Russian power duo - good cop, bad cop?

NF Reporter · 03-02-2008, 10:01 PM

AP - As Russia's next president, Dmitry Medvedev appears set to play good cop to Vladimir Putin's bad cop.

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waltky · 03-08-2008, 07:49 PM

Granny says, "Once a Commie, always a Commie...

Putin Warns West Of No Easy Way Out With Medvedev
March 8, 2008 - President Vladimir Putin has warned on Saturday that the relations between the West and his successor, Dmitry Medvedev will not be easier.

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"I do not think that with him the partnership will be more simple," Putin said after talks just outside Moscow after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday, according to the AFP news agency. Putin's successor, Medvedev was elected as a president in a landslide victory earlier this month and he will take over the Kremlin in May.

In his controversial victory, Medvedev had secured 70.2 percent of the vote in Sunday's election and has acknowledged that he will continue the course of his mentor and leader, Putin. "This is a special day for our country," Medvedev said in a statement in front of his supporters gathered for a Red Square rock concert, according to The Financial Times. "We have chosen a course for a long time ahead, and we have a chance to . . . cement stability and carry on down the path we have been travelling for the past few years."

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Merkel expressed to Putin to develop a positive relationship between Moscow and EU powers as the countries have debated over democratic rule and security concerns in Russia. "Germany and Russia, Europe and Russia, are interdependent. We must find a way to go forward together. There are many things to do," Merkel was quoted saying by BBC. "She is looking forward to learn more about Dmitry Medvedev's stated plans to entrench the rule of law and to modernize the Russian state and economy," German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm told AFP.

Putin Warns West Of No Easy Way Out With Medvedev | March 8, 2008 | AHN

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Russian President Accuses NATO of Attempting to Replace UN
08 March 2008 - Russian President Vladimir Putin says NATO's continued enlargement creates the impression that the alliance is trying to replace the United Nations.

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He made his remarks on Saturday at a joint press conference in Moscow with German Chancellor Angela Merkel who is visiting Russia. Ms. Merkel said NATO is purely a defensive alliance. The German leader also met with President-elect Dmitri Medvedev who is to be inaugurated in May. She is the first Western head of state to meet Mr. Medvedev since he was elected on March 2.

President Putin warned that his successor will defend Russia's interests as staunchly as he has and that Russia's partners should not expect to find him any easier. Germany and Russia have disagreed over a range of issues in recent years, including Kosovo's independence, Iran's nuclear program and Russia's energy policy. Russia briefly stopped natural gas supplies to Ukraine on Wednesday, which in turn interrupted delivery to other European markets. Germany gets most of its natural gas supplies from Russia.

The German chancellor has criticized Russia's human-rights and media-freedom record. She has also questioned the fairness of Russia's presidential election. President Putin has opposed a possible admission of former Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia to NATO, saying that many people in those countries are against joining the Western alliance. He has also disagreed with Germany over U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic.

VOA News - Russian President Accuses NATO of Attempting to Replace UN

waltky · 03-14-2008, 12:35 AM

NATO tellin' Putin to shut his fat mouth...

NATO urges Russia to tone down its 'fiery rhetoric'
13 Mar 2008, NATO urged Russia on Wednesday to tone down its "fiery rhetoric" after repeated Moscow attacks on the growing influence of the military alliance and US plans to base parts of a missile shield in Europe.

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"We have seen too much rhetoric at too high a level. We would like to see it dialled down," NATO spokesman James Appathurai said in a conference, speaking from Brussels. "Fiery rhetoric does make the headlines and there has been a little too much of it," he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday accused NATO of aiming to replace the United Nations and warned of raising the potential for conflict. "You get the impression that attempts are being made to set up an organisation that would substitute for the UN," he said after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Relations between Russia and the Western military alliance have deteriorated in recent years amid a NATO expansion drive, US plans to install anti-missile defences in central Europe and Moscow's suspension of a key Cold War-era arms pact. Putin is expected to attend a NATO summit early next month in Bucharest which will include some 50 heads of state and government including US President George W Bush. Washington's anti-missile shield plans have particularly angered Russia, which sees them as a threat to its security. In an interview published on Monday, Russia's envoy to NATO issued a new warning against ex-Soviet states Georgia and Ukraine joining the Western alliance.

Kiev and Tbilisi are expected to confirm that they are candidates to join NATO at the Bucharest summit, but their chances of a formal invitation to proceed are considered slight. Appathurai said the alliance has had discussions with Georgia and Ukraine, but "no decision has been taken; discussions are continuing." He added that "Russian views are heard but NATO nations are the only parties who decide on invitations." On the issue of Georgia's two breakaway regions of Abkazia and South Ossetia, he said: "NATO allies are unanimous and firm in support for the territorial integrity of Georgia."

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waltky · 04-02-2008, 01:41 AM

Granny says, "Let `em sit an' stew"...

Russia fumes as US prez backs Ukraine Nato bid
2 Apr 2008, President Bush on Tuesday vowed full support for Ukraine and Georgia's Nato aspirations, saying Russia would have no veto over the ex-Soviet states' membership bids.

