We need Russia to address European and global issues. That is why, if she met the conditions, Russia could be in the Nato, Radosław Sikorski said yesterday.
The Polish foreign minister delivered the opening lecture of the Copernican Debate at Toruń University.
‘Even though so ideologically and culturally diverse, Europe is a single organism’, he said. ‘That is why every country in its foreign policy has to consider the different developments from a regional as well as a global perspective.’
A convoy of Topol-M strategic missile systems during their first drill for a military parade.
Equipment that will roll across Red Square will include Topol-M mobile missile systems, S-300 Favorit, Buk, Tunguska and Tor air defense missile systems, T-90 tanks, BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles, Sprut self-propelled guns, Msta-S self-propelled howitzers, and others.
Maria Sergeyeva, a 24-year-old philosophy student and political activist, has emerged as a rising star in Russian politics since a January 31 speech praising Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin and president Dmitry Medvedev. The burgeoning Internet sensation – Russia’s largest political blog had to ban further posts about “Masha” due to excessive traffic – has become one of the stars the Kremlin’s campaign to fire up patriotism.
“I was brought up to be a patriot from day one,” Sergeyeva told the Times of London. “My love for Russia came with my mother’s milk. I loved listening to my grandparents’ heroic tales from the war.
“Putin has given us stability and economic growth. It’s good that he’s hardline and tough.”
By Fred Weir Correspondent with The Christian Science Monitor
No ‘Rust Belt’ in sight at Russia’s ‘Little Detroit.’
People are starting to call this central Russian industrial town “Little Detroit.” Unlike its American namesake, the car factories here are not only still working, but they’re going forward with ambitious expansion plans.
Russia already has a home-grown auto industry, but the new factories are distancing themselves from the clunky Soviet days – meaning experienced Russian auto workers need not apply. Wages are even less than those at auto plants in Eastern Europe, but the sour economy is resulting in an abundance of eager labor.
Amid Russia’s skyrocketing interest rates, plunging ruble, and rising unemployment, Kaluga is proving to be a rare bright spot.
A two-year old Volkswagen plant just outside Kaluga, which assembles Passat and Jetta sedans for Russia’s fledgling middle class, has slashed weekly shifts in half, though it has not yet laid-off any workers.
NATO agreed Thursday to resume high-level talks with Russia, ending a seven-month freeze sparked by Moscow’s decision to send troops into Georgia in August.
After overcoming staunch objections from Lithuania, NATO foreign ministers agreed to restart the so-called NATO-Russia Council after the alliance’s summit on April 3-4.
“Ministers reached agreement to formally resume the NATO-Russia Council, including at ministerial level,” alliance Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters after chairing the talks in Brussels.
He gave no date or venue for the restart, but said it should happen “as soon as possible after the summit” to mark NATO’s 60th anniversary in Strasbourg, France, and the neighbouring German city of Kehl.
Despite the move, Scheffer underlined: “We have quite a number of areas where we have fundamental differences of opinion and where we think Russia should change its opinion.”
Global warming doesn’t just mean there will be new patterns of mass migration, wars and border lawlessness in the 21st century. For the great climate change isn’t affecting just the warmest parts of the world; it’s also affecting areas that used to be the coldest.
The great Arctic Ocean polar ice cap is already melting. The Arctic Ocean could be navigable year-round within decades. The rate of melting of the ice cap, scientists say, is actually accelerating. This may completely transform the strategic resource map of the world.
For the seabed of the arctic, especially the continental shelf north of Russia, is believed to be a fresh treasure trove of oil, natural gas and precious minerals. They were all inaccessible throughout history because the severe cold weather and the great ice cap made geological prospecting, let alone extraction, virtually impossible. But thanks to global warming, that is changing fast.
In the 1990s deer and bison were hunted from helicopters using machine guns, said Chestin. The problem continues today, with snow leopards and Siberian tigers hunted from helicopters in such areas as Yakutia.
Russian environmentalists vowed a campaign against top officials who hunt endangered species from helicopters, after a crash in January highlighted the practice.
The Russian chapter of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said it had lodged a complaint with prosecutors over the investigation into a January 9 helicopter crash in the mountainous Altai region, alleging irregularities in the probe.
Seven people were killed in the crash that took place during what environmentalists say was a trip to hunt the region’s endangered Argali mountain sheep.
Among the dead was President Dmitry Medvedev’s representative in the Duma lower house of parliament, Alexander Kosopkin.
