- 09:36 26/04/2011
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday he might choose a job as the "angel" of hi-tech business when he leaves office, in a clear hint that he may not run for re-election. With average Russians, Mr Putin remains the more popular leader.
- 09:34 26/04/2011
Ukraine—President Viktor Yanukovych brushed off Moscow's latest efforts to woo Ukraine into a Russia-led trade bloc, insisting in an interview that Kiev wants special terms that would allow it to develop relations with the European Union as well.
- 09:40 25/04/2011
Year 2011 is important to the development of Sino-Russian relations. The two countries will hold a series of high-level meetings and exchange of visits to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the "Sino-Russian Good-Neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation," the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Sino-Russian strategic partnership of cooperation and the 10th anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
- 09:38 25/04/2011
English-language newspapers in the former Soviet states deliver hard-hitting news and assert free-press ideals in a way their local counterparts do not.
- 09:34 25/04/2011
Twenty-five years after the Chernobyl disaster, Eastern Europe is still clinging to nuclear power. The anti-nuclear movement is essentially non-existent, but experts say 'green' energy is still a viable alternative. Belarus and Ukraine see nuclear power as the way forward. Ukraine has four nuclear plants and there are plans for a Russian firm to build two more reactors at one of them.
- 10:12 22/04/2011
In recent months, the Obama administration, as part of its policy to “reset” U.S. relations with Russia, has offered to integrate the Kremlin into both the American and NATO ballistic missile defense systems. Last month, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Ellen Tauscher said the administration is “eager to begin a joint analysis, joint exercises, and sharing of early warning data that could form the basis for a cooperative missile defense system.”
- 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.
