Latest Articles about Middle East
GAZPROM’S CLOCK TICKING ON BP’S KOVYTKA PROJECT
Gazprom and the Kremlin look poised for another forced takeover of major Western assets in Russia’s energy sector. On January 29, Nature Inspectorate (RosPrirodNadzor) deputy chief Oleg Mitvol announced that his agency and the Resources Inspectorate (RosNedra) are about to launch the final phase of... MORE
PUTIN IS LOST BETWEEN EAST AND WEST, BUT MEDVEDEV SHINES IN DAVOS
Russian President Vladimir Putin was the guest of honor at the Independence Day parade in New Delhi last Friday, January 26, and was entertained by the traditional program including ceremonial elephants and the camel cavalry. His two-day visit to India was as successful as planned,... MORE
GAZPROM DETERMINED TO CONTROL MAJOR SHELF PROJECTS
On Thursday, January 25, Russian Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev urged the government to make it tougher for foreign investors to access the mineral resources of the Russian continental shelf. “As these are strategic interests,” he said, “a tougher procedure will be introduced to grant... MORE
MOSCOW STUNG BY ESTONIAN BAN ON TOTALITARIANISM’S SYMBOLS
Russia’s government, parliament, and state-controlled media are redoubling the anti-Estonian campaign in the wake of the Estonian parliament’s adoption of the “Law on the Protection of War Burial Sites” (January 10) and the first-reading passage of legislation against public display of totalitarian symbols (January 24).... MORE
KREMLIN STRATEGY TARGETS WESTERN ENERGY ASSETS IN RUSSIA, WESTERN SUPPLY SOURCES IN THIRD COUNTRIES
On January 21 in Sochi, Russian President Vladimir Putin assured a skeptical Angela Merkel -- visiting in a triple capacity as German Chancellor, holder of the European Union presidency, and incoming G-8 chair -- about Russia’s purported reliability as an energy partner to the West.... MORE
MOSCOW IS REMINDED THAT “WAR ON TERROR” IS NOT OVER
Unprecedented nation-wide preventive measures against a possible terrorist attack were introduced in Russia on Tuesday, January 16, on orders from Nikolai Patrushev, the head of the National Anti-Terrorist Committee (NAC). Transport networks were identified as the most probable target, so police checks and patrols on... MORE
RUSSIA MULLS NORTH KOREAN DEBT WRITE-OFF
As Moscow hinted at plans to forgive Pyongyang much of its Soviet-era debt, Russia's willingness to offer Kim Jong-Il some economic carrots may indicate the Kremlin's intention to play a bigger role in international efforts to defuse the controversy around the North Korean nuclear program.... MORE
IRAN TAKES DELIVERY OF RUSSIAN TOR-M1 MISSILES
Yesterday, January 16, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov announced that Russia had completed the delivery of modern Tor-M1 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran. Ivanov insisted that the missiles were "100% defensive weapons" and that Russia did not violate any international agreements by dispatching the Tor-M1s. He... MORE
PUTIN UPHOLDS NON-EXISTENT RULE OF LAW IN RUSSIA
The main news in Russia at the start of the new year comes, rather unusually, from the courts and law-enforcement agencies. At the top of the list is the arrest of a group of suspects in the murder of Andrei Kozlov, first deputy chairman of... MORE
BRONZE SOLDIER SET TO LEAVE TALLINN AS LAST SOVIET SOLDIER
On Wednesday, January 10, the Estonian parliament adopted in the third and final reading a “Law on the Protection of War Burial Sites,” clearing the way for the long-awaited removal of the monument to the Liberating Soviet Soldier from downtown Tallinn and other obtrusive symbols... MORE