(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – June 17 ,2013) President Vladimir Putin reached out to congratulate Hassan Rouhani on his victory in Iran’s presidential election on Sunday, voicing his readiness for bilateral cooperation in various spheres to “ensure international stability.” As Iranians took to the streets to celebrate the victory of the election’s most moderate candidate after two terms of hard-line rhetoric from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, some experts
(Interfax – June 17, 2013) Analysts believe that the leaders of Russia and the United States at their bilateral meeting in the framework of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland are likely to pay most of their attention to the Syrian conflict and preparations for the Geneva conference on Syria. “I believe with a probability of 60 percent or even more that issues related to the Syrian conflict will be
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 17, 2013) There would have been few technical difficulties for US spies wanting to listen to the secret communications of then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during the 2009 G20 summit in London, a former head of Russia’s security services said Monday. A report detailing the surveillance of Medvedev by British and US intelligence organizations was published four months after the summit by US spy organization
(Interfax, combined report – June 17, 2013) The Russian Federal Protective Service is taking necessary measures to ensure confidentiality of communication between state leaders, the service told Interfax. “The Federal Protective Service is taking every necessary measure to provide the appropriate level of confidentiality of information for top-ranking officials of the country,” service spokesman Sergei Devyatov said on Monday. “Protection of confidentiality of negotiations held by national leadership is a
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Elizaveta Maetnaya, special to RBTH – June 17, 2013) Some emigres are considering a return to Russia, while some are actively participating in the protests. Every evening at 8pm, Sophia Khadzhibekirova, 45, comes out on to her balcony and starts banging on a saucepan with a steel spoon. That is how many Turkish women – looking after children at home – have been
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – June 17, 2013) A Georgian vintner exported its first shipment of wine to Russia in seven years on June 14, as the lifting of Moscow’s ban on wine imports from its small southern neighbour is finally sealed. The Dugladze winery announced that it had delivered an initial shipment of 30 bottles, which will be followed by another 150,000 bottles to distributors across Russia in
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Natalia Bespalova, special to RBTH – June 14, 2013) Russia is witnessing the revival of Rodina, whose members consider themselves Putin’s “black-ops”. In early June, the conservative party Rodina, whose unofficial leader heads the national defense industry, held a congress at a location outside Moscow. Disbanded in 2006, the party is today enjoying a revival. Political analysts say that Rodina, which means “Homeland”
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – June 17, 2013) Billionaire politician Mikhail Prokhorov has challenged the candidacy of lawyer Alexei Navalny for the Moscow mayoral election, saying that he wouldn’t be able to cope with the demands of the job, a news report said Monday. The Civil Platform party leader Prokhorov, who last week pulled out of the mayoral race, also said that he could not be reconciled with Navalny’s nationalist
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Oleg Sukhov and Natalya Krainova – June 17, 2013) In a preview of what to expect in the fight for post as Moscow mayor, several opposition candidates presented their campaign platforms to municipal deputies on Saturday in an effort to gather the required amount of deputies’ signatures to run in the election set for Sept. 8. At the Forum of Municipal Deputies, many deputies and
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – June 17, 2013) Acting Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has registered with the Moscow Election Commission as a candidate for the upcoming mayoral elections scheduled for September 8. Sobyanin, who officially resigned from his post earlier this month in order to stand for mayor, will be running as an independent candidate, meaning that he will have to get at least 73,000 signatures from
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 13, 2013) The World Health Organization has no right to dictate to Russia how to develop its tobacco pricing policies, Russia’s chief health inspector said Thursday. The head of the WHO office in Russia, Luigi Migliorini, had earlier expressed disappointment in lower than expected increase rates for tobacco excise in the country after 2016. Migliorini wrote a letter to Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova suggesting
(Voice of America – James Brooke – June 10, 2013 – James Brooke is VOA Moscow bureau chief, covering Russia and the former USSR) Last week, an American friend of mine received two mysterious white envelopes in the mail. On opening them, he found that each contained a black and white photo of his car, each taken secretly, in the middle of the night. Below each photo was printed: his