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In Kiev ahead of a Nato summit, the president said he would work "as hard as I can" to overcome Moscow's objections and concerns from some in the trans-Atlantic military alliance about starting the admission process for the two nations.

"Your nation has made a bold decision and the US strongly supports your request," Bush told Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko two days before Nato leaders meet in Bucharest, Romania to decide on a so-called "membership action plan", for both Ukraine and Georgia.

Meanwhile, Russia warned that Ukraine's joining Nato would have a negative impact on European security and create a "deep crisis" in relations between Moscow and Kiev. "Admission of Ukraine into Nato will lead to a deep crisis in Russian-Ukrainian relations. This affects pan-European security," said deputy foreign minister Grigory Karasin.

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waltky · 04-19-2008, 02:20 AM

Putin more bad boy than bad cop...

Putin Denies Reports of Divorce; Newspaper Suspended
April 19, 2008 — President Vladimir V. Putin, who during eight years of centralized rule has kept his private life largely sealed from view behind the Kremlin’s walls, on Friday bluntly dismissed rumors that he had secretly divorced his wife for the affections of a gymnast less than half his age.

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The moment, prompted by a question from a Russian journalist while Mr. Putin held a news conference at an Italian villa with Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister-elect of Italy, was met with the mix of relish and confrontation that Mr. Putin has often displayed in his sessions with journalists. He paused and answered another question, and then returned to the subject and pushed back. “What you are saying has not a single word of truth,” he said.

The question followed the publication on Thursday of an unusual article in Moskovsky Korrespondent, a Moscow newspaper owned by a former Soviet intelligence officer, which said that Mr. Putin, 56, planned to marry Alina Kabayeva, 24, an Olympic gold medalist in rhythmic gymnastics who has been voted in polls as one of Russia’s most beautiful women. Interfax reported Friday evening that publication of Moskovsky Korrespondent had been suspended “for financial reasons,” according to its parent company, National Media Company.

Mr. Putin has been married to Ludmilla Putina, 51, since July 1983 — two months before Ms. Kabayeva was born. The couple has two grown daughters, but Mr. Putin and Mrs. Putina are not often seen together in public, which has long fueled rumors that Russia’s president has had a wandering eye. Ms. Kabayeva has been a member of Parliament since she was selected for a seat late last year by United Russia, the political party Mr. Putin controls. She has not spoken publicly since Thursday, when the article appeared and its claims were picked up and circulated by newspapers and Web sites in Russia and beyond.

More http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/19/wo...russia.html?hp

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Putin: Moscow Girls Make Me Sing And Shout
April 18, 2008 - Russian President Says He Likes "All Russian Women" But Denies Tabloid Report On Marriage

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Russian President Vladimir Putin turned a reporter's question about his marriage into a discourse on female beauty, saying Friday that "I like all Russian women." Playing up his image as a ladies man, Putin praised his countrywomen in response to a reporter's question about a recent tabloid report that claimed he intends to marry a former Olympic gymnast less than half his age.

"There is not a single word of truth" to the report, Putin said at a news conference in Sardinia with incoming Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi. "In other publications of the same type, the names of other successful, beautiful young women from Russia are mentioned," he said. "I think it won't be unexpected if I say that I like them all - just as I like all Russian women."

Russian women are "the most talented and beautiful" in the world, he said. "If anyone can compete, it may be only Italian women," Putin added, in a nod to his Italian hosts. The Moscow tabloid, Moskovsky Korrespondent, reported this month that Putin, 55, had divorced his wife, Lyudmila, two months ago and intended to marry Alina Kabayeva, 24, a former champion rhythmic gymnast who is now a Russian lawmaker.

More Putin: Moscow Girls Make Me Sing And Shout, Russian President Says He Likes "All Russian Women" But Denies Tabloid Report On Marriage - CBS News

waltky · 04-25-2008, 06:21 PM

Putin and his pals gang up on the press...

Russia amends media law after gaffe on Putin's affair
25 Apr 2008 : Russia's lower house of parliament has voted for new restrictions on the news media after a Moscow newspaper reported that President Vladimir Putin had divorced his wife and planned to marry a champion gymnast.

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The State Duma voted 339-1 on Friday to allow authorities to suspend and close down media outlets for libel and slander following the furore over the story, which was denied by both Putin and the former gymnast.

Under the new law, slander and libel, defined as "dissemination of deliberately false information damaging individual honour and dignity" is subject to the same sanctions as the promotion of terrorism, extremism and racial hatred.

Moscowsky Korrespondent earlier this month had claimed that Putin, 55, divorced his wife, Lyudmila, and planned to marry Alina Kabayeva, 24. Kabayeva, who won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Games, is widely regarded as one of Russia's most beautiful women.

The gymnast is often seen on talk and reality television shows and is now a Duma member from a pro-Kremlin party. The bill now goes to the upper house, where approval is likely, and then to Putin for signing.

The bill was initially submitted in January by lawmaker Robert Schlegel, a former activist of the Nashi ("Ours") youth movement that gained notoriety for street protests and political pranks against Putin critics.

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