Saturday May 3, 2008 It was a bad year for press freedom in the world 9. Russia. "Business, official corruption and human-rights abuses are among Russia's most dangerous beats. Fourteen journalists have been murdered with impunity since 1998." Most notable was the cold-blooded assassination of Anna Politkovskaya, chronicler of the barbarities in Chechnya.
Wednesday 30 April 2008 Russia says it's sending more troops to Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region to counter what it calls aggressive moves from Tbilisi. Georgia dismisses the allegations. The move is a further escalation in a crisis between the two former Soviet neighbours. The step comes four days after Moscow said it would use force to defend its compatriots in the breakaway regions. Most residents reportedly hold Russian passports. Russia's foreign ministry says increased tension in Abkhazia and South Ossetia obliges it to increase its military force in the region. Russia has had peacekeeping forces in the breakaway regions since the early 1990's
Monday 28 April 2008 KAZAKHSTAN
The European Union on Sunday launched the second test satellite for its Galileo Project, a challenge to the U.S. Global Positioning System. The project has been plagued by delays and disputes over funding. The experimental satellite, Giove-B, was sent into orbit by a Russian Soyuz rocket at the space base in Kazakhstan. It will test technologies such as a high-precision atomic clock and transmission of navigation signals. It's expected to go into operation in 2013. The first Galileo satellite was sent in 2005. Critics say the project is too expensive.
PUTIN’S GYMNASTIC DENIAL
The National goes inside with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unequivocal response to a report in a Moscow tabloid that he had divorced his wife and was set to marry a gymnast half his age. With his trademark verbal belligerence, Putin told reporters at a press conference in Sardinia that the Moskovski Korrespondent’s chronicle of his impending wife-swap contained “not a single word of truth.” “I have always had a negative opinion of those who, with their snotty noses and their erotic fantasies, meddle in other people’s lives,” he said of the paper’s staff. Putin’s aggressive response may not have been limited to words, however; The National reports that, shortly after the article was published, the tabloid mysteriously ceased production. The paper’s editor was quoted on the broadcast swearing to the veracity of the story and claiming that the Korrespondent was forced to close its doors by Putin’s suppressive government, while the paper’s publisher described the story as “absolutely false,” but was cagey on the question of why the outlet folded. The offending article, which was printed earlier this month, claimed that the president had left his wife, Lyudmila, two months earlier, and planned to marry twenty-four-year-old Alina Kabayeva, a former Olympic rhythmic gymnast and current member of the Russian parliament. At yesterday’s press conference, Putin expressed admiration for Kabayeva, but stressed that his affection extends to all of his countrywomen: “In other publications of the same type, the names of other successful, beautiful young women from Russia are mentioned,” he said. “I think it won’t be unexpected if I say that I like them all-just as I like all Russian women.”
Jordan Himelfarbis a Quebec City-based MediaScout writer for Maisonneuve Magazine.
Tuesday 22 April 2008 GEORGIA
Georgia has accused Russia of committing an unprovoked act of aggression when a Russian jetfighter shot down an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft over Georgian territory during the weekend. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili made the accusation on Monday in a nationally televised address, saying there was verifiable evidence that a MiG-29 shot down a drone over Georgia on Sunday. The Russian government denied it. The president says he called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and demanded that Russia end its support for Georgian separatist and "stop attacks on Georgia," in a conversation that the Georgian leader described as "difficult." Last week, tensions between the two countries intensified after Moscow announced it would increase support for the separatists in the territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, an development which Georgia termed "de facto annexation."
Saturday Apr 19, 2008 Newspaper shut down after Putin denies split
A Moscow newspaper that reported Vladimir Putin had divorced his wife and planned to marry an Olympic...Moskovsky Korrespondent said last week Putin had secretly divorced his 50-year-old wife, Lyudmila, and would wed Alina Kabayeva, a 24-year-old Olympic gold medallist in rhythmic gymnastics, in the summer.
Wednesday 16 April 2008 Russia President Vladimir Putin says he has accepted an invitation by his United Russia party to lead it. United Russia won 63 per cent of the vote in the national elections last December. The president's acceptance speech was broadcast on state television. Mr. Putin yields the presidency on May 7 after serving two terms. He'll be his successor Dmitri Medvedev's prime minister. In an open letter, the opposition Union of Rightist Forces criticized Mr. Putin for supposedly trying to "preserve his power for an unlimited time...", comparing him to Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet leader from 1964 until his death in 1982.
Thursday 27 March 2008 President George W. Bush has accepted the invitation from his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to meet him on April 6 in the resort city of Sochi. Mr. Bush said he would discuss the dispute between their countries about the U.S. plan to base an anti-missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic. The meeting will take place after Mr. Bush's trip to Ukraine, Croatia and the NATO summit in Romania. It will likely be the last between the two presidents before Mr. Putin leaves office in May.
Dmitry Medvedev was confirmed as Russia's new president, as expected, by the country's electoral commission, which proclaimed he had won 70% of the ballot in an election on March 2nd. Mr Medvedev was endorsed by Vladimir Putin, the outgoing president. The Kremlin denied allegations of vote rigging. See article
Tuesday 04 March 2008 Dmitry Medvedev pledged to continue the policies of his mentor, President Vladimir Putin, after taking just over 70 per cent of the votes in Sunday's election. Germany and France made clear the vote did not meet their criteria for a democratic election, but alongside Britain and the European Union they congratulated Mr. Medvedev on a victory they said appeared to reflect the will of the Russian people. Small groups of protesters took to the streets in Moscow and St. Petersburg to demonstrate against what they saw as a rigged election. Dozens were detained by riot police.
Monday 03 March 2008 Early unofficial results of Russia's election on Sunday showed that Dmitry Medvedev was elected president, as expected. Mr. Medvedev is President Vladimir Putin's chosen successor. When Mr. Medvedev takes office in May, Mr. Putin will be appointed prime minister, a post that observers say will allow him largely to exercise power. Three other candidates were in the running for president. One of them, Gennady Zyuganov, expressed concern about election irregularities. An independent Russian monitoring group called Golos says that many people were forced to vote under government pressure. Pre-election reports noted widespread voter apathy.
Wednesday 27 February 2008 The prime minister of the Czech Republic, Mirek Topolanek, says his government won't ask Russia's permission to locate a U.S. radar station in the country. Mr. Topolanek is in Washington to discuss details of a U.S. plan to place the radar in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland as part of an anti-missile system to protect against possible attacks by countries like Iran or North Korea. Russia objects, claiming the anti-missile system would actually be directed against itself. Mr. Topolanek accuses Russia of trying to create confusion among NATO allies, particularly those like his country that were members of the defunct Warsaw Pact.