Russia’s foreign minister said Saturday that an arms race in outer space is inadmissible and called on other world powers to unite efforts in countering missile threats.
“Prevention of an arms race in space will contribute to ensuring the predictability of the strategic situation and preserving the orbital property,” Sergei Lavrov told a disarmament conference in Geneva, adding that all states using space objects for civilian purposes should be interested in it.
Lavrov said that in February last year Russia and China submitted a draft international treaty on prevention of outer space weaponization.
“We plan, jointly with China, to submit to your consideration soon a document generalizing the results of discussions that have taken place at the conference and containing reaction to comments on the draft treaty. We hope the document will become a good help for future talks,” the Russian minister said.
Lavrov also voiced a proposal to unite the efforts of all countries who believe potential missile threats should be countered.
“In the spirit of strategic openness, we offer a constructive alternative to unilateral plans in this very important sphere – to unite the efforts of all states interested in countering potential missile threats,” he said.
Russia is strengthening its forces in the south of the country, including its powerful Black Sea Fleet, Deputy Defense Minister Gen. Vladimir Popovkin announced Thursday.
Relations between Russia, the United States and NATO were tense for several months following the Russian invasion and occupation of one-third of the former Soviet republic of Georgia in the Caucasus last August.
Tensions have eased since President Barack Obama won the U.S. election on Nov. 4, but the powerful Russian Black Sea Fleet continues to closely monitor NATO warships and Western cargo ships bringing aid to Georgia.
According to a RIA Novosti report Thursday, Popovkin stated that the Russian Defense Ministry had carefully studied “the outcome of the South Ossetian conflict” and had concluded that it needs to boost military and naval forces in the region. Russia is also locked in a series of disputes with neighboring Ukraine, the most populous of the former Soviet republics, apart from Russia.
The USA could have think of deployment the airbase withdrawing from Kyrgyzstan to one of the Caucasus republics, or to Turkey, more precisely, to Trabzon city, informed Turkish newspaper Hurriyet with reference to Pentagon. It should be noted that on February, 19 Kyrgyzstan’s parliament approved the government’s decision on denouncement the treaty with the USA and decided to withdraw the U.S. air base Manas.
Edition voice doubts that official Ankara will accept Washington’s proposal. “First of all, Turkey does not want to make Russia nervous. Secondly, as show the recent developments, Ankara unwillingly falls in Pentagon’s proposals. Therefore, probably the USA will be forced to look for a new place for its air base”, — it is said in the article. It should be noted that it is impossible to deploy air base in Armenia, as the country is a member of CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization). Azerbaijani leadership also declared many times with reference to the country’s Constitution, that it is impossibility to allocate a foreign air base in the territory of the country. By simple deduction it became ease to understand, about what Caucasian country is the question in the Turkish newspaper.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko told La Croix French newspaper, she wants a harmony, but not a confrontation with Russia.
“There is a need of certain harmony in energy and in industrial sector in relations with Russia. It is also in our interests to look for a harmony inside a triangle Europe-Ukraine-Russia”, -said Timoshenko, adding that “it meets also EU policy”. Commenting Ukrainian relations with NATO, she stressed that “Ukraine can not stay out of the large security systems”.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday that she would urge Russia to stop missile sales talks with Iran, during meetings in Geneva with her Russian counterpart.
She said she would “raise with Russia their continuing discussions with Iran about selling longer-range missiles, which we think are a threat to Russia as well as to Europe and neighbours in the region.”
Clinton meets Friday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in a test of whether President Barack Obama’s new diplomacy can improve US-Russian ties, which were badly strained during the presidency of George W. Bush.
Russia has denied that it was preparing to deliver sophisticated S-300 surface-to-air missiles to the Islamic republic, following reports it was about to supply the weapons to the US arch-foe.
Russia’s navy will monitor submarine exercises by the US navy to be held under the Arctic Ocean later this month, a Russian navy spokesman told the RIA-Novosti state news agency on Thursday.
“Any activities by foreign submarines in the immediate vicinity of Russia’s maritime borders naturally require increased attention by the navy,” said the spokesman for Russia’s Pacific Fleet, based in the port of Vladivostok.
The new year opened with Russia halting natural gas deliveries through Ukraine to Eastern Europe and points west, reminding the European Union that its Russian gas imports are hostage not only to bilateral economic disputes between Moscow and Kiev but to Ukrainian domestic politics as well. The stoppage, which began Jan. 1 when Russia first diminished gas flows before halting them completely six days later, directly affected 18 nations during one of Europe’s coldest winters in years.
EU hopes that the issue was resolved by the 10-year contract signed Jan. 18, covering both natural gas supplies and transit issues, have been dashed. Under the terms of the agreement, Ukraine received a 20 percent discount from the fees that Gazprom charged its European customers. While still giving Kiev a preferential rate to EU customers, the short-term effect was to effectively double the rate paid by Ukraine for Russian gas, from $179.50 per thousand cubic meters to $360 per tcm. The rate would be recalculated every three months. Because of the global recession and subsequent downward trend of energy prices, some analysts were predicting that Ukraine’s price by the early summer would fall to $250 per tcm or less. The contract became a political football between Western-leaning President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who brokered the deal.
JOSE CARLOS GALLARDO: Mr Dmitry Medvedev, His Majesty the King of Spain Juan Carlos was the first to visit Moscow in 2008 to congratulate you as the new President of Russia. And at the time, that visit was viewed as a manifestation of good relations between our countries. What stage are these relations at now, in you view?
DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Thank you. I think they are excellent. They are at such a stage that whenever we have discussions with our Spanish counterparts we find answers to the most complex issues and challenges facing our countries, in the bilateral as well as multilateral formats, including the issues of European security, and overcoming the consequences of the world financial crisis. That is why I am looking forward to the visit to Spain with great optimism and pleasure. We value greatly the respect that the King of Spain Juan Carlos has for this country, he is regarded here as a distinguished and experienced politician, and a leader of a friendly state.
The flagship of Russia’s polar fleet, “Akademik Fyodorov”, is due to return to St. Petersburg at the end of a 40-day expedition to the Arctic. It’s the same vessel that a year ago rekindled Russia’s presence in the region with its ground-breaking survey of the North Pole seabed.
According to Jane’s International Defence Review (IDR) magazine, by 2020 fossil fuels could heat up conflicts over the ice-cold plains of the North Pole.
As the ice caps melt and the vast recourses located at the top the world become more accessible, the stakes could be raised.
Well, the worst case scenario will be some kind of conflict in the Arctic, in particular driven by the high price of oil and gas, said Christian Le Miere, IDRs Managing Editor. If countries find themselves in need of these resources they may be forced or compelled to act in a military fashion.
Russian geologists say they have data that would support a claim to about 1.2m sq km (463,000 sq miles) of energy-rich territory in the Arctic.
Russia has not staked a formal claim to that area – which is the size of France, Germany and Italy combined, Russian media report.The geologists spent 45 days studying the Lomonosov underwater ridge.The Law of the Sea Convention allows states an economic zone of 200 nautical miles, which can sometimes be expanded.To extend the zone, a state has to prove that the structure of the continental shelf is similar to the geological structure within its territory.
At the moment, nobody’s shelf extends up to the North Pole, so there is an international area around the Pole administered by the International Seabed Authority.
The Russian team, from the Oceanology Research Institute in St Petersburg, estimates that the Lomonosov ridge area in the Arctic contains oil and gas reserves of up to 10bn tonnes.
Russia’s Vice Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov, who administers defense industry issues, stated that the new state-run arms program from 2011 to 2020 stipulated a complete re-equipment of Russia’s strategic forces.
“The whole of Russia’s satellite fleet will be replaced with more modern spacecraft. The single information space of the action scene will be created. Of course, Russia will switch to absolutely new, intellectual arms and defense technologies,” the minister said in an interview with The Rossiiskaya Gazeta.
Such a large defense order, the minister said, would also give a chance to many other branches of the Russian economy to survive during the time of the crisis. The defense industry employs over 1.5 million people, the official said. “The state defense order is the most effective anti-crisis measure,” he added.
Russia is awaiting new proposals from the United States to resolve a dispute on missile defence that has chilled ties between the two Cold War ex-foes, President Dmitry Medvedev was quoted Sunday as saying.
Medvedev’s comments were among the most upbeat yet by Moscow on the chance of an improvement in ties under new US President Barack Obama after the missile defence row and Georgia war sent relations to a post-Soviet low.
Moscow has reacted furiously to plans by the former administration of George W. Bush to place missile defence facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic, saying the move was directly aimed against Russia.
“I am counting on the new US administration behaving on this question in a more creative and friendly way,” Medvedev said in an interview with Spanish media, the transcript of which was published on the Kremlin website.
Moscow is set against extending the key nuclear arms treaty that expires in 2009, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.
“The limits set in the existing accord have all been met and exceeded, both we and the Americans have in reality far fewer (missiles) than the existing accord allows,” Lavrov said as quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency.
