Russia in Review

Media Feature

August 17, 2012

Belfer Center Programs or Projects: The US-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism

Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for the week of August 10-17, 2012

Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for the week of August 10-17, 2012

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

Nuclear security agenda:

·       U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration spokeswoman Courtney Greenwald said Russia’s delegate to a meeting in Paris last month indicated that Rosatom director general Sergei Kiriyenko had approved a plan to begin producing medical isotopes without the use of HEU targets within five years. (GSN, 08.17.12)

• o   However, there has been no official public statement from Russia confirming this, and the U.S. reaction is cautious. (GSN, 08.17.12)

Iran nuclear issues:

·       Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned that relations between the U.S. and Russia will “suffer seriously” as a result of the new U.S. sanctions against Iran. (Reuters, 08.13.12)

• o   “We reject methods of overt blackmail that the United States resorts to in relation to the companies and banks of other countries.”

NATO-Russia cooperation, including transit to and from Afghanistan:

·        No significant developments.

Missile defense:

·       Poland announced plans to collaborate with Germany and France on developing a domestic antimissile system, at a cost of $6 billion. (WSJ, 08.16.12)

Nuclear arms control:

·       A preliminary assessment by a U.S. State Department panel advised the U.S. to pursue further nuclear arms cuts with Russia. (GSN, 08.17.12)

• o   “The United States could communicate to Russia that the United States is prepared to go to much lower levels of nuclear weapons as a matter of national policy, e.g. to no more than 500 strategic delivery vehicles and 1,000 deployed strategic warheads, if Russia is willing to reciprocate.”

Counter-terrorism cooperation:

·       No significant developments.

Cyber security:

·       No significant developments.

Energy exports from CIS:

·       Hungary became the first country to complete its permit process for the Nabucco West pipeline, which aims to bring Caspian gas supplies to Europe to reduce dependence on Russian imports. (Reuters, 08.14.12)

• o   The final investment decision on whether the pipeline will go ahead is expected this year or early in 2013.

·       Romanian President Traian Basescu said the Nabucco pipeline is a priority but “we will never be against the South Stream project…We preserve our wish to remain Gazprom’s partner.” (UPI, 08.17.12)

·       Azerbaijan state energy company SOCAR revealed that it recently hosted top-level energy discussions with Kyrgyzstan officials, as Kyrgyzstan seeks to lessen its dependence on Russian energy supplies. (UPI, 08.17.12)

Access to major markets for exports and imports:

·       Russia formally joins the WTO next week. A new report by Troika Dialog assesses the investment climate and outlines expected winners and losers. (FT, 08.16.12)

• o   Likely winners include: consumer and services which will benefit from lower import costs; construction sector; airlines; transport companies; metals producers. The potential losers are food producers and auto makers.

Other bilateral issues:

·       Foreign Minister Lavrov accused the West of sabotaging the June 30 Geneva agreement to establish a transitional government in Syria and of encouraging the opposition to continue fighting to topple Assad. (Reuters, 08.15.12)

·       Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Annan’s peace plan for Syria is still relevant, and called a meeting of the “Action Group” on Syria in New York on Friday, but the meeting was later cancelled. (AP, 08.17.12)

• o   U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman discussed Syria at a meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov in Moscow. Russia insists the UN should remain in Syria. (Reuters, 08.16.12)
• o   Syrian Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Issues Qadri Jamil to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov in Moscow next week. (Interfax, 08.16.12)

·       Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov: “Sanctions have never solved any problems no matter what country they targeted. The United States has been particularly notorious for such unilateral steps in breach of international law.” (Voice of Russia, 08.15.12)

·       Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Jim Miller announced Evelyn Farkas’s appointment as Pentagon’s new Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia. (FP, 08.15.12)

II.                    Russia news.

Domestic Politics, Economy and Energy:

·       President Putin contradicted Prime Minister Medvedev’s assertion that he acted alone in the early hours of the Georgia war, and took credit for its success. (FT, 08.10.12)

• o   Some analysts believe this signals a growing rift between Putin and Medvedev.