Tuesday 26 February 2008 Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitri Medvedev, who will like be elected the successor to President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, visited Belgrade on Monday. Mr. Medvedev says the recognition of Kosovo's independence after the territory unilaterally declared it on Feb. 17 will "destroy the international security system..." After talks with Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and President Boris Tadic, he said they agreed to co-ordinate efforts to reverse the declaration. Later Monday, Kosovar police clashed at the border with 150 Serbian army reservists and responded to pelting with stones and bottles with teargas. Ten police officers were injured in the confrontation.
Saturday 23 February 2008 MONTREAL: RUSSIA WARNS AGAINST KOSOVO RECOGNITION
Russia's ambassador to Canada, Georgiy Mamedov, has advised Canada not to support independence for Kosovo because such a step could encourage separatists in the largely French-speaking province of Quebec. Mr. Mamadov calls Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence on Sunday a violation of international law. Canada has so far declined to take a stand on the issue, although such allies as the U.S., Britain and Germany have recognized Kosovo as a state. Russia, a longtime ally of Serbia, is fiercely opposed. The Russian government has threatened in response itself to support separatists in the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Saturday 23 February 2008 Russian President Vladimir Putin has again condemned Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence in the strongest terms he has used yet. Mr. Putin says that Western nations who have offered Kosovo recognition is "a stick with two ends and that other end will come back to knock them on the head someday." The president calls the situation as well "a terrifying precedent" that destroys the entire system of international relations. Earlier, Russia's ambassador to the EU said that if NATO exceeds its mandate in Kosovo, Russia might have to resort to "brute military force" to be respected, a comment which the U.S. state department rejected as irresponsible.
Thursday 21 February 2008 RUSSIA
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has bitterly denounced Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence last Sunday as "gross violation" of international law. According to Mr. Lavrov, "the whole world" knows that the negotiations between the Kosovar and Serbian governments were artificially interrupted by foreign influence. The minister likewise criticized the decision by the EU to send a "Rule of Law Mission" to Kosovo comprising 2,000 people who will train and mentor police, judges and customs officials. Mr. Lavrov the "Law Mission" is itself a violation of international laws. Serbia and its ally Russia opposed independence for Kosovo, the U.S. and other Western powers favouring it.
Thursday 14 February 2008 Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Russian leaders resolved their dispute over Ukraine's natural gas payments during four hours of negotiation in Moscow on Tuesday. Russian firm Gazprom had threatened to cut off shipments to Ukraine if the payments weren't forthcoming. Gazprom claims it's owed $1.5 billion, while Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko put the figure at $1.1 billion. Mr. Yushchenko says the two sides have agreed to set up a working group to discuss ways to streamline their gas trade.
Friday, 8 February 2008, 17:52 GMT
Wednesday 30 January 2008 MOSCOW: UNITED NATIONS REFUTES RUSSIAN'S ALLEGATIONS
The United Nations nuclear agency has dismissed allegations by a former Russian Intelligence service agent who claims that he manipulated the U.N.'s Iraqi oil-for-food program and recruited a Canadian nuclear expert. The International Atomic Energy Agency says the allegations are baseless. Sergei Tretyakov, a former deputy head of intelligence at Russia's U.N. mission says that he oversaw an operation that helped Russia illegally take profits from the program. He also says that he recruited spies for Russia, including a Canadian nuclear expert. Mr. Tretyakov and his family defected to the United States in 2000. Russia's foreign intelligence disputes the allegations.
Saturday 19 January 2008 Rights group Amnesty International on Friday urged Russia to provide proper treatment for a jailed oil executive who has AIDS and says he could die if he is not moved to a specialised hospital. Russia has snubbed three requests from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to move 36-year-old Vasily Alexanian out of his Moscow jail. He says he is nearly blind, has suspected tuberculosis and is being denied medication. Russian rights campaigners have called Mr. Alexanian a political prisoner because he is a former vice-president of the Yukos oil company, whose bosses were jailed after they fell out with the Kremlin.
Thursday 17 January 2008 Russia's foreign ministry says Moscow is seriously concerned over the latest violence between Israel and the Palestinians. The ministry called on both sides to avoid violence. The comments come as Israel's foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, prepared to travel to Moscow. The Israel embassy in Moscow says Ms. Livni will raise the question of Iran during talks with her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. Russia supports Iran's right to nuclear energy. Western nations believe Iran wants nuclear energy to make nuclear weapons.
A Russian writer and former dissident, Vasily Aksyonov, has been taken to hospital in Moscow. Interfax news agency quotes a hospital source as saying that Mr. Aksyonov had suffered a brain haemorrhage and that the right part of his body was paralysed. Mr. Aksyonov was exiled in 1980 after the KGB secret service declared him an anti-Soviet writer. He fled to the United States, where he became a professor of Russian at George Mason University. He is best known for his novels "Generations of Winter" and "The Burn."
Dec 19 - Time magazine names Russian President Vladimir Putin as "Person of the Year" for 2007 "for making Russia critical to the 21st century."
The choice came days after Putin announced a plan to hold onto power after his term ends. Putin said that if his close ally, Dmitry Medvedev, wins next year's presidential vote, he would serve as Medvedev's prime minister.
Tuesday 18 December 2007 President Vladimir Putin has agreed to serve as Russia's prime minister if his chosen successor, Dmitry Medvedev, is elected president next year. Mr. Putin spoke shortly before the governing United Russia Party nominated Mr. Medvedev as its presidential candidate. Germany's foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, says that Mr. Medvedev is a reason for hope in the West. Mr. Steinmeier describes Mr. Medvedev as the candidate who looks most favourably to the West, and who best seeks to modernize Russia's economy. Mr. Medvedev is a deputy prime minister and chairman of the state gas company, Gazprom.
Vladimir Putin's bid to remain in power is bad for Russia, for democracy and for the world
IT HAS long been obvious that Vladimir Putin is determined to stay in control when his second term as president of Russia expires next year. The only question was just how the country's ruler proposed to skate round the constitutional limit of two consecutive four-year terms in office.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, whom President Vladimir Putin named as his preferred successor earlier in the week, says he'd like to make the outgoing president his prime minister. As well as the deputy prime minister, Mr. Medvedev, a Putin supporter, is also the chairman of gas giant Gazprom. Thanks to Mr. Putin's endorsement, Mr. Medvedev is the favourite to win the March 2 presidential election. Mr. Putin hasn't yet responded to his successor's offer of the prime minister's position.
Wednesday 12 December 2007 ADVERTISEMENT
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PUTIN’S CHOSEN ONE
The Globe (not available online), the
Post, the
Star, La Presse (not available online), and the
Citizen go inside with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s
newly-announced successor, Dmitry Medvedev. He will be the nominee of the
four-party bloc controlled by Putin that romped to victory in recent and
highly controversial elections, and has long served at Putin’s side,
most recently as chair of the energy giant Gazprom and first deputy prime
minister. The forty-two-year-old lawyer is seen as a more pro-Western
figure than the other top contender for Putin’s favour, Deputy Prime
Minister Sergei Ivanov, and the Post’s Peter Goodspeed goes so far as
to call the bureaucrat who controls 20 percent of the world’s natural
gas on behalf of an authoritarian president a “liberal lawyer.”
All of today’s papers note that Medvedev lacks pull with the circle
of powerful security bureaucracies that have been the bulwark of
Putin’s reign, and will likely rely on Putin himself to maintain
links with the military and intelligence agencies. The Citizen runs a
worthwhile piece from the Los Angeles Times that weaves the skeptical
comments of Russian analysts from civil society groups amongst a
description of the televised press conference at which the decision was
announced. La Presse’s Jooneed Khan contributes a slick pair of
articles summarizing the little that we know about Medvedev, his style of
leadership, and Putin’s plans for his own future. Trying to find
some interest in a colourless figure, both the Globe and La Presse note
that Medvedev is a Black Sabbath fan, while The Star cites his
appreciation of Deep Purple.
President Vladimir Putin says the sweeping victory of his United Russia party in last weekend's parliamentary elections validates his leadership and is a sign of trust. United Russia won almost two-thirds of the vote and will have 70 per cent of the seats in the lower house of parliament. The outcome sets the stage for Mr. Putin to function as a kind of "national leader" after he leaves the presidency next spring. The United Russia presidential candidate is expected to be reliant on Mr. Putin. The election has been denounced as rigged by Russian opponents and Western nations. Former chess champion Gary Kasparov denounced the elections as "the most unfair and dirtiest in the whole history of modern Russia." The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said the vote was "not a fair election." In Washington, the White House spokeswoman urged the Russian government to investigate allegations of fraud, a recommendation echoed sby France, Italy and Britain. The German government's spokesman said "Russia was no democracy and it is no democracy."
THE STRAIGHT GOODS:
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party wins
parliamentary elections; an extreme referendum is narrowly voted down in
Venezuela. Liberal leader Stéphane Dion celebrates one year as head of the
federal political party. Snow decks the entire nation as three separate
storm systems move across Canada.
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RUSSIAANDVENEZUELAHIT THE POLLS CTV
News, CBC
News: Sunday Night, the Globe (not available online), and La
Presse front as the Star, the
Citizen (not available online), and the
Post go inside with the victory of Russian President Vladimir Putin's
United Russia party in Russia’s parliamentary elections. Despite
allegations that the vote was “inflated by fraud and
intimidation,” the Star reports, the landslide victory is largely
seen as a vote of confidence for Putin’s leadership. Boris Gryzlov,
leader of United Russia, is quoted in the Globe as saying, “The vote
affirmed the main idea: That Vladimir Putin is a national leader, that the
people support his course, and this course will continue.” The Star
writes that the Kremlin has stated that Putin still plans to hand over
leadership to a successor next year, as the constitution bars him from
standing for a third term. However, as CTV News reports, the results of
the elections could allow Putin to run for prime minister.
The Big Seven zeroes in on another significant vote today, the failed
referendum that would have allowed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to run
for reelection for life. CTV
News and the
Post front, while CBC
News: Sunday Night, the
Globe, the
Star, the
Citizen, and La
Presse go inside with the narrowly defeated referendum. Only the Star
and the Globe report the final tally as 49 percent for to 51 percent
against. Tibisay Lucena, chief of the Venezuelan National Electoral
Council, gauged voter turnout at just 56 percent, says the Star. The
proposed reforms, as described in the Citizen, would have allowed Chavez
to control Venezuela's foreign currency reserves, appoint loyalists over
regional elected officials and censor the media if he declares an
emergency. Before results were in, Vice President Jorge Rodriguez told
reporters, “We will respect the result, whatever it is—even if
it’s by one single vote.”
Monday Dec 3, 2007 The first official results following parliamentary elections in Russia today show that President Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party scored a decisive victory as expected. With more than 12 per cent of the vote counted, United Russia had just over 62 per cent support. The Communist Party has about 11 per cent and the nationalist LDPR Party had about ten per cent. The election took place amid accusations by Mr. Putin's opponents that his party exerted unfair pressure on voters to vote for United Russia. Election monitors also reported widespread cases of ballot fraud on Sunday. The Communist Party immediately announced that it will challenge the election results. Following the vote, United Russia declared that it would nominate its next presidential candidate at a party congress this month. Under the constitution, Mr. Putin cannot run for a third term, but his supporters urge him to continue to play a major role in politics.
Sunday 02 December 2007 Campaigning for the parliamentary election in Russia on Sunday has ended with President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party on course for a landslide victory. Analysts say that he'll use the big majority to cement his grip on power, even after he steps down from the presidency at the end of his second term next year. The campaigning for the election has also been marred by increasing allegations that the vote could be rigged. There will be few international observers. A number of people have stepped forward to say they are under pressure to vote in a particular way.
Saturday 01 December 2007 Putin’s Last Realm to Conquer: Russian Culture
MOSCOW — The fight is long over here for authority over the security services, the oil business, mass media and pretty much all the levers of government. Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin, notwithstanding some recent anti-government protests, has won those wars, hands down, and promises to consolidate its position in parliamentary elections. But now there is concern that the Kremlin is setting its sights on Russian culture.
Friday 30 November 2007 President Vladimir Putin has told Russian voters in a televised address that they should vote for his United Russia party in Sunday's election for the lower house of parliament, adding that voting for liberal parties would bring a return to the "humiliation, dependency and disintegration" that Russia suffered after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The president spoke just hours before former chess champion Gary Kasparov was released from five days in jail and promptly denounced Mr. Putin, accusing him of turning the country into a dictatorship. Mr. Kasparov was arrested for having taken part in a political demonstration which the police broke up.
