Russia

It was a horrible joke - to name Chechen Republic capital city located on Northern Caucasus, in honor of Ivan Grozny - Grozny (threatening). This city continues to remain so far a rough place, and it is not recommended to visit it without specified safe conduct. When I there was - and it was not so long ago, - I was assured that danger as if does not exist, and all takes its normal course. However ...

Huge Russia still firmlier squeezes grip on tiny Georgia. Last Wednesday the president of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and Abkhazia leader Sergei Bagapsh had signed the contract which will allow Moscow to create a military base on the territory of this separative Georgian republic. Officially military co-operation is directed to protection of “sovereignty and safety of Abkhazia”. Agreement was signed fo ...

Moldavia asked Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to create a defense system in the Transdniestr region as a response to the plans of the US administration to deploy elements of missile defense system in Eastern Europe. As a result, Transdniestria might get Russian Iskander missile complexes, Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports. Tiraspol (the capital of Transdniestira) has already sent the request to Moscow, the newspaper wrote. ...

Gazprom is a behemoth: it is Russia’s largest company, state-controlled and the world’s largest gas producer. Engaged in gas exploration, processing, and transportation, it operates an extensive pipeline network stretching thousands of kilometers across Central Asia and Europe. Gazprom ranks #22 in the 2009 annual ranking of the world largest corporations published by Fortune magazine and has 456,000 employees. With close ties to the Kremlin - President Dmitry Medvedev used to be chairman of Gazprom’s board of directors - and accounting for about 25% of Russia’s federal tax revenues according to pre-crisis data, Gazprom has a unique leverage and has no qualm about flexing its muscles.
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MOSCOW: Russia plans to launch 10 spacecraft this year, including four manned spacecraft and six cargo spaceships, the Russian spacecraft manufacturer Rocket and Space Corporation Energia said on Monday.Four Soyuz-TMA space capsules and six Progress cargo ships are scheduled to be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) this year, the company said, adding that experiments on a new series of Soyuz-TMA manned spaceships will begin in 2010. The manufacturer said it will complete the initial draft of the "Prospective Piloted Transport System," a project to develop a new-generation manned spacecraft, this year. The new capsule, which will be able to carry four to six astronauts, is expected to blast off from the Vostochny launching pad in Russia's Amur region.
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I deal in this edition with Europe as a continent, instead of 'Europe' as a political entity of twenty-seven states. After the collapse of Soviet Russia, five of her satellites became 'democratic' (in their fashion. Remember that East Germany used to be called "the free and independent democratic republic" when it was not free, or independent or democratic). Five presidents govern more or less how they like, drenched with cash which rolls in from their substantial sources of oil and gas. These new nations are the 'Istans' - Uzbekistan, Tayikistan, Kasajistan, Turkmenistan and Kirguizistan. Have you ever noticed them, visited them?
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Moscow. In 2009, Russia experienced the first full year "tandemocracy", has been named as the new formula of Russian authorities - actual complicity Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in all important decisions of the Kremlin leader Dmitry Medvedev. But if the first eight months of his presidency, which began in May 2008 Medvedev stayed in the shadow of his mentor, this year he repeatedly broke away from the prime minister VLadimir Putin. ...

Ten years ago, President Boris Yeltsin ruined the New Year's for diplomats journalists and all those whose sphere of activity is connected with Russia. Yeltsin left, and instead of celebrations and festivities had to work and sitting at computers, again helplessly speculate what would happen now with this troubled country. On the last day of the year, century and millennium, that is 31/12/1999 Yeltsin dismissed his way to an elected prime minister - Vladimir Putin.
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MOSCOW, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- A Russian spaceship carrying three astronauts blasted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan early Monday, local media reported. Russian television showed that a Soyuz-FG rocket carrying the Soyuz TMA-17 spaceship lifted off at 00:52 Moscow time (2152 GMT Sunday) from the southern Kazakh steppe.
The spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) at 01:54 Moscow time (2254 GMT) on Dec. 23 after two days of flight.
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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Black belted Russian leader Vladimir Putin has offered to join the national judo team after showing off his martial arts skills to members of the squad.

The 57-year-old prime minister made the proposal at a special coaching session on Saturday aired on state television, adding to his carefully-crafted macho image.

Putin, who many observers believe is still paramount leader despite standing down as president last year, entered the hall of St Petersburg's School of Sport Mastery dressed in a white judogi and black belt, to applause from the assembled squad.
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The United States and Russia have failed to reach an agreement on a pact to reduce Cold War stock piles of nuclear... ...

The recent Bulava launch failure has implications for US-Russian arms control talks (EDM, December 17) and will determine whether the Russian defense industry is capable of delivering advanced weapons systems at qualitative levels competing with analogous systems produced abroad. The issue involves the quality of such systems, their relative costs, and the time for their research, development and ...

Interview to Arseny Roginsky, the historian and the head of human rights organisation "Memorial"
Oleg Orlov, Lyudmila Alekseeva and Sergey Kovalev have received the Award of a name of Saharova on behalf of Memorial movement. Yesterday in Strasbourg the EuroParliament has handed over to the Russian human rights organisation "Memorial" the award of Saharova for the contribution to protection of a fr ...

NATO chief Rasmussen called for increased trust and cooperation with Moscow. But he also came out against the Kremlin's plans for a new treaty to normalize relations between Russia and the military alliance. Russia and NATO have only resumed high-level contacts in recent months after they were halted amid furious disputes over Russia's August 2008 war with Georgia, an ex-Soviet republic that had sought to join the alliance.
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What the United States Can Learn From the Soviet War in Afghanistan Summary -- The Soviet Union came closer than many think to achieving its objectives in Afghanistan. How it almost managed to win -- and why it ultimately did not -- should serve as a lesson for U.S. policymakers today. NIKOLAS K. GVOSDEV is Professor of National Security Studies at the Naval War College. The views expressed herein are entirely his own. ...

In the aftermath of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has again stated with greater insistence his country’s desire to overhaul the European security architecture. This is an idea he has been developing for over a year, and has now been given further clarity by a new statement posted on his official website.

Medvedev’s concept of “a new European security architecture” ...

Russia's new submarine-based missile has suffered the latest in a series of test failures, as amateur footage was broadcast of unusual spiral lights spotted in Norway across the border from the launch site. The Bulava intercontinental missile has been billed as Russia's newest technological breakthrough to support its nuclear deterrent, but the repeated test failures are an embarrassment for the Kremlin. ...

UPDATED: This unique photo taken in Northern Norway shows a Russian intercontinental missile flying into a spiral before it exploded in the atmosphare early Wednesday morning. The missile was most likely yet another failed test launch of a Bulava missile from the Typhoon submarine "Dmitri Donskoy" in the White Sea area. ...

The way Russia is governed exacerbates the threat it poses to Britain's national security, shadow defence secretary Liam Fox has suggested.In comments after a Chatham House keynote speech, during which he criticised financial imbalances within Nato, Dr Fox cited Russia's nuclear weapons capability and its occupation of parts of Georgia as illustrations of his point. "Let's not pretend for a moment Russia doesn't present us with a threat, it clearly does," he said, before adding: "One of the problems is Russia's governance. The way Russia is governed and by whom makes a difference. All we can do is... ask Russia to work with us on issues of common interest." ...