The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[Armenian]

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

Russia will not allow foreign states to alter its course - Putin

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia would not allow foreign countries to alter its current development course. "We have done a lot to end internal crises in Russia, and firmly set the country on an evolutionary development track... We will not allow the process to be changed from the outside," Putin said. Putin said Russia is ready to participate more actively in the work of the Group of Eight industrialized nations, where it has been a member for the past 10 years. "Our country intends to increase its contribution to the G8," he told heads of diplomatic missions in the Kremlin. Putin said the G8 has turned into a very important institution for international cooperation. "This makes it possible for us to strengthen our positions as a donor country in the international development sphere," he said. The Russian leader said Russia undertook additional commitments a year ago to the tune of about $600 million to finance initiatives in education, infectious diseases and energy poverty. Russia's contribution to easing developing countries' debt was $12 billion, he said. Putin said regional conflicts, including the Kosovo problem and the situation around Iran's nuclear program, could not be settled by force. The U.S. and some EU states have pushed for Kosovo's independence, while Russia says that security and humanitarian requirements must be met first and that independence would set a dangerous precedent, including for post-Soviet states. Western countries suspect Iran of pursuing a secret nuclear weapons program, but the Islamic Republic says it needs nuclear power to generate electricity. Putin also said Russia hopes that Russian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) will be able to operate in a relaxed environment in the West, just like western NGOs enjoy in Russia.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071128/89984495.html

Putin says Russia needs compact, efficient Armed Forces

Russia will need a strong and efficient army to ensure national security, but it should not be oversized, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday. "We need the quantity of military equipment and the strength of the Armed Forces sufficient enough to ensure Russia's national security, but no more than that," Putin said at a meeting with defense industry experts. Russia has cut its Armed Forces to about 1.1 million personnel, but military spending has increased dramatically under President Putin. According to the budget, defense spending in 2008 will grow another 16.3% from 2007 to 956 billion rubles ($36.8 billion), and is set to total 1.184 trillion rubles ($45.5 billion) by 2010. The president said that Russia would focus on the development of all components of the nuclear triad, including ballistic missiles, strategic aviation and nuclear submarines, but will also continue to modernize its arsenal of conventional weaponry. Russia has recently resumed patrol flights of strategic bombers and continues building advanced nuclear submarines. It has also successfully tested a number of new and existing ballistic missiles. "If we conduct peaceful policies and avoid prying into the affairs of others, this [Russia's defense potential] will be enough; but at the same time, our military should be able to stop others form poking their snotty noses into our affairs," Putin reiterated on Monday.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071126/89635292.html

Russia test-fires two ballistic missiles

A missile brigade from the Siberian Military District test fired two SS-21 Scarab short-range ballistic missiles during a tactical exercise at a test site in south Russia, a military spokesman said on Wednesday. The SS-21, or Tochka, is a road-mobile single-warhead ballistic missile designed for tactical deployment. It has been in service with missile units of the Russian Ground Forces since 1976 and has a range of 70 km (45 miles). "A missile brigade conducted missile firing practices [at the Kapustin Yar testing site in the Astrakhan Region] and test launched two Tochka tactical missiles," Colonel Valery Shcheblanin said. The Tochka (SS-21 Scarab A) and Tochka-U (SS-21 Scarab B) missiles are to be gradually replaced with new Iskander-M (NATO reporting name SS-26 Stone) short-range missiles, capable of carrying multiple warheads.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071128/89898532.html

[Armenian]

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

Azeri, Russian defense ministers sign 2008 military cooperation plan

Azeri Defense Minister Safar Abiyev and Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov signed a 2008 Azeri-Russian military cooperation plan in Baku on Wednesday, the Azeri Defense Ministry told Interfax. Azerbaijan cooperates successfully with Russia in all areas, Abiyev said, adding that he hopes that Serdyukov's visit will boost Azeri- Russian military and technical cooperation. Speaking about the military and political situation in the Southern Caucasus, Abiyev said that Armenia's occupation policy in the region creates a complicated and tense situation in the region. "I regret that CIS members have not yet stated their attitude to Armenia's aggressive policy and did not make any practical moves in the area," the Azeri defense minister said. Speaking about the Gabala radar station, Abiyev said that this radar is Azerbaijan's property and that is why any decision on its use cannot be made without Azerbaijan. Serdyukov said at the meeting that bilateral ties will continue to grow in the future. The parties also exchanged opinions on further bilateral military cooperation, as well as on cooperation in training staff. ar rp

Source: http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/...issue=11919032

[Armenian]

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

Although the following article does not deal with the Russian Federation specifically, it does nevertheless highlight the massive buying spree oil producing nations have been embarked on as of late. In the case of Russia, some of the billions spent have been Kremlin inspired 'strategic' investments. The geopolitical impact of this situation will be felt in the future, to the detriment of the West.