Monday 26 November 2007 For the second day in a row, riot police Sunday arrested dozens of opposition activists who tried to rally against the government of President Vladimir Putin. Riot police with helmets, shields and body armour moved against demonstrators in St. Petersburg who were chanting "Russia without Putin!" One of those detained was Boris Nemtsov, an opposition leader who is likely to be a contender in the presidential election next March. He was released after two hours of custody. An Agence France Presse correspondent witnessed about 200 detentions in several different locations. Most were released after several hours. The St. Petersburg crackdown came exactly one week before Russia's parliamentary elections and a day after police detained other anti-government activists in Moscow, including former world chess champion Garry Kasparov. On Saturday, riot police waded into a march of around 2,000 people in the Russian capital and arrested Mr. Kasparov. A court late Saturday sentenced him to five days in jail and his lawyer told AFP Mr. Kasparov was being held at Moscow police headquarters.
Tuesday 20 November 2007 Russia's senate has unanimously voted to abandon a treaty that limits conventional military forces across Europe. The vote in the Federation Council comes one week after a decision in the lower house of parliament, or Duma, to suspend compliance with the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty. Gen. Yury Baluyevsky, Russia's chief of the general staff, says the move was the correct, logical step from the political and military point of view. NATO has criticized Russia's withdrawal from the 1990 treaty. The treaty's demise highlights deteriorating relations between Moscow and NATO.
Thursday 01 November 2007 The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe says that Russia is imposing unprecedented restrictions on its voter monitoring mission for the coming parliamentary vote. A spokeswoman for the OSCE made the comment Wednesday after receiving invitations to send observers to observe the vote. Moscow invited between 300 and 400 international election observers from various democratic bodies, three times fewer than the figure for Russia's last legislative election. The OSCE received an invitation to send just 70 observers. The OSCE says Russia has failed to meet many commitments for democratic elections.
Tuesday 30 October 2007 things have suddenly become more complicated with the news that Mikhail Gorbachev has been elected head of a new political movement founded, he said, to help bring democratic principles to Russia , a challenging undertaking given Mr. Putin’s recent moves to assure his succession will toe his line. Oh well, if Mr. Gorbachev’s new party goes nowhere, perhaps he can take solace in his designation as a Hero of the Environment (in itself, this designation has a faintly Soviet ring to it) by TIME
Saturday 27 October 2007 UNITED STATES
The U.S. has rejected the comparison made earlier by Russian President Vladimir Putin between the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 and the present conflict involving the U.S. plan to install an anti-missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic. Mr. Putin said it's the "same situation" as when the Soviet Union deployed missiles in Cuba. The U.S. state department dismissed the comparison, saying that the installation of a defensive anti-missile system aimed at prevent attacks from countries like Iran is different from the installation of Soviet missiles tipped with nuclear arms in Cuba. The discovery of the installation of Soviet missiles in Cuba led to a 13-day standoff that caused fears of a nuclear war. The standoff eventually ended in a military compromise.
Tuesday 23 October 2007 President Vladimir Putin says the U.S. is looking for ways to resolve its dispute with his country over the plan to erect an anti-missile defence in Poland and the Czech Republic. Mr. Putin says the latest contacts with "our American colleagues" show that they have given thought to Russia's proposals to defuse the dispute. U.S. Secretary of State and Defence Secretary Robert gates visited Moscow last week to debate the matter. Russia feels the anti-missile system is not directed against Iran and North Korea as Washington claims but rather against itself. The Russians have suggested as an alternative that they and the Americans operate jointly a huge Soviet-era radar facility located in Azerbaijan. So far, Washington hasn't accepted.
Tuesday 23 October 2007 A leader of the former Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, has founded a new political movement in Russia. Mr. Gorbachev told the founding congress of the Union of Social Democrats that its mission was to fight against "negative tendencies" and corruption. He said the party supports President Vladimir Putin's efforts to reform Russia. The new movement will not take part in general elections in December, which are expected to be won by the United Russia party, backed by Mr. Putin. Mr. Gorbachev says the new group will focus on a lack of real political debate in Russia.
MOSCOW, Oct. 1 — President Vladimir V. Putin, who is barred from seeking another term, suggested Monday that he might become prime minister next year, seeming to confirm what many analysts had assumed: that he plans to hold on to the power he has accrued over eight years.
Tuesday 02 October 2007 Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced he will run for a seat in parliament in the Dec. 2 elections. Mr. Putin will head the candidate list from the pro-Kremlin United Russia party. That would guarantee him a place in the Russian Duma, or lower house of parliament. Mr. Putin spoke at a party congress, where he said that suggestions he could head a future government as a prime minister were "realistic." Mr. Putin is barred by the Russian constitution from running for a third term as president.
Thursday 13 September 2007 Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, has nominated Viktor Zubkov, the head of the Federal Financial Monitoring Service for prime minister. The surprise move came shortly after Mr. Putin dismissed Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. The Duma will meet on Friday to approve the nomination. Mr. Zubkov is likely to become the leading candidate in the presidential election next March. Mr. Fradkov will continue in his post until the new premier is confirmed. Elections for the Duma are scheduled to take place in December.
Tuesday 11 September 2007 President Vladimir Putin has sent legislation to Parliament that would suspend the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe arms control treaty. His government said on July 14 it would stop observing the treaty which limits deployment of conventional arms on the continent. The Russian parliament will examine the proposed legislation next month. The Russian government has been angered by the refusal of NATO to ratify a version of the accord that was revised in 1999. NATO's refusal is based on Russia's refusal to remove its troops from the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Moldova. Russia is also angry about the U.S. project to base an anti-missile system in the Czech Republic and Poland.
Saturday 01 September 2007
Defence experts from Russia and the United States will meet in Baku in two weeks to discuss Moscow's proposal that Washington use a radar station based in Azerbaijan instead of deploying a missile defence system in Eastern Europe. Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Naryshkin says the talks will focus on the joint use of radar and the question of anti-missile defence as a whole. Moscow says the U.S. plan to install a radar in the Czech Republic and anti-missile interceptors in Poland threatens Russian security. Azerbaijan borders Iran, one of the countries that Washington says it needs to protect itself against.
One staple of Hollywood and cheap fiction is the idea of an intelligence agency trying to take over a country. In Russia this has actually happened. In a four-page briefing, we spell out the way that "Putin's people" (from the KGB and its successor, the FSB) now run Russia. Three out of four senior Russian officials today were once affiliated to security and military organisations: they control much of the country's businesses and natural resources. Their determination to make Russia feared again has made them popular at home, but in our cover leader we argue that the former KGB men have the wrong idea about how to make their country great.
Sunday 19 August 2007 Russian President Vladimir Putin says he has ordered the military to resume long-distance patrols by strategic bombers. The president says that Russia unilaterally stopped such flights in 1991 but that unfortunately other nations haven't followed his country's example, with resulting security problems for Russia. Mr. Putin made his revelation after the conclusion of the first China-Russia joint military maneuvres near Chelyabinsk in the Urals. In Washington, the state department reacted by saying that if the Russians wanted to resurrect some elderly bombers, that's their decision.
