Bush: Russians have derailed reforms

NF Reporter · 06-05-2007, 11:27 AM

AP - President Bush risked further stoking a testy dispute with Russia over a new U.S. missile defense system on Tuesday, saying Moscow has "derailed" once-promising democratic reforms.

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waltky · 08-17-2007, 07:55 PM

Russia bringin' back the Cold War...

Russia restarts Cold War patrols
Friday, 17 August 2007, Russia is currently rebuilding its armed forces

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Russia is resuming a Soviet-era practice of sending its bomber aircraft on long-range flights, President Vladimir Putin has said. Mr Putin said the move to resume the flights permanently after a 15-year suspension was in response to security threats posed by other military powers.

He said 14 bombers had taken off from Russian airfields early on Friday. The move came a week after Russian bombers flew within a few hundred miles of the US Pacific island of Guam. A few days ago Moscow said its strategic bombers had begun exercises over the North Pole.

Flexing muscles

"We have decided to restore flights by Russian strategic aviation on a permanent basis," Mr Putin told reporters at joint military exercises with China and four Central Asian states in Russia's Ural mountains. "In 1992, Russia unilaterally ended flights by its strategic aircraft to distant military patrol areas. Unfortunately, our example was not followed by everyone," Mr Putin said, in an apparent reference to the US.

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Russia and China hold joint military exercise
August 17, 2007 - President Vladimir Putin said Friday he had ordered strategic bombers to resume regular long-range patrols as Russian and Chinese forces held their first joint military exercise on Russian soil — a show of armed muscle aimed at sending a pointed message to the United States.

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The resumption of bombing patrols, which analysts say signaled a significant change for Russian military policy, comes amid a growing chill in U.S.-Russian relations, strained over Washington's criticism of Russia's democracy record, Moscow's objections to U.S. missile defense plans and differences over global crises. Both Moscow and Beijing share a heightening distrust of what they see as the United States' oversized role and influence in global politics, and the two former Cold War rivals have forged a "strategic partnership" aimed at counterbalancing Washington's policies.

The Russian-Chinese war games, which took place near the Urals Mountain city of Chelyabinsk, coincided with Russian air force maneuvers involving 20 strategic bombers which ranged far over the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans. One of those drills, involving 11 Russian aircraft, prompted NATO member Norway to scramble F-16 fighter jets to observe and photograph the Russian planes as they flew over the Norwegian Sea. The group of strategic bombers, early warning aircraft, fighter jets and refueling planes represented the biggest show of Russian air power in that region since the early 1990s, said Brig. Gen. Ole Asak, chief of the Norwegian Joint Air Operations Center.

"We haven't seen that kind of activity in a very long time," Asak told The Associated Press. "Not since the early 1990s. It was quite impressive to see." In announcing the policy change, Putin said halting long-range bombers' flights after the Soviet collapse had affected Russia's security as other nations had continued such missions — an oblique reference to the United States. "I have made a decision to resume regular flights of Russian strategic aviation," Putin said in televised remarks. "We proceed from the assumption that our partners will view the resumption of flights of Russia's strategic aviation with understanding." "Starting today, such tours of duty would be conducted regularly and on the strategic scale," Putin said. "Our pilots have been grounded for too long, they are happy to start a new life."

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waltky · 09-12-2007, 09:22 PM

Putin stackin' the deck in his favor...

Russian president dissolves gov't
Wednesday , Sept.12 , 2007 - Putin dismissed his Prime Minister on Wednesday, clearing the way for him to appoint a new premier who is likely to become the leading candidate in an election for president next March.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has dissolved the government at the request of Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, Russian news media reported Wednesday. Fradkov told Putin in a meeting that his request was related to the "forthcoming major political events in the country and the wish to give the president a free hand in decision-making, including personnel appointments." Itar-Tass reported.

"The country is on the eve of major political events - the elections to the State Duma and the presidential election...I would like you to have the full freedom in making decisions, including staff-related ones." Fradkov was quoted as saying. Putin replied that it was true the country was steering towards parliamentary elections, to be followed by the presidential polls.

"You are quite right, we all should give thought to how best to build the structure of power and control, how best to make them match the election periods and to prepare the country for the periods immediately following the elections to parliament and the presidential elections in March 2008," Putin said. He also thanked Fradkov "for the results achieved in his work" and asked him to stay in office until the State Duma has approved of his successor.

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waltky · 09-23-2007, 09:44 AM

Looks like Putin pushin' Russia back to its old authoritarian system...

Communists say Putin has more power than Tsar
Saturday 22nd September, 2007 The leader of Russia's Communist Party has accused President Vladimir Putin of representing billionaires rather than ordinary people.

