The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[Virgil]

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

Interesting link to Wikipedia article on "Russian Ground Forces"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Ground_Forces

[Virgil]

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

Pravda
Russians elect new parliament, Putin's party expected to win

Russians go to the polls Sunday to elect the new parliament. The main intrigue of the current parliamentary elections in Russia is whether President Putin's party United Russia wins the majority of seats in the State Duma.

The election follows months of increasingly acidic rhetoric against the West and efforts - by law and by truncheon - to stifle opponents.

A huge win for Putin's United Russia party could pave the way for him to stay at the country's helm once his presidential term expires in the spring. The party casts the election as essentially a referendum on Putin's nearly eight years in office. Many of its campaign banners that festoon the capital read "Moscow is voting for Putin."

Putin is constitutionally prohibited from running for a third consecutive term as president in March. But he clearly wants to keep his hand on the helm in Russia, and has raised the prospect of becoming prime minister; many supporters have suggested his becoming a "national leader," though what duties and powers that would entail are unclear.

He has said that a strong showing for the party Sunday would give him the moral right to ensure that politicians continue his policies. Recent opinion polls suggest the party could win up to 80 percent of seats.

The dominance of United Russia provoked a fatalistic attitude in some voters.

"I think the result was pretty much planned in advance. I don't know who I'll vote for; I'll decide when I get to the booth," said Ivan Kudrashov, in his 20s, as he entered Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral for Sunday Mass.

The vote is the first national ballot under new election laws that have been widely criticized as marginalizing opposition forces. All the seats will be awarded proportionately to how much of the vote a party receives; in previous elections, half the seats were chosen among candidates contesting a specific district, which allowed a few mavericks to get in.

The new laws also say a party must receive at least 7 percent of the national vote to get any seats - up from the previous 5 percent. A poll by the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center in mid-November showed the Communists and two other parties hovering near the cutoff point.

Opposition parties, meanwhile, claim authorities have confiscated campaign materials and that the managers of halls have refused to rent them out for opposition meetings. Police have violently broken up opposition rallies - most recently in Moscow and St. Petersburg last weekend - and national television gives the parties hardly any coverage.

Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion who has become one of the most prominent opposition leaders, called the election a "farce" Friday, a day after being released from jail following his arrest in the weekend protests.

In contrast to the near invisibility of the opposition on television, Putin's speeches to supporters have been broadcast in full and repeated throughout evening newscasts.

Sunday's vote "meets none of the criteria of a free, fair and democratic election. In effect, it is not even an election," Andrei Illarionov, a former adviser to Putin, wrote in a commentary for the Cato Institute think-tank.

Under Putin, once-struggling Russia has become inundated with oil revenue, a nascent middle-class is developing and the war against terrorists in Chechnya has faded into sporadic, small clashes. Russia's newly assertive military policy and inclination to taunt and criticize the West appeals strongly to Russians who suffered physically and emotionally in the early post-Soviet years.

"We believe in Putin and we love Putin dearly," said Tamara Posekhova, a 60ish Mass-goer at the Moscow cathedral. "We want him to go on working for the country."

But with the competition stifled and the election result seen as a foregone conclusion, many of the 107 million eligible to vote could find apathy and inertia weakening any desire to brave winter weather to cast ballots.

Authorities throughout Russia's 11 time zones appeared determined to ensure a sizable turnout, through pressure, persuasion and even presents. In Novorossiisk, voters had a chance to win a car, laptop computers and cellular phones, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. Another region promised new housing will be built in whichever village shows the most "mature" turnout.

Teachers, doctors and other workers have complained that their bosses are ordering them to vote - usually with the implication that they should vote for United Russia.

With Russia showing an increasingly assertive military policy and with foreign hunger growing for Russia's oil, gas and minerals, the election is of strong interest overseas. But international organizations are not able to watch as closely as they had hoped.

The elections-monitoring arm of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, regarded in the West as the most authoritative assessor of whether an election is fair, canceled plans to send observers. It said Russia had delayed granting visas for so long that the organization would be unable to conduct a meaningful assessment of election preparations.

Russia has criticized monitoring by the OSCE elsewhere in the former Soviet Union as supporting protests that forced leadership changes, but it denied that it was impeding operations in Russia. Putin claimed the pullout was initiated by the United States in an effort to discredit the elections and his government.

A total of about 300 observers from various international organizations were scheduled to monitor the voting.

