first commercial space station and expect it to be launched by 2016. (AP, 09/29/10).
  • Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov says Moscow may extend its ban on grain exports until next July. (AP, 10/01/10).

Defense policy:

  • While developing a missile attack warning system , Russia is creating new-generation radar stations in its territory, developing space-based tiers of the MAWS, and introducing advanced antimissile defenses, Space Troops Commander Lt-Gen Oleg Ostapenko has said. (Interfax-AVN, 09/29/10).
  • A total of 133,000 men are evading conscription to military service and summons from military commissariats, Vasily Smirnov, deputy head of the General Staff, said. (Interfax-AVN, 09/30/10).
  • Russia's Sevmash shipyard announced it has wrapped up testing of a new ballistic-missile submarine, paving the way for the vessel to enter naval service following a last government examination. (GSN, 09/29/10).
  • The process of destruction of ammunition has been suspended at the Maradykovskiy chemical weapons destruction facility in Kirov Region after four employees were taken to hospital with suspected poisoning. (Interfax-AVN, 09/29/10).

Security policy:

  • The chief of security guards at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research has been accused of stealing 500 kilograms of copper from one of this Moscow region institute's labs to sell it as scrap metal, Life.ru news portal reported on 09.29.10. (Belfer Center, 09/30/10).
  • Two car bombs defused in the south Russian city of Stavropol had the combined strength of 60 kg of TNT, a security source told RIA Novosti on Friday. Two residential tower blocks and a school in the south-west of the city were evacuated on Thursday afternoon after the discovery of the first car - which contained a corpse covered in explosive devices. The second vehicle was discovered a short time later. (RIA Novosti, 10/01/10).
  • A suicide bomber has blown himself up in the republic of Dagestan, injuring at least 42 people, including several police officers. (RFE/RL, 09/25/10).
  • Russian security forces said they killed 15 suspected rebels in clashes in the restive southern region of Dagestan on Wednesday. (Reuters, 09/29/10).
  • Russian security forces are fighting some 500 militants in Russia's southern North Caucasus region, Deputy Interior Minister Nikolai Rogozhkin told reporters on Wednesday. (Interfax-AVN, 09/29/10).
  • Doku Umarov, leader of the North Caucasus-based terrorism and insurgency networks, has issued a statement in which he accuses Mukhannad, chief emissary of Al Qaeda in the North Caucasus (NC), of driving wedges between him and other warlords in hopes of unseating him. According to Umarov, Mukhannad is "the organizer and initiator of this fitna," referring to the dispute among NC warlords that began after Umarov floated the possibility of stepping down to make way for Chechen warlord Aslambek Vadalov in an 08.02.10 video only to deny such an intentions days later. (Belfer Center, 09/27/10).

Foreign policy:

  • China and Russia signed agreements Monday to boost energy cooperation, while Moscow said it wants to supply its energy hungry neighbor with all its natural gas needs.
  • No dollar value was given to the agreements signed during a state visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, but they included documents on cooperation in coal, natural gas, nuclear energy and renewable energy. (AP, 09/27/10).
  • China might offer Russia's state-controlled natural-gas giant a large loan as part of a new long-term gas deal between the two countries. (Wall Street Journal, 09/30/10).
  • Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday he would soon visit a disputed island chain off Japan, focal point of a territorial row preventing signature of a post-World War Two peace treaty. (Reuters, 09/29/10).
  • The leaders of France, Germany and Russia will meet next month at a luxury French beach resort to discuss joint security concerns. French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office says the summit will take place on Oct. 18-19 in Deauville, on the Atlantic shore . (AP, 09/27/10).
  • Nikolai Makarov, the head of the Russian General Staff, who is currently in South Korea, has exchanged with the administration of the South Korean army the development of the situation in Asia and the Pacific. (Interfax-AVN, 09/28/10).

Russia's neighbors:

  • Ukraine's Constitutional Court ruled Friday that a 2004 law handing many of the powers of the president to parliament was unconstitutional and said all previous powers should be returned to the presidency. (Reuters, 30/01/10).
  • NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, on a visit to Tbilisi on September 30, said the alliance remains committed to eventually granting Georgia membership and praised the country for contributing forces in Afghanistan. (RFE/RL, 10/01/10).
  • Georgia has accused Russia of "having seized" new territories and moving the occupation line in the Shida Kartli region. (Interfax, 09/30/10).
  • As Latvians prepare to go to the polls on Saturday, a party rooted in the large Russian-speaking population here is expected to be the largest vote getter, as people begin to again re-evaluate their place in the world in the wake of their country's frightful economic crash. (NYT, 09/30/10).
  • Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenka has submitted his registration documents to seek a fourth term in office in the December 19th presidential election. (RFE/RL, 09/24/10).
  • Russian border guards stationed in Kyrgyzstan's northern Chui region will be transferred to a southern oblast to help with cross-border issues. (RFE/RL, 09/29/10).
  • Moldova's acting president, Mihai Ghimpu, has dissolved parliament and set early parliamentary elections for November 28. (RFE/RL, 09/28/10).
  • More than 100 people have been arrested or charged in the U.S. and the U.K. as part of an alleged global cybercrime ring using computer viruses to steal bank-account information and loot money from unsuspecting victims. Many of the suspects were recruited through ads in a Russian-language newspaper or social-networking site. Those charged included citizens of Russia, Moldova, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus. The developers of the Zeus virus are thought to come from Russia or Ukraine. (Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, 10/01/10).