- 10:09 22/04/2011
Even as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev increasingly disagree publicly ahead of the 2012 election, the long-time finance minister championed by investors has begun to attack the unified political system that keeps them both in power.
- 10:08 21/04/2011
As the political differences between Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev widen into a visible public rift, and each continues to insist on the wish to run for president in polls next year, some Russians are mulling a prospect that sounded like a fantasy just a few weeks ago: What if they faced off against each other in an open and fair election?
- 10:02 21/04/2011
China recently introduced, for the export market, the M20 ballistic missile. What is worrisome to Russia is that the M20 looks very similar to the Russian Iskander (9K720) system. Increasingly, Russia has accused China of stealing a great deal of Russian military technology, and warned of repercussions if China tried to sell these copies to the export market.
- 10:00 21/04/2011
If Medvedev cannot garner support amongst Russian elites for his gentler approach to dealing with the West, it becomes more likely that Prime Minister Putin will reap the domestic rewards of perceived Western intransigence. In these circumstances, it pays to look more closely at Russia’s strategic negotiating position today and what it derives from.
- 09:13 20/04/2011
Russia's struggle to rebuild its armed forces comes as the world's military balance is in flux. Two decades after the Cold War ended, China is engaged in a military buildup that has many of its neighbors, including Russia, scrambling to bolster their defenses. The U.S., still the world's dominant military power, is trying to rein in defense spending—while simultaneously keeping a wary eye on China, projecting power in the volatile Middle East and dealing with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's persistent concerns about Moscow.
- 09:10 20/04/2011
Moscow has the largest Muslim population in Europe, with four mosques in the Russian capital city serving some two million people. But Muslims say that's not enough and so the need for more space is stirring controversy.
- 09:08 20/04/2011
When the US scales back its military commitment, defence of the airspace in the Baltic will be an important concern. Nobody knows what Russia will be like in 2020. It may have shed its Soviet-imperial shadow and made friends with its western neighbours. Or it may be ruled by chauvinistic leaders tempted to whip up opinion against a bogus enemy to keep their fragmenting country together.
- 09:29 19/04/2011
Russian military modernization has been underway for nearly five years or so and can be expected to pick up pace as a more confident and assertive Russia emerges. Military modernization of Russia has continued without interruption even with the change of Presidents in 2008.
- 09:27 19/04/2011
Russian politics is in turmoil as a result of the uprisings in the Arab world, in particular the Egyptian revolution. Those fed up with an increasingly autocratic political system hope that Russian citizens will be energised, while those who came out on top following the collapse of the Soviet Union are quick to dismiss any implications for the Russian political scene.
- 09:25 19/04/2011
The Kremlin is rediscovering capitalism. In the process, it seeks to lobby market institutions towards a more emerging nations-friendly approach to managing the global economy after the 2008 credit crisis nearly bankrupted the poster children of free markets: the US and UK.
- 09:23 19/04/2011
The Russians have complained that any talk of a foreign troop presence in Afghanistan after 2014 violates international understandings, including one made in a joint statement by President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev on June 24 supporting a neutral status for Afghanistan.
- 10:11 18/04/2011
Some say the BRIC group makes no sense. Russia and Brazil are big commodity exporters, for instance, while China and India are major importers of such goods. Yet all four nations share a common cause, being united in their determination to convert their new economic power into international political clout – a determination fuelled by the West’s continued dominance of the IMF, the World Trade Organisation and other global regulatory bodies.
- 10:08 18/04/2011
Governments all over the world are increasingly restricting internet freedoms as penetration spreads and activists turn to the still-evolving medium, according to a comprehensive analysis of practices in 37 nations. Noting that the net remains Russia’s “last relatively uncensored platform for public debate”, the report said that as more citizens have gained access in the past two years, freedoms have been eroded.
- 10:05 18/04/2011
As NATO leaders sought additional aircraft Friday to oppose the forces of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in Libya, Russia warned the alliance not to use too much military force there.Russia has strongly opposed the NATO mission in Libya from the start, getting support from Brazil, China and India.
- 10:29 15/04/2011
The Brics group of big emerging nations – comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China and, for the first time this year, South Africa – is becoming a China-dominated forum in which Beijing can push its evolving global agenda without the overbearing presence of the US.
- 10:27 15/04/2011
Russia’s ruling United Russia party said that Vladimir Putin was its preferred candidate for next year’s presidential election.
- 10:18 15/04/2011
BP has won a crucial one-month extension to its troubled share swap with Russia's Rosneft, as shareholders and protesters gather in London for what is expected to be a stormy annual meeting. The deal with Rosneft, which gives BP access to the Arctic, was due to expire on Thursday. However, following last-ditch talks, the deadline has now been pushed back to 16 May.
- 09:43 14/04/2011
With less than a year to go before the 2012 Russian presidential election, what seemed at first like a tidy political stitch-up may yet turn out to be more messy affair as Dmitry Medvedev, president, and Vladimir Putin, prime minister, the only realistic candidates, publicly seem to be at odds over which of them will run.
- 09:40 14/04/2011
As Russia heads into a season of deepening political uncertainty, Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin laid out his rationale on Wednesday for keeping the public, and the government, in the dark about who would be the country’s next president.
