The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[Armenian]

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

Armenian, it boils to transit corridors for oil, this new "great game" of the 21st century revovles around who can monopolize the oil pumping out of the Caspian. We are not talking about the rights of just "controling the oil", on the mass scale absolute control of resources will determine which economies will maintain a steady growth.

Yes, I realize that but what specific pipeline are you referring to? How is Caspian oil/gas directly effecting the issues regarding Kosovo's independence? I don't see a 'direct' connection. I just see a longterm geopolitical strategic agenda to solidify EU control over Eastern Europe. But why risk a major war now, specially at a time when there are so many other hots spots - Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria - that also effect European politics?

Any state that defects to the west is code for "further isolation of Russia". This translate so perfectly when you consider Artsahk, why is it that their struggle for indepedence is not "justified" when the region is 100% Armenian versus Kosovo where Serbs still reside in? The answer is that Armenia has decided to avoid the jump on the "isolate Russia" bandwagan.

Yes, I realize that but why would EU and NATO risk another major war in Europe by attempting to gain independence for Kosovo? Why antagonize Russia further? Kosovo independence will 'not' further isolate Russia nor will it make Serbia more pro-West.

In the long run this means that the west will never consider Armenia a solid ally over Georgia and Azerbaijan, however, this also means that in the long run the security and stability of Armenia is positively correlated to the security and stability of both Russia and Iran. Armenian interest coincide with Russian interests of making sure the Caspian oil pipelines from Iran and Central Asia flow through Moscow and states aligned with Moscow, thus, making sure both China and Europe are always dependent on Russia as energy corridor. Armenia blocks Turkish and western ambitions of controling the corridors absolutly.The decision on where to build these pipelines in the Middle-East and Asia will determine who controls the world in the next century. Consider the energy needs of China and Asia, the energy needs of Europe, mankind's inability to diviate from petrol energy sources in time, and our own dependence on oil, all means that in the long run, whoever absolutly controls the oil, controls the world.

Well said. I agree. Thus far, the Russian Federation is poised to control the Eurasia's vast oil/gas reserves within the twenty first century. The US Empire is on a decline. And the Armenian Republic's destiny is with Russia, and to a lesser extent Iran.

[Armenian]

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

EU wary as Russia puts velvet glove on iron fist

A decade or so ago, Russian companies – Gazprom excepted – were almost invisible abroad. Since then, they have been growing fast, with the pace of foreign expansion accelerating. A study published this week by Moscow’s recently founded Skolkovo school of management in partnership with the Columbia Program on International Investment shows that the foreign assets of Russia’s 25 biggest multinationals increased 2.5 times to nearly $60bn (€40.8bn) over the past two years. Since 2004, their exports have doubled to $200bn, and so have their foreign salaried workers, who now total about 130,000.

All this has turned Russia into the third-largest foreign investor from among the developing countries, and the trend is continuing. Only this week, the Russian steel group Evraz announced plans to acquire the US Claymont Steel company for about $565m. Last year, Evraz splashed out $2bn to buy Oregon Steel Mills, another US company. There have been other large investments by the likes of Norilsk Nickel – its $6.2bn acquisition of Canada’s LionOre Mining is still the largest single foreign transaction by a Russian multinational – and Lukoil and Gazprom. However, Russia still trails a long way behind India and China in the emerging economies’ foreign investment league table. Indian and Chinese companies last year bought almost $70bn worth of assets in Europe alone, compared with $10bn or so by Russian companies.

This appears to be bothering President Vladimir Putin and his closest advisers, who feel Russian multinationals are still not developing fast enough abroad and not getting their fair share of the investment opportunities created by globalisation. A large part of the problem is Russia’s continued poor reputation in business. Justifiably or not, the World Bank still places Russia near the bottom of its governance pile. According to this year’s Edelman Trust Barometer, Russian companies are the least trusted in the world. This reputation undermines the chances of Russian multinationals pulling off mega foreign takeovers.