Disdain for the West has been one of the dominating themes of the election. Putin called his opponents "foreign-fed jackals" last month and warned that Russia will not tolerate meddling from abroad.

Source: http://english.pravda.ru/news/russia...02104-Russia-0

[Virgil]

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

President party's campaign scares some voters

Vladimir Putin's aggressive campaign to mobilize voter support for his party has made it a near certainty that it will sweep Sunday's parliamentary election.

Many Russians, though, say they have found the campaign obtrusive. And this is true not only on the streets of Moscow but in places like Yekaterinburg, a snow-covered industrial city in the Ural Mountains.

While the Kremlin and its allies have worked hard in recent weeks to create the impression that Putin and his party are riding a groundswell of voter enthusiasm, some Russians criticize the governing party's attempt to use Putin's popularity to secure victory.

"It's more of a personality cult than a clever campaign tactic," said Viktor Ishukov, 40, a state energy company employee in Yekaterinburg.

"None of the people I know supports Putin and many have been put off by exactly this obtrusive campaign," he said. "Everyone is sick of it, United Russia is everywhere: in your mail box, on TV, on the radio."

With a population of about 1.5 million, Yekaterinburg is Russia's fourth largest city and is among the country's fastest-developing, with new office and residential buildings towering above old ones.

This historic 18th century city has witnessed some of the grimmest moments in Russian history: This is where the Bolsheviks executed the last czar, Nicholas II, along with his family in 1918. The city, known in Soviet times as Sverdlovsk, was also the site of a deadly 1979 anthrax outbreak that American scientists blamed on an accident at a biological weapons plant.

There were few signs of the election campaign on Yekaterinburg's streets, with only a few billboards advertising United Russia along with other pro-Kremlin parties. Two activists with the liberal Yabloko party stood on a busy commercial street handing out leaflets.

Andrei Khachaturov, Yabloko spokesman in Yekaterinburg, alleged that in recent weeks local officials have harassed the opposition by seizing party newspapers and mobilizing voters for United Russia. Local universities, he said, have scheduled classes for Sunday so they can be certain all their students show up to vote.

"They want to ... legitimize the next parliament because it's likely it will be void of any liberal opposition," he said.

Slava xxxhkov, of the Movement Against Violence rights group, said that his mother was a longtime supporter of United Russia but became disenchanted during the campaign. She was upset with United Russia's eighth party congress Oct. 1, he said, where Putin announced he would lead the party ticket in Sunday's elections.

The congress was reminiscent to many of Communist Party congresses of the Soviet era. "This is a complete return to the past," xxxhkov quoted his mother as saying.

Putin has said a big victory for United Russia would give him the "moral authority" to hold the government and parliament accountable. It could also pave the way for him to return as president in 2012, or sooner if the next elected president does not complete his term. The constitution bars Putin from seeking a third consecutive term in the March 2 presidential election.

Putin and United Russia also have their supporters here. Gyulnara Gyumusheva and Marina Zvereva, 18-year-old law students, said they will vote for the United Russia ticket Sunday. "We support our president," said Gyumusheva. No one, they said, has pressured them into voting for the dominant party.

Retiree Vitaly Kuznetsov, 57, standing at a bus stop, said he would vote for Putin and United Russia as well, although his support was tempered by doubts the president had done all he claimed. "Even though there is still no stability, at least he has slowly started to put things in order," Kuznetsov said.

The former metal worker, who lives on a monthly pension of 3,000 rubles, or about US$125, did not seem to feel his vote counted for much anyway. "In our country, no matter who you vote for, they will anyway put in power someone of their own choice," he said.

Tatyana Repina, 37, a saleswoman in a boutique, said she has not decided which party to support. But she said many of her family and friends have been put off by United Russia's use of Putin's popularity as their trump card in the election.

"It's not honest to use the president as a cover," she said.

Source: http://english.pravda.ru/news/russia...tin_campaign-0

[Armenian]

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

GAZPROMBANK ACQUIRES 80 PERCENT OF SHARES OF AREXIMBANK

Gazprombank has acquired 80.09 percent of shares of the Armenian Areximbank, bank press services said. The decision to buy shares in Areximbank was conditioned by higher trade turnover between the two countries, increased investment by Russian companies into the Armenian economy and some other factors. Proceeding from the interests of the chief buyer, Gazprom, Gazprombank had expressed an intention to buy a bank in Armenia back in September. Armenian-Russian Export-Import Bank (Areximbank) was established in 1998 with the aim to support entrepreneurship between Armenia and Russia. In August, 2005 Moscow Impxbank purchased 19.91 percent of shares of Areximbank. The total capital of the bank as of September, 2007 amounts 3 404 027 thousand drams with 17 441 441 thousand drams in debits and 14 037 414 thousand drams in credits.

Source: http://www.panorama.am/en/economy/2007/12/03/banks/

[skhara]

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

GAZPROMBANK ACQUIRES 80 PERCENT OF SHARES OF AREXIMBANK

Perhaps the entity we now know as the Russian Federation will be renamed to Gazpromland. Perhaps the entire, former Soviet Union.

[Armenian]

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

Putin's party overwhelms Russia election

Vladimir Putin's party won a crushing victory in parliamentary elections Sunday, paving the way for the authoritarian leader to remain in control even after he steps down as president. The vote followed a tense Kremlin campaign that relied on a combination of persuasion and intimidation to ensure victory for the United Russia party and for Putin, who has used a flood of oil revenues to move his country into a more assertive position on the global stage. "The vote affirmed the main idea: that Vladimir Putin is the national leader, that the people support his course, and this course will continue," party leader and parliament speaker Boris Gryzlov said after exit polls were announced.

Several opposition leaders accused the Kremlin of rigging the vote, and the Bush administration called for a probe into voting irregularities. Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov called the election "the most irresponsible and dirty" in the post-Soviet era and party officials vowed to challenge the results. With ballots from 85 percent of precincts counted, United Russia was leading with 63.3 percent, while the Communists trailed with 11.7 percent, the Central Election Commission said. The Kremlin portrayed the election as a plebiscite on Putin's nearly eight years as president -- with the promise that a major victory would allow him somehow to remain leader after his second term ends next year. Putin is constitutionally prohibited from running for a third consecutive term, but he clearly wants to stay in power. A movement has sprung up in recent weeks to urge him to become a "national leader," though what duties and powers that would entail are unclear. Pollsters said United Russia's performance would give it an overwhelming majority of 306 seats in the 450-seat State Duma, or lower house. The Communists would have 57 seats.

Two other pro-Kremlin parties -- the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party and populist Just Russia -- also appeared to have made it into parliament, with 8.4 percent and 8 percent, respectively. One Liberal Democratic Party deputy will be Andrei Lugovoi, a former KGB officer and chief suspect in the poisoning death of Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London last year. Russia has refused to hand Lugovoi over to Britain, and the Duma seat provides him with immunity from prosecution. No other parties passed the 7 percent threshold for gaining seats in the legislature. Both opposition liberal parties were shut out, predicted to win no more than 2 or 3 percent of the vote each. Many Russians complained Sunday about being pressured to cast their ballots, with teachers, doctors and others saying they had been ordered by their bosses to vote at their workplaces. "People are being forced and threatened to vote; otherwise they won't get their salaries or pensions," said Boris Nemtsov, leader of the liberal Union of Right Forces party. Dozens of voters reported being paid to cast ballots for United Russia, said Alexander Kynev, a political expert with election monitoring group Golos. In the town of Pestovo in the western Novgorod region, voters complained they were given ballots already filled out for United Russia, he said.

In Chechnya, where turnout was over 99 percent, witnesses reported seeing election authorities filling out and casting voter ballots in the suburbs of the regional capital, Grozny. There was a tense, subdued mood at some polling stations. Yelena, a 32-year-old manager in St. Petersburg, refused to give her last name out of fear of official retaliation for voting for the liberal Yabloko party. "We live in a country with an absence of democracy and freedom of speech," she said. Many voters were reluctant to discuss their vote -- a shift since the late 1980s, when Russians complained loudly about their government. One elderly woman, a veteran of a defense research institute, refused to give her name and only acknowledged that she had voted for Yabloko when she was certain no one else was listening. The authorities, she said, would not let Yabloko win seats.

"That's why we have about 300 fools, I'm sorry to say, in our Duma," she said. "And I don't believe Putin: He is an ordinary man, we must not give him absolute power." The Kremlin appeared determined to engineer a resounding victory. But Putin, credited with rebuilding Russia after the poverty and uncertainty of the 1990s, has support from many Russians. "Today everything is clear and stable in life. The president's words always coincide with what he does. As for the other candidates we don't know yet where they would take us to," said Raisa Tretyakova, a 61-year-old pensioner in St. Petersburg. The Bush administration Sunday called on Russia to investigate claims the vote was manipulated. "In the run-up to election day, we expressed our concern regarding the use of state administrative resources in support of United Russia, the bias of the state-owned or influenced media in favor of United Russia, intimidation of political opposition, and the lack of equal opportunity encountered by opposition candidates and parties," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National Security Council. Turnout was about 62 percent Sunday, the Central Elections Commission said, up from 56 percent in the last parliamentary elections four years ago.

All seats will be awarded according to the percentage of the vote each party receives; in previous elections, half the seats were chosen among candidates contesting a specific district, allowing a few mavericks to get in. About 109 million people are eligible to vote. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, regarded in the West as the most authoritative election monitor, canceled plans to send observers. Putin claimed the pullout was instigated by the United States to discredit the elections. But the OSCE said Russia delayed granting visas for so long that the organization would have been unable to meaningfully assess election preparations.

Source: http://www.boston.com/news/world/eur...ssia_election/

NATO chief concerned over Russia vote

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer raised concerns overnight over the staging of a Russian election won by President Vladimir Putin's ruling party but there was no sign of any change of policy towards Moscow. "The secretary-general has expressed his concern about the conduct of the elections, in particular when it comes to freedom of expression and association," NATO spokesman James Appathurai said. A NATO official said however the 26-nation Western military alliance would pursue a policy of engagement with Russia launched in the 1990s after the end of the Cold War and which has seen patchy results so far.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...005961,00.html

Georgian acting president will not congratulate United Russia

Georgian Acting President Nino Burjanadze has said she will not congratulate United Russia's administration on their victory in the State Duma elections because of the Sunday statement by party leader Boris Gryzlov. He said that the new parliament might consider the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. "I think I am not the only one indignant at another hint by the Russian authorities at the possible recognition of independent an Abkhazia and South Ossetia and their possible affiliation to Russia this January," she told a Monday press briefing in Tbilisi. The international community should react to Gryzlov's pronouncements appropriately, Burjanadze said. "Russian citizens who live in Abkhazia and South Ossetia were naturalized in an evasion of bilateral agreements, Georgian laws and international norms," she said.

Source: http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/...issue=11922367

[Armenian]

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

Oil-processing plant construction in Armenia at initial stage

Construction of an oil-processing plant in Armenia was discussed by the Armenian and Russian Presidents early this year, RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said. “Presently, the construction project is at the initial stage. Trilateral talks between Armenia, Russia and Iran are held at the level of experts. Following the recent meeting of working groups, the sides will proceed with determining the issues regarding the technical and economic validity of the project,” the Minister told Kommersant daily.

Source: http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=24277

Russian-Armenian relations on rise – Armenian president

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan believes that the Russian-Armenian relations are on the rise, the presidential press service said on Friday. He said this during Friday’s meeting with a delegation of Russian artists, which is headed by head of the Russian Agency for Culture and Cinematography Mikhail Shvydkoi, the press service said. The delegation includes Director of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Pitrovsky, actors Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Veniamin Smekhov, Aleksandr Shirvindt, Igor Kostolevsky and editor-in-chief of Russia's magazine Ogonyok Viktor Loshak and other celebrities, the press service said. “You are very popular in Armenia owing to your talent,” Kocharyan said, adding, “Your example has inspired many generations.” In Kocharyan’s opinion, a growth of cultural contacts is one of the most important components of the bilateral interaction, the press service said.

Participants in the meeting discussed humanitarian cooperation and more intensive cultural contacts. They said it was important to coordinate bilateral cultural contacts, the press service said. The guests expressed opinion that favourable conditions were created for the development of culture and arts in Armenia, the press service said. While receiving the Russian delegation, Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan lauded “the contribution of artists to efforts of national authorities, which are aimed to strengthen Russian-Armenian contacts.” “Meetings of the kind give a possibility to preserve age-long bonds of friendship and to enhance relations between the two peoples,” the prime minister said.

Source: http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2....0112&PageNum=0

Armenia FM to discuss wider cooperation with Russia

Vartan Oskanyan, Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, arrives in Russia on Tuesday for a two-day working visit to discuss matters aimed at deepening bilateral cooperation. On December 5-6, Oskanyan is expected to meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, and is to deliver a lecture on Russo-Armenian relations at the Diplomatic Academy. A Russian Foreign Ministry official said, "The upcoming talks are to deal with a substantive and future-oriented exchange of views on matters of current importance related to the deepening of mutually beneficial partnership and key international and regional problems". "The problems of interaction with a view to ensuring security and stability in the Transcaucasus will be among central items on the agenda of the talks," the Ministry official pointed out. Analysts here view the development of versatile contacts with Armenian partners as "an important factor in the normalization of the situation in the region, and a settlement of conflicts that are persistent there".

When discussing the state of affairs in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, the Russian side intends "to reaffirm its commitment to a political settlement of the conflict within the format of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe," the Ministry official said. The Foreign ministers of Russia and Armenia "are to compare notes on Russia's and Armenia's approaches to a number of principled matters of international life and map out further steps towards refining coordination of foreign-policy efforts being made by Moscow and Yerevan," the Ministry official specified. Ministry analysts believe that "The multi-tier intensive political dialogue determines the dynamic development of the two countries' contacts that has been characteristic of recent years. This creates a favourable atmosphere for expansion and refinement of cooperation in various fields".

A stable tendency towards an increase in bilateral trade turnover is keeping: over the first eight months of 2007 trade grew by 70 percent to run at over $470 million." the Russian Ministry official pointed out. "Real prerequisites are manifest for doubling Russia’s investments in the Armenian economy in the coming years. The visit by Vartan Oskanyan to Moscow will make a positive contribution to the strengthening of bilateral relations and will serve the cause of refinement of cooperation between the two countries in the international arena", the Russian Foreign Ministry official emphasized.

Source: http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2....3715&PageNum=0

Armenia praises Russia’s endeavors for Karabakh settlement

“Earlier we used to think that our economic cooperation with Russia lags behind our political dialogue. However, given the steady advance of political dialogue, economic cooperation (including trade, transport, energy and industry) has been brought to standard,” Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said. “The volume of Russian investments in Armenian economy has grown. At that, I suppose that trade and economic relations could still improve but for absence of overland communications,” he noted. “Armenia also praises Russia’s endeavors for resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict in format of the OSCE Minsk Group. I think we should characterize our relations taking account not only of economic performance but also of conceptual aspect. We see Russia as an ally which keeps on gaining power in the world and we are confident that Russia does interpret us as a stable and reliable ally which enjoys good relations with other states,” Vartan Oskanian said in an interview with Kommersant daily.

Source: http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=24266

[Armenian]

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

Russia to showcase new-generation subs at maritime exhibition

Russia will present its new-generation Amur-1650 class submarine at an international maritime exhibition in Malaysia, Russia's state-controlled arms exporter said on Monday. The Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) 2007 exhibition will take place on December 4-8 at the Mahsuri International Exhibition Center (MIEC). "The submarines will include Project 636 [submarines] with an integrated missile complex, Club-S, and the next-generation Amur-1650 submarine," Rosoboronexport said in a press release. The Project 677 or Lada-class submarines have been designed to engage surface ships and submarines as well as to perform surveillance, mine laying, and special operation forces deployment missions. Long range anti-ship missiles, rockets, torpedoes and mines can be fired from the torpedo tubes at the bow. The ninth edition of the biennial LIMA is expected to be the biggest ever with more than 250 companies from 26 countries taking part in the aerospace exhibition alone. They include Australia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, France, Hong Kong, India, Germany, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore and Spain.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071203/90765627.html

Russian strategic bombers conducted over 70 patrols since August

Russia's strategic bombers have carried out since August over 70 patrol flights over the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic oceans, as well as the Black Sea, a senior Air Force official said on Tuesday. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the resumption of strategic patrol flights on August 17, saying that although the country had halted long-distance strategic flights to remote regions in 1992, other nations had continued the practice, compromising Russian national security.

"Since August 17, Russian strategic bombers have conducted over 70 patrol flights and more than 217 practice launches of unarmed missiles," Major-General Pavel Androsov, commander of the Russian Air Force's strategic aviation, said at a Defense Ministry news conference. The general said bomber crews had practiced early detection and identification of potential targets and counter-intercept measures. "Every patrol flight included elements of a tactical aerial engagement," Androsov said. He also said at least 120 NATO interceptor aircraft had escorted Russian bombers during almost all their patrols, which had a total duration of over 40 hours. "Military aircraft from the U.S., Canada, the U.K, Norway, and even France escorted us [Russia's strategic bombers] in the air," the general said, adding that NATO pilots had never shown hostility towards Russian planes.

Although it was common practice during the Cold War for both the U.S. and the Soviet Union to keep nuclear strategic bombers permanently airborne, the Kremlin cut long-range patrols in 1992. The decision came as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the ensuing economic and political chaos. However, the newly-resurgent Russia, awash with oil dollars, has invested heavily in military technology, and the resumption of long-range patrols is widely seen among political commentators as another sign of its drive to assert itself both militarily and politically. According to various sources, the Russian Air Force currently deploys 141 Tu-22M3 Backfire bombers, 40 Tu-95MS Bear bombers, and 14 Tu-160 Blackjack planes.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071204/90864261.html

[Armenian]

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

Senior EU official says Europe sees Russia as threat

The vice president of the European Commission said on Wednesday that European Union countries unanimously saw Russia as a growing threat. Relations between Russia and the EU have cooled recently over such issues as Kosovo's independence bid, criticism of Russia's recent parliamentary elections, and European concerns over Russia's energy policy. "If you look through Europe's leading newspapers to see how many positive articles they have about Russia, you will not find any. Russia is seen as a serious and increasing threat," said Siim Kallas, also a former Estonian premier, in an interview with Estonia's Eesti Paevaleht newspaper. Ties between Russia and Estonia, an EU member since 2004, have been tense since the collapse of the U.S.S.R. in 1991, with tensions reaching boiling point this year over Estonia's decision to relocate a Soviet-era monument. Kallas said his three and a half years of service in Brussels had seen the EU's policy on Russia become increasingly coordinated. "The times when a country could say it had its own policy toward Russia are history," he said. "Those who would like to establish 'special relations' with Russia are quiet today." He said that not a single leader of any EU country would venture to pursue a policy that would deviate significantly from the 27-nation bloc's common course.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/world/20071205/91009387.html

Europe needs more missile sites - Czech official

A Czech deputy premier said Friday that Europe needs more missile shield sites than the two currently proposed by the United States. Washington wants to place a radar in the Czech Republic and 10 missile interceptors in Poland to counter a missile threat from so called rogue states like Iran and North Korea. Moscow has responded angrily to the plans, saying the European shield would destroy the strategic balance of forces and threaten Russia's national interests. "This is a multilevel system and it requires more elements than just two - one in Prague and the other in Poland," Alexander Vondra said. "It requires sensors in space and other radars located closer to the point of the potential attack." Vondra said that in his opinion there could be an early warning system or radar located closer to Iran, but he doubted whether the alternative proposed by Russia was suitable. The radars at Gabala, in Azerbaijan, and Armavir, south Russia, were proposed by Moscow as an alternative to the deployment of the U.S. missile shield in Central Europe. "There is opportunity for cooperation, but it takes two to dance the tango, and I have doubts as to what game [Russian President] Vladimir Putin is playing," Vondra said. Last month Putin said Russia would take appropriate measures if the U.S. made a unilateral decision on the issue: "If a decision is made without taking Russia's opinion into account, then we will certainly take steps in response, to ensure the security of Russian citizens." Putin also said that it would be expedient if Russia, the U.S. and Europe met to discuss the need for the missile shield and whether there was even a threat from Iran and North Korea.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/world/20071116/88405208.html

How the nimble Russian bear pushes around the EU’s lumbering herd of elephants

Russia is brilliantly playing divide and conquer with European Union nations, argues a new paper from the European Council on Foreign Relations. elephant-and-bear.JPGIn “A Power Audit of EU - Russia Relations“, authors Mark Leonard and Nicu Popescu provide a sharp analysis of exactly how the nimble Russian bear - which on almost every objective measure of soft and hard power is massively inferior to the EU - has been able to run rings around the lumbering herd of elephants that is the 21st century European Union. Russia has achieved this success, they argue, because it has managed to identify and manipulate the divisions between EU members states who have wildly varying views on how to deal with Russia.

However, instead of arguing that the EU has been split broadly into two camps by the arrival of new but rabidly anti-Russian members such as Poland in the East, Leonard & Popescu argue that, when it comes to relations with Russia, EU members can be divided into five distinct groups:

‘Trojan Horses’ (Cyprus and Greece) who often defend Russian interests in the EU system, and are willing to veto common EU positions;

‘Strategic Partners’ (France, Germany, Italy and Spain) who enjoy a ‘special relationship’ with Russia which occasionally undermines common EU policies;

‘Friendly Pragmatists’ (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia) who maintain close relationship with Russia and tend to put their business interests above political goals;

‘Frosty Pragmatists’ (Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom) who also focus on business interests but are less afraid than others to speak out against Russian behaviour on human rights or other issues;

and ‘New Cold Warriors’ (Lithuania and Poland) who have an overtly hostile relationship with Moscow and are willing to use the veto to block EU negotiations with Russia.

I hadn’t considered EU divisions over Russia in quite that way before, but now I think about it, I tend to agree with these groupings (although ‘Trojan Horse’ is perhaps a bit too strong a term). And the ultimate assessment that Russia has taken advantage of the EU’s structural weakness as best as it could is pretty much spot on, too. The Russian government has invested a massive amount of political capital in wooing those countries it thinks it can do business with, and has been prepared to play hardball (when it can) with those countries who are less friendly to the current Russian regime.

Having said that, Russia isn’t the only country that has noticed and exploited the European Union’s fabled lack of unity. The US is an expert in the game, and regularly takes advantage of its relationships with the UK, Holland and Poland, to name but a few countries. That the Bush admnistration managed to persuade half of the EU’s countries to provide military support in Iraq while EU public opinion was deeply divided on the Iraq War is clear testament to the skill of the US here, as well as to the underlying systemic weakness in the EU’s approach to foreign policy. The Russian bear should beware when baiting the EU’s herd of elephants, though. The EU does find it tremendously difficult to agree on a common position, but when it does agree on something, the EU has the political muscle to match and defeat any country in the world - witness the recent negotiations over trade between the EU and US. If the Russian bear overplays its hand and pushes the EU that little bit too far, it might just find itself looking up one day to find a herd of elephants thundering towards it…

Source: http://www.siberianlight.net/2007/11...-of-elephants/

[Armenian]

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

Russia launches first naval power build-up in the Mediterranean in response to the US about-face on Iran

President Vladimir Putin and defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov decided to send a sortie of six Russian warships, led by the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier and the Moskva guided missile cruiser, to the Mediterranean. This will be the first prolonged stay of a Russian carrier to the eastern Mediterranean vicinity of Israel’s shores and waters patrolled by the US Sixth Fleet. On its decks are 47 warplanes and 10 helicopters. The Moskva is the Russian Navy’s Black Sea flagship. According to our Moscow sources, the Kremlin is determined not to be left lagging behind the new Bush administration’s steps towards an accommodation with Iran, which were signaled by the US National Intelligence Estimate absolving Tehran of running a military nuclear program from 2003. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the Russian fleet, which has already set out for its new mission from the North and Black Seas, will have the use of naval facilities at Syria’s Tartous port. Its presence for several months will be a complication for the Israel navy’s operations opposite the Lebanese and Syrian coasts, especially if the Russians are joined at Tartous by Iranian submarines or warships. The Kremlin also decided to send a sortie of ships to the northeastern Atlantic.

Source: http://www.debka.com/

Russia to resume Cold War navy patrols

Russian warships are steaming towards the Atlantic Ocean last night at the beginning of a series of joint naval and aerial exercises designed to showcase Russia’s resurgent military prowess before the world. Against a backdrop of growing international concern over Russia’s rapid re-armament and its government’s increasingly belligerent rhetoric, naval cruisers and air-force jets will test-fire missiles in both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea over the next three months. Defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov told President Vladimir Putin that the manoeuvres would help consolidate the navy’s military presence in international waters.

In themselves, the exercises — which will involve an aircraft carrier, anti-submarine ships and missile cruisers -- will not cause international concern. Unlike Mr Putin’s August announcement that long-range nuclear bombers would resume sorties in international airspace for the first time since the Cold War, these manoeuvres have been extensively discussed with western nations. The Russian ships are expected to visit 11 ports in 16 countries. While many western countries have cut back on military spending — so much so that a report this week claimed that the Royal Navy could no longer fight a major war — Russia has embarked on an aggressive policy to reverse years of military decline after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia’s defence budget has almost quadrupled in the past six years and the Kremlin has announced it will spend pounds 25 billion on building new ships.

In 2003, three years after Mr Putin came to power, the Russian navy resumed military exercises in earnest — though often with embarrassing consequences. With Mr Putin on board, the SSBN Arkhangelsk twice failed in its attempts to fire a dummy missile during exercises in 2004. The Russian navy announced in August that the ship launched bulava nuclear missile would be commissioned despite misfiring during most of its tests. Mr Putin has a personal stake in rebuilding the Russian navy’s reputation after the sinking of the Kursk submarine, with the loss of all 118 sailors on board, during an exercise in the Barents Sea in 2000 caused the biggest crisis of his international career.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...wrussia105.xml

Russian Navy Group Goes to Mediterranean

Russia dispatched an 11-ship aircraft carrier group to the Mediterranean Sea, the defense minister said Wednesday — part of what he said was an effort to resume regular Russian naval patrols on the world's oceans. The announcement by Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov is the latest move by Russia to expand its military presence internationally and flex growing economic and military strength.

Speaking at a Kremlin meeting with President Vladimir Putin, Serdyukov said an aircraft carrier, two anti-submarine ships, a guided missile cruiser along with refueling ships from Russia's Northern and Black Sea fleets and 47 aircraft would be part of the group in the Mediterranean. He said the group would conduct three tactical exercises with real and simulated launches of sea- and air-based missiles and make nearly a dozen port calls. "The expedition is aimed at ensuring a naval presence and establishing conditions for secure Russian navigation," Serdyukov said in televised comments. Earlier this year, naval chief Adm. Vladimir Masorin called for restoring a permanent Russian presence in the Mediterranean, saying it was a strategically important zone for the Black Sea Fleet.

Soviet navy ships used to be based at Syria's Mediterranean port of Tartus, and Russia still maintains a technical base there. Analysts have said it made no sense militarily for Russia to have a presence in the Mediterranean. Others have suggested that Russia might seek to relocate part of its Black Sea Fleet there if it fails to get an extension of its agreement with Ukraine on leasing the Sevastopol port when it expires in 2017. The naval expedition is the latest effort by Putin to breathe new life into Russian armed forces, bolstered by the torrent of oil revenues pouring into government coffers. Earlier this year, he ordered the military to resume regular long-range flights of strategic bombers. In recent years, Russia's bombers have resumed flights to areas off Norway and Iceland, as well as Russia's northeast corner, across the Bering Strait from Alaska several years ago.

Still, it was unclear how much of a presence the Russian ships would have, either in the Mediterranean or elsewhere. Like other branches of military, the navy, particularly its surface fleet, suffered in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse, as a lack of funding resulted in ships and submarines rusting away in docks and berths. Last month, a group of independent military experts said Putin's government had failed to reverse the post-Soviet decline of Russia's armed forces despite repeated pledges, saying the military continues to suffer from rampant corruption, inefficiency and poor morale. The Kremlin also has failed to deliver on promises to modernize arsenals, they said. Experts also have said increasing military budgets under Putin have actually bought fewer weapons than under his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, blaming graft as the root of the problem.

Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h...LmVzwD8TBEMJG1

Russian Navy resumes constant presence in world's oceans

Russia's Navy has resumed its continual presence in different regions of the world's oceans, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told the president at a meeting in the Kremlin on Wednesday. "There are plans to dispatch ships to the northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea from now to February 3, 2008. The expedition is aimed at ensuring a naval presence and establishing conditions for secure Russian navigation," Serdyukov told Vladimir Putin. The minister said an aircraft-carrying heavy cruiser, two anti-submarine ships and a tanker left for the Mediterranean on Wednesday, where they will be joined by a Black Sea Fleet missile cruiser and a tanker.

Serdyukov said a total of four warships and seven other vessels of Russia's Northern, Black Sea and Baltic fleets, as well as 47 planes and 10 helicopters, have been dispatched for the mission. Three exercises, involving the vessels and aircraft, are being planned. In mid-August, Putin announced the resumption of strategic patrol flights, saying that although the country halted long-distance strategic flights to remote regions in 1992 with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ensuing economic and political chaos, other nations had continued the practice, compromising Russian national security. Russia's strategic bombers have since carried out over 70 patrol flights over the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic oceans, as well as the Black Sea, a senior Air Force official said on Tuesday, adding that NATO interceptor aircraft had escorted Russian bombers during almost all their patrols.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071205/91056421.html