Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived in China on Sunday to expand energy cooperation between the two countries. The new deal includes building a 13-million-ton-per-year oil refinery in the city Tianjin within two years. Russia would supply 70 percent of the oil for the $5 billion refinery in a 20-year deal. In August, Russia opened its section of a 625-mile (1,000 km) oil pipeline from Skovorodino in the Far East to China. The pipe connects Russian oil fields with Daqing, a major oil production region in northeastern China. Russia is also …
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently stated that there is no proof that Iran is building nuclear weapons. The Russian Federation has held this position for a long time. However, Lavrov apparently has not heard what his boss, president Dmitry Medvedev said—and did—on this matter. Moscow voted in favor of all the four rounds of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions on Iran aimed at pressuring the country to stop its nuclear weapons program. Russia also joined the ban on supplying arms and military aircraft to Iran. Significantly, the Kremlin …
The New START Treaty, a treaty signed between the U.S. and Russia, is promoted by the Obama Administration as a means toward a reduction of nuclear weapons between the nations. Senator Richard Lugar (R–IN), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told C-SPAN (according to The Hill) that “a ‘large majority’ of members in his party will back [the treaty] and that it will be ratified.” Lugar is the only Republican to pledge support to date, and any prediction of this controversial treaty passing in a lame duck session …
Following months of intense diplomacy between the United States and Russia focusing on “resetting” bilateral relations, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev visited the United States for two days. The tour included stops in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Stanford University, and a Washington, D. C summit with President Obama. In trying to move the focus of US-Russian ties beyond security and geopolitical issues such as arms control and Iran, the trip was intended to take the relationship to the next level—greater economic engagement. It was also intended to show the smiling face …
Last week, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) expressed concern over the U.S.-Russian Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) now before the Senate. The senator particularly questioned the treaty’s limits on America’s “ability to advance our missile defense” and its “failure to deter proliferation and future attacks on our nation and allies.” Given the consequences that New START poses for U.S. national security and the calls for its swift passage, Inhofe is right to ask questions – and the entire Senate is obligated to do so, as well. One of the Senate’s most …
The Obama Administration continues to talk up the prospects for strong U.N. sanctions on Iran at the same time that it is becoming increasingly clear the United States is unlikely to persuade Russia and China to approve anything stronger than a mild slap on the wrist for their Iranian friends. Yesterday President Obama said “We are going to be pushing very hard to make sure that both smart and strong sanctions end up being in place soon to send a signal to Iran and other countries that this is an …
The past week saw an unprecedented number of President Dmitry Medvedev’s public acts towards civil society institutions. He was interviewed by the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, met with representatives of civil rights NGOs and had a protracted televised talk on NTV channel deemed the most liberal of the government-run television channels. The President said the right things – that Russia’s democracy was similar to everybody else’s and did not need to be adapted, that political rights and freedoms cannot be traded for stability and prosperity and NGOs are an inalienable …
MOSCOW – The past week’s developments gave lots of food for conjecture and speculations among Kremlinologists both within Russia and beyond. The regime – President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin – sent out an array of signals that could be interpreted as both the attempts at somewhat liberalizing Russia’s domestic policy and proof of growing differences between the President and the Prime Minister. Medvedev has recalled from the State Duma the government-submitted amendments to the Criminal Code designed to dramatically expand the definition of such concepts as state …
The Russian government is aggressively exploiting the current economic downturn to step up its grip over the economy and actually nationalize most of the lucrative industries. The past week saw new examples of this trend. President Dmitry Medvedev endorsed a new business bailout fund to provide direct financial assistance to industrial enterprises bypassing the existing banking system. In fact, the point at issue is establishing an alternative arrangement to finance select enterprises. It would be even less transparent than the present-day bailout mechanism through budget allocations and banks. Next, Vladimir …
MOSCOW — Premier Vladimir Putin’s three-hour-plus interaction with the Russian populace showed that the prime minister rather than President Dmitry Medvedev remains in charge of the national leadership. Putin answered questions dealing with the issues both falling directly within his purview as head of the Russian Cabinet and those concerning foreign and defense policies that is the president’s bailiwick under the Constitution. Clearly, the Premier’s chief objective was to convince the population that the government can control the economic crisis in the country and is doing its utmost to support …
