Foreign Policy in Review
February, 2008
The following resource is meant to quickly introduce the reader to international political issues involving Russia - ranging from the middle east to arms control to Russia's new claims on the Arctic Ocean. This news review is part of SRAS's monthly "obzor" publications. For more reviews, see the newsletter for this corresponding month.
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Feature
Sergei Ivanov Speaks on Security Policy
Sergei Ivanov: Where is Russia heading?
Complete text of speech to the Munich Conference on Security Policy
Feature
Airspace Issues
Pentagon Concerned About Unusual Maneuvers of Russia’s Bombers
The U.S. fighter planes intercepted past weekend unusual maneuvers of Russia’s strategic bombers in the Pacific Ocean.
Japan protests the violation of its airspace
Tokyo made an official protest to Moscow on Saturday, accusing the Russian Air Force of violating Japan's airspace.
General
Commentary and Forecasts
Inside Track: Voice of Putin
Despite recent road bumps in the U.S.-Russia dialogue, the relationship will remain important to Russia, according Dmitry Peskov, President Putin’s media voice and first deputy press attaché.
New Cold War Kitsch: We Were So Young, So Naive, So Idiotic!
The spinoff market was sizzling. Serious publishers were paying good money for books like Mark MacKinnon's The New Cold War or Edward Lucas's The New Cold War.
Most Russians Believe the Policy Is Correct
Most Russians believe the country sticks to the right policy and nothing threatens democratic achievements, said 55 percent of respondents polled by All-Russia’s Center for Public Opinion Studies.
Top Russian officials want foreign policy shift
Two of Russia's top economic leaders made a rare public call on Wednesday for Moscow to change its hawkish foreign policy, saying it was affecting foreign investment.
The Kremlin Wises Up
After strong-arm tactics backfire, Moscow finds smarter ways to extend its influence abroad.
"Circumcision" Canceled
Moscow abandons militant foreign policy rhetoric. Why has Moscow toned down its rhetoric in foreign relations?
Give Us a Break
I don't want to suggest that Russia is an example of unsurpassed innocence and harmlessness, but it seems that it is too often described from the worst possible angle.
Russia Writes $12bn Off Iraq's Debt
Russia and Iraq have made the agreement on settling the debt of Iraq.
US-Russia Relations
Missiles and Energy
Gates Optimistic on Talks With Russians
"I think that regardless of what's said in public, I think there is still an interest (in Moscow) in pursuing the dialogue, and we are doing that."
Medvedev confirms Moscow plans to strengthen cooperation with Washington
"The United States of America and Russia will still have to cooperate, whatever is the disposition of their leaders. It is inevitable."
U.S. Annual Threat Assessment – Russia and Central Asia
The military still faces significant challenges, and recent activity does not approach Soviet era operations.
U.S.-Backed Russian Institutes Help Iran Build Reactor
The Energy Department is subsidizing two Russian nuclear institutes that are building important parts of a reactor in Iran whose construction the United States spent years trying to stop.
Russia Rebuffs Holbrooke’s Allegations
The statements of U.S. policymaker Richard Holbrooke about Russia’s implicit incitement to violence by extremist elements in Belgrade are inappropriate, Russia’s Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman Mikhail Kamynin told the reporters on Friday.
Russia's Claim Under Polar Ice Irks American
For several years the Explorers Club, based in New York City, marketed North Pole dives to adventure tourists.
Arctic Mapping May Bolster US Claims
New mapping data could bolster any claims the U.S. might make in the Arctic as nations in the region compete for potentially rich reserves of oil, gas and minerals buried beneath the sea floor, federal scientists said Monday.
Blow to US as Hungary backs Russian pipeline
The Hungarian decision puts Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly, in a strong position to build its proposed $10bn-plus (£5bn, €6.7bn) Southstream pipeline, which would bring gas from Russia across the Black Sea and into the heart of the EU.
Rice Condemns Russian Threats Toward Ukraine as "Unacceptable"
"The Soviet Union is gone forever and I hope Russia understands that" Rice said.
Europe needs alternatives to overpriced Russian gas
A U.S. official said Friday that Europe needs alternatives to overpriced Russian natural gas that enriches "shady middlemen," putting forward the idea of Iraq and Azerbaijan as new suppliers.
US Elections
What Russians think about YOUR candiates
Russians for Obama
Russia Blog just completed its own humble, non-scientific poll. The goal? Determine which U.S. presidential candidate Russians prefer as the next occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Outsiders Win, U.S. Faces Hard Choice
The current presidential campaign in the U.S. has a peculiar set of main characters: in any other case, they would be regarded as outsiders.
The Expat Factor
Organized by Democrats Abroad, the official overseas arm of the party, this first-ever online "Global Primary" will elect 22 delegates, just one less than North Dakota.
Russian immigrants support Clinton
An estimated 80,000 Russian immigrants live in Massachusetts and the so-called "Russian vote" is highly sought after.
Russia Sidelined In U.S. Campaign
With the U.S. economic downturn, the war in Iraq and the threat of looming conflict with Iran, it is little wonder that candidates in the heated U.S. presidential primaries spare few words for Russia.