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Veteran communist leader Gennady Zyuganov has told a party congress that Putin has piled up vast powers which surpass those of the Pharaoh of Egypt, the Tsar, and the Soviet Union's General Secretary combined.

Mr Zyuganov said Putin has four times more power than the president of the United States.

He said his party, the successor to the all-powerful Soviet Communists, hoped to win at least a fifth of seats in elections this December for the lower house of parliament.

The lower house is dominated by United Russia, a party patronised by Putin, which enjoys a two-thirds majority.

Communists say Putin has more power than Tsar

rishi_xrich · 09-23-2007, 10:57 AM

The cold war that started between USA nad RUSSIA in 1957 seems,it will never end .

waltky · 09-25-2007, 02:52 AM

By decree of Vladimir...

Putin announces changes in new Russian gov't
Tuesday , Sept.25 , 2007 - Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Monday Russia's new Cabinet. · Two new committees have appeared within the government structure. · Putin formally appointed Viktor Zubkov as the new prime minister.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Monday Russia's new Cabinet, including new ministers of health, economics, and regional development, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has retained his post and has become a deputy prime minister, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrovand Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov have been re-appointed to their former posts.

First Deputy Prime Ministers Dmitry Medvedev and Sergei Ivanov have been reappointed. Elvira Nabiulina has been promoted from first deputy economics minister to head of the ministry, replacing German Gref. Dmitry Kozak, formerly special representative of the president in the Southern Federal District, has been appointed regional development minister, replacing Vladimir Yakolev,

Tatyana Golikova, formerly deputy finance minister, has been appointed health and social development minister to replace Mikhail Zurabov. Two new committees have appeared within the government structure -- a state committee for youth affairs, and a state fisheries committee. The president said certain functions of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade had been clarified.

Addressing the new government, Putin said: "We should not only continue consistent work, but also actively push our strategic plans through. At the same time, there must be a methodical approach to clearly resolving the daily problems of Russian citizens." Putin formally appointed Viktor Zubkov as the new prime minister after the parliament approved his nomination on Sept. 14. Zubkov submitted a new government line-up to President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

Source

waltky · 10-02-2007, 06:11 PM

Putin hoggin' all the power...

Putin solves Kremlin riddle
3 Oct 2007, President Vladimir Putin appears to have solved a riddle that has puzzled Kremlin watchers and investors alike: how will Putin keep power without office?

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Putin’s answer seems to be: stay in office - but this time as the most influential member of parliament’s biggest party, and even as prime minister. He told a congress of the United Russia party on Monday that he could be a future prime minister and that he would head the party’s list in December parliamentary elections.

Kremlin officials, ministers, deputies and members of United Russia roared with applause and gave a Putin a standing ovation. Investors and politicians said Putin has unveiled a plan that suggested he would be the real power behind the Kremlin after 2008 while a new president would take a secondary role.

"Putin will be in effect the head of state, it will be just as prime minister," said Ian Hague, partner at New York-based Firebird Management, which has $3.5 billion invested in emerging markets, including $1 billion in Russia. "The presidency would then be a lot less meaningful," Hague said. "The market will like it - the market likes whatever Putin does."

Putin has brought political stability and presided over nearly eight years of economic growth, a contrast to the chaos which accompanied the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. But some investors cautioned that concentrating power outside the Kremlin would be a major innovation - and possible risk - in a country accustomed to rule from inside the stronghold of tsars, communists and presidents.

Elected for four-year terms as president in both 2000 and 2004, Putin has repeatedly promised to step down as president in 2008 in accordance with the constitution. Russia’s most popular politician, he has refused to rule out returning in 2012 which the constitution would allow.

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US concerned about concentration of power in Russia
2 Oct 2007, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a newspaper interview on Monday that Washington is concerned about the "concentration of power" in Russia, where Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested he could become prime minister.

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Asked by the New York Post whether Putin was setting himself up to become "dictator for life," Rice said she did not believe the Russian leader, whose second term as president expires next March, would try to change the constitution. "Well, he says that he will not change the constitution. I believe him. I think he won't change the constitution," she said, according to a State Department transcript of the interview.

"I think the concerning thing about Russia right now is just the concentration of power in the Kremlin; leave aside the presidency itself," she said. "But it's quite obvious that there are not strong countervailing institutions. The legislature is not, the Duma is not, the courts are not."

It was unclear whether Rice spoke after Putin, who is constitutionally barred from running for a third consecutive presidential term, announced that he would run for parliament and that he had a "realistic" chance of becoming prime minister.

Source

waltky · 12-01-2007, 05:29 AM

Russian fox guardin' the henhouse??...

