Latest Articles about Russia
Putin Outlines Critical Issues in US-Russian Relations
During last week’s visit to Moscow by US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, it was announced that the text of the START follow-on nuclear arms reduction treaty has almost been finalized. Apparently, all the contentious issues have been resolved. Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, stated that... MORE
New Team in Kyiv Sets Stage for Gas Consortium With Russia
Ukraine’s new government, built around the Party of Regions, has re-empowered some key Ukrainian protagonists of gas “schemes” with Russia from past years (Naftohaz Ukrainy Management Change Indicates Turn to Russia, EDM, March 24).Yulia Tymoshenko‘s government succeeded in ridding Ukraine of those schemes at the... MORE
Naftohaz Ukrainy Management Change Indicates Turn to Russia
On March 22, the new Ukrainian government completed the formation of the senior management team at Naftohaz Ukrainy, the state oil and gas company (Interfax-Ukraine, UNIAN, March 22; Kommersant, March 23). This team is directly answerable to Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko and, equally... MORE
Armenia: Key Beneficiary of Russian-Georgian Border Opening
Russia and Georgia have reopened their main land border crossing less than 18 months after fighting their brief, but bitter war and severing diplomatic relations. Armenia appears to have been the main driving force behind the development, and will likely become the key beneficiary of... MORE
Clinton Strives to Maintain the US-Russian “Reset”
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Moscow last week with the dual purpose of advancing the struggling negotiations on a new treaty to reduce strategic arsenals and participate in the session of the so-called Middle Eastern “quartet” that includes representatives of the United Nations,... MORE
Russia Looks East and Sees Storm Clouds: Part Two
Attention to both combat capabilities and combat-readiness by senior officers in Russian military forces echoes comments made by retired Army-General Makhmut Gareev in early March during a conference organized by the Academy of Military Sciences on the lessons of the Great Patriotic War and their... MORE
The UN Accepts CSTO as a Regional Security Organization
On March 18, in Moscow, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Collective Security Treaty Organization’s (CSTO) Secretary-General, Nikolay Bordyuzha, signed a declaration on cooperation between the two secretariats. The document, and the UN’s steps preceding it, can be interpreted as UN recognition of this... MORE
Moscow Exploits TV Invasion Hoax to Isolate Georgia
On March 13, the pro-government, Imedi TV broadcasted what appeared to be a documentary report about a new Russian invasion that led to President Mikheil Saakashvili’s assassination. The program caused widespread public panic despite the Imedi anchor’s announcement (immediately after reporting Saakashvili’s death) that the... MORE
Russia Looks East and Sees Storm Clouds: Part One
As Roger McDermott has already noted (EDM, March 16), Army-General Makhmut Gareev, the President of the Russian Academy of Military Sciences, recently addressed what he called the “eastern vector” of Russian national security in an interview with Krasnaya Zvezda (Krasnaya Zvezda, March 5). He noted... MORE
“Gross Expropriation” or a Softer Approach at Kovykta?
The Russian government seems to envisage two options for disposing of TNK-BP’s giant Kovykta gas project in Siberia: coercive re-nationalization with compensation for the capital already invested, or without compensation. The state regulatory apparatus claims that the license holder is violating the Kovykta license terms.... MORE