The Russians may well complain of unfair stereotypes, arguing that most of its largest companies are adhering to international standards, and of a lack of reciprocity on the part of western partners keen to secure Russian energy exports and acquire Russian assets. But Mr Putin’s systematic policy of renationalising what he considers strategic Russian assets, coupled with all the familiar western complaints of heavy-handed bureaucracy, weak legal institutions and accountability, not to mention the blurring of business and government interests, hardly help Moscow’s case. Nor does Mr Putin’s endorsement this week of Dmitry Medvedev, the youthful chairman of Gazprom, as his successor provide much comfort.

The new heir apparent is likely to provide a velvet touch to Mr Putin’s iron fist. This is what he has already been doing at Gazprom, where he has been hoovering up assets from Shell and BP in the two biggest foreign-owned energy projects in Russia and describing these arm-twisting deals as reasonable compromises. Mr Putin does not seem to have any intention of giving up power or of stopping his re-nationalisation of assets. Under his young protégé, this is expected to become what people in Moscow are already calling nationalisation “with velvet gloves”. This is unlikely to make European Union members more comfortable when Russian multinationals come knocking at their door.

Death of the Blue Train

In its heyday, le Train Bleu, or the Blue Train, was the ultimate in night rail travel. It carried wealthy passengers between Calais and the Riviera from 1922 to 1938. It inspired a ballet and a mystery novel by Agatha Christie. Even after it was nationalised and made part of France’s SNCF state railways, it continued to operate as a luxury sleeper express service to the south of France. Its dark-blue sleeping cars became a symbol of a certain style of rail travel that included restaurant cars with proper chefs and piano players. Over the years, the Blue Train lost most of its allure in the face of competition from new high-speed trains and shuttle airline services.

But unlike the Orient Express – that had long disappeared and turned into an expensive tourist attraction – it continued to provide nightly services to the Riviera from Paris. Those days are over. As of last weekend, SNCF stopped operating sleeping car services not only on the old Blue Train but also on the other remaining night trains because they had simply become too expensive and economically unviable. From now on, night rail travellers will have to make do with a modest couchette. It may all make economic sense but it is sadly another sign of the times.

Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e6100398-a...0779fd2ac.html

[Armenian]

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

Russians Set To Take Over Armenian Railway

The director general of Armenia’s rail network on Tuesday effectively confirmed its impending takeover by Russia’s state-run railway, a deal which will place yet another chunk of the Armenian economic infrastructure under Russian control. The Armenian government called last year an international tender for the exclusive right to manage the struggling network for at least 30 years. Only the Russian railway and an Indian firm showed interest in the bidding, sending relevant proposals to Yerevan earlier this year.

The Indians pulled out of the tender last month, all but predetermining its outcome. Armenian media had for months claimed that the contest is a mere formality as the state-owned Armenian Railway’s handover to the Russians was decided by Presidents Vladimir Putin and Robert Kocharian in Moscow last January. The Armenian Railway chief, Ararat Khrimian, told RFE/RL that the tender’s winner will be officially announced “after January 2008.” He said Russian management of his company would be “natural and correct” given that it used to be part of the Soviet Union’s vast rail network. “It’s easier to work with a company of which used to be a part than with others,” said Khrimian. “In my view, it will be easy and beneficial for us to work with the Russians.”

The impending deal is certain to be criticized by those government critics who believe that Russia’s growing economic presence in Armenia is turning into a stranglehold. Russian firms already dominate the Armenian energy and telecommunication sectors and are keen to acquire other industries. One of them is understood to have effectively purchased recently Armenia’s largest gold mining company from an Indian operator that fell foul of the authorities in Yerevan in January. But according to Khrimian, more important is the fact that the new railway manager will have to invest at least $170 million in the Soviet-era network that has been operating at a fraction of its capacity ever since Armenia’s rail communication with the outside world was disrupted in 1992. “Working in these blockade conditions, we have been unable to generate sufficient revenues to make capital investments in our train fleet and other infrastructure,” said Khrimian. “The investments will considerably improve the condition of our railway,” he added.

Source: http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeni...269A843CDC.ASP

[jgk3]

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

lots of activity from Russia... Why is all this happening? A renewed cold war? I am skeptical of this "oil monopoly" thing. I believe that there are many undiscovered oil reserves left in the world. Each year, the international oil cartels are producing more and more barrels of oil, which is contradictory to how they should operate if the supply is indeed limited.

What's going on? And how is Russia paying for all these military projects? The same way as the US pays for theirs?

[Virgil]

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

Yes, I realize that but what specific pipeline are you referring to? How is Caspian oil/gas directly effecting the issues regarding Kosovo's independence? I don't see a 'direct' connection. I just see a longterm geopolitical strategic agenda to solidify EU control over Eastern Europe. But why risk a major war now, specially at a time when there are so many other hots spots - Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria - that also effect European politics?

Armenian, you are thinking in terms of a "few years", as long as they can have more satellite states, in the long their power is projected farther. Yes, I agree with you, this is the "gepolitical strategic agenda" of the EU and US, however, there are three struggles in politics in the modern age. There is the genuine "real politiks" of western states (i.e. insolate Russia, Kosovo indepedence, Artsahk should still be at part of "Azerbaijan" for territorial integrity, and the liminting of Iranian abillity to defend its resourves), there exists the minipulation of western states by Israel (i.e. weaken and eventually break up Iran, build pipelines from Asia and the Middle-East to Israel, gurantee the future of the Israel by building more access to resources (especially water), send settlers to colonize land, and build up Israeli military strength while the rest of Middle-East is being choped up), and finally, there is the third party agenda backed by Israel and the xxxish lobby that projects and promotes the cause of other states globally for increased bilateral relations that somehow in the end benefit Israel (i.e. the "bargining . Essentially, the previous wants to stop Russian and Iranian expansion to have some power and leverage, while the latter takes advantage of this efforts by using this "fear" as a way of building up Israel as a regional superpower. I just wanted to clairfy that.

Armenian, why Kosovo? There exists many reasons, pick one. Albania is in the geographic epicenter of Europe, maybe they would like to increase Albanian power in order to decrease the long term authority of Russia. What would happen if Russia can not maintain its authority? It will pschologically diminish the mental edge it has over other states as a regional power. Maybe they would like to establish a military presence in Kosovo in the future or at least have enough grip over the Albanian state that they can always use this state as alternative location for future military bases and strategic missile positions (i.e. long term investment).

Maybe Turks have convinced Israel to back this cause because Turkey would like to limit Greek and Eastern European power in both the Balkens and in Europe. However, what ever the reason, I can tell you that it is connected to the (a) isolation of Russian in the longterm, (b) Turkey benefits from this, and (c) Israel benefits from this because Turkey benefits. You have this long chain of plots, coplots, and intersecting interests. There exists no truly "genuine" interest in establishing Kosovo as a independent republic, if any break away region needs indepedence and security it is Artsahk.

Yes, I realize that but why would EU and NATO risk another major war in Europe by attempting to gain independence for Kosovo? Why antagonize Russia further? Kosovo independence will 'not' further isolate Russia nor will it make Serbia more pro-Western.

I don't think it would lead to war, not yet at least, but I am 100% sure it is connected to the isolation of Russia and oil pipelines. They want to make sure Russian power is not projected and Russia is not looked as a "authority". Furthermore, by backing Albania, they are backing Turkey and Israel, which are fighting for regional control over the Middle-East against Iran. Maybe that is exactly it, they want to isolate the states that support Russia in a attempt to get them on their side. They figure if Serbia is with Russia then why support them? Look at Armenia, who has ever heard of "blocked borders" in this day and age? Israel with all its tension against Arabs, has not "blocked borders". However, how loadly is the United States and Europe telling Turkey and Azebaijan to stop the blockade? Not very loadly, they want to push Russia and the states that support Russia in a corner.

I am skeptical of this "oil monopoly" thing. I believe that there are many undiscovered oil reserves left in the world.

No, you are thinking in terms of a constant economic growth, which that is not the case, you have China, India, and Russia all developing their markets. Markets works in real terms, you need resources to put in them in order to create output. If you have more individuals that want to increase there markets and there exists limited resources to accomedate their growth, countries will fight one another for these resources. This is pretty elementary and we have not reached the tip of iceburg yet, in 30 years when the Chinese and indian economies dwarf that of the United States, this will be "hump that eventually breaks the camals back".

[Armenian]

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

Paper Reports Rise in Russian Spying

FSB (former KGB) Building in Moscow

Russia's foreign intelligence services are accelerating efforts to recruit young lawmakers and academics in Germany, a German newspaper reported Sunday. The German domestic intelligence service, the BfV, has information about efforts by Russian agents to recruit young members of the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, Welt am Sonntag reported Sunday. Young officials from political parties and foundations were also being targeted for inside information or recruiting those with good career prospects, the newspaper said. It did not identify the source of its information. The BfV, which stands for the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, said on its web site that Russia was among countries that continue to target Germany for intelligence gathering activities. It also cited China, Iran and North Korea as countries particularly active in this field. Officials at the BfV were not immediately available for comment.

Source: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/storie...12/03/019.html

In related news:

The all-American fellow was a Russian spy

He had all-American cover - born in Iowa, college in Manhattan, army buddies with whom he played baseball. George Koval also had a secret. He was a top Soviet spy, code named Delmar, trained by Stalin's ruthless bureau of military intelligence. Atomic spies are old stuff. But historians say Koval, who died last year in Moscow and whose name is just coming to light publicly, appears to have been one of the most important spies of the 20th century.

On Nov. 2, the Kremlin startled Western scholars by announcing that President Vladimir Putin had posthumously given the highest Russian award to a Soviet agent who in World War II penetrated the Manhattan Project to build the atom bomb. The announcement hailed Koval as "the only Soviet intelligence officer" to infiltrate the project's secret plants, saying his work "helped speed up considerably the time it took for the Soviet Union to develop an atomic bomb of its own." Since then, historians, scientists, federal officials and old friends of Koval's have raced to tell his story - the athlete, the guy everyone liked, the genius at technical studies. American intelligence agencies have known of his betrayal at least since the early 1950s, when investigators interviewed his fellow scientists and swore them to secrecy.

The spy's success hinged on an unusual family history of migration from Russia to Iowa and re-immigration to the Soviet Union. That gave him a strong commitment to communism, relaxed familiarity with American mores and no foreign accent. "He was very friendly, compassionate and very smart," said Arnold Kramish, a retired physicist who studied with Koval at City College of New York and later worked with him on the bomb project. "He never did homework." Stewart Bloom, a senior physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, who also studied with Koval, called him a regular guy. "He played baseball and played it well," usually as shortstop, Bloom recalled. "He didn't have a Russian accent. He spoke fluent English, American English. His credentials were perfect."

Over the years, scholars and federal agents have identified a half-dozen individuals who spied on the bomb project for the Russians, especially at Los Alamos in New Mexico. All were "walk-ins" - spies by impulse and sympathetic leaning rather than training. By contrast, Koval was a mole groomed in Russia by the feared GRU, the Soviet agency for military intelligence. Moreover, he gained wide access to America's atomic plants - a feat unknown for any other Soviet spy. Historians say Putin may have cited Koval's accomplishments as a way to rekindle Russian pride. As shown by a New York Public Library database, the announcement has prompted detailed reports in the Russian press about Koval and his clandestine feats. "It's very exciting to get this kind of break," said John Earl Haynes, a Library of Congress historian and an authority on atomic spying. "We know very little about GRU operations in the United States."

The story of how Koval became a spy centers on his family, who came from Russia and decided to return. He was born in 1913 in Sioux City, Iowa, which had a large xxxish community and a half-dozen synagogues. In 1932, during the Great Depression, his family emigrated to Birobidzhan, a Siberian city that Stalin promoted as a secular xxxish homeland. Henry Srebrnik, a Canadian historian at the University of Prince Edward Island who is studying the Kovals for a project on American xxxish Communists, said the family belonged to a popular front organization, as did most American xxxs who emigrated to Birobidzhan. The organization, he said, was ICOR, a Yiddish acronym for the Association for xxxish Colonization in the Soviet Union. He added that Koval's father presided over its Sioux City branch as secretary.

By 1934, Koval was in Moscow, excelling in difficult studies at the Mendeleev Institute of Chemical Technology. Upon graduating with honors, he was recruited and trained by the GRU and was sent back to the United States for nearly a decade of scientific espionage, from roughly 1940 to 1948. How he communicated with his controllers is unknown, as is what specifically he gave the Russians in terms of atomic secrets. However, it is clear that Moscow mastered the atom very quickly compared with all subsequent nuclear powers. In the United States under a false name, Koval initially gathered information about new toxins that might find use in chemical arms.