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Viktoria Ushakova, special to RBTH – June 16, 2013) RBTH looks at parenting skills of five great Russian writers. Some writers are so consumed by their art that their families are eclipsed, while other writers manage an enviable closeness with their loved ones. On the occasion of Father’s Day, RBTH recalls what kind of fathers the great Russian writers were and what became
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 17, 2013) Russia and the United States have signed a contract for the delivery of Russian Mi-17 helicopters for the Afghan army, a Russian government agency said Monday. The Russian state-owned defense firm Rosoboronexport and the US Department of the Army signed the contract on Sunday in Paris “as part of joint efforts to combat terrorism,” Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation said in
(kremlin.ru – Novo-Ogaryovo, Moscow Region – June 14, 2013) Vladimir Putin met with representatives of the Civil 20, an international forum for dialogue between civil society organisations, politicians and experts from the G20 countries. Taking part in the meeting were delegates to the Civil 20 summit, taking place in Moscow on June 13-14, from Russia, Mexico, and Australia, the three countries that currently make up the G20′s official governing group,
(Kremlin.ru – June 14, 2013) Ahead of the G8 summit in Great Britain and the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Vladimir Putin answered questions from Russian News & Information Agency. QUESTION: You are going to the G8 summit not only as the head of one of the member states, but also as the leader of the country that currently holds the G20 presidency. In your opinion, is the G8
(RIA Novosti – Fyodor Lukyanov – Fyodor Lukyanov is Editor-in-Chief of the Russia in Global Affairs journal, an authoritative source of expertise on Russian foreign policy and global developments – June 14, 2013) The meeting between US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping at a desert retreat near Palm Springs, California, last weekend caused hardly a stir in Russia which is focused on the unrest in
(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 15, 2013) A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of an upcoming G8 summit in Northern Ireland should reduce the level of anti-Russian attitudes in the U.S. establishment, says Sergei Karaganov, a member of the Russian presidential Human Rights Council. “I think it will be efficient to the degree to which it can be efficient, that is, will
(Interfax – MOSCOW. June 14, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a number of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the upcoming G8 summit, presidential aide Yury Ushakov said. On Monday, June 17, before the official start of the summit, Putin is expected to meet with Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, he said. “They plan to discuss a schedule of upcoming political contacts, particularly preparations for the 8th round
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 14, 2013) Russia is not planning to deliver S-300 air defense systems to Syria, despite the announcement by the US administration on Thursday of its intention to supply the Syrian opposition with weaponry, a presidential aide said on Friday. “The issue has not been raised yet,” aide Yury Ushakov told reporters in Moscow in comments on the US move. “We are not competing [with
(Interfax – MOSCOW. June 13, 2013) Protest activity is on decline in Russia, and an increasing number of citizens are unaware of the goals of protest actions. A sixth of the respondents in a poll held in 45 regions on May 23-27 even claim the opposition wants to topple the authorities. Massive protest actions of the opposition (For Fair Election, March of Millions and others), which started in late 2011,
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – June 14, 2013) The consumer confidence level of Ivan Ivanov, the typical Russian modeled in the latest bi-monthly report by Sberbank CIB issued Friday, has, like inflation and unemployment, remained stable over the last two months. While the headline consumer confidence figure remains at the March level of -8 percent down from -4 percent in January the survey also offers a snapshot into
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, June 14, 2013) An admittedly unrepresentative poll of Russians attending Orthodox services on Palm Sunday conducted by the Sreda Sociological Service, the results of which were released this week, found that many of the most widespread assumptions about who goes to church in Russia and why are not justified. The sociologists asked people attending 12 churches in the center of Moscow on
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – June 14, 2013) The bill protecting “believers’ feelings,” which rights activists and analysts have called a “step back” for Russia, a legal “Pandora’s Box” and a return to the Dark Ages, looks set to take effect in July after sailing through the State Duma with a unanimous vote on Wednesday. The so-called “blasphemy law,” which stipulates criminal prosecution for any abuse of
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 14, 2013) President Vladimir Putin on Thursday described the main difference he sees between social welfare in Russia and in European countries, which he criticized for losing control of their economies and allowing the rise of a “dependency mentality,” according to an interview with RIA Novosti. Europe’s problem is not the welfare state as such, but “inefficiency,” Putin said in answers to written questions.
