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U.S. Report Says Russia Is Not a Reliable Partner By George Gedda The Associated Press WASHINGTON -- Russia's emergence as an increasingly authoritarian state could impair U.S.-Russian ability to cooperate on key international security issues, according to an analysis by a major U.S. foreign policy organization released on Sunday. Continuation of Russia's drift away from democratic norms under President Vladimir Putin "will make it harder for the two sides to find common ground and harder to cooperate even when they do," said the report, which was issued by the Council on Foreign Relations. It warned that some critical problems cannot...

RUSSIAN billionaire Boris Berezovsky has never made any secret of his loathing for President Vladimir Putin, but in an interview in his London exile the controversial tycoon went one step further with a vow to mount a coup. "President Putin violates the constitution and any violent action on the opposition's part is justified today, and that includes taking power by force, which is exactly what I am working at," the oligarch, looking vibrant despite five years in self-imposed exile, said at his Piccadilly office. For the past 18 months, "we have been preparing to take power by force in Russia",...

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's foreign minister indicated Tuesday that Moscow was not ready to support moves by the U.S. and its European allies to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear program, while the West stepped up pressure on Tehran. Key European countries have begun work on a resolution that asks member countries of the International Atomic Energy Agency to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council, and the United States is lobbying board members to vote for the measure early next month, a diplomat told The Associated Press. A draft text that was read to AP...

Russians prefer a strong leader to democracy International Herald Tribune THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 2006 Two-thirds of Russians see a strong leader, and not democratic government, as best for their country, and an overwhelming majority see a strong economy as more important than a good democracy, according to the results of a survey that were released Thursday by the Pew Research Center. "These findings can only add to Western concerns that, under the government of President Vladimir Putin, democracy is in retreat in Russia," Pew commented in its report on the data. The figures, based on the results of a survey...

The Russian cut-off of gas supplies to Ukraine may prove, in the long run, as catastrophic to the Kremlin as the oil boycott in 1973 eventually proved to the Arabs,,,. The political conclusion is almost as bleak. President Putin, having backed the wrong horse in Ukraine’s presidential election last year, is determined to avenge himself on the Orange Revolutionaries. The decision to quadruple the price paid for Russian gas is clearly political and intended to hurt,,,. That such a clumsy action should mark Russia’s assumption of the G8 presidency is a poor riposte to Western critics who maintain that President...

MOSCOW – Call it PetroKremlin. A vast state-run energy conglomerate has been assembled over the past year, some experts say, to fuel Russia's bid to revive Soviet-style great power status. To date, the Kremlin has effectively renationalized almost a third of the formerly private oil-and-gas sector. Other developments also point to growing state ambitions: • A $15-billion Siberian pipeline, due to begin pumping in 2008, will shift Russian crude exports to Asia, particularly China, where Moscow is cultivating fresh strategic relationships.

Putin's show of strength triggers fear of fresh nuclear arms race FRASER NELSON POLITICAL EDITOR VLADIMIR Putin has sparked fears of a new arms race between Russia and the United States by deploying a nuclear ballistic strike force system that officials made clear could penetrate US anti- missile defences. On Christmas Eve, the Russian army activated a new fleet of Topol-M missiles that can fit a nuclear warhead and travel 6,000 miles, changing trajectory to foil any enemy interception device.   The accompanying hawkish rhetoric of the Russian military commanders and the frenetic response of the US navy have stoked...

MOSCOW, September 27 (RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia would deploy new hypersonic missile systems that would be virtually invulnerable to enemy defenses. "We are developing and will deploy new strategic high-precision systems that have no rivals across the globe. These hypersonic systems will be capable of changing the course and altitude. They will be practically invulnerable, including to air defense systems," the president said speaking on live television and radio. Commenting on the president's statement, an air defense expert, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Putin must have meant state-of-the-art air defense systems, or...

I am no authoritarian and will not alter constitution to seek re-election, Russia’s President declares RUSSIA will not tolerate outside interference in former Soviet republics or any attempts to destabilise countries on Russia’s borders, President Putin declared last night. Still angry at the Orange Revolution that toppled Ukraine’s pro-Russian leader in December, Mr Putin denounced non-governmental organisations that were quietly backed by Western governments and fomented uprisings in Moscow’s former sphere of influence. “Our foreign partners may be making a mistake,” he said during a 2½-hour meeting in the Kremlin with Western academics and journalists, including The Times. “We are...

Kremlin loyalists across Russia have begun a concerted campaign to rewrite the country's constitution to allow President Vladimir Putin to serve a third term. The initiative is likely to cause alarm in the West where there is growing concern at the Kremlin's assault on democracy. The catalyst for the enthusiasm for ending the ban on a president serving more than two terms was a recent remark Mr Putin made in Finland. The president, in power since 2000, had always been categorical that he would not stand again. But on this occasion he was coy. "Perhaps I might want to," he...

LONDON (Reuters) - Foreign pressure for reform in former Soviet Union states risks turning them into chaotic "banana republics," Russian President Vladimir Putin said in comments published on Tuesday. He said Western governments may have been mistaken in backing non-governmental organisations pushing for change during last year's "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine. "We are not against any changes in the former Soviet Union," Putin was quoted as saying by Britain's Times newspaper at a briefing with Western academics and journalists. "We are afraid only that those changes will be chaotic. Otherwise there will be banana republics where he who shouts loudest...

TURKU. Aug 2 (Interfax) - President Vladimir Putin said the Russian Constitution prevents him from remaining in office after 2008. "Maybe I would want to, but the constitution of my country does not permit me to do so," Putin said after talks with Finnish President Tarja Halonen on Tuesday. "I believe the most important thing for us in Russia today is stability, which may be achieved on the basis of acting legislation and the observation of constitutional provisions," he said.

MOSCOW - In his most detailed statement to date, President Vladimir Putin has spelled out Russia's priorities for transporting crude oil to Asian markets in the next decade. In diplomatic but unambiguous language, Putin rejected Japanese proposals, in favor of China. In a press conference at Gleneagles last week as the new chairman of the G8, Putin identified rail deliveries to China from the new border terminal at Skovorodino as his first priority, with 20 million tons (385,000 barrels per day) the target for delivery, once Transneft, the state pipeline agency, builds the planned new pipeline to Skovorodino. This terminal...

THE sun rises over several hundred tents next to blue lakes. At the stroke of 7am, large speakers blare Soviet-era patriotic songs and bright-eyed youths emerge for another day of physical and ideological instruction. This is the first summer-camp of Nashi (Ours), a youth organisation set up by the Kremlin this year to support President Putin. It has assembled 3,000 teenagers from across Russia for two weeks of fun, training and political indoctrination. The organisers have spared no expense. They pay for all travel expenses, the rent of the idyllic location 200 miles north of Moscow, the tents, sailing and...

May 6, 2005 The Return of the Soviet Union by David Satter When President Bush ascends the reviewing stand in Red Square on May 9 for ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, he may find that his presence is being used less to mark a historic anniversary than to rehabilitate the Soviet Union. The anniversary has unleashed a wave of nostalgia for the Soviet Union. A report by the RIA press agency said, "all the veterans agree that the great love that the Soviet people had for their country and their belief in the righteousness...

Duma refuses to amend presidential election system 1/07/2005 MOSCOW, June 29 (RIA Novosti) - The State Duma (the lower chamber of the Russian parliament) rejected an amendment to the presidential election system Wednesday. Only 32 deputies (226 votes were needed) voted for the amendment submitted by parliamentarian Alexander Moskalets (United Russia). The law on presidential elections stipulates that an acting president who resigns before the end of his term is not allowed to run in the next elections. Moskalets proposed lifting this restriction, which had already caused disputes in the Duma and media. The media discussed this proposal that could...

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- Was it a big misunderstanding, or simply a generous gift when Russian President Vladimir Putin made off with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft's Super Bowl ring? Following a meeting of American business executives and Putin at Konstantinovsky Palace near St. Petersburg last Saturday, according to Russian news reports, Kraft showed his 4.94-carat, diamond-encrusted 2005 Super Bowl ring to the Russian president, who tried it on, then put it in his pocket and left. It was not immediately clear whether Kraft, whose business interests also include paper and packaging companies and venture capital investments, intended for...

Russia's state prosecutor has ordered an examination of Shulhan Arukh - a code of Jewish halakhic law compiled in the 16th century - to ascertain whether it constitutes racist incitement and anti-Russian material. . . . Last Thursday, attorneys from the Russian State Prosecutor's Office questioned Rabbi Zinovy Kogan, chairman of the Congress of Jewish Organizations - one of the two large Jewish umbrella organizations in Russia. Kogan was asked to explain the contents of Shulhan Arukh, especially regarding its treatment of non-Jews. Jerusalem sources following the affair said this is the first time since Stalin's regime that Russian officials...

MOSCOW -- Lawmakers are considering an electoral amendment next week that could open the way for President Vladimir Putin to run for a third term, prompting the opposition to accuse his supporters of trying to cling to power. Putin has repeatedly said he will not change the constitution, which bars presidents from serving more than two consecutive terms. A senior member of his United Russia party, however, submitted a legislative amendment Thursday that would allow Putin to stand for re-election if he stepped down before the end of his second term ends in March 2008, and if the next presidential...

Saddam Hussein's government provided senior Russian officials with oil rights worth millions of dollars under the oil-for-food program in an effort to lift U.N. sanctions against Iraq, according to a U.S. Senate Committee report released on Monday. The oil allocations were "compensation for support," Vice President Taha Yasin Ramadan told the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The report, based on documents as well as interviews with Ramadan and Tareq Aziz, the former deputy prime minister, pointed to Alexander Voloshin, former chief of staff to President Vladimir Putin in the Russian Presidential Council, and ultranationalist parliamentarian Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Both men had...