Wednesday 08 August 2007 Russia to boost Arctic presence, plans new expedition Russian explorers on Wednesday announced a new expedition to the Arctic for later in the year to boost Russia's presence there following a flag-laying stunt on the seabed under the North Pole.
8 June 2007 rci KUHLUNGSBORN: PM TO RAISE RIGHTS ISSUE WITH PUTIN
Canadian officials at the G8 summit in Germany say Prime Minister Stephen Harper will raise the question of human rights in Russia during his bilateral meeting with President Vladimir Putin. The sources say that the state of Russian democracy will be one of the chief issues that the prime minister will discuss. One official said that Russia has responsibilities as a G8 member and an obligation to "be a standard-bearer for democracy and good governance, as well as playing a constructive role...in the rest of the world." The meeting will come after recent beatings and arrests in Russia of anti-government protesters and the sudden deaths of several of Mr. Putin's critics. Journalists in the latter category have been shot and fallen out of windows. Former chess champion Gary Kasparov was recently prevented from leaving the country. The meeting also will take place at a moment when the relationship between Mr. Putin's government and the West has become increasingly abrasive. The latest irritant is the U.S. plan to install an anti-missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic. Mr. Harper and the other G8 leaders arrived in the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm by helicopter, thus avoiding thousands of protesters. About 1,000 people have been injured in clashes with the police. The formal discussions starting Thursday are expected to be dominated by the issues of climate change and aid for Africa.
Along with the death of Boris Yeltsin the enigmatic figure who was responsible for dismembering the Soviet Union, we note with real sadness the loss of a towering figure in journalism and author of the seminal "The Best and the Brightest",
Boris Yeltsin 1931 - 2007 on W-N
Sunday 22 April 2007
Report: arrest warrants in poisoned spy case A British Sunday newspaper reported that police are to issue arrest warrants against three Russian suspects in the poisoning of former Russian security agent Alexander Litvinenko.
The Soviet Collapse : Grain and Oil
Yegor Gaidar of the American Enterprise Institute observes problems with the Soviet economy that resulted in massive shortages of grain, which necessitated relying heavily on imports. These imports had to be funded with oil revenues, and left the USSR very vulnerable to world oil prices. Gaidar draws historical parallels going forward and backward on these events.
Boyars of Belgravia Saturday 10 February 2007 HE weapons in this war are not high explosives, nor even gas pipelines, but stories about them. The battlefronts are seminars, think-tanks and dinner parties in the posher parts of London. Not since Alexander Herzen’s day has Britain's capital been party to such arguing over Russia’s future.
Sunday 28 January 2007
Former Russian spy was killed by poisoned tea: police British police have concluded a former Russian spy was poisoned by a lethal dose of radioactive Polonium-210 added to his tea at a London hotel, British and U.S. television stations reported
Friday.
Saturday 13 January 2007 A dispute between Russia and Belarus that led to a disruption in European oil supplies earlier this week has been resolved. The ITAR-TASS news agency reports that the presidents of both countries removed the final obstacles in the way of a settlement. The dispute prompted the shut-down on Monday of the Druzhba pipeline, Russia's main oil export pipeline to Europe. Oil supplies resumed late Wednesday when Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarussian counterpart President Alexander Lukashenko said they had reached an agreement in principle. A formal agreement was signed on Friday.
Friday 12 January 2007 Most Orthodox and Coptic Christians around the world celebrated Christmas on Sunday. The Orthodox church uses the old Julian Calendar to mark the day rather than the Gregorian calendar used by Roman Catholics and Protestants. In Moscow, Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, visited a nearby monastery. In Cairo, Coptic Christians heard a service led by the head of the country's Coptic church.
2006
Tuesday 19 December 2006 rvi About 250 Russian journalists held a rally in central Moscow on Sunday to draw attention to the number of their colleagues who've been killed. They read out the names of more than 200 journalists who died violently in the past 15 years. About half died during the presidency of Boris Yeltsin. The other half died during President Vladimir Putin's regime. Worldwide attention was drawn two months ago to the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, who had long criticized the Kremlin. The demonstrators accused the government of failing to investigate the murders properly. The demonstration was conducted under the guard of hundreds of police.
Dec 13th 2006 Don't mess with Russia Russia's habitual abuse of its energy muscle is bad for its citizens, its neighbourhood and the world
FOR over a decade Royal Dutch Shell, along with its Japanese partners, Mitsui and Mitsubishi, has been struggling to coax oil and gas out of the frozen seas off Sakhalin Island, in Russia's far east. Over the years the scheme has run into environmental protests, its projected cost has doubled to $20 billion and its completion date has receded. But it is now nearly finished. With oil and gas prices high and a flood of revenue imminent, it is an odd time for the three owners to reduce their shareholding. Yet that is exactly what they offered to do this week, by selling a majority stake in the project to Gazprom, Russia's state-owned gas giant (see article).
Monday Dec 4, 2006 Britain Expands Litvinenko Inquiry
the fallout from the apparent murder of Alexander Litvinenko by radiation poisoning Doctors, meanwhile, said they had found a "significant quantity" of polonium-210 -- the radioactive element suspected of killing Litvinenko -- in the body of Italian researcher Mario Scaramella, who met Litvinenko the day he fell ill.
Investigators over the weekend cleared airplanes suspected of being contaminated with polonium-210 and allowed them to resume flights.
Sunday 26 November 2006 Britain's health authorities say that a former Russian spy died on Thursday from having absorbed the rare radioactive substance polonium-21. Police say as well that traces of the substance were found in a hotel bar and a restaurant which Alexander Litvinenko had visited on the day he reported feeling ill. Mr. Litvinenko left a written deathbed message accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of having murdered him. In Finland, Mr. Putin offered his condolences but denied responsibility for the apparent killing. Police are for the time being treating the case as an "unexplained death," but not yet as a murder. Mr. Litvinenko had been a refugee in London for four years, fleeing Russia after accusing Mr. Putin of intending to murder exiled businessman Boris Berezovski.
A former Russian spy who fled as a dissident to London has died. Forty-three-year-old Alexander Litvinenko had been admitted to hospital in grave condition and his condition deteriorated until he died. His friends accused the Russian government of having had him poisoned. Mr. Litvinenko was a former officer of the Federal Security Services, the successor to the KGB. He fled to Britain after accusing the FSB of plotting to murder exiled Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky.