Russia wary of McCain candidacy
Sergei Markov is… an ally of Vladimir Putin and no fan of what the 71-year-old McCain has had to say about Russia and its leader.
EU-Russia Relations
Missiles and Energy
Resigned Europe silent on Russian poll concerns
The European Union is treading carefully over its doubts about the fairness of Russia's March 2 election to avoid needlessly antagonizing its large neighbor at a delicate time in their ties, analysts and diplomats say.
Russia welcomes thaw in relations with Poland
Russia has since lifted its two-year embargo on Polish meat, and the sides have launched joint consultations on controversial U.S. missile shield plans for Poland.
Rocky Polish-Russian relations since 1989
A list of key developments in recent Polish-Russian relations…
New Europe, Old Russia
Russia and the European Union are neighbors geographically. But geopolitically they live in different centuries.
Russia concerned over Iran's work to develop long-range missile
"Any progress in the development of this [long-range ballistic missile] weaponry, certainly worries us and others," said Alexander Losyukov, a Russian deputy foreign minister.
Rogozin Takes Up New Portfolio in Brussles
This week the outspoken anti-Western nationalist politician Dmitry Rogozin, 44, arrived in Brussels as Russia’s permanent representative to NATO.
President Putin might be right about the US
When it comes to obsessive secrecy and ruthless deceit, the American record is as bad, if not worse, than the Russians.
NATO
To enlarge or not to...
British think tank warns Russian exit from CFE would harm Europe
NATO countries' refusal of the updated version of the Soviet-era CFE, has proved a major stumbling block in Russia-NATO relations.
Russia's new envoy to NATO presents Scheffer with tomahawk
Rogozin said he hoped that the NATO secretary general would bury the hatchet as a sign of "putting an end to all conflicts between Russia and NATO."
Russia's Putin lashes out at West's "arms race"
In a tough speech outlining his vision for Russia to 2020, Putin accused the West of ignoring Moscow's concerns on security by expanding the NATO military alliance to its borders and deploying a missile defense system in Central Europe.
U.S. pushing to bring Ukraine and Georgia into NATO
Despite fierce objections from Russia, the United States is pushing NATO to start membership negotiations with Ukraine and Georgia at an alliance summit meeting in Bucharest in April, diplomats said Wednesday.
Military
Increased Spending Doesn't Solve Problems
Russia's national defence spending exceeds 40bn dollars
Over the past six years, national defence spending in Russia has increased by more than 3.5 times.
Russia to have military missions in 7 countries
… in Romania, Hungary, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, China, and Lithuania.
Russia remembers the Battle of Stalingrad
Russia is marking 65 years of one of the bloodiest battles ever fought.
How Putin's Red Army Lost Its Fire
Antique artillery shells, a single wheezy aircraft carrier - and troops living on pig lard and grey bread.
Russia on the March: The Return of the Red Square Parades
President Vladimir Putin's government is reaffirming the central role that the military and the security services play in the Russian state.
Russia makes a pitch for a treaty on space weapons
Russia and China have pushed for years for a treaty to prevent an arms race in space, a threat that China underlined last year by shooting down one of its own satellites.
Russia unveils jammers said to be able to 'neutralize' US missile defence
"This will make it impossible to find the genuine targets within a short period of time, relay their coordinates and launch the missiles," the spokesman said.
Russia may use nuclear arms if attacked by nuclear power
Moscow-based military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said Russia plays up its nuclear deterrent because of its weakness in terms of conventional arms… but in the absence of a real threat from the West, he said, "It's just talk."
U.S. military weighing if Russia in Cold War pose
Washington is trying to gauge whether Russia's recent bomber mission near a U.S. aircraft carrier indicated Moscow's return to a Cold War "mind-set" and is considering how the Pentagon should respond, a senior U.S. military officer said on Tuesday.
Military-Technical Rearrangement
As always in February, Kommersant Vlast analytical weekly sums up the achievements of Russia’s weaponry exporters. Weapons supply grew by $1 billion in 2007, while the entire system of military-technical cooperation and Russia’s defense industry was undergoing reorganization.
Counting Chechnya's Rebel Fighters: Kadyrov's Fuzzy Math
In contrast with his father, Ramzan Kadyrov mostly sticks with "tens" of fighters.
Over 400 militants active in Chechnya
Up to 440 militants are active in the Russian troubled North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, a deputy interior minister told a ministerial meeting on Wednesday.
Putin's Speech at Federal Security Service (FSB) Presidium
Every year at a meeting of the presidium we summarize the activities and determine the priorities of the Federal Security Service. Today, however, I would like to expand the scope of the period examined beyond 2007.
Russia calls spy defector's tales "treachery"
Revelations by a former top Russian spy who defected to the United States in 2000 amount to "self-publicity based on treachery", Russia's foreign intelligence service said on Monday.
Russian army prepares for nuclear onslaught
It would be natural to ask why Russia is choosing the offensive option, and whether there are alternatives to it. But that is a subject for another discussion.
