Russia

Summit Key Opportunity to Press Moscow to Regain Lost Momentum for Reform

November 17, 2009 -- (Moscow) - European leaders should use the upcoming EU-Russia summit to convey alarm over deteriorating human rights in Russia and to press for concrete improvements, Human Rights Watch said today. The summit is scheduled for November 18 and 19, 2009, in Stockholm.

During the past year, Russia has suffered unprecedented blows to its human rights community, with at least five independent civic activists murdered, and others imprisoned, beaten, and harassed. A leading rights activist is facing criminal charges for speaking out over the murder of a colleague. Violence has surged in the North Caucasus.    » read more »

Defendant Admits Role as Agent of the Russian Federation and in Money Laundering Conspiracy

August 27, 2009 -- WASHINGTON—Acting U.S. Attorney Kent S. Robinson and David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, announced today that Nathaniel James Nicholson, 25, of Eugene, Oregon, appeared before U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown and pled guilty to the crimes of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The maximum penalties for those crimes are five years in prison and a fine of $250,000, and 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000, respectively. Judge Brown scheduled sentencing on January 25, 2010.    » read more »

Contract Release : C09-024

May 28, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- NASA has signed a $306 million modification to the current International Space Station contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency for crew transportation and related services in 2012 and 2013.

The firm-fixed price modification covers comprehensive Soyuz support, including all necessary training and preparation for launch, crew rescue, and landing of a long-duration mission for six individual station crew members.

Space station crew members will launch on four Soyuz vehicles: two in spring 2012 and two in fall 2012. Their landings are scheduled for fall 2012 and spring 2013, respectively. The contract modification also provides for crew post-flight rehabilitation, medical exams and services.    » read more »

28 May 2009 -- Following an assessment of natural resources north of the Arctic Circle, researchers say that a full 30% of the world's undiscovered natural gas and 13% of its undiscovered oil could be found there.

The oil estimate is relatively small compared to the known reserves in major petroleum exporting countries, so researchers do not anticipate a major shift in the world's oil trade. However, they do expect the location and volume of predicted natural gas reserves inside the Arctic Circle to primarily benefit Russia.

These findings are from the first detailed, peer-reviewed, and geologically-based assessment of natural resources in that region.    » read more »

May 28, 2009 -- Shchuchye, Russia -- U.S. Senator Dick Lugar said today that the Nunn-Lugar Chemical Weapons Destruction Facility here is a testament to U.S.-Russian “cooperation and our shared dedication to addressing the threats posed by weapons of mass destruction.”

More than a decade in the making, the facility will destroy nearly 2 million chemical weapons shells and nerve agent that has been stored here since Soviet days. It is arguably the largest facility in the world destroying chemical munitions, and is currently the only operating facility that can accommodate the destruction of 2 million munitions.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, April 6, 2009 -- Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today said that he will attend the Group of Eight (G8) Agricultural Ministerial in Treviso, Italy, April 18-20.

"Hunger and malnutrition afflict more than one billion people around the world, causing human suffering, political instability and economic stagnation," said Vilsack. "This ministerial affirms our strong commitment to global food security and provides a unique opportunity to work with other agriculture ministers in developing a shared strategy to deal with food security issues."    » read more »

MOSCOW--18 March 2009-- Reinforcing its commitment to support the development of Russia’s energy infrastructure, GE Energy has signed an agreement to build a new facility in the Kaluga Region—about 180 kilometers southwest of Moscow—that will provide services for GE power generation equipment installed in Russia and the Central Asian States. The agreement to construct the facility was signed with the government of Kaluga Region, the Kaluga Region Development Corporation and the administration of Kaluga City at a ceremony held last evening at the Mansion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow.    » read more »

Special Engine Design Helps Russian Producers Comply with New Anti-Flare Gas Legislation

JENBACH, Austria--11 March 2009-- GE Energy is supplying 12 of its Jenbacher gas engines to support Russian oil and gas producer Monolit LLC’s project to reduce emissions by utilizing previously wasted gas at a Western Siberian production facility. At the facility, the waste gas—or Associated Petroleum Gas (APG)—will be separated into liquefied natural gas and other “transportable” products (including propane, butane, and ethane) for the chemical industry.    » read more »

President Obama Should Reverse Bush Policy on European Deployment

March 4, 2009 -- President Obama is reconsidering the Bush administration's decision to deploy an untested missile defense system in Europe, indicating that he is taking a more realistic, technically grounded approach to missile defense. Given Russia's strong negative reaction to the planned deployment, experts at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) say it makes sense to reconsider this policy on strategic as well as technical grounds. They say U.S. security would be undermined by deploying an ineffective missile defense system that impedes U.S.-Russian nuclear weapons reductions and collaboration on key security issues.    » read more »

Feb. 27, 2009 - Iran's dramatic launch of a satellite into orbit earlier this month, coinciding with the advent of a new American administration, should help spur greater cooperation with Russia on missile defense, according to a leading U.S. missile defense expert.

In discussions over the years, the Russians have said that a demonstration of this level of capability by Iran would be one of the "key triggers . . . as to when they themselves would begin to get worried about the Iranians," retired Lieutenant General Henry A. Obering, former director of the Missile Defense Agency, told reporters at a February 12 briefing.

But he added that, based on his years of trying to engage the Russians on this issue, he has no illusions that this kind of U.S.-Russian détente will come easily.    » read more »

February 11, 2009 -- “Ensuring reliable access to Eurasia’s energy at a reasonable price is among the most crucial strategic imperatives for Europe and, by extension, for Europe’s allies in the United States,” finds a new Council Special Report, Eurasian Energy Security. The report, authored by Jeffrey Mankoff, adjunct fellow for Russia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), addresses Europe’s overreliance on Russia as an energy supplier and proposes solutions to mitigate and eventually free Europe from its vulnerability in the energy sphere.    » read more »

Prime Minister says his country will not be “isolationist and egotistic” in the face of unprecedented crisis

Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 28 January 2009 − Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation told the opening plenary of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009 that his country will work with the US, Europe and other countries to resolve the global financial crisis. “We cannot afford to be isolationist and egotistic,” he said, promising that Russia will not resort to protectionism and erect trade barriers that will simply worsen the global financial crisis.    » read more »

September 01, 2008 -- Chicago, IL - "I welcome the results of today's emergency summit of European Union leaders in Brussels. The EU made clear, as I have repeatedly insisted, that Georgia's territorial integrity must be respected, that Russia's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states must be rejected, that the six-point peace plan of August 12 must be implemented in its entirety, and that Georgia must be given substantial humanitarian and economic assistance.    » read more »

August 26, 2008 -- Chicago, IL -- "I condemn Russia's decision to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states and call upon all countries of the world not to accord any legitimacy to this action.

"The United States should call for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to condemn Russia's decision in coordination with our European allies. The U.S. should lead within the UN and other international forums to cast a clear and unrelenting light on the decision, and to further isolate Russia internationally because of its actions. The OSCE must also send a serious monitoring group to Georgia.    » read more »

August 26, 2008 -- The United States condemns the decision by the Russian President to recognize as independent states the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. This decision is inconsistent with numerous United Nations Security Council Resolutions that Russia has voted for in the past, and is also inconsistent with the French-brokered six-point ceasefire agreement which President Medvedev signed on August 12, 2008.*

The six-point agreement offered a peaceful way forward to resolve the conflict. We expect Russia to live up to its international commitments, reconsider this irresponsible decision, and follow the approach set out in the six-point agreement.    » read more »