Monday 02 October 2006 Tension between Russia and Georgia continued to worsen on Sunday following the arrest earlier in the week of four Russian officers in Tbilisi on spying charges. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, compared Georgia's leadership to the enforcer of Joseph Stalin's murderous purges, Lavrent Beria . The Abkhazian-born Beria was head of the NKVD, the Stalin-era Soviet secret police force that later became the KGB from 1938 to 1946. Since the arrests of the Russians on Wednesday, the Kremlin has halted its withdrawal of troops from military bases in Georgia. The withdrawal had been underway since May last year. Russia also removed virtually all of its diplomatic staff from the embassy in Tbilisi over the weekend.
Fri 28/07/2006 MOSCOW: RUSSIA TERRORISTS
Russia's government has come out with a list of terrorist organizations. Among the 17 groups are al-Qaeda, the Taliban in Afghanistan, and several groups linked to separatist and extremist religious movements in the North Caucasus and former central Asian Soviet republics. One of the groups, Hizb ut-Tahrir, is a Sunni Muslim organization that is considered legitimate by most Western countries. Russia's list omits the Palestinian group Hamas and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, both of which are included in a list of 42 terrorist organizations compiled by the United States.
Thu 27/07/2006 The European Court of Human Rights has made a landmark ruling that could force Russia to disclose the fate of as many as 5,000 people who've disappeared in Chechnya. The court ruled that Russia violated what it calls "the right to life" of a young Chechen man who disappeared six years ago. Just before he vanished, Khadzimurat Yandiyev was seen in a video with a Russian army general, Alexander Baranov, who's heard ordering his death. The court in Strasbourg, France, ruled that uncertainty about the victim's fate caused inhumane suffering for his mother. It ordered Russia to pay her $35,000 euros in compensation. Gen. Baranov now commands all troops in southern Russia.
Tue 04/07/2006 Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited Iran to accept a proposal to defuse the ongoing international crisis over its nuclear program. Russia, the four other members of the UN Security and Germany have offered Iran a civilian nuclear co-operation program if it agrees to abandon its uranium enrichment program, which the U.S. and the EU says could be used to make nuclear weapons. The offer comes with a deadline of July 12. The Iranian government says it's considering the offer but won't answer until Aug. 22. Iranian chief nuclear negotiator is to meet on Wednesday with the EU foreign minister, Javier Solana. The Iranian government has refused suggestions that the meeting would be an appropriate moment to offer an answer to the offer of co-operation.
Saturday Apr 22, 2006 rci The former economic adviser to Russia's president says that Russia does not deserve a place in the Group of Eight most-industrialized countries. Andrei Ilarionov says that Russia fails to meet most of the G-Eight's criteria for admission. He says that the government has increased its control over the economy and has reduced the level of democracy. Mr. Ilarionov was a special advisor to President Vladimir Putin for five years before he was fired last year for criticizing the government's breakup of the giant oil company, YUKOS. Since his dismissal, Mr. Illarionov has been a prominent public critic of President Putin and his policies.
Tuesday Mar 14, 2006 rci A senior police officer in charge of an organized crime unit has been shot dead in the volatile southern Russian province of Dagestan. Officials say he was killed last night by unidentified gunmen in Makhachkala. He was the second high-ranking police official to be killed in the area since Friday. In recent months, such attacks have increased and law enforcement authorities have appeared unable to control the violence.
Tuesday Mar 7, 2006 nyt Russia and West Split on Iran Nuclear Issue Moscow's proposal to allow Iran to make small quantities of nuclear fuel seems intended to shield Iran from the U.N. Security Council.
Thursday Jan 5, 2006 rci A deal has been reached to resolve a dispute between Russia and Ukraine over the price of Russia's natural gas exports. The problem began when Ukraine refused to pay the increase for gas demanded by Russia. The new agreement includes a complex price plan over a five-year period. It 's based on a price of US$230 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas. A source with the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom says that the price would apply only to exports of Russian gas to Ukraine. The previous price was US$50. The dispute came to a head when Gazprom halted gas exports to Ukraine on Sunday. Deliveries to many Western European countries through Ukrainian pipelines were also affected, but Gazprom says that it has since resumed full gas deliveries to its European customers.
Monday Jan 2, 2006 ts Russia shuts off gas taps to Ukraine
Russia halted sales of natural gas to the Ukraine Sunday and began reducing pressure in transmission lines that carry supplies to Western Europe, Associated Press reports.
2005
Tuesday Dec 27, 2005 rci Russian officials said Monday dozens of people in St. Petersburg were treated in hospital after breathing in a mysterious gas while shopping in the city. The Emergencies Ministry said investigators found canisters with pipes in several shops owned by the same chain, Maksidom. The shops were then evacuated. Russian media reported the containers had been set up with timing mechanisms to go off as time-bombs. Police believe a commercial dispute or blackmail attempt was behind the release of gas.
Thursday Dec 8, 2005 rci Russia's defence minister says the Kremlin has every right to sell arms to Iran. In a reply to mounting western criticism of a billion-dollar deal announced last week, Sergei Ivanov, said the contract signed with the Islamic Republic is absolutely legitimate and concerns only defensive weapons. Western nations suspect Iran of seeking nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian atomic program. Tehran denies this, saying it wants only to generate electricity.
1 December 2005 ind RUSSIA. Current retirement age is 60 for men, 55 for women. Many retirees work beyond that to supplement their pensions, which average the equivalent of about US$80 a month. Some want the age raised but others say with Russia's high mortality rates it doesn't make sense.
Saturday Nov 26, 2005 rci Human rights groups are accusing the deputy premier of Chechnya of intimidating people in advance of legislative elections on Sunday. Ramzan Kadyrov is widely considered to be the most powerful official in Chechnya. In a report, the Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Helsinki group said that intimidation by Mr. Kadyrov's troops and by Russian forces had rendered a fair election impossible. Mr. Kadyrov denies the charges, saying that his accusers are secretly supporting terrorists responsible for numerous attacks inside and outside Chechnya. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, hopes that the elections will serve to normalize Chechnya's relations with Russia, but few share his optimism.
Friday Nov 25, 2005 nyt Kremlin Pushes Measure to Curb Private Groups By STEVEN LEE MYERS
Critics described the move as the Kremlin's latest effort to stifle civil society and democracy.
Tuesday Nov 22, 2005 nyt Growth of Islam in Russia Brings Soviet Response By STEVEN LEE MYERS Russia has recreated a Soviet-era system of control over religion in response to a rise in Islamic faith and militancy.
By Julian Evans
Cold, dark, drowning in vodka, and ruled by the KGB. That’s how the West sees Russia. President Vladimir Putin has officially declared that his country has an image problem, and the Kremlin has launched a PR campaign to burnish its image before it hosts next year’s G-8 summit. Too bad Moscow is more eager to impress foreigners than its own people.