Then his GRU controllers took a gamble and had him work under his own name. Koval was drafted into the U.S. Army, and by chance found himself moving toward the bomb project, then in its infancy. The army judged him smart and by 1943 sent him for special wartime training at City College of New York. Considered a Harvard for the poor, the school in Manhattan was famous for brilliant students and Communist radicals. But Koval steered clear of all debate on socialism and Russia, Bloom said. "He discussed no politics that I can recall. Never. He never talked about the Soviet Union - never ever, not a word."

At City College, Koval and a dozen or so of his army peers studied electrical engineering. Kramish said the army unit lived in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, across from City College, adding that in an odd coincidence, Koval called himself an orphan. Something else about him stood out, Kramish said - he was a decade older than his peers, making everybody wonder "why he was in this program." Meanwhile, the Manhattan Project was suffering severe manpower shortages and asked the army for technically adept recruits. In 1944, Koval and Kramish headed to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where the main job was to make bomb fuel - considered the hardest part of the atomic endeavor.

Koval gained wide access to the sprawling complex, Kramish said, because "he was assigned to health safety" and drove from building to building making sure stray radiation did not harm workers. In June 1945, Koval's duties expanded to include top-secret plants near Dayton, Ohio, said John Shewairy, an Oak Ridge spokesman. The factories refined polonium 210, a highly radioactive material used in initiators to help start the bomb's chain reaction. In July 1945, the United States tested its first atomic device and, a month later, it dropped two bombs on Japan. After the war, Koval fled the United States when American counterintelligence agents found Soviet literature hailing the Koval family as happy immigrants from the United States, said a Nov. 3 article in Rossiiskaia Gazeta, a Russian publication.

In 1949, Moscow detonated its first bomb, surprising Washington at the quick loss of what had been an atomic monopoly. In the early 1950s, Kramish said, the FBI interviewed him and anyone else who had known Koval, asking that the matter be kept confidential. Bloom at the time was working at the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island. "I was pretty amazed," he recalled. "I didn't figure George to be like that." In Russia, Koval returned to the Mendeleev Institute, earning his doctorate and teaching there for many years, Rossiiskaia Gazeta said. It added that he was a soccer fanatic even in old age and that people at the stadium who knew about his secret past would quietly point him out.

Koval's spy role began to emerge publicly in Russia in 2002 with the publication of "The GRU and the Atomic Bomb," a book that referred to Koval only by his code name of Delmar. The book offered few biographical details but said he was one of the few spies who managed to elude "the net of the counterintelligence agencies." Koval reportedly died Jan. 31, 2006. By American reckoning, he would have been 92, though the Kremlin's statement put his age at 94 and some Russian accounts put it at 93. Posthumously, Koval was made a Hero of the Russian Federation, the highest honorary title that can be bestowed on a Russian citizen. The Kremlin statement cited "his courage and heroism while carrying out special missions." Kramish surmised that he was "the biggest" of the atomic spies. "You don't get a medal from the president of Russia for nothing," he said.

Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/...rica/koval.php

[Armenian]

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

Russia successfully launches spy satellite

Moscow (PTI): To enhance its military capabilities, Russia on Sunday successfully launched a Kosmos series spy satellite from a cosmodrome leased from Kazakhstan. A Proton-M rocket carrying military satellite took off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, at 5:36 am IST and was successfully placed in the designated orbit at 15:47 hours. The launch was controlled by the Space Forces' automated ground services, according to the reports. It is the third spy satellite to be launched since the beginning of the year. Simultaneously, Russia is rapidly filling gaps in its orbital cluster of GLONASS global navigational system as the Russian strategic bombers, surface and underwater warships are resuming global patrolling after a gap of 15 years following Soviet collapse.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus...0712091860.htm

[Armenian]

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

Russia demands British Council closes offices

Britain and Russia are on course for a dramatic showdown after the Kremlin ordered the British embassy to suspend all of its cultural operations outside Moscow. Unveiling the latest retaliation in a diplomatic dispute over the murder of ex-KGB defector Alexander Litvinenko last year, Russia instructed the British Council, the Foreign Office's cultural arm, to close its outlets in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg by the beginning of January. Britain immediately vowed to defy the order, which it said constituted "a serious breach of international law", setting the stage for a potential police showdown at the two offices in the New Year.

