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

Russia in Review

Published: July 30, 2010

An update from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for the week of July 23-30, 2010.

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

Nuclear security agenda:

  • A container with plutonium was found in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi on Friday at a depot of the now defunct Isotope Institute. (Trend, 07/30/10).
  • The U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction program in June disarmed six strategic nuclear warheads from the former Soviet Union, Senator Richard Lugar announced on Friday. (GSN, 07/26/10).
  • Finland has pledged to provide $308,000 in support of U.S. efforts to counter nuclear smuggling in Kyrgyzstan. (GSN, 07/30/10).

Iran nuclear issues:

  • The Russian Foreign Ministry criticized the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, over his recent comments about the Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev saying that the Iranian leader was using "pointless and irresponsible rhetoric." Ahmadinejad had said that Medvedev was becoming a "mouthpiece" for Iran's enemies. (New York Times, 07/26/10).
  • The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned new EU sanctions on Iran on Tuesday. "This not only undermines our joint efforts to seek a political and diplomatic settlement around Iran's nuclear program, but also shows disdain for the carefully calibrated and coordinated provisions of the UN Security Council resolutions," the foreign ministry said in a statement. While the EU measures take aim directly at Iran's missile programs and aspects of its nuclear program, they also contain an apparent contradiction: an explicit reversal of a ban introduced in 2007 on supplies to a light-water reactor at the Iranian town of Bushehr. (Reuters, Wall Street Journal, 07/27/10).
  • Moscow has welcomed Iran's readiness to hold technical discussions about supplying 20%-enriched fuel for use in its Tehran scientific research reactor, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. (Interfax, 07/27/10).

 

NATO-Russia cooperation, including transit to Afghanistan:

  • Italian Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola, who heads NATO's military committee, said the Russian side had responded to NATO's request to supply transport and helicopter gunships to the nascent Afghan air force by submitting a proposal which is now being studied by the allies. (AP, 07/27/10).

Counter-terrorism cooperation:

  • No significant developments.

Missile defense:

  • Czech prime minister Petr Nečas said Friday his government has been negotiating a plan with the United States to place a warning center in the Czech Republic as part of a reworked U.S. missile defense plan. (AP, 07/30/10).

 

Ratification of the New START treaty:

  • Rose Gottemoeller, chief U.S. negotiator of the newly completed follow-on START treaty, told U.S. Senate on Thursday: "There were no, and I repeat no, secret deals made in connection with the new START treaty, not on missile defense nor on any other issue." (AFP, 07/29/10).
  • Senator John Kerry, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, has put the treaty on the panel's agenda for August 3. With 11 Democrats and eight Republicans on the committee, the measure is widely expected to pass, though the treaty's chances before the full Senate remain in question. (Reuters, 07/29/10).
  • Sen. Richard Lugar, the only Senate Republican to publicly endorse a U.S.-Russia arms treaty, said this week he is optimistic the upper chamber will approve it this year. (The Hill, 07/24/10).
  • Gottemoeller said on Wednesday that U.S. complaints about Russian compliance with the 1991 START nuclear arms control treaty had not been resolved when the pact expired last year, but the disputes never amounted to allegations of cheating. Concerns about Russian behavior were spelled out in two articles Wednesday, both of which referred to a newly submitted State Department report on treaty compliance over the last five years. According to the report, "Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine were in compliance with the START strategic offensive arms (SOA) central limits for the 15-year term of the Treaty." The report notes that the United States had raised new compliance issues since 2005, and that "the United States considered several of these to have been closed." (AP, Foreign Policy, Arms Control, 07/28/10).
  • In a letter sent to Senator Carl Levin and John McCain of the Senate Armed Services Committee seven former commanders of U.S. nuclear strategic planning have endorsed the New START treaty and recommended early ratification by the U.S. Senate. (FAS Strategic Security Blog, 07/28/10).

Energy exports from CIS:

  • No significant developments.

Access to major markets for exports and imports:

  • No significant developments.

Other bilateral issues:

  • No significant developments.

II. Russia news.

Politics, Economy, and Energy:

  • President Dmitry Medvedev insisted that his modernization drive went beyond technological innovations Tuesday, saying Russia could not be modernized without fighting corruption, curbing the state's involvement in the economy and introducing fair competition. Medvedev said he signed several laws Tuesday that will allow people to order a broad array of those services over the Internet and without dealing with officials. Almost one in ten Russians (11 %) has already used public services through the Internet, according to the Public Opinion Fund. (Moscow Times, 07/28/10, Itar-Tass, 07/26/10).
  • Wildfires in central Russia claimed 25 lives as drought and record heat forced the government to declare a state of emergency in a total of 27 regions. (Bloomberg, 07/30/10).
  • The Presidium of the Russian Government on Thursday approved an outline for the 2011-13 federal budget, which foresees a deficit of 3.6 % of gross domestic product in 2011, dropping to 3.1 % and 2.9 % in 2012 and 2013, respectively. (Moscow Times, 07/30/10).
  • The Economy Ministry will raise its forecast for growth this year from 4 % after household demand boosted output last quarter. GDP rose an annual 5.4 % in the three months through June. GDP advanced 2.9 % in the first quarter. (Bloomberg, 07/30/10).
  • The government plans to raise $29 billion by selling minority stakes in state-owned companies over the next three years, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said. The list of candidates includes stakes in state oil champion OAO Rosneft, national savings bank OAO Sberbank, No. 2 lender VTB Group, farm bank Rosselkhozbank, hydroelectric utility OAO RusHydro and pipeline monopoly Transneft. (Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, 07/29/10).
  • Russia's Federal Tax Service said first-half collection climbed 39 % from the same period last year to $51.5 billion. (Bloomberg, 07/27/10).
  • The oil company ConocoPhillips said Wednesday that it would sell its entire holdings in the Russian oil company Lukoil by the end of next year. (AP, 07/28/10).
  • BP Plc's newly-elected Chief Executive Officer Robert Dudley may visit Russia next week after leaving the country in 2008 during an ownership dispute at the British oil producer's TNK-BP venture, which he'd headed for five years. (Bloomberg, 07/29/10).
  • Russia's population in 2009 made about 142 million. By 2925, it is expected to go down to 133 million, by 2050 - to 117 million, the US Population Reference Bureau said. (Itar-Tass, 07/29/10).
  • Ella Pamfilova, the head of the council advising Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on human rights has resigned. (RFE/RL, 07/30/10).
  • The average bribe has nearly doubled from 23,000 rubles ($760) last year to 40,000 rubles ($1,320) in the first six months of 2010, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday. According to Kirill Kabanov, head of the National Anti-Corruption Committee, about $300 billion changes hands in bribes every year, with rank-and-file officials accounting for 10 % of the sum. (Moscow Times, 07/27/10).
  • President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered Prosecutor General Yury Chaika to investigate possible Kremlin corruption linked to the 2014 Sochi Olympics and issued the handwritten order on a copy of the opposition-minded newspaper Novaya Gazeta. (Moscow Times, 07/29/10).

Defense policy:

  • Russian defense spending will increase by 60 % to about $66.3 million by 2013. Navy, aviation and space industries are reported to top the list of priorities in defense spending. (Xinhua, 07/30/10).
  • Plans for building up Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System involve putting five satellites in orbit next year (Interfax, 07/27/10).
  • Israel will in the near future supply Russia with 36 unmanned aerial vehicles. (Interfax, 07/26/10).
  • Over 100,000 posts of soldiers and sergeants in the Russian army will be staffed by contract servicemen, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Vasiliy Smirnov, announced on Monday. About 200,000 people evade military service in Russia, according to Smirnov. (Interfax, 07/27/10).
  • During January-May 2010, 1,167 Russian army conscripts were subjected to hazing, an increase of 150% during the same period in 2009. (RIA-Novosti, 07/27/10).
  • Seven generals and more than 260 officers were convicted of various crimes in the first half of 2010, Russia's Chief Military Prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky said. (Interfax, 07/27/10).

Security policy:

  • Russians may now face jail time for crimes they have not yet committed under a new security law signed Thursday by President Medvedev. The Federal Security Service can now issue warnings or detain people suspected of preparing to commit crimes against Russia's security. Perpetrators face fines or up to 15 days of detention. (AP, 07/29/10).
  • Russian special forces quickly overpowered a man after he briefly seized a plane with 105 passengers and crew members at a Moscow airport on Thursday, demanding a meeting with Prime Minister Putin. (AP, 07/30/10).
  • A court in central Russia has sentenced a neo-Nazi leader to life in jail and imprisoned 13 others for four hate killings and multiple assaults. (AP, 07/27/10).
  • Gunmen opened fire on security guards at a provincial food market in the southern Russian city of Samara on Saturday, killing at least two and wounding at least five other people. (AP, 07/24/10).

Foreign policy:

  • Three Czech generals, including a presidential staff member and a NATO representative, were forced to leave the army in 2009 after a Russian spy's contact with their offices (Reuters, 07/27/10).
  • Russian state-owned arms trader Rosoboronexport is implementing two contracts for the delivery of Sukhoi Su-30MK2 multi-role fighters to Vietnam. (Interfax, 07/26/10).

Russia's neighbors:

  • The European Union has said that its mandate to monitor the cease-fire that ended the 2008 Georgia-Russia war had been extended by a year to September 2011. (RFE/RL, 07/27/10).
  • Georgia's accession to NATO is backed by 59% of the country's population, according to a poll carried out by the International National Democratic Institute. According to polls conducted before August 2008 when Russia and Georgia were involved in war, 70% of the population supported Georgia's accession to NATO. (Interfax, 07/26/10).
  • International donors pledged $1.1 billion in aid Tuesday to help Kyrgyzstan rebuild after months of political and ethnic violence. (AP, 07/27/10).
  • Ukraine says it will use $2 billion out of its new $15 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to finance this year's budget deficit. (RFE/RL, 07/27/10).
  • A U.S. military delegation led by the commander of the U.S. army forces in Europe, Gen. Carter Ham, visited Ukraine to discuss the current state of and prospects for cooperation between the U.S. army and Ukrainian land forces and look for ways to improve the training of Ukrainian land forces and make them more compatible with the armies of NATO member states. (Interfax-AVN, 07/26/10).
  • Russian state weapons exporter Rosoboronexport has denied a newspaper report that it sold S-300PMU2 Favorit surface-to-air missile systems to Azerbaijan last year. (Interfax, 07/29/10).
  • The Armenian government has signed off on an agreement with Russia that establishes the groundwork for co-operation between the two governments in the construction of new nuclear reactors in Armenia at its Metsamor nuclear power plant. (IHS Global Insight Daily Analysis, 07/30/10).