Sunday Nov 13, 2005 rci The former head of Russia's giant oil company YUKOS. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, says it's time for a swing to the political left to replace a system founded on loyalty to president Vladimir Putin. Khordorkovsky, serving an 8-year sentence in a Siberian prison for fraud and tax evasion, made his statements in Kommersant daily. He claims he is the victim of a Kremlin campaign to neutralize him as a potential political rival to Mr. Putin. Russian officials say he is a dishonest businessman who portrays himself as a political martyr to mask his guilt.
Saturday Oct 22, 2005 rci
OTTAWA: CANADA GIVES MORE TO HELP RUSSIA ELIMINATE CHEMICAL ARMS
Canada's foreign affairs department has announced that the country will contribute $55 million to help Russia destroy the world's biggest stockpile of chemical arms. The department says the money will be used to help enable Russia to buy the equipment needed to complete a facility in central Russia where artillery and rocket-fired warheads filled with nerve gas are to be destroyed. Russia has a stockpile of more than 40,000 tonnes left over from the Soviet period. At the G-8 summit in Canada in 2002, Canada and the six other G-8 states offered Russia $20 billion US to destroy plutonium and chemical weapons. The department says that the contribution announced on Friday is an instalment on the $1 billion which Canada has pledged to Russia over 10 years for weapons destruction.
Sunday Oct 16, 2005 rci The U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, sought but failed to receive Russian support for her hard line on Iran's nuclear program during talks in Moscow on Saturday. In a surprise visit, Miss Rice met President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin where she pressed him to back her government's efforts to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council if Iran continues nuclear-related activities and refuses to negotiate. Russia has major financial connections to Iran's nuclear program, and Mr. Putin declined to change his country's position. He said that the U.N. nuclear agency should deal with the matter, but added that he would work to persuade Iran to return to the negotiating table.
Sunday Oct 2, 2005 rci A Russian rocket lifted off from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan on Saturday, carrying an American "space tourist" Greg Olsen and two fellow astronauts. The rocket with the Soyuz TMA-7 capsule and its crew entered orbit 10 minutes later. Mr. Olsen, who paid US$20 million for his trip, was accompanied by Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and U.S. astronaut William McArthur. They will arrive at the International Space Station on Monday, after a period adjusting to weightless conditions. Mr. Olsen is the third private citizen to buy a flight to space.
Friday Sep 23, 2005 rci Mikhail Khodorkovsky has failed in a bid to delay his court appeal of his nine-year prison sentence. Lawyers for the former head of Yukos argued that their client's trial was riddled with procedural violations. Their appeal hearing was due to start Thursday but they asked to delay it for eight more weeks so that they could properly prepare. A court in Moscow refused the request, forcing the defence to begin its appeal. Mr. Khodorkovsky was found guilty of tax evasion and fraud and sentenced last May. He says that he was prosecuted for speaking out against the government of President Vladimir Putin.
Friday Sep 2, 2005 Canada's defence minister, Bill Graham, has praised Russia as an important security partner. Mr. Graham spoke in Moscow during a visit aimed at improving bilateral cooperation. During his four-day visit, Mr. Graham will meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Ivanov. Canada and Russia signed an agreement in June to provide $1billion over the next 10 years to help Moscow destroy stockpiles of ots chemical weapons. Russia is hoping to persuade Canada to support its bid to join the World Trade Organization.
Friday Aug 12, 2005 The jailed head of Russia's Yukos oil company, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, says that he's ready to run in a parliamentary byelection in Moscow. Mr. Khodorkovsky is in detention while his lawyers appeal his nine-year prison sentence for tax evasion and fraud. If they lose the appeal, he will be unable to stand for office. Mr. Khodorkovsky made his remark as Russian prison officials justified moving him recently to a larger, more crowded cell.
Thursday Jul 7, 2005 rci Russia's parliament has finalized controversial electoral reforms. The State Duma overwhelmingly approved changes to 13 legislative acts. That will bring them into line with earlier amendments to the basic election law which exclude small parties from political life. Under the new rules, independent deputies will not be allowed to run for seats. The rules apply to both national and regional elections and were proposed by President Vladimir Putin, despite opposition from liberal deputies and other critics.
Wednesday Jul 6, 2005 Japan dangles $15b aid at Russia for oil
Tokyo in a tussle with Beijing to secure deal for Siberian pipeline
TOKYO - JAPAN is considering extending up to US$9 billion (S$15 billion) in aid to Russia to help finance a pipeline from Siberian oil fields, if Tokyo gets preference over Beijing in the project, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday.
It would be one of Japan's biggest aid packages to the overseas oil sector, the Tokyo Shimbun said.
The bulk of the sum being considered - between 900 billion yen (S$15 billion) and one trillion yen - would be in the form of low-interest loans and trade insurance.
Japan and China have been fighting furiously for access to the planned pipeline which will export largely untapped Siberian oil.
Asia Times Wednesday Jul 6, 2005 Japan dangles $15b aid at Russia for oil
China knocking on Russia's door By Sergei Blagov
MOSCOW- ... Moscow and Beijing have long eyed bilateral projects in energy infrastructure, and want to revive a project to build a $1.5 billion 2,600 kilometer power transmission line from the Irkutsk region in Siberia to China. Moreover, Beijing has indicated interest in potential investments in Russian hydropower projects.
However, Hu has to date failed to make major progress on securing oil supplies from Russia as Moscow is still wavering on an oil pipeline to China. In December 2004, Russia decided to build a pipeline to export crude to Japan, the US and other Pacific Rim nations.
Wednesday Jun 29, 2005 rci A revolutionary nuclear fusion reactor that could create a sustainable source of clean energy will be built in France. The six partners in the venture----the European Union, the United States, Russia, Japan, South Korea and China---chose Cadarache in southern France as the site of the US$12 billion project after Japan withdrew its bid. The project is one of the largest scientific undertakings in history. They announced their decision on Tuesday at a meeting in Moscow. The fusion reactor presents an immense technological challenge. Fusing atomic nuclei together requires a gas field heated to 100 million degrees Celsius inside an intense magnetic field. Scientists hope that it will one day provide an abundant energy source and help to end the world's use of fossil fuels. Nuclear fusion produces no greenhouse gas emissions and only low levels of radioactive waste.
Ignoring criticism by the United States, Russia is prepared to build as many as six new nuclear reactors in Iran. Russia has pressed ahead with construction of Iran's first nuclear power plant near the southern city of Bushehr, dismissing the U.S. government's contention that Iran could use the technology to make nuclear arms. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, said that his government will continue to develop nuclear ties with Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran is a key market for Russia in the Middle East.