·       Russia’s economy grew 4 percent from a year ago in the second quarter, down from 4.9 percent in the first quarter and slowest pace in a year, as weaker growth in China and Europe’s debt crisis curbed demand for its commodities exports. (Bloomberg, 08.10.12)

·       Vladimir Nesterov, head of the Khrunichev company that builds Proton rockets, resigned after the failed Aug. 6 launch, which was meant to place two communications satellites into target orbits. (WP, 08.16.12)

• o   Medvedev said Tuesday that Russia had seven failed launches in the past year and a half, resulting in the loss of 10 satellites, and this rate of failure marked a “colossal difference with other leading space powers.”

Defense:

·       President Putin promised to boost Russia’s air force with 600 new combat planes and 1,000 helicopters by 2020, as part of a $720 billion program to re-equip the military. (NYT, 08.11.12)

·       Russia will send two navy vessels to the disputed Kuril islands in the Pacific from Aug. 25-Sept. 17, likely to strain relations with Japan. (Reuters, 08.14.12)

·       Russia deploys a regiment armed with S-400 Triumph air defense system to the port city of Nakhodka in the Far East, with a goal to have 28 regiments mainly in maritime and border areas by 2020. (RIA Novosti, 08.15.12)

·       Russian military conducted a successful firing drill using S-300 antimissile system and other weapons at the Ashuluk facility in Astrakhan, with 800 personnel. (GSN, 08.14.12)

·       The refurbished Russian ballistic missile submarine Novomoskovsk is again operating with the Northern Fleet; its life was extended by 10 years. (GSN, 08.13.12)

Security and law-enforcement:

·       Three members of the anti-Putin Russian punk band Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in prison for “hooliganism driven by religious hatred” after their protest performance inside a Moscow cathedral. (AP, 08.17.12)

• o   The case has drawn international attention to Russia’s intolerance for dissent, with rallies in support of the band organized around the world, backed by celebrities such as Madonna and Paul McCartney.
• o   Large crowds of supporters gathered outside the court in Moscow, including opposition leader Alexei Navalny. A number of protesters have been arrested, including Garry Kasparov and Sergei Udaltsov.

Foreign affairs:

·       During a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk, Foreign Minister Lavrov reiterated Russia’s support for Belarus in the EU standoff over human rights violations following last week’s expulsion of Swedish diplomats from Belarus. (RIA Novosti, 08.15.12)

• o   During his visit, Lavrov also promised Russian assistance to Belarus in providing an “objective and unbiased” assessment of the upcoming parliamentary elections on Sept. 23, to avoid “OSCE monopoly” over the election-monitoring process. (RT, 08.15.12)

Russia’s neighbors:

·       Patriarch Kirill I, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, is making a historic visit to Catholic Poland, seeking reconciliation. Patriarch Kirill and Polish Archbishop Jozef Michalik signed an appeal to their nations to forgive each other for past historical wrongs. (AP, 08.17.12)

The trial of Vladimir Kozlov, the most vocal opposition leader in Kazakhstan, on charges of seeking to overthrow the government, began Thursday. (AP, 08.16.12)

·       Ukrainian court decided to extradite to Russia Adam Osmayev, suspected Putin assassination plotter. (Kommersant, 08.15.12)

·       Ukrainian court sentenced former interior minister Yuri Lutsenko, an ally of Yulia Tymoshenko, to two years in prison. The ruling means he will stay in prison even if the European Court of Human Rights overturns his previous 4-year conviction for a separate charge. (Reuters, 08.17.12)

·       Kazakhstan, IAEA to meet next month to decide the location of a planned multilateral repository of nuclear power plant fuel. (Interfax, 08.15.12)

·       In the final leg of his trip, Senator Lugar met with members of the Georgian government and opposition leaders, ahead of the Oct. 1 parliamentary elections, and toured a $100 million, U.S.-funded biological research facility near Tbilisi. (UPI, 08.14.12)

·       Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat will visit Moscow Sept. 10-11 at the invitation of Medvedev. (Interfax, 08.13.12)

For more information about this publication please contact the The US-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism at 617-496-0518.

For Academic Citation: