The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

A candid and impressive display of who's still in power in Russia was given by Vladimir Putin yesterday in front of record numbers of journalists for a duration lasting approximately four hours, another record. I highly recommend interested individuals to watch the below posted Russia Today video clip of the speech in question. Some exhilarating highlights from Putin's speech:

Similarly, Mr. Putin swept aside a remark by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who said that as a former K.G.B. officer, Mr. Putin “has no soul.” “As a minimum, a state official must at least have a head,” he said.

Mr. Putin said that the organization needed to be overhauled, and suggested that the monitors intended to teach Russia how to become democratic. “Let them teach their wives to make shchi,” he said. Shchi is a popular Russian cabbage soup.

Mr. Putin also flashed his annoyance when asked about reports in Western newspapers that he had used his office to accumulate a vast personal fortune. Such “rumors,” he said, “they picked from a nose and smeared onto their papers.”

This man is amazing. Hail Putin...

Armenian

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President Putin Talks of the Future as Premier



Putin Q&A: international agenda (Russia Today Video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKg2-ny7k8I

President Vladimir V. Putin, in the final weeks of an eight-year administration that secured his place as the country’s most popular politician, said Thursday that he intended to wield substantial and long-running power in the Kremlin after leaving office next month and becoming Russia’s prime minister. In a confident and forceful public performance in which he described many of Russia’s continuing policy choices, Mr. Putin spoke bitingly of his international critics and defied Washington by refusing to back down from threats to aim strategic missiles at the Czech Republic, Poland and Ukraine. He said the Kremlin had been forced to assume a reinvigorated nuclear defense by NATO’s courting of Ukraine and by the United States’ development of a missile defense system for deployment in Europe. “We will have to retarget our missiles on the objects that we think threaten our national security,” he said. “I have to speak about this directly and honestly, so that there would be no attempts to shift the responsibility for such developments on those who should not be blamed.”

Mr. Putin appeared in public for more than four hours in what the Kremlin billed as his final news conference as president. Under Russia’s Constitution, he cannot seek a third consecutive term, and a new president will be selected on March 2 by popular vote. But the event had none of the trappings of a farewell performance, and it did little to suggest Mr. Putin was yielding his position as Russia’s unrivaled leader. He reiterated his intention to become prime minister and to lead the government of his presumptive successor, whom he had selected himself, Dmitri A. Medvedev. He also implied that Mr. Medvedev would follow the course that he had set.

“The president is the guarantor of the Constitution,” Mr. Putin said. “He sets the main directions for internal and external policies. But the highest executive power in the country is the Russian government, led by the premier.” He later added that he planned to be the prime minister throughout Mr. Medvedev’s administration, and perhaps beyond. “I formulated tasks for the development of Russia from 2010 until 2020,” he said. “The fate is taking shape in a way that I have a possibility to participate directly in achievement of these goals.” The conference also underscored the degree to which Mr. Putin continued to eclipse Mr. Medvedev. Although Russia is in the middle of the official one-month presidential campaign, there is little sign of competing ideas or public involvement in choosing the next president. And Mr. Putin is not fading from view.

Last week, he addressed Russia’s lawmakers with his plans for the country through 2020. On Thursday he threatened to escalate a dispute with Europe and the United States over the future of Kosovo, which is expected to declare its independence next week, with support from the West. Russia has backed its traditional ally, Serbia, and opposed Kosovo’s independence. It has threatened to protest the move at the United Nations Security Council and perhaps to recognize breakaway regions it supports in Moldova and Georgia. “We are told all the time, ‘Kosovo is a special case,’ ” Mr. Putin said. “It is all lies. There is no special case, and everybody understands it perfectly well.”

The conference, a question-and-answer format, has been an annual event in which Mr. Putin has often displayed his comfort with power and a command of the fine details of governing. The audience was a mixture of Russian reporters, many openly praising the Russian president, and foreign journalists, several of them pressing him on policies that have alarmed Western governments and undermined his reputation abroad. Mr. Putin basked in the praise and seemed to revel in the criticism, which he rebutted with a mix of long, unapologetic answers and occasional insults. When asked about the decision of the principal international election monitors not to send missions to observe the presidential elections, Mr. Putin was dismissive.

The monitors, from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, have routinely found that elections in post-Soviet autocracies, including Russia, have been rigged. And they have said that Russia has unilaterally imposed conditions that make it impossible to assess the current campaign and election fully. Mr. Putin said that the organization needed to be overhauled, and suggested that the monitors intended to teach Russia how to become democratic. “Let them teach their wives to make shchi,” he said. Shchi is a popular Russian cabbage soup. Similarly, Mr. Putin swept aside a remark by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who said that as a former K.G.B. officer, Mr. Putin “has no soul.” “As a minimum, a state official must at least have a head,” he said.

Mr. Putin also flashed his annoyance when asked about reports in Western newspapers that he had used his office to accumulate a vast personal fortune. Such “rumors,” he said, “they picked from a nose and smeared onto their papers.” The conference alternated between these occasionally scalding moments and others in which Mr. Putin, answering questions from admiring Russian journalists, was at ease and treated with public fealty. One young woman noted that the conference was held on Valentine’s Day, and asked whether Mr. Putin had received a gift. He said he had been busy doing his morning exercises and preparing for the conference, and had not yet received any presents. The reporter then grinned and said she would like to give him a Valentine, and he invited her to pass it down to him through the crowd.

At another point, a French journalist asked Mr. Putin if he thought that the official results recorded in Chechnya during parliamentary elections in December were realistic. According to the Central Election Commission, the voter turnout in Chechnya was 99 percent, and 99 percent of the voters cast their ballots for United Russia, the party Mr. Putin leads. Chechnya sought to break from Russia in the early 1990s, and waged a long insurgency for which it has been intensely punished. Past elections there have been openly rigged, and the latest results were viewed in the West and among Mr. Putin’s domestic critics as unashamedly fake. Mr. Putin, looking confident, asked a state journalist from Chechnya to answer the question. “These are absolutely realistic figures,” the journalist said. “Personally, all my acquaintances, including myself, voted for United Russia.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/wo.../15russia.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Here Comes Kosovo

Russia fears Kosovo will set a precedent - 15 Feb 08: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0D1sKalkAE

Europe will get a new state, Kosovo, on Sunday and the long, bloody unraveling of Yugoslavia will be concluded 17 years after the first war of its dissolution broke out in Slovenia. That is cause for celebration. I say celebration although Serbia will rail against what its prime minister calls “this fictitious state on Serbian territory,” and the Russian bear will growl, and Balkan tensions will flare for a while, and lawyers will fret over precedent. The fact is the independence of Kosovo is justified, unique and unavoidable. There is no other way. Serbia lost a nationalist gamble on Kosovo a long time ago; the differences stemming from it are unbridgeable. Further delay of the inescapable can only damage the region.

So, come Sunday, I am reliably told, Kosovo will proclaim independence and early next week major powers — including the United States, France, Britain and Germany — will recognize the new state. European Union foreign ministers meet Monday and may agree on a “platform” statement saying conditions for recognition have been met. A clear majority of the 27 European Union members — certainly no less than 20 — are expected to recognize Kosovo rapidly. Cyprus, with its Turkish-occupied northern third, will lead the holdouts. Other European Union states that are recognition-reluctant, some out of concern over separatist minorities, include Spain, Romania, Slovakia, Greece and Bulgaria.

Unanimity would be nice, but broad consensus is sufficient. Thanks largely to the work of Wolfgang Ischinger, the German ambassador to Britain, the European Union will be united enough. More important, the United States and Europe will march in step, not a frequent occurrence of late. “This has been a common endeavor illustrating the way we and Europe ought to work together,” said Frank Wisner, the former U.S. ambassador to India who labored fruitlessly with Ischinger last year to bring Kosovo and Serbia closer. Wisner’s view: “There was never an attempt by anyone in Belgrade to reach out to a Kosovar Albanian.” Reaching out to Kosovo had scarcely been the Serbian thing in recent decades. Slobodan Milosevic, the late dictator, set Serbia’s murderous nationalist tide in motion on April 24, 1987, when he went to Kosovo to declare that Serbian “ancestors would be defiled” if ethnic Albanians had their way.

Milosevic’s quashing of Kosovo’s autonomy was central to his conversion of Yugoslavia into “Serboslavia.” The revolt against his bullying brought independence to former Yugoslav republics from Croatia to Macedonia. Serbs will kick and scream, but Kosovo is just the last piece of a dead state to go its inevitable way. Albanians accounting for about 95 percent of a Kosovo population of 2.1 million cannot be reconciled with a Serbia that suppressed, beat up, evicted and killed them until NATO’s 1999 intervention. Belgrade is no Berne: a Pristina inside Serbia would always be Pariahville. But, Serbs protest in their blind pursuit of an untenable moral equivalency, the Kosovo Liberation Army were no kittens. Nor, once the Serbian genocide against Bosnian Muslims of April to September 1992 was completed, was the emergent Bosnian army. That’s right: persecute a people with enough savagery and they will in the end unite, rise up, fight and go their own way.

What will Serbia do now? Vojislav Kostunica, the nationalist prime minister, says he won’t allow “such a creation to exist for a minute.” That’s been the nihilistic Serbian drumbeat ever since United Nations Resolution 1244 of 1999 made clear that a U.N.-overseen and NATO-protected autonomy in Kosovo would extend only until “a final settlement.” Belgrade never wanted to settle. I expect Serbia to make modest trouble but stop short of violence and cutting off Kosovo’s electricity. Some of the 120,000 Serbs in Kosovo may hit the road. Serbs in the pocket north of Mitrovica may be encouraged to go for partition. But the recent election of a pro-western Serbian president, Boris Tadic, will be a force for restraint. So will U.S. and European pressure on Albanians. Kosovo’s prime minister, Hashim Thaci, has been making gestures to Serbs: that’s positive.

Russia will call an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting. It will scream. But it’s backed the wrong horse. Europe is right to demonstrate that it will not cave to Moscow’s pressure. Ultimately, Serbia will want to move toward European Union membership. Kosovo is not Transdniestria or Abkhazia or South Ossetia. It is an anachronistic remnant of a now defunct country, Yugoslavia, a province that has been under U.N. administration for eight years pending a final settlement impossible within Serbia. Milosevic rolled the dice of genocidal nationalism and lost. In the long run, I believe this outcome will be positive for Serbia. Instead of dwelling on medieval battles, victory-in-defeat symbolism, shrinking borders and a poisonous culture of victimization, Serbia will begin to see what it wrought and look forward — to the West rather than the East.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/op...ml?ref=opinion

Kosovo may influence Russian ties with Georgia breakaway regions

Russia could be forced to reconsider its relations with two Georgian breakaway regions if Kosovo declares independence and it is recognized by other states, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday. A separatist province in southern Serbia, Kosovo is expected to unilaterally declare its independence on Sunday. Russia has repeatedly said that granting Kosovo sovereignty could set a precedent and trigger a chain reaction for secessionist regions throughout the world, including in Greece, Spain, Georgia, Moldova and Cyprus. But Western countries supporting Kosovo's independence insist that the case is unique, and that there is no threat of the weakening of international law. "The declaration of sovereignty by Kosovo and its recognition will doubtlessly be taken into account in [Russia's] relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Still, Russia confirms its consistent intention to seek a peaceful settlement for the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-South Ossetian conflicts within current formats and counter every attempt to solve the problem by force," the ministry said.

The statement followed a meeting earlier on Friday between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the presidents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Sergei Bagapsh and Eduard Kokoity. The Russian minister discussed the consequences of Kosovo's independence for international law with the leaders of the self-proclaimed republics, which declared independence from Georgia following bloody conflicts in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse. But Moscow repeatedly said Russia will not recognize the sovereignty of South Ossetia and Abkhazia if Kosovo's independence is recognized. During his final annual news conference as president on Thursday, Vladimir Putin said that if Western countries acknowledge Kosovo's independence, Russia has no plans to seek "non-legal" retaliation.

Russia, a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council and Serbia's long-time ally, maintains that Belgrade and Pristina should continue seeking a compromise, and calls for security and humanitarian issues to be rectified in the province. Kosovo has been a UN protectorate since the NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia ended a conflict between Kosovo Albanians and Serb forces in 1999. Serbia's territorial integrity was fixed in UN Security Council Resolution 1244, adopted in 1999. The European Union is expected to approve a decision to deploy a 2,000-strong police and justice mission and a EU civil administration in Kosovo on Saturday night. The new mission, to be reinforced by a NATO contingent, is expected to replace a UN mission deployed in the region since 1999. However, Russia's Foreign Ministry stated on Friday that only the UN Security Council can take the decision to change the format of the international mission in Kosovo.

"We are convinced that Security Council resolution 1244 is valid. And we draw the attention of our EU partners, who have said a great deal lately about their desire and decision to send an additional mission to the territory, that a change in the international makeup in Kosovo is possible only on the basis of an according decision by the Security Council," the ministry's official spokesman Mikhail Kamynin told the Russian Vesti TV channel. He also said Moscow hoped the UN would restrain those countries that are pushing the Serb province to declare independence. "Debate on the Kosovo problem at the UN Security Council should have a restraining influence on those forces that have been pushing Pristina toward independence," Kamynin said.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080215/99347542.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russian ruble could be used in oil trade deals in Iran - envoy

The Russian ruble could be used as a payment instrument for deals on an Iranian oil exchange, the Islamic Republic's ambassador to Moscow said on Friday. "Possibly in the future, we'll be able to use the ruble, Russia's national currency, in our operations," Gholamreza Ansari said, adding that the Islamic Republic was currently busy launching a new oil trade exchange. The Islamic Republic's oil minister, Gholam-Hossein Nozari, earlier said that Iran would launch on February 27 a commodities exchange for oil, petrochemicals and natural gas on the Persian Gulf island of Kish and that all financial settlements would be made in Iran's national currency, the rial.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/world/20080215/99314908.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russian Armed Forces more mobile, combat ready - Putin

Russia's Armed Forces have become more mobile and combat ready in recent years, President Vladimir Putin said Friday. "The country's missile-nuclear potential has been reinforced with Topol-M missiles," Putin said during an official ceremony involving recently-decorated military top brass. "Permanent strategic aviation patrols have also been restored," he added. Russia resumed strategic bomber patrol flights over the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic oceans last August, following an order signed by President Putin. "The naval task force has carried out successful expeditions in the Mediterranean and Atlantic oceans. New tactics were practiced at Shanghai Cooperation Organization exercises, at the CIS united air defense tests and during Russian-Belarusian military command war-games," said the Russian leader, who is nearing the end of his second and final term as president. Putin also said the country's Armed Forces faced new and more complicated tasks, including a military education reform. "The talk is about a new long-term program of military development until 2020 taking into account modern challenges and threats to Russia's national interests," he said. In a speech on February 8, President Putin blamed the West for unleashing a new international arms race.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080215/99345581.html

[Lucin]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

A candid and impressive display of who's still in power in Russia was given by Vladimir Putin yesterday in front of record numbers of journalists for a duration lasting approximately four hours, another record.

Yeah, it was nice. But funny how a four-hour interview was reduced to hardly a few minutes of selected report in the media, mainly American, English and French ones, whereas you see some really unimportant, unnecessary speeches of the notorious criminal clowns, being broadcast live on numerous news channels...

Anyway, too bad he's leaving the office I will definitely miss the charismatic, cute and ankrkneli leader of Russia and his unexpected and surprising reactions.

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Armenia: A Russian outpost in the Caucasus?

Just as Russia has aggressively increased its economic presence in Armenia, impending presidential elections that have aggravated relations with its neighbouring states have seen the political leadership leaning toward the West. Armenia is perched high in the Caucasus Mountains flanked on one side by Georgia, internationally important for security reasons, and by crucial players in the energy game, Iran and Azerbaijan, along its southern border. Armenia's unique situation - with over one-fifth of its nationals living abroad - has significant economic influence on the smallest post-Soviet state, though the diaspora is stripped of voting power. According to data from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, remittances from the 8-million-strong Armenian diaspora pushes the country's GDP per capita higher than that of its neighbour, rising economic power Georgia. Formerly known as the Soviet Union's manufacturing hub, Armenia has remained firmly within Russia's radius since its industry fell apart with the 1991 collapse of the communist regime.

Compounding its military presence in the country, Russia has ramped up its economic presence in recent years, now owning near total control over Armenia's energy and transportation sectors. A vital pipeline project to diversify energy dependency away from Russia by carrying gas from Iran has also come under Russian gas monopoly Gazprom's control in 2006. Russian ties are in part to offset political embargoes along two of its borders due to unresolved territorial disputes with Azerbaijan and a failure to achieve reconciliation over the 1915 Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire. But amid election campaign opposition accusations that Russia's growing economic presence poses a threat to Yerevan's sovereignty, the current administration has been more circumspect about its alliances. The special relationship showed fault lines over Russia's warming relations with Armenia's longtime foe Azerbaijan and its economic blockade of Georgia, which has a spill-over effect on Armenian business. In response, Yerevan has turned towards the West, where a large Armenian diaspora is actively lobbying the small state's interest. "Yerevan is finding it increasingly important to balance Russia against a dialogue with NATO and interesting the European Union," said Thomas Gomart, head of the Russian/CIS programme at Paris-based Institut Francais des Relations Internationales. But whatever the inter-state relations, Armenia's ties to Russia through the diaspora there are the most important, said Gegam Khalatyan, the president of the Association of Armenians in Russia.

The Armenian diaspora in Russia counts about 2 million, and - unlike other diasporas - has grown exponentially in the past five years with over two thirds of immigrants making Russia their home. Remittances sent home from Russia amount to 1 million dollars - the total Russian investment in the country last year. Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov tacitly displayed Russia's interest and support for the incumbent presidential candidate by paying his counterpart a visit two weeks before Armenia's elections. The meeting reinforced Russia's economic domination with crucial bilateral deals signed that handed Russia's state railway company the management of Armenia's network for the next 30 years. The joint construction of Armenia's first power plant and smoothing out the last wrinkles in dividing almost total control of the country's energy sector between Russian state-monopolies Gazprom and Unified Energy Systems was also agreed upon. But, surprisingly, the latest Russian takeovers in the region - where it is fast loosing influence to the West - seemed to reinforce the leadership's move for closer ties to other governments. Though none of the nine Armenian candidates competing for the executive office are indifferent to Russia, opposition leaders and local analysts have grown increasingly suspicious of Russia's economic power during the election campaign.

Source: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/s...--feature.html

[Illuminator]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations




President Putin’s Vision

16.02.2008

Source:

URL: http://english.pravda.ru/russia/poli...-putinvision-0

Synopsis of the speech of the President of the Russian Federation at the Meeting of the State Council on Russia’s Ddevlopment Strategy through to 2020. While tracing the many positive steps which have been implemented, President Vladimir Putin set forth general guidelines of Russian policy over the forthcoming 12 years, highlighting the country’s main needs.

President Vladimir Putin began his speech by underlining three main areas of strategic policy over his eight years in office, namely in the areas of the economy, defence/security and integrity of the State. Describing the situation eight years ago as “very difficult”, he remembered the devaluation of the Rouble after the default on international debt repayments and the terrorist activity which created dangerous security threats in southern Russia.

The great success Russia has enjoyed since then is due to the response by the Russian people. In Vladimir Putin’s words, “ our people closed ranks and drew together. Not only our military but society itself rose up to defend Russia, to defend our territorial integrity. Doctors and teachers who had not been paid for months loyally performed their duties. Workers, engineers and businesspeople all continued their work, trying to haul the economy out of its state of stagnation and collapse”.

Regarding the economy, the President reminded those present of the great influence exerted eight years ago by criminal organizations and oligarchs, while the agricultural sector was in crisis and Russia’s finances were at the mercy of foreign loans. The default on loan repayment in 1998 seriously damaged businesses and people’s savings and in 1999, the inflation rate stood at 36.5%, while some companies had wage arrears of up to two years and many public sector employees received their salaries months behind schedule. Real incomes had dropped to just 40% of their value in 1991, a third of the population lived below subsistence level, while the birth rate fell and the death rate rose.

In matters of defence, “In Chechnya a regime of terror was unleashed on the population... emissaries from Al Qaeda oversaw terrorist training camps” while “outside forces with an interest in weakening Russia and perhaps even bringing about its collapse were openly inciting the separatists”. The armed forces were ill-prepared and demoralised with increasingly outdated equipment.

Finally, as far as territorial integration was concerned, some 2000 territories were near to a state of legal limbo. “ Russia itself had become a ‘patchwork’ of territories. The majority of regions had laws that contradicted the Russian Constitution. Violations in some cases were simply flagrant. There were regions, for example, that defined their status as that of a ‘sovereign state associated with the Russian Federation’.”

The result was that “ a third of our population had been left completely destitute.

The difficult economic and social situation and the loss of many reference values had dealt a severe psychological blow to our society. Social ills, corruption and crime all strengthened their hold. The demographic crisis also worsened. The birth rate fell and the death rate rose” while

“Wealthy Russia had become a land of impoverished people”.

“It was in these conditions that we began to draft and implement our plan, our plan to extract Russia from this systemic crisis. Above all, we began work on restoring constitutional order, restoring people’s basic social guarantees, and strengthening the state institutions”

Implementation of counter-measures

“Our guiding principle was that Russia’s recovery could not be carried out at the expense of the people and at a cost of even further difficulties in their lives. People had already gone through too many hardships and trials in the 1990s”.

Territorial integration

Separatism and terrorism were delivered “a crushing blow” and Chechnya, through a free and fair democratic process, is now fully integrated in the Russian Federation, forming a “common legal space”. Social and economic development responsibilities have been transferred to the regions in a pragmatic and systematic decentralization process and Russia has been rid of important decisions being taken by those with interests in commodities and monopolies.

“Not only have we once more become a united country, but throughout these years we have worked purposefully to develop federal relations”.

Economic recovery

Since 2000, total investment in the Russian economy has risen seven-fold. Capital outflow rose from 10 to 25 billion USD from 1991 to 1999, while from 2000 to 2007, the situation was reversed to an inflow of 82.3 billion USD.

The values traded in the Stock Market increased from 60 billion USD in 1999 to 1.330 trillion USD in 2007 while in the same period, stock market capitalization increased by 22 times. Foreign trade turnover rose five-fold. In 2007, GDP growth was at a record high of 8.1% and on purchasing parity basis, Russia is ahead of Italy and France and one of the largest seven economies, substantial reserves of currency have been accumulated, while the state debt is now only 3% of GDP, one of the lowest ratios in the world. Unemployment and poverty have decreased two-fold, real incomes and pensions have increased by 2.5 times and last year, the birth rate showed a marked improvement, registering the fastest growth rate in the last quarter of a century.

“All of these figures are evidence that Russia has entered a new era as a modern state that is open to the outside world, and open too to business and fair competition”.

Long-term vision for the future through to 2020

Vladimir Putin stressed, however, that there remains much to be done and was peremptory in outlining the most pressing needs:

“Although we have had some successes over these last years we have still not yet succeeded in breaking away from the inertia of development based on energy resources and commodities”.

Tracing his vision for an embitious programme for Russia’s future development, Vladimir Putin stressed the need to give Russia the best energy sector in the world, while creating high-tech enterprises in the mining and processing sectors, following a path which optimises one of Russia’s greatest assets: its human potential.

Human potential

“Human development is the main goal and essential condition for progress in modern society. This is our absolute national priority now and in the future”.

To become a world leader in social and economic development, Russia needs large-scale investment in its human capital. For this, it is essential to develop the national education system, providing the basis for consolidation Russia’s great potential in the scientific area, turning around a situation whereby Russia has the third highest number of scientists, is one of the world leaders in spending in the sciences but far from the top of the list in terms of results.

Together with the educational area, business and the private sectors must be encouraged to invest in research and development.

Regarding the public health sector, Vladimir Putin described the fact that half the men in Russia do not live to the age of 60 as a “disgrace” and aims to stabilise the population over the next three to four years, reducing the death rate by 1.5 times and increasing average life expectancy to 75 by 2020.

“This requires us to exempt from taxation as much as possible companies’ and citizens’ spending on education, medical insurance, and co-financed pension schemes”.

For Vladimir Putin, Russia “must be the leader in encouraging talent and success.

All who want to work should have the chance of earning a decent wage, and the chance too to save enough money to maintain their standard of living after retirement”.

Economic policy

“The Russian economy’s biggest problem today is that it is extremely ineffective. Labour productivity in Russia remains very low”.

For the Russian President, the priority is to achieve at least a four-fold increase in the main sectors of the Russian economy by 2020. “This also calls for strengthening and expanding our natural advantages. We need to develop the basic sectors of our economy, including natural resources processing, and we need to make use of our energy, transport and agricultural potential”.

For this, it will be necessary to implement a large-scale modernization process of production facilities, a new quality of management, new technology and equipment, not forgetting the need to invest in environmentally friendly processes. For President Putin, industries which will be able to compete globally will bring added value to the Russian economy and he highlighted the areas of “aircraft manufacturing, shipbuilding and energy....information, medical and other new technology”.

Vladimr Putin indicated three key areas for future social and economic planning:

Equal opportunities for everyone, the creation of motivation for innovative behaviour and an increase in the effectiveness of the economy, raising labour productivity.

Red tape and decision-making processes

For a successful implementation of these policies, it is necessary to upgrade a system which “is weighed down by bureaucracy and corruption and does not have the motivation for positive change, much less dynamic development”. The President pointed out that the Government “takes months and even years to take even the most elementary decisions” while it “should be the centre for coming up with the ideology and the strategic plans”. Due to the fact that the public sector employs 25 million people – a third of the labour force – “We must therefore work in constant and purposeful fashion to improve performance in the public sector, which forms the backbone of the state as a whole”.

Regional integration policy

“Today we see increasing social and economic disparity between the different regions, and there are more regions at the bottom of the scale than at the top. The disparity between regions for most of the main parameters is phenomenal, in some cases a dozens-fold gap”.

President Putin’s vision for the future includes “a new stage in regional policy aimed at ensuring...real equality between the different regions”. In this process, he stressed the need for political parties not to forget their “immense responsibility”.

Global strategy

“It is now clear that the world has entered a new spiral in the arms race. This is does not depend on us and it is not we who began it. The most developed countries, making use of their technological advantages, are spending billions on developing next-generation defensive and offensive weapons systems. Their defence investment is dozens of times higher than ours”.

While Russia has lived up to each and every one of her commitments under the CFE Treaty and other international security agreements, NATO partners have not only failed to ratify agreements, failed to honour their agreements, expand eastwards and place military structures on Russia’s doorstep, while not providing realistic explanations when asked to.

“There has been a lot of talk on these matters, but it is with sorrow in my heart that I am forced say that our partners have been using these discussions as information and diplomatic cover for carrying out their own plans. We have still not seen any real steps to look for a compromise. We are effectively being forced into a situation where we have to take measures in response, where we have no choice but to make the necessary decisions”.

To counter these trends, Vladimir Putin proposes to upgrade Russia’s weapons systems, providing equipment which is second to none, exploring the areas of bio-, nano- and information technology in systems, while being careful to bring military spending in line with Russia’s possibilities and making sure that social and developmental vectors do not suffer as a result.

“Our choice is clear. Russia is a reliable partner for the entire international community in resolving global problems. We are interested in mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas – in security, science, energy, and in tackling climate change”.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru

Source: Speech of President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin at Expanded Meeting of the State Council on Russia’s Development Strategy through to 2020, Moscow, the Kremlin, February 8, 2008

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

It's finally happening. This is essentially how the seeds for future conflicts are sown in the world. According to various western news reports, the Serbian province of Kosovo will declare itself independent on Sunday with the backing of Britain, France, Germany and the USA. If this holds true, tomorrow will be a black day in Serbian history. Such an action tomorrow will inevitably set into motion series of uncontrollable and unpredictable events in the region that will prove to be yet another black page in European history. Undoubtedly, the repercussions of this action will be dire. On a bright side, however, I hope this act serves as a wakeup call for the idiot citizenry in the West that think western governments actually concern themselves with the rule of law, justice and political diligence. After their criminal bombing campaign of Serbia in 1999, I vividly remember NATO officials vociferously stating that they are taking control over Kosovo for 'safe keeping' and that the land will officially remain a part of Serbia. Needless to say, the reaction from Russia will be something to watch, this act is after all a direct result of anti-Russian policies of certain western governments. I would like to see Moscow responding to this atrocious act by finally recognizing the truly deserving independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and perhaps positively impacting the political status of the embattled Armenian province of Nagorno karabagh. Many western sources, however, are more-or-less claiming that Russia may bark a bit but it won't be able to bite in the Balkans, nor will it risk doing so in the Caucasus. Time will tell. And time, in my opinion, will prove to be very bloody. There are Armenians today that see this development in the Balkans as a sign that the West will also one day recognize the independence of Artsakh. This situation may set a precedence that may eventually work in the favor of Armenians in Artskah. A reminder, however: First, Artsakh is Armenian and Kosovo is Serbian, thus the similarities of the situation between Kosovo and Nagorno Karabagh are inappropriate. Second, we must realize that those in the West that have been militantly seeking independence for Kosovo are the same ones that would attempt to crush such a move by Armenians in Artsakh. Third, this action is, in essence, an attempt by the West to undermine the potential growth of a political/economic union of Orthodox nations in eastern Europe lead by Russia. Thus, what is occurring in Kosovo has nothing to do with international law, human rights, freedom or democracy, it is simply nothing but dirty politics and, in my opinion, the consequence of severe Russophobia.

Armenian

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In Kosovo, It's 'Independence Eve'

Kosovo independence hours away: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtRxTmKvgqw

Serbia won't tolerate being divided: FM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar1OCUFU1e4

Tiny Kosovo — poor, mostly Muslim but feverishly pro-Western — braced itself Saturday for a historic declaration of independence from Serbia, a decade after a war that killed 10,000 people and years of limbo under U.N. rule. The province's bold bid for statehood, expected Sunday, and its quest for international recognition set up an ominous showdown with Serbia and Russia. Moscow contends the move will set a dangerous precedent for secessionist groups worldwide. Revelers took to the streets in giddy anticipation. Prime Minister Hashim Thaci — a former leader of the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army — marked the eve of the new nation's birth by visiting a village where Serbian troops massacred ethnic Albanians in 1998. "Tomorrow is a historic day in our effort to create a state," Thaci said in Prekaze, about 25 miles southeast of the capital, Pristina. Thaci, a former leader of the now-disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army, was expected to call a special session of parliament Sunday afternoon to declare an independent Republic of Kosovo and unveil a new flag and national crest. In a televised address later Saturday, Thaci said "everything is a done deal.

"We are getting our independence," he said. "The world's map is changing." In the provincial capital Pristina, the icing was on celebratory cakes and bottles of "Independence" wine chilled as the new reality sank in. "Independence is a dream for all the people of Kosovo, and I am very happy, like everybody," said Lumturije Bytyqi, 20. But Kosovo's small Serb population greeted the secession as though it were an amputation. Many vowed never to accept the loss of a region they consider the heart of their ancestral homeland. "I'm asking all the Serbs to reject the monster state of Kosovo, and to do everything to prevent its birth," said Marko Jaksic, a Kosovo Serb hard-line leader. The dancing and drum-beating that pulsed through Pristina — awash in red and black Albanian flags with the distinctive double-headed eagle — contrasted sharply with the gloom gripping the ethnically divided northern town of Kosovska Mitrovica, a Serb stronghold and a flashpoint for violence. "We are Serbs and this will always be Serbia," said a defiant Djordje Maric, 18. "We are ready to defend our territories at all costs, including with our lives." Although it is formally part of Serbia, Kosovo has been administered by the U.N. since 1999, when NATO airstrikes ended the late Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic's brutal crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

Ninety percent of Kosovo's 2 million people are ethnic Albanian — most moderate or non-practicing Muslims, the rest Roman Catholics — and they see no reason to stay joined to the rest of Christian Orthodox Serbia. With Russia, a staunch Serbian ally, determined to block the bid, Kosovo looked to the U.S. and key European powers for swift recognition as the continent's newest nation. That recognition was likely to come Monday at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium. The EU gave its final go-ahead Saturday to send an 1,800-member mission to replace the current U.N. administration. The mission is designed to help build a police, justice and customs system for Kosovo. Thaci announced the creation of a new Cabinet ministry to focus on minority rights. But the imminent independence of the territory, roughly the size of Connecticut, threatened to touch off a diplomatic crisis and possible unrest. Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing that independence without U.N. approval would set a dangerous precedent for "frozen conflicts" across the former Soviet Union and around the world, pressured the Security Council to intervene. In the Serbian capital Belgrade, about 1,000 protesters waved Serbian flags and chanted "Kosovo is the heart of Serbia." Officials ruled out any military response, but warned that Serbia would downgrade relations with any foreign government that recognizes Kosovo's independence. NATO, which still has 16,000 peacekeepers in Kosovo, boosted patrols in the tense north and in scattered isolated enclaves where most of the Serbs live in hopes of easing the chances of violence, and international police deployed Saturday to back up local forces.

Some Serbs have suffered reprisal attacks carried out by ethnic Albanians seeking to avenge the bloodshed of the 1998-99 war. There were concerns that edgy Serbs might pack up and leave, but the head of the influential Serbian Orthodox Church appealed to them Saturday to "stay in their homes and guard this holy Serbian land." Many ethnic Albanian Kosovars, their long-awaited nationhood almost upon them, expressed disbelief that it would actually happen. For others, the joy was tempered by the what lies ahead: Building a multiethnic society and lifting themselves out of poverty and 50 percent unemployment. But new posters implored people — ethnic Albanians, at least — to relax and enjoy the moment. "Celebrate with dignity," read the posters, illustrated with bright red hearts.

Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g...1ef-wD8URKOS00

NATO forces prepare for Kosovo independence

Mitrovica - French troops have erected barricades in Mitrovica, a possible flashpoint if Kosovo declares its independence on Sunday. Tensions are high in the city, which is divided by the River Ibar into ethnic Albanian and Serbian halves. Serbs regard Kosovo as the cradle of the Serbian culture and nation. Several thousand French troops have been stationed in the city to separate the two populations. Earlier today, Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci gave the clearest indication so far that the breakaway republic intended to declare its independence on Sunday. Although he did not actually say the word, 'independence', he did say, "tomorrow will be a day of calm, of understanding and state engagements for the implementation of the will of the citizens of Kosovo". Earlier this week, several of Mr Thaci's aides said that Kosovo would declare independence on Sunday. Local news media say the declaration is expected at around 14 hours UTC during a session of Kosovo's parliament in the capital Pristina.

Source: http://www.radionetherlands.nl/news/...o-independence

Nationalists rally in Belgrade against Kosovo independence

BELGRADE, Serbia: Hundreds of Serb nationalists staged a noisy rally Saturday in downtown Belgrade to protest Western support for Kosovo's bid for independence. Some 1,000 protesters waved the Serbian flag and chanted "Kosovo is the heart of Serbia" outside the embassy of Slovenia, which holds the rotating EU presidency. A cordon of police ringed the embassy and a dozen vans filled with riot police were parked on side streets around the embassy and the capital's only mosque. No incidents were reported. Earlier Saturday, a day before the province is expected to declare independence, EU nations gave final approval to dispatch a 1,800-member policing and administration mission to Kosovo, which has been run by a U.N. mission since a brief war in 1999. Protest leaders said they would present the Slovenian Embassy with a petition saying that "a free and democratic Serbia is not prepared to stand by and witness the rape of Serbia and the rape of Kosovo in a so-called democratic Europe." "We urge the Serbian people to rise up against this illegal act of tyranny," the petition said. Serbia's government condemned the EU decision to send a mission, saying it was "shameful ... because it effectively recognizes the independence of Kosovo, which remains an inalienable part of Serbia." Slobodan Samardzic, the Cabinet's minister for Kosovo, said the EU has demonstrated "that it is a fickle international organization disposed to circumventing international law (in order to) serve America's foreign policy goals." President Boris Tadic has said the country will downgrade diplomatic relations with any government that recognizes an independent Kosovo. Internationally mediated talks between Serbia and Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership on Kosovo's future broke down last year.

Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/...dependence.php

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Kosovo declares independence

Kosovo`s parliament has officially declared independence from Serbia during a special sitting in Pristina. Ethnic Albanians have been celebrating, but observers are now waiting to see how Serbia reacts. They`ve already promised to enact a special action plan. Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci told the special parliamentary session that it is creating history for the tiny province. "Now it is time for us to take the decision to put our country among the free and independent countries. I asked the speaker of parliament to convene an extraordinary session to discuss the agenda to approve the declaration of independence and the national symbols of Kosovo," he said. Flags, t-shirts, firecrackers and balloons went on sale everywhere, and cars haven't stopped blaring their hooters since Friday. Meanwhile, the Serbian government says it has a special action plan in response to the expected independence declaration of Kosovo. Petr Iskanderov, a Balkan expert from Institute of Slavonic studies in Moscow, expects a strong reaction from Serbia if Kosovo makes a unilateral declaration of independence. “The Serbian government has already come up with a plan but it will only be announced once Kosovo declares independence. Everything now depends on the Kosovan Albanians since they could be very tempted to take under control the whole of Kosovo, including the Serbian territories. If that happens and clashes between ethnic Albanians and ethnic Serbs break out in Kosovo, it's possible that Serbia will involve its military or send in volunteers,” Iskanderov said. Russia has warned that an independence vote will only encourage other separatist movements. The chairman of Russia's State Duma International Committee, Konstantin Kosachev, says Russia will raise the issue at the United Nations Security Council, and is ready to use its veto. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow confirms that any change in the international presence in Kosovo needs a new decision from the Security Council. And that would be possible only with the approval of Belgrade and Pristina.

Source: http://www.russiatoday.ru/news/news/21031

[Merv]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Serbia will take Kosovo back when the opportunity presents itself. But no doubt this is rubbing it in Russia's face, and Russia knows that. It's a very sad day for Serbia.

My worry is that with Kosovo independent, the attack on Serbia will continue both with the Muslims in Raska and with the Hungarians in Vojvodina. Furthermore, Albanians are currently rampant and will lay claim to other areas of Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia, and Greece.

At some point, Russia will need to speak up. It really feels like it's the 1870s all over again - with Orthodox Christian states being attacked on the one side by the Muslims and on the other by the German-Catholic alliance. Only Russia can do something, but will she?