The extraordinary face-off dashed hopes for a quick resolution to the worst crisis in Anglo-Russian relations since the Cold War with diplomats expressing bafflement and outrage that a charitable entity was being targeted for political reasons. The British Council, which promotes British culture and offers academic opportunities to foreign students around the world, has long been the focus of official suspicion in Russia. Even before Mr Litvinenko's murder, the organization faced accusations of tax irregularities and lacking legal status, despite being fully legitimized by a 1994 treaty. While denying the charges, Britain began quiet negotiations for a new protocol and made significant concessions in the hope of keeping the row separate from the Litvinenko affair.

But for the first time yesterday, Russia's foreign ministry explicitly linked the British Council's travails to the dispute, saying that it had shelved the new charter in retaliation for the expulsion of four diplomats from London in July. "Britain's unfriendly actions towards Russia in July this year, which were accompanied by a whole number of discriminatory measures, derailed our efforts regarding the preparation of this document," spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said. Britain expelled four Russian diplomats after the Kremlin refused to hand over Andrei Lugovoi, the MP suspected of murdering Mr Litvinenko. Having responded in kind, Russia's decision to escalate a row that had seemed close to resolution by targeting a non-political body drew unusually vocal criticism from the Foreign Office.

"It is a cultural, not a political, institution and we strongly reject any attempt to link it to Russia's failure to co-operate with our efforts to bring the murder of Alexander Litvinenko to justice," a Foreign Office spokesman said. The Kremlin's move also attracted opposition from Russian human rights activists. "It looks as if we are sitting behind the Iron Curtain once more," said Lyudmila Alexeyeva, a prominent former Soviet dissident. "The British Council is not political but educational and extremely useful. We should have been grateful and we have responded with black ingratitude." Despite its apparently benign intentions, the British Council combines two attributes the Kremlin dislikes: it is British and is close to Russian civil society, which has been heavily repressed as Vladimir Putin's government has grown more autocratic.

In the past year several British interests, including the BBC and British companies, have come under increasing official pressure. But the often outlandish campaign against the British Council, which has faced accusations of recruiting Russian youngsters for MI6 and deliberately causing a "brain drain" to weaken the country, has particularly damaged the Kremlin's reputation, diplomats warned. "There are only two other countries where the British Council has suffered this kind of harassment: Iran and Burma," one said. Despite the possibility that Russia's riot police -- who enhanced their thuggish reputation after breaking up peaceful opposition rallies this year -- being called in to enforce the suspension order, British Council officials vowed to keep working next year. "The British Council's activities are fully compliant with Russian law," said Natalia Minchenko, the council's communications chief. "We have not violated any legislation so there is therefore no legal reason to stop working."

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...wrussia312.xml

Russia Targets British Council, Fuels Spy Murder Spat

Russia ordered the U.K. to close its cultural offices outside of Moscow, reigniting tensions sparked by last year's murder in London of ex-KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko. The U.K. government said it will ignore the order, which it considers a violation of international law. The British Council, which promotes cultural ties, ``is fully entitled to operate in Russia, both in Moscow and elsewhere,'' Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman, Michael Ellam, told reporters in London today.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that the British Council does not have a "legal basis'' to operate outside of the capital Moscow and will have to close all other offices by Jan. 1. Russia and the U.K. have been embroiled in a dispute over the Russian government's refusal to hand over Andrei Lugovoi, the main suspect in the Nov. 2006 lethal polonium radiation poisoning of Litvinenko. In July, the U.K. expelled four Russian diplomats, triggering a tit-for-tat response in Moscow. "This is clearly a politically motivated decision that reflects the seriously poor state of Russian-British relations,'' Yevgeny Volk, a Moscow-based analyst for U.S. research group the Heritage Foundation, said by telephone.