Tuesday Apr 26, 2005 ts Putin`s message `sends all the wrong signals`
MOSCOW—In an unusual mixing of messages, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Russians yesterday that encouraging democracy is the country`s main task but at the same time called the demise of the Soviet Union "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century.
Monday Feb 14, 2005 ts Arbour calls on Russia to curb Chechen abuse
MOSCOW—Canadian Louise Arbour, appointed the United Nations` top human rights defender last summer, capped her first official visit to Moscow yesterday by calling on Russia to do more to investigate allegations of widespread abuse by its forces in the war-torn region of Chechnya.
Tuesday Dec 21, 2004 Speculation continues over the possible role of the Kremlin in Sunday's forced sell-off of the Yukos oil production unit. Yuganskneftegaz was sold at auction for 9-billion euros to a little-known buyer, Baikal Finance Group. The state-owned company, Gasprom, is reported to be behind the group's successful bid for Yuko's core asset. Sunday's auction went ahead despite a ruling by an American court to temporarily postpone the sale. The ruling came in response to a request by Yukos. Yukos is struggling to avoid bankruptcy as it fights Russia's government over allegations that the company owes billions of dollars in unpaid taxes. One of its major owners, Mikail Khordorksy, has been jailed since October 2003.
Friday Dec 10, 2004 bca Russia: Back In The USSR? The recent upheaval in the Ukraine has raised concerns about regional geopolitical stability and whether Russia is attempting to revive the fallen USSR empire.
A just-published Emerging Markets Strategy Special Report entitled “Back In the USSR?” argues that the Kremlin wants to resurrect the old Russian model rather than that of the former USSR. Overall, it is shunning communism and maintaining its ambition of global integration, but is filling the ideological void with increasingly virulent nationalism and demands for special influence in the “near abroad”. Thus, increased political friction in Russia’s relationship with the West is likely. However, its economic performance should not be affected. Despite last week’s sharp drop, oil prices are still high and will continue to fuel Russia’s economic boom. As a result, its financial markets should stay well supported.
Thursday Nov 18, 2004 cbcRUSSIA WORKING ON NEW NUCLEAR WEAPONS
New nuclear weapons systems being developed in Russia could include a
missile designed to defeat the U.S. missile defence shield.
Thursday Nov 18, 2004 mo Russia Agrees to Send Troops to Iraq — Weekly ...to protect oil wells and support the U.S.-led military campaign there, an aide in the Bush administration has said.
Thursday Nov 18, 2004 mo Putin Hints at Possibility of Early Repayment of Russia’s IMF, Paris Club Debts Russia is capable of repaying its debts to the International Monetary Fund and the Paris Club of Creditors ahead of schedule, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. He spoke at a meeting with the IMF’s managing director Rodrigo de Rato in Moscow [thanks DM]
Saturday Sep 4, 2004 `We`ll shoot until our guns stop`
BESLAN, Russia—Holding up the corpse of a man just shot dead in front of hundreds of hostages at a Russian school, the rebel — his pockets stuffed with ammunition and grenades — warned: "If a child utters even a sound, we`ll kill another one.``
Wednesday Apr 21, 2004
WINNIPEG: AMBASSADOR WANTS NORTH TRADE ROUTE Russia's new ambassador to Canada says it's time an arctic trade route from Murmansk to Churchill, Manitoba, becomes a reality. The proposed "Arctic Bridge" would deliver goods across the North Pole. In an interview, Georgiy Mamedov told the Winnipeg Free Press there would be major economic benefits for both Canada and the Russia.
Mr. Mamedov says Russia is now in a position to make the investments necessary to build the northern trading bridge long championed by former foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy.
Studies have concluded the marine trading link would be the most cost-effective and time-efficient route between central North America and Northern Europe.
Mr. Mamedov says Moscow is already taking steps to prepare the Murmansk end of the arctic bridge.
Thursday Apr 1, 2004 cbc RUSSIA MAY RESTRICT PUBLIC DEMONSTRATIONS
Russia's parliament has given initial approval to stricter rules on
public demonstrations. "This is a mockery of the rights and freedoms that are written into the constitution," said Communist party deputy Viktor Tyulkin. "Why don't they go ahead and forbid people from having conversations?"
Monday 15 Mar 2004 ec After getting re-elected by a landslide, President Vladimir Putin is promising to press on with some ambitious reforms. His squashing of democracy may make this easier at first but will ultimately undermine his attempts to modernise Russia
IT WAS slated to be the most predictable election in living memory, and indeed, it came as a shock to no one when Vladimir Putin was re-elected president of Russia by a landslide on Sunday March 14th. The only surprise—apart from a huge blaze on election night that destroyed the Manezh, a grand exhibition hall next to the Kremlin, at one point threatening to engulf the seat of Russian government itself—was the 13.7% vote won by Nikolai Kharitonov, the little-known candidate for the Communist Party.
Thursday 11 Mar 2004 ec Will Vladimir Putin's new mandate make him dizzy with success? THE election is not until March 14th, but Vladimir Putin's second term has already begun. Although there are signs that his firing of Mikhail Kasyanov, the prime minister, nearly three weeks ago was not premeditated—notably the six-day hiatus before he named a successor—Mr Putin has seized the opportunity. This week he appointed a radically restructured new government, which suggests that he will push hard in his second term for reforms that were stalled in the first.
Tuesday 2 Mar 2004 cbc PUTIN NOMINATES NEW PRIME MINISTER
President Vladimir Putin named a former head of Russia's tax police
Monday as his choice for the country's next prime minister.
Tuesday 2 Mar 2004 The United States has freed seven Russians held at the Guantanamo
Naval Base in Cuba. They were picked up by U.S. troops for allegedly
fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan. A U.S. official said they
were handed over to Moscow on the weekend. No details were disclosed
but the Kremlin has insisted that Washington release its citizens so
they can be put on trial in Russia. Russia believes some of them are
linked to guerrillas from Chechnya.
Sunday 22 Feb 2004 A new public opinion poll Saturday suggested that 77 per cent percent
of Russians intend to vote for President Vladimir Putin in March 14th
presidential elections. The figure is slightly lower than a poll
taken a month ago that gave Mr. Putin 80 per cent of voter support.
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SURVEY: RUSSIA Having it both ways May 20th 2004 
RUSSIA MAY RESTRICT PUBLIC DEMONSTRATIONS
After getting re-elected by a landslide, President Vladimir Putin
Will Vladimir Putin's new mandate make him dizzy with success?
on Russia |