ST. PETERSBURG. June 13 (Interfax) – The Presidential Library named after Yeltsin has opened access to declassified and little known documents coming to its fund. “We began digitizing declassified materials almost three years ago. We work with the archive of the defense ministry and other official archives. Documents are declassified, we digitize them, put them in our funds and wide access to them is given at the portal,” the library’s
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Michael Bohm, opinion page editor of The Moscow Times – June 14, 2013) When the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum opens next week, a traditional fixture of the event will be conspicuously absent: renowned economist Sergei Guriev. During the forum, Russian officials will undoubtedly repeat the usual lines about the country’s untapped potential, its attractiveness as a gateway between Asia and Europe and its tremendous
(Kremlin.ru – The Kremlin, Moscow – June 13, 2013) Vladimir Putin announced the signing of the 2014-2016 Budget Policy Address at a meeting with members of the Government Cabinet, heads of both houses of the Federal Assembly and the Presidential Executive Office. The address outlines the basic budget policy objectives over the next three years. The Government will use the President’s budget policy address as the basis for drawing up
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Alessandro Vitelli & Stefan Nicola – June 14, 2013) The United Nations global warming talks have been set back by six months after Russia and its allies blocked progress at a group charged with implementing decisions of the 190 nations involved in the discussions. The Subsidiary Body for Implementation at the UN talks failed to complete any work at two weeks of meetings in Bonn that
(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 13, 2013) Russia runs the risk of a recession, but there are opportunities to avoid it, Economic Development Minister Andrei Belousov said at a Thursday press conference in Moscow dedicated to the upcoming St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). “The risk of a recession does exist, but we aren’t in a state of recession, and we have the potential to avoid it. An action plan has
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Panin – June 14, 2013) In the coming years, the government will get less revenue than was expected before, and the budget policy for 2014-2016 has to be planned accordingly, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday while presenting the budget policy to senior government officials and lawmakers. Putin also said that while revenues from natural resources are decreasing, financing coming from other industries is
(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 14, 2013) Moscow views a European Parliament resolution regarding the rule of law in Russia as a set of unwarranted accusations. “The content of the resolution is a hackneyed set of unwarranted accusations and complaints regarding Russia, and this often openly distorts facts as well. It contains everything but a real desire to solve problems with human rights in Europe,” Russian Foreign Ministry human rights commissioner
(RIA Novosti – NOVO-OGARYOVO, June 14, 2013) Russian legislation regarding non-governmental organizations is far more liberal that of other countries, President Vladimir Putin said Friday, in an implicit response to Western criticism that recent Russian legislation on NGOs is too restrictive. “Our legislation is more liberal,” he said in Moscow at a meeting of the Civil 20, the arm of the Group of 20 major economies that deals with
(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 14, 2013) Head of a leading non-governmental organization (NGO) in Russia, the Historical, Enlightenment and Human Rights Society Memorial, Arseny Roginsky, said he did not see any sense in elaborating the law obliging NGOs with foreign financing to register as foreign agents. “It is impossible to elaborate this law. It violates the right on freedom of association and equality of these associations before the law. This
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – June 14, 2013) Citing problems with transferring his foreign assets to Russia, billionaire businessman Mikhail Prokhorov announced Thursday that he would not run for mayor of Moscow, removing perhaps the strongest potential opponent to acting Mayor Sergei Sobyanin from the September vote. It is possible to move his foreign assets, including legal ownership of the Brooklyn Nets basketball team, to Russia in
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – June 13, 2013) Self-exiled economist Sergei Guriev met with the Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich on Wednesday in Paris his first informal get together with a senior Russian official since he left the country last month, fearing pressure from law enforcement agencies. Guriev, who headed the liberal New Economic School until his departure to France, told The Moscow Times that he
(Kremlin.ru – Moscow, June 12, 2013) Vladimir Putin took part in the founding congress of the Russian Popular Front. The congress’s delegates adopted the founding documents, including the Russian Popular Front Charter, which enshrines the movement’s post-partisan nature. The delegates elected Mr Putin to be the movement’s leader. Speech at founding congress of Russian Popular Front PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, friends, I welcome everyone here and also