“So extending it further would mean sending a wrong signal that one can build arms now, and that is wrong,” Lavrov explained.
The Cold War-era Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty signed between the US and the Soviet Union expires in December 2009, and Washington and Moscow have been seeking to thrash out terms of a new accord.
The 1991 treaty limits the number of missiles and warheads that each side may have and is a cornerstone of Cold War strategic arms control.
The tradition of Maslenitsa dates back to pagan times, when Russian folk would bid farewell to winter and welcome spring.
As with many ancient holidays, Maslenitsa (the stress being on the first syllable) has a dual ancestry: pagan and Christian.
On the pagan side, Maslenitsa was celebrated on the vernal equinox day. It marked the welcoming of spring, and was all about the enlivening of nature and bounty of sunny warmth.
On the Christian side, Maslenitsa was the last week before the onset of Lent (fasting which precedes Easter), giving the last chance to bask in worldly delights. Once Lent itself begins, a strictly kept fast excludes meat, fish, dairy products, and eggs. Furthermore, parties, secular music, dancing and other distractions from the spiritual life are also strictly prohibited.
In the eyes of the church Maslenitsa is not just a week of merrymaking, but a whole step-by-step procedure to prepare oneself for a long and exhausting fasting, which, if observed properly, may be a real challenge.
As the traditional week of feasting in Russia, called Maslenitsa, is drawing to a close, celebrations are culminating throughout the country.
Time-rich in customs, Maslenitsa celebrates the end of winter. Initially a pagan rite, it’s been included into Orthodox tradition as a time of preparing for the Great Lent.
On Sunday, people gathered across Russia to enjoy traditional pancakes as well as to participate in a number of activities connected with the Feast, such as fist-fighting, a type of wrestling, and pole-climbing.
About half of Germany’s population believes that the German media’s news and comments on Russia are exaggerated and have a misrepresenting nature, which is creating a negative image of Russia, a survey says.
The research carried out by the German Institute of social studies ‘forsa’, says only 36 per cent of those polled believe that the German media’s coverage of Russia represents facts, while 49 per cent say it does not.
The survey also revealed that 44 per cent of respondents say such publications contribute to creating a negative image of Russia. Only 13 per cent characterize the image thus formed as positive, and 42 per cent as neutral.
President Obama sent a secret letter to Russia’s president last month suggesting that he would back off deploying a new missile defense system in Eastern Europe if Moscow would help stop Iran from developing long-range weapons, American officials said Monday.
The letter to President Dmitri A. Medvedev was hand-delivered in Moscow by top administration officials three weeks ago. It said the United States would not need to proceed with the interceptor system, which has been vehemently opposed by Russia since it was proposed by the Bush administration, if Iran halted any efforts to build nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles.
As the world lurches deeper into recession, the energy markets, especially oil, have been hit by falling prices. As the world retools for a more austere 21st century, one energy source that will continue to rise in prominence is natural gas. For the first time, Russia, currently the world’s leading producer of natural gas, is now poised to enter the liquefied natural gas market, opening an LNG facility in Sakhalin. For Europeans worried about Russia’s reliability as an exporter following its pricing dispute with Ukraine earlier this year, the good news is that its first project is directed at the Asian market.
The primary shortcoming for consumers of natural gas is that the vast majority of it is currently shipped by pipelines. LNG, primarily methane, is produced by compressing and cooling it to minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit, converting it to liquid form, which takes up about 1/600th the volume of natural gas. The LNG is then loaded into special cryogenic tankers, which can transport it anywhere in the world. Upon arrival at an LNG port facility, it is re-gasified and distributed as pipeline natural gas.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin showed a soft spot in his tough-guy image by condemning the hunting of baby whitecoat seals, Russian newspapers reported on Friday.
“This is a bloody business and it clearly should have been banned long ago,” Putin said during a meeting with his cabinet, quoted by official government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta.
The comments came after Russia’s natural resources minister told Putin that under new rules, hunters in the far north were banned from killing the youngest kind of seals, known as whitecoats for the colour of their fur.
“Ukrainian membership to EU relays only on Ukraine and how quickly Kiev will reform the country to meet EU standards. Besides, Ukraine have to permanently tumble Europe with questions: “what we ought to do further”, said Audronius Azubalis, the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of Lithuanian Seim, while addressing the third Europe-Ukraine forum participants in Kiev on February, 27, reports a REGNUM correspondent.
Kris Roman
Radosław Sikorski