Ex-KGB put in charge of Russian vote security: Report
1 Dec 2007, Russia's domestic security service has been put in charge of coordinating police and military forces tasked with providing security for Sunday's legislative election, the Kommersant daily reported.

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"The responsibility for ensuring the security of the election has been handed to the FSB, all the police headquarters have for the first time been subordinated to the Checkists," the paper quoted a law enforcement official as saying, using the name of the predecessor agency of the KGB and FSB.

However the FSB strongly denied the report. "Our agents are present in the headquarters only for coordination of joint operations, and they would take control only in case of the outbreak of some emergency," a FSB spokesman told the newspaper.

"Currently, it is the public security police that run the headquarters." Some 450,000 police officers will be on duty across the country on Sunday to ensure order as voters flock to the 95,000 polling stations set up across Russia's 11 time zones. President Vladimir Putin has cast the elections as a referendum on his rule, and voters are expected to hand a sweeping victory to his party United Russia.

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Kasparov Says Russian Parliamentary Elections a 'Farce'
30 November 2007 - Campaigning for Russia's parliamentary elections ended Friday, with polls predicting a landslide victory for the United Russia Party headed by President Vladimir Putin.

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Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov said Friday that Sunday's elections are a farce because a significant portion of the electorate is being excluded from the process. The former world chess champion told reporters the suppression of political opposition leaders is pushing the Putin government into illegitimacy.

Kasparov was released from jail Thursday after completing a five-day sentence for organizing an anti-Putin demonstration in Moscow last week. Mr. Putin is required to step down as head of state next year, after two consecutive terms as president, but placement of his name on the ballot has prompted speculation that he could retain much of his power by becoming prime minister in the next government.

Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders says Russians have not received fair and unbiased information about all of the parties competing in the election. The press group says Russian news media are being harassed to prevent them from reporting the activities of opposition parties.

VOA News - Kasparov Says Russian Parliamentary Elections a 'Farce'

waltky · 12-11-2007, 11:13 PM

The fix is in...

Next Piece in Putin's Puzzle Revealed as He Names Favored Successor
December 10, 2007 - Russia's next president looks set to be a close and longtime ally of Vladimir Putin, after the majority United Russia party and three minor parties on Monday named Dmitry Medvedev as their candidate in the election next March.

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Putin promptly backed the choice of Medvedev, who is currently first deputy prime minister. The pro-Kremlin United Russia, which easily won recent parliamentary elections with Putin topping its list, will formally approve the candidate at a party congress on Dec. 17. With the support of Putin and United Russia, Medvedev is regarded a shoo-in for the presidency. United Russia and its allies now control more than two-thirds of the seats in the State Duma, parliament's lower house. Medvedev, 42, has been a close ally of Putin's for 17 years, having earlier served as head of the presidential administration and head of Putin's election campaigns. As chairman of the board of Russia's natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, he is widely seen as a business-friendly candidate.

Alexander Shokhin, head of the country's leading business lobby, the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, said Medvedev was one of those people around Putin who advocates favorable conditions for business. His candidacy would end allegations of a "velvet reprivatization" campaign in Russia, Shokhin said. In his capacity as first deputy prime minister, Medvedev in recent months was in charge of social issues and "national priority" programs including housing and healthcare. He has also been a vocal advocate of mortgage lending. Alexander Lebedev, a business tycoon turned Duma deputy, described Medvedev as a "very good choice," adding that he has an impressive track record in social and economic matters.

Russian pundits don't expect significant political changes in Russia after the election next March. Putin's team will retain power, said the Kremlin-connected political analyst, Gleb Pavlovsky. Even Medvedev's opponents conceded that his nomination was consistent with the Kremlin's policies. Communist Party head Guennady Zyuganov, who also plans to run for president, said Medvedev's candidacy was to be expected, given the fact he has been Putin's right-hand man. Alexey Malashenko, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment in Moscow, predicted that the new president would be unable to take any independent measures. He would continue Putin's policies, while Putin retains the real power, Malashenko said.

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Russian Power Succession Plan Becomes Clearer
December 11, 2007 - President Vladimir Putin's future political plans looked a little clearer Tuesday when the man he backed to replace him as president indicated that he would in turn offer Putin the post of prime minister.

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Analysts here and abroad have long been speculating about how Putin, 55, intends to retain influence after his second term as president ends next May. His apparent plan unfolded with, first, his appointment last September of a little-known bureaucrat to the prime minister's post; then Putin had himself placed at the top of the electoral list of the country's largest party, United Russia, ahead of Dec. 2 parliamentary elections that United Russia easily won; and finally both United Russia and Putin on Monday named Dmitry Medvedev as their favored presidential candidate, making his victory in the election next March a formality.