Armenian

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Oil Producers See the World and Buy It Up

Flush with petrodollars, oil-producing countries have embarked on a global shopping spree. With a bold outlay of $7.5 billion, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is about to become one of the largest shareholders in Citigroup. The bank had already experienced the petrodollar’s power this month when another major shareholder, Prince Walid bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, cleared the way for the ouster of its chief executive, Charles O. Prince III. The Dubai stock exchange, meanwhile, is negotiating for 20 percent of a newly merged company that includes Nasdaq and the operator of stock markets in the Nordic region. Qatar, like Dubai a sheikdom in the Persian Gulf, might compete in that deal.

In late October, Dubai, which has little oil but is part of the region’s energy economy, bought part of Och-Ziff Capital Management, a hedge fund in New York. Abu Dhabi this month invested in Advanced Micro Devices, the chip maker, and in September bought into the Carlyle Group, a private equity giant. Experts estimate that oil-rich nations have a $4 trillion cache of petrodollar investments around the world. And with oil prices likely to remain in the stratosphere, that number could increase rapidly. In 2000, OPEC countries earned $243 billion from oil exports, according to Cambridge Energy Research Associates. For all of 2007 the estimate was more than $688 billion, but that did not include the last two months of price spikes.

“If you look at gulf countries, they have a total common economy that is about the size of the Netherlands,” said Edward L. Morse, chief energy economist of Lehman Brothers. “These are tiny countries, but they have to place collectively over $5 billion a week from their oil revenues. It’s not an easy thing to do.”

The explosion in investment has set up some of its own cross-currents. While the recent decline in the value of the dollar is making investment in the United States cheaper, many investors are holding back out of fear that the dollar will decline further, diminishing the worth of their dollar holdings. Many oil investors are also worried about a potential political reaction in the United States similar to the furor of last year when Dubai tried to acquire a company that operates American ports. European leaders, at the same time, worry that Russia is using its oil revenues to snatch up pipelines and other energy infrastructure in their region. Such concerns seem to be driving investments to other parts of the world, many analysts say.

“The investments are diversifying outside the United States, though the U.S. still has the bulk of it,” said Diana Farrell, director of the McKinsey Global Institute, a research arm of the McKinsey consulting firm, which calculated in October that petrodollar investments reached $3.4 trillion to $3.8 trillion at the end of 2006. “Europe is a prime target,” she added, “but at least 25 percent of foreign investments from the Persian Gulf are in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.” Though oil-producing countries have been looking at investments in the West since the 1970s, their strategies back then were largely confined to safe assets with a low return, like United States Treasury debt.

By 2001, with the collapse in oil prices, many of the oil exporters had depleted their dollar reserves, economists say. But the boom in oil prices in the last five years has changed all that. It has persuaded oil producers to set up or expand “sovereign wealth funds” as vehicles to invest far more aggressively in the West, in their own economies and in emerging markets. Other petrodollar investments are made through government-owned corporations, corporations and individuals like Prince Walid, who owns stakes not only in Citigroup but also News Corporation, Procter & Gamble, Hewlett-Packard, PepsiCo, Time Warner and Walt Disney. The oil-rich nations are also investing more in real estate, private equity funds and hedge funds, analysts say, and increasingly they are investing the money on their own, bypassing the major financial institutions of the United States and Europe.

“The oil-producing countries simply cannot absorb the amount of wealth they are generating,” said J. Robinson West, chairman of PFC Energy. “We are seeing a transfer of wealth of historic dimensions. It is not just Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Investment funds are being set up in places like Kazakhstan and Equatorial Guinea.”

Precise figures of the global picture in petrodollars are not easy to come by, in part because the big investors in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere are not obliged to disclose their portfolios or activities. The lack of transparency is a problem to leaders of Western industrial economies. In October, Henry M. Paulson Jr., Treasury secretary of the United States, and the finance ministers of other major industrial democracies called for an international code of “best practices” by cross-border investors requiring greater disclosure of assets and actions. The petrodollar era has benefited the world economy, economists say, notably by enhancing liquidity at a time when foreign currency reserves of export giants in Asia are also making the world flush with cash. Recently Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, has spoken of a “global savings glut” that has lowered interest rates worldwide. Ms. Farrell, of the McKinsey Institute, estimates that petrodollars may have kept American interest rates three-quarters of a percentage point lower than they would otherwise be, a direct benefit to American consumers. But the flood of investments is also causing problems, like overheated economies and asset bubbles in oil-rich nations.

“The gulf countries are pouring credit into their economies, adding to excess liquidity,” said Charles H. Dallara, managing director of the International Institute of Finance, an organization of leading private financial companies. “It is eroding the earning power of local citizens and becoming a source of economic instability over time.”

Some investment deals have fallen through, to the embarrassment of all sides. This year Qatar sought to do a leveraged buyout of a retailer in Britain, the J Sainsbury supermarket chain. After starting the bid in July, Qatar faced concerns from unions, the Sainsbury family and others over whether the Qataris wanted Britain’s third-largest grocery chain just for the underlying real estate and whether the company could survive the amount of debt being incurred. The deal fell through three weeks ago, , when Qatar said that the global credit squeeze made the borrowing costs too high. The decline in the dollar has also introduced new uncertainties into predicting petrodollar investment patterns. C. Fred Bergsten, director of the Peterson Institute of International Economics, said that while some countries in the gulf were trying to diversify their investments away from the dollar and into euros and pounds sterling, the Saudis were trying to quell that trend out of fear that the dollar will decline further and diminishing the value of their assets. A measure of discord over the dollar was apparent at the OPEC meeting in Saudi Arabia this month. Iran and Venezuela, the two biggest political foes of the United States among the oil producers, complained that oil was being sold in a currency whose value was eroding by the day.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/bu...rodollars.html

[Armenian]

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

Kasparov has to stick to playing chess.

It's very sad. He went from world class chess player to world class clown. Now the clown in question is simply a mascot for Neocon interests in Russia.

Armenian

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Kasparov Warns of ‘Chaos’ in Russia

Released from jail after serving a five-day sentence for leading an opposition march, Garry Kasparov, the former chess champion, warned today that Russia was heading toward chaos under President Vladimir V. Putin. Mr. Kasparov said his coalition, Other Russia, would continue its protests against the Kremlin in order to spotlight what he described as a government that has grown increasingly repressive. “We’ve entered a very dangerous period because we don’t know where this is going to stop,” he said at an impromptu news conference outside his home in Moscow shortly after being freed. The failure of the government to abide by its own laws and Constitution, he said, “could result in a catastrophe for the whole country.”

Mr. Kasparov was arrested last Saturday when he and other members of his coalition tried to deliver a letter to federal election officials contending that the parliamentary election this Sunday is biased toward Mr. Putin’s party, United Russia. Mr. Kasparov said he had not been treated badly behind bars, but complained that he had been denied access to a lawyer and that a court would not hear evidence in his defense. President Bush and other Western leaders had expressed alarm about Mr. Kasparov’s arrest, but the Kremlin dismissed their concerns, saying that Mr. Kasparov had violated the law by holding an unauthorized march and thus had faced appropriate punishment. Mr. Kasparov’s release came as Mr. Putin made a direct, televised appeal to the nation to support United Russia, which is expected to win an overwhelming victory on Sunday. The president has used the government’s full authority to assist the party and hobble the opposition, and his speech was widely covered by the national television networks, which are under the Kremlin’s control.

“Please, do not think that everything is predetermined and the pace of development we have attained, the direction of our movement toward success will be maintained automatically by itself,” Mr. Putin said. “This is a dangerous illusion.”

Mr. Putin once again raised the specter of the difficult years after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, saying that the opposition would return the country to a time of “humiliation, dependency and disintegration.” Meanwhile, in a Moscow court today, another adversary of Mr. Putin, the Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, was convicted in absentia of embezzling millions of dollars from the national airline, Aeroflot. Mr. Berezovsky, a onetime Putin ally who is now one of his most vocal critics, received a sentence of six years in prison. He lives in Britain, and did not contest the charges, saying that they were trumped up by the Kremlin. British authorities would not extradite him.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/wo...html?ref=world

[Virgil]

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

Notice the one sided attack on Putin, if you were to go ask the majority of Russians how they feel about Putin they will all support him because he is a "strong Russian leader", but again the media tries to skew his image, next thing you know we are going to invade Russian for "to spread democracy". It is all a act to push forward "United Russia", pro-western coalition.

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Garry Kasparov freed from prison

Broad coalition

"This regime is entering a very dangerous phase that is turning it into a dictatorship," Mr Kasparov told reporters as he returned to his Moscow apartment.

"Fear is the only chance this regime has to survive," he said.

Other Russia brings together a broad coalition of mainstream politicians, leftists and nationalists, all of whom are opposed to the Kremlin.

They have been barred from fielding candidates in the 2 December elections to the lower house because they did not meet the electoral commission's strict requirements.

Mr Putin stands down when Russia elects a new president in March 2008, as the constitution bars him from seeking a third consecutive term.

He has decided to stand as a parliamentary candidate - which effectively guarantees him a seat in the next parliament.
Story from BBC NEWS:

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...pe/7119714.stm

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Harassment claims mar Russia poll
By Richard Galpin
BBC News, Krasnoyarsk

Russian President Vladimir Putin has assured foreign ambassadors that the parliamentary election on Sunday will be honest, transparent and - as he put it - "without systematic flaws or shortcomings".

But already some election monitoring groups and human rights organisations have accused the authorities of trying to manipulate the result by intimidating the opposition and pressurising voters into supporting the ruling party - United Russia.

Although in many ways this is a non-election - as it is widely assumed United Russia will again win a massive majority - much more rides on the result now that Mr Putin has become the party's top candidate.

United Russia is portraying the vote as a referendum on Mr Putin's eight years in office.

And when he visited Krasnoyarsk early in the campaign, Mr Putin himself increased the stakes by saying a big majority would give him the "moral right" to continue to wield political influence even after he comes to the end of his term as president next spring.

Fraud allegations

There is another key difference from the last election.

All the powerful regional governors now owe their loyalty to the Kremlin. Instead of being elected by the local population, they are directly appointed by Mr Putin.

No surprise, then, that 75% of the governors have decided to run as the top candidates for the ruling party in their regions.

"Now there is an unique factor that was never before present in elections," said Nikolai Petrov, an expert on Russian regional government at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Moscow.

"The goal for governors is to deliver as many votes as possible... it is an exam for them to prove their loyalty and efficiency.

"So I would say that fraud is inevitable and will be higher than ever," Mr Petrov said.

'Warning'

A dingy apartment block in Krasnoyarsk might seem a strange place to go in search of evidence of this election being manipulated.

On voting day, all of them [work colleagues]have to call me by midday to say that they have voted for United Russia
Krasnoyarsk civil servant

But inside one of the small flats there was a civil servant who was willing to talk to us because - as she put it - she was "so disgusted with United Russia". She asked us to disguise her identity.

At a meeting at work three weeks ago, she says she was told by her manager that she would be responsible for all the staff in the office living in the same district as her.

"On voting day, all of them have to call me by midday to say that they have voted for United Russia," she said.

"I was told it was serious. It was like a warning," she went on.

Court case

Earlier, outside a city court, we came across another disillusioned citizen of Krasnoyarsk.

Vladislav Korolyov is local leader of the small liberal opposition party, the Union of Right Forces, which won seats in the regional parliament earlier this year.

We met him as he was about to enter court to hear the result of a case he had brought against police who confiscated almost two million election leaflets from his party earlier this month.

The police said the leaflets contained illegal advertising. The judge ruled in their favour.

Mr Korolyov was not surprised by the court's decision, alleging it was part of a "nationwide police operation" against his party.

"It includes following us around, bugging our phones and confiscating material," he said.

"Why are they so afraid of our party if the opinion polls show we will only get 1% [of the vote]," he added.

United Russia rally

From another building across town on a crisp Siberian winter's evening came the sound of Dixieland jazz.

It was followed by traditional Russian singing, high-energy dance music, and a low-energy boy-band.

Between the music came speeches and rapturous applause. It was a big campaign event for United Russia which - as in Moscow and elsewhere - was perfectly choreographed.

In the midst of the audience sat the chief guest - the governor of Krasnoyarsk, Alexander Khloponin.

Still in his early 40s, he is a popular man. As a former manager of a huge Siberian mining and metals conglomerate, he is respected as an efficient and energetic administrator.

"He's relatively liberal by the standards of Russian regional politics," says Prof Grigoriy Golosov of St Petersburg European University.

"And he's done a lot to promote the image of the region," he adds.

The governor was quick to dismiss the allegations that some members of his administration were trying to manipulate the election result in favour of the ruling party.

"Do you know anywhere where the opposition says anything else? It's the same everywhere," Mr Khloponin said.

But he pledged to take action if any official was caught acting illegally.

"If there is a real fact that someone has pressurised people, then that person will lose his job."

Mr Khloponin is said to be close to President Putin, but he denies being under any pressure from the Kremlin over the election.

"I feel no pressure," he said.

"I am responsible before our party. If people vote for other parties that means I have not been very effective."

He left with another pledge - that the election in Krasnoyarsk would be interesting and competitive with the Communist party doing well.

On Monday, the people of Krasnoyarsk will know how much of a contest there has been.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...pe/7120140.stm

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Putin in TV appeal for his party

President Vladimir Putin has urged Russians to vote for his United Russia party in Sunday's parliamentary election, in a televised address.

"I ask you to come to the polls and vote for United Russia," he said.

President Putin, who cannot run for a third term in presidential elections next March, tops the list of United Russia's candidates.

Mr Putin said Sunday's result would "set the tone" for the March election. United Russia is expected to triumph.

He said a vote for United Russia would ensure "stability and continuity", rather than the turmoil of the 1990s.

"We cannot allow the return to power of those who once tried but failed to rule the country," he said, referring to the liberal politicians who advised his predecessor Boris Yeltsin.

He said his opponents "want to reshape Russia's development plans and change the course supported by our nation, bringing back the times of humiliation, dependence and disintegration".

Liberal opposition parties accuse the Kremlin of harassment and domination of the mass media. Police have broken up several opposition rallies, detaining the organisers.

One of them, former chess champion Garry Kasparov, was freed from jail on Thursday.

He had been held since Saturday, when police broke up a protest rally he was attending.

Mr Kasparov said he was not given access to a lawyer, and warned that Russia was sliding into dictatorship.

"Such a huge number of violations shows that our authorities have assumed a fundamentally new quality...

"The blank cheque that Putin has unfortunately received from the heads of democratic states at the numerous G7 meetings that he attended has apparently convinced the Russian authorities that they can behave totally shamelessly.

"We are in effect entering a very dangerous period because it is not clear where they will stop. They have already started sorting things out inside Putin's circle; the legal situation after 2 December is totally unclear," Mr Kasparov said.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...pe/7118480.stm

[Virgil]

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

Notice they don't introduce the person as human being xyz, they introduce him as "Russian Cheerleader", what is wrong with these newspaper do you think people are stupid? What he says makes 100% sense in terms of capitalist markets and national interests, but because a strong Russian means that they will have to bow their heads to Russian oil monopoly, western states want to derail Russian authonomy by creating a revolution from the inside. These threats coming from states that preach Friedman's shock economics (i.e. Reagan and Thatcher). Incidently I am sure if you asked every body in Iraq if they wanted oil pipelines drawn to Israel, not even 10% would have agreed to it, but today that is what is happening. When we are meddling in Iraq, it is called "democracy", this apprently is the logic, to invade countries, sell the lucrative sectors at rock bottom prices (Derailing national interests in the process) to big western business men, while the people lose their way of life and are thus, dependent on these big business for jobs and economic security, creating slaves in the process.

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Viewpoint: Pro-Putin cheerleader

With just days to go before Russia's parliamentary election Andrei Tatarinov, an activist for the youth wing of the United Russia party, explains how he came to be a Putin loyalist.

Mr Tatarinov, 19, is a Muscovite journalism student and head of "counter-propaganda" for the Young Guard, United Russia's youth wing. He believes Vladimir Putin has a key role to play even after his presidential term ends in 2008.

I used to be a follower of Eduard Limonov's National Bolshevik Party. I was going through a rebellious phase, reading books about Che Guevara, Trotsky, the Russian Revolution.

I continued to mix with the opposition, with the liberals, until I finally decided to quit altogether because I could not understand why Russia was supposed to hand back the Kuril Islands to Japan and Karelia to Finland.

Here was a guy [Vladimir Putin] no longer swayed by beautiful banners and the rebel aesthetic but starting to understand ideology. Gradually I found myself agreeing with our government's course, and finally I joined the Young Guard.

Incidentally, two weeks ago I was in a restaurant in central Moscow when somebody smashed the side window of my car. They left a note saying "We know where you are". I think the opposition see me as their personal enemy.

Sovereign nation

One aspect of the Young Guard's ideology is defence of national sovereignty, whether political or cultural.

One of our problems is that we [in Russia] eat at McDonalds more often than we go to church. McDonalds is fine, but we have let ourselves be overwhelmed by Western culture.

Ukraine and Georgia are countries which lost their sovereignty. It's just not right when you can't take a decision without having to consult Washington first.

I agree absolutely with Putin that the collapse of the USSR was, in geopolitical terms, a disaster. I regret losing such a great and vast country but I am not sorry we lost the communist system.

Unfortunately, ill-educated people find it hard to distinguish patriotism from nationalism. Of course, the Young Guard is against racism and nationalism, which are impermissible in a country with an ethnic mix like Russia's.

I have friends from the Caucasus but here is one interesting point: if a Russian hits a Caucasian, it is fascism, yet when a Caucasian hits a Russian, it is not called fascism but something else.

At ease with power

Nashi [the best-known pro-Putin youth group] are our partners. The difference is that they are involved in social projects while our projects are purely political.

I do not feel like a Komsomol [the USSR's communist youth movement] member. For me the typical Komsomol member was some browbeaten boy seeking to please his bosses.

We in the Young Guard would just laugh at the idea of trying to suck up to our peers in United Russia.

I'm not afraid that United Russia might turn into a political monster. It is a skilled political instrument, without which we would wallow in populism.

I would like to see a two-party system in Russia eventually, like in Britain - two strong parties.

But today's opposition are either anarchists or they want to drag us backwards - to the chaos of the 1990s or to the communist past.

After the vodka

Is United Russia bigger than Putin? United Russia is Putin.

Putin has become more than a president, more than a leader. We were like a nation without a father.

Russia used to be seen as all vodka and bears but thanks to Putin it is now regarded as a heavyweight. And Putin has brought Russia stability.

He will leave the presidency but he will remain a national leader.

For now it remains a secret what new position he will occupy. He has given us hints but we are not revealing anything!

In any case, everything will be within the framework of the constitution.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...pe/7113253.stm

[Armenian]

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

Armenia to join Russian international uranium enrichment center

Armenia's government has approved a plan to join an international uranium enrichment center in Russia, the government's press service said on Thursday. The center, part of Moscow's non-proliferation initiative to create a network of enrichment centers under the UN nuclear watchdog's supervision, will be based at a chemical plant in Angarsk, Siberia. The center will also be responsible for the disposal of nuclear waste. "At its Thursday meeting, the government of Armenia endorsed a proposal to join an agreement between the governments of Russia and Kazakhstan on the establishment of an International Uranium Enrichment Center," it said. Russia had previously said it would grant any country in the world the use of the future center. Russia and its ex-Soviet neighbor Kazakhstan, which holds 15% of the world's uranium reserves, signed an agreement in October 2006 to establish their first joint venture to enrich uranium, intended to begin in 2013. Ukraine's Fuel and Energy Ministry said in June that the country intended to join the project in the near future. Russian President Vladimir Putin first raised the idea of joint nuclear enrichment centers early last year, in a bid to defuse tension over Iran's controversial nuclear program. The president said the centers would give countries transparent access to civilian nuclear technology without provoking international fears that enriched uranium could be used for covert weapons programs.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/world/20071129/90130653.html

[Armenian]

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

Russia suspends arms control pact

President Vladimir Putin has signed a law which suspends Russia's participation in a treaty limiting military forces in Europe. It follows its adoption earlier this month by the Russian parliament. The Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, signed in 1990, limits the deployment of tanks, aircraft and other heavy conventional weapons. Russia says the suspension is a reply to the non-ratification of the treaty by Nato countries. The law will come into effect on 12 December, allowing Russia to boost its troop levels on its western and southern borders, although no imminent plans to this effect have been announced. Nato members, led by the United States, have refused to ratify the CFE treaty until Moscow withdraws its troops from the former Soviet republics of Moldova and Georgia, as Russia had promised in 1999.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7120658.stm

[Armenian]

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

Abkhazian Deputy Defense Minister: we will be side by side with South Ossetia and Karabakh

If something happens in South Ossetia or Karabakh we will be by their side, Abkhazian Deputy Defense Minister Gary Kupalba said when addressing the panel of the permanent coordination council of Cossack atamans in Yerevan. He voiced assurance in peaceful resolution of conflicts in the region and in triumph of right of nations to self-determination. For his part, council’s deputy chairman Sergei Madatyan said that a monument to his renowned ancestor, hero of 1812 war Valerian Madatov will be erected in Yerevan and NKR in the near future, IA Regnum reports.

Source: http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=24201&page=4

[Virgil]

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

Voting starts in Russian election

Polling stations have opened in the Russian capital, Moscow, as the country votes in general elections over 22 hours across 11 time zones.

Eleven parties are competing for places in the lower house, the Duma - though it is not clear how many will secure the 7% needed to qualify for seats.

President Vladimir Putin's party is predicted to win, boosting his bid to retain power after leaving the Kremlin.

Opposition parties have accused the government of stifling their campaigns.

Independent monitors say their attempts to observe the poll have been hampered.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has abandoned its plans to send a big team of election observers to Russia after accusing the Russian government of imposing unacceptable restrictions and of deliberately delaying the issuing of visas. Russia has denied the claims.

Only a much smaller group of MPs from the OSCE's parliamentary assembly will be in attendance.

That means just 330 foreign monitors will cover 95,000 polling stations.

The British ambassador in Moscow, Tony Brenton, told the BBC it appeared there had been what he called imbalances and misuses of the administration in this election.

The largest party in the Duma going into the elections is United Russia, and it will be hoping to maintain its dominance against the challenge from the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, the Yabloko party and others.

Mr Putin is at the top of the United Russia party list - opening the possibility that he could keep a grip on power from parliament even after stepping down as president next year.

Within Russia the media is banned from referring to parties, politicians, policies or opinion polls for the duration of the election.

Eastern start

Voting began at 0800 on Sunday (2000 GMT, Saturday) in Russia's easterly region of Kamchatka, about 6,000km (3,700 miles) east of Moscow.

Voting is not set to end until 22 hours later, when polls are due to close in the enclave of Kaliningrad, on the Baltic Sea, 11 time zones to the west.

The BBC's Richard Galpin, in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, says that in the far east of the country the turnout already seems high, with almost 40% of voters casting their ballots by early afternoon.

In Krasnoyarsk, our correspondent says, the elderly led the way - no doubt keen to take advantage of an offer of a free medical check up and advice on pensions and benefits.

Sailors in the port of Vladivostok waited at a polling station to cast their votes on Sunday morning.

"I'll vote for United Russia," Vladimir Babikov, 19, told the AFP news agency.

"They've done a good job, everything is getting better."

In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Alexei Gutkin, a 42-year-old engineer, voted for the centre-right Union of Right Forces.

"United Russia is like a return to the Communist Party," he said. "I remember that time well."

'Farce'

The run-up to the vote has been marred by increasing allegations that the poll could be rigged.

Correspondents say more and more ordinary people have been speaking out in interviews with the mainstream media and on internet blogs about how they have been pressured to vote for United Russia.

Opposition rallies have been broken up, parties have complained that their headquarters have been raided, and that state media has been a mouthpiece for the government.

The former chess grandmaster and Kremlin critic Garry Kasparov has dismissed the elections as a "farce". His political grouping is one of several to be barred from contesting the poll.

More than 100 million voters are eligible to cast ballots at 95,000 polling stations across the country, with about 450,000 police officers reportedly on duty to ensure order.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...pe/7123198.stm