Double Standards

U.K. prosecutors asked Russia in May to extradite Lugovoi to face trial for the murder. Russia refused, citing a constitutional ban on extradition. It accuses the U.K. of double-standards for rejecting Russian demands to extradite self-exiled Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky and others, including Chechen rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev. A critic of President Vladimir Putin, Litvinenko received political asylum in the U.K. He accused the Russian leader of ordering his murder in a deathbed statement. The Kremlin dismissed the accusation as ``absurd.'' "We are going back to the Iron Curtain,'' said Lyudmilla Alexeyeva, a human rights campaigner from the Soviet era who heads the Moscow Helsinki Group. "This is a return to a policy of isolation,'' she said by telephone. The U.K. Foreign Office accused Russia of retaliating over the Litvinenko dispute. "It is a cultural, not a political institution, and we strongly reject any attempt to link it to Russia's failure to cooperate with our efforts to bring the murder of Alexander Litvinenko to justice,'' the Foreign Office said in an e-mailed statement.

'Matter of Compliance'

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, denied that Russia had deliberately targeted the British Council, saying it was "a matter of compliance with Russian legislation.'' "These are two completely different things: Russian legislation is one and the Litvinenko case is another,'' he said by phone. The British Council, which has faced tax probes in Russia, had already decided to close most of its Russian offices outside Moscow by the end of the year, except for the cities where the U.K. has consulates: St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. The Foreign Office said the council's work "directly benefits hundreds of thousands of ordinary Russians.'' The Russian Foreign Ministry, in a statement on its Web site, said that U.K. attempts to use consulates as a "cover'' for the council's operations were a violation of diplomatic conventions, because the cultural organization is not linked to embassy or consular activities.

Legal Framework

Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Krivtsov said that the U.K. and Russia must agree on a new legal framework allowing Russian cultural centers in the U.K. before the British Council can reopen regional subsidiaries. He said the offices in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg will be closed by the New Year. ``They have to comply,'' Krivtsov said by phone. Until recently, the British Council, which organizes cultural and educational exchanges and teaches English, had offices in Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Omsk, Rostov- on-Don, Samara, Sochi and Volgograd. Reinforcing the hostile official climate for British interests, a pro-Kremlin youth group, Nashi, picketed the U.K. embassy last week and delivered a letter addressed to Queen Elizabeth II asking her to recall U.K. Ambassador Anthony Brenton.

Nashi, which hounded Brenton for months after he addressed an opposition conference last year, accuses him of channeling money to political groups opposed to Putin. Also last week, the British Broadcasting Corp. appealed to the Foreign Ministry to ensure the safety of its staff in Russia after three separate attacks on Moscow-based employees in one week, from Nov. 24 to 30. Volk said while there was no evidence to suggest a ``coordinated campaign'' against the U.K., ``it's clear that Russia has got pretty irritated by U.K. policies and wants to retaliate.''

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...hDNvM&refer=uk

[jgk3]

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

to virgil: yes, but why shouldn't the emphasis be made on discovering new oil deposits around the world, instead of focusing on age old regions like Baku, Venuzuela or even Alberta in Canada (the latter producing shale oil, which is both very damaging for the environment and is not an ideal grade of crude for gasoline, and requires an extensive enough refining process).

This I don't understand.

[Armenian]

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

yes, but why shouldn't the emphasis be made on discovering new oil deposits around the world, instead of focusing on age old regions like Baku, Venuzuela or even Alberta in Canada (the latter producing shale oil, which is both very damaging for the environment and is not an ideal grade of crude for gasoline, and requires an extensive enough refining process). This I don't understand.

There are not many oil/gas reserves left on earth. I know north-western America/Canada have large reserves, the Arctic has large reserves, as do some areas of Africa. That's about it. And Middle Eastern oil/gas reserves are rapidly dwindling. However, think... If you were smart you would exploit your competitor's existing energy resources before you begin using your own untapped resources. Doing so you effectively monopolize the world's energy needs and its economy in the future. It's a wise strategic move, in my opinion. And in the big geopolitical picture Russia and China are the main players. Russia has vast amounts of natural resources and has recently claimed rights over the Arctic reserves, thus they are a serious threat to the West. China needs vast amounts of natural resources thus they are the cash cow for the West. And in this scenario China and Russia uniting is the West's worst geopolitical nightmare.