Medvedev, who is currently first deputy prime minister, on Tuesday in turn announced that if he wins the election, he will ask Putin to assume the post of prime minister and head the next government. In a televised speech, Medvedev pledged to sustain the Kremlin's current policies and Putin's team. In televised remarks marking the start of his presidential bid, Medvedev suggested continued government funding of a variety of social problems. When Putin in October announced that he would lead the United Russia list - although not become a member of the party - he said he may consider serving as prime minister in the future, on condition the party won the parliament poll, and if a "decent, efficient and modern" man succeeds him as president.

Many expect the presidency may become a more ceremonial position, although Putin has made it clear he does not intend to change the balance of power between the president and premier. Ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who plans to join the presidential race, questioned the pledge, saying it was "possible [for the president] to pass most powers to the government" without amending any laws, and predicting that a Putin-led cabinet could increase its clout significantly. The Putin-Medvedev quid-pro-quo scheme did not come as a surprise to Russian politicians and observers.

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waltky · 02-24-2008, 10:40 PM

Russia gettin' to be scary again...

Russia 'causes concern' says poll
Monday, 25 February 2008, People in Western countries think Russia's President Putin is harming democracy, a BBC poll suggests.

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Of 16,000 people questioned, 56% said he had had a harmful impact on democracy and human rights in Russia and on peace and security in the world. But in the remainder of the 30 countries covered by the poll, opinions of Mr Putin were more favourable.

And in Russia itself, he was given overwhelmingly positive ratings. The survey was carried out by polling organisations Globescan and The Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA).

Legacy

There is little doubt that, in his eight years as Russian President, Vladimir Putin has had a considerable impact on the world stage, and inside Russia. How positively or negatively his legacy is viewed, though, depends on where you are in the world, according to the poll.

More BBC NEWS | Europe | Russia 'causes concern' says poll

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Russian defence consolidation offers global opportunities
21 February 2008 - The creation of Russian Technology aims to transform Russia into a new competitor on the world arms market and could provide opportunities for foreign investors

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Fashioned by a law passed by the Duma and signed by President Vladimir Putin, this move consolidated many of Russia's largest industrial, technological and financial companies into one giant state-owned conglomerate and at the centre sits Rosoboronexport. This development is significant to Western defence companies in two primary ways. First, the Russian arms industry is set to transform into a new competitor on the world market and second, the Russian government may allow foreign companies to acquire a stake in Russian Technology and the previously inaccessible Rosoboronexport. Rosoboronexport once maintained its global market share by relying on its competitive prices. However, this strategy has lost value as the technology gap between Russian and Western competitors' weapon systems has widened while the price advantage has diminished.

Meanwhile, Rosoboronexport has suffered from a lack of investment and insignificant devotion to research and development (R&D). President Putin seeks to revamp Russia's defence industry by signing the law that produces Russian Technology. For the first time in post-Soviet Russia, Russian Technology unites all aspects of the Russian Federation's arms industry from R&D to international distribution. This conglomerate will include some of the largest Russian financial and industrial companies. A primary reason for the widening technology gap was that Rosoboronexport operations had been restricted by the company's status as an industrial holding company. It was ineligible to launch an initial public offering (IPO), issue Eurobonds, acquire or sell assets freely, or seek loans from major Western banks. This status deprived Rosoboronexport from capital and investment for R&D and therefore the technology gap between Russian and Western weapons systems has widened.

Russian Technology, headed by former Rosoboronexport head Sergei Chemezov, is seeking to gain a monopoly over domestic arms sales to supplement the company's already-existing monopoly over the export of Russian weapons. Russia's procurement and R&D budget for 2008 is projected to be USD15 billion and Chemezov hopes to obtain a majority of this capital. Chemezov promoted the creation of Russian Technology as a necessary step to propel the Russian arms industry back into the role of global leader, and he will exploit this theme to acquire capital and key assets from the Russian government. Through foreign investments and governmental support, Russian Technology has the potential to reposition itself as a leading international arms supplier in the coming decade.

The change in the legal status of the Russian arms industry may present Western companies with a unique investment opportunity. Jane's reported in August 2007 Chemezov's announcement that companies belonging to the state enterprise may hold IPOs by 2012. While Russian Technology officials will approach the sale of Rosoboronexport independently, Russian Technology has already demonstrated its desire to sell its daughter companies' stock to foreign buyers. Within two weeks of the formation of Russian Technology, the company moved to attain foreign investment in its automobile producer AvtoVaz, selling a 25 per cent blocking stake to French manufacturer Renault.

Opinion: Russian defence consolidation offers global opportunities - Jane's Defence Business News