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – June 13, 2013) When it came time to elect a leader at Wednesday’s conference of the All-Russia People’s Front, there was no need for formalities: The ecstatic crowd was already chanting “Putin, Putin, Putin!” “So are we going to vote? Are there any other nominees? Vladimir Vladimirovich, I congratulate and sympathize with you,” said Stanislav Govorukhin, a famous film director and staunch
(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 12, 2013) Amid growing competition in the world in all fields, from art to the defense industry, Russian researchers and scientists should not expect stress-free work, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a ceremony of presenting state awards at the Kremlin on Wednesday. “I will venture to follow up on what today’s laureates have said here and will cite some remarks by people working in the
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Dmitry Sukhodolsky, special to RBTH – June 13, 2013) From the Russian avant-garde to psychedelic art, from Swan Lake to son et lumiere, from great Russian literature to television and constructivist architecture, the world would have been missing out on an essential part of culture and, in fact, be a totally different place if it had not been for Russia. Here
(Interfax – June 13, 2013) The law on non-governmental organizations (NGO) acting as foreign agents may be amended, says Ksenia Yudayeva, the chief of the Russian presidential expert directorate. “I think a lot of laws we adopt are later discussed and subjected to an adjustment process,” Yudayeva told journalists at the Civil G20 Summit in Moscow on Thursday. “For any country, including Russia, this is quite a standard practice,” Yudayeva
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – June 13, 2013) Non-governmental organizations in Russia have found a way to bypass the law requiring them to register as “foreign agents,” a news report said Thursday. An official in one NGO told Kommersant that his agency is planning to set up a commercial organization which will officially receive foreign grants. The main NGO will stop receiving financing, and will therefore be in compliance with
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Igor Rozin, based on Interfax – June 12, 2013) Both opposition activists and the Russian human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin seemed satisfied with the results of the protest and did not advance any complaints concerning the police’s behavior. Some 6,000 people took part part in the opposition march in central Moscow on Wednesday, according to the press service for the Interior Ministry’s Main
(Interfax – June 12, 2013) Russian rights activists and bloggers have criticized a bill protecting the feelings of religious believers, which the State Duma passed in the third and final reading on 11 June. The law, prompted by the controversial Pussy Riot “punk prayer” in 2012 in Moscow’s main cathedral, provides up to three years’ jail for offending religious feelings. “One more rubber law has been adopted, which brings in
(Interfax – June 13, 2013) Opposition activist Alexei Navalny believes that the Kirov Court hearings on the Kirovles case scheduled by the court for June 13 and 14 are aimed at blocking his nomination for Moscow mayor, said his lawyer Sergei Kobelev. The lawyer said that his client Navalny had notified him that he was supposed to attend a meeting of the RPR-PARNAS party’s Moscow branch on June 14, at
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Evgenia Pismennaya – June 12, 2013) Vladimir Putin is handing the keys of his central bank to a poetry-loving Francophile who pays homage to the victims of Russia’s totalitarian past. The first woman to head a Group of Eight central bank, Elvira Nabiullina’s appointment surprised even herself, according to four colleagues who asked not to be identified because the deliberations weren’t public. “Elvira’s heart belongs to
(Interfax – June 13, 2013) Moscow is hosting the Civil 20 Summit on June 13-14. This is the final event of the civil track within the framework of Russia’s official chairmanship of the G20. The summit’s principal objective is to promote productive dialogue between global civil society, politicians, and decision-makers based on priorities declared in the Russian chairmanship’s official agenda. In line with the Civil 20′s recommendations, amendments could be
(Interfax – KYIV, June 12, 2013) Seventy-eight percent of the Ukrainians believe Russia ad Ukraine have more thins in common than they do different things, and more than half of the respondents see Russia as a brotherly or friendly country. The poll was conducted by the company Research&Branding Group in all regions of Ukraine, in Crimea, and in the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol on April 19-29, 2013. The poll
(Kremlin.ru – Moscow, June 11, 2013) Vladimir Putin visited the new Russia Today broadcasting centre and met with the channel’s leadership and correspondents. The President toured the production control room, the sound editing booth, the English, Spanish and Arabic desks, and a visual effects studio. Russia Today is a Russian international multilingual media company, which comprises five 24-hour television channels: channels broadcasting in English, Arabic and Spanish; RT America; RTDoc
(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 11, 2013) The range of issues being considered by the G20 has gotten too broad and the Seoul agreements to recapitalize and redistribute quotas in the International Monetary Fund are not being carried out, but the group of 20 major economies has managed to resolve the problem of bailing out too-big-to-fail banks with taxpayer money, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said in regard to the
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