In this issue:

Putin Boosts Russia's Eurasian Perspective

German-Russian Talks To Focus on 'Strategic Investments'

Putin Visits Ingushetia After Bloody Raid

50th Anniversary Nuclear Energy Conference To Open in Moscow

Ukraine Against Involvement in Iraq

Russia and Argentina Discuss Economic Projects

From Volume 3, Issue Number 26 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published June 29, 2004
Russia and the CIS News Digest

Putin Boosts Russia's Eurasian Perspective

Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in a summit of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) June 18, in Astana, Kazakstan, meeting with the heads of state of Kazahkstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Belarus. President Robert Kocharian of Armenia, a member with these others of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, though not EurAsEC, was also present. In remarks after the organization's Intergovernmental Council met, Putin stressed EurAsEC's role as "a locomotive of economic integration processes in the post-Soviet space," which Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev was to be thanked for initiating.

Putin spelled out his thinking somewhat more, in a speech at the L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian University in Astana. The late historian Gumilyov, son of the poets Nikolai Gumilyov (executed, 1921) and Anna Akhmatova, was a leading proponent of "the Eurasian idea" in Russian history—but, with less of the kooky geopolitics that comes in with the Trust's Eurasianists in the 1920s and their heirs today, friends of the French Nouvelle Droite. Putin said that "Gumilyov's ideas are winning over the masses," and that "it is very good that this is remembered, discussed, and that, moreover, here in Kazakstan people are really guided by many of these ideas, as they attempt to implement what this outstanding Russian thinker said in his day."

In Putin's view, the leaders of the EurAsEC countries "are trying to restore what was lost when the Soviet Union collapsed, but on an absolutely new basis." Several times, he hailed Nazarbayev's work for Eurasian "integration." In further discussion at the Gumilyov University event, Putin polemicized against any tendency to see Russia as outside of Eurasian processes. He said, "I have the impression that some enemies of the ideas of President Nazarbayev infiltrated the ranks of this event's organizers." Putin referred to an agenda item concerning "Eurasian Security," which referred to "the geopolitical interests of external powers" (USA, China, the EU, Japan, Russia). Putin objected, "I understand that it is possible to live according to the principle, 'What do I need geography for; the driver will get me there,' but it only takes one look at a map, to see where the Russian Federation is situated. It is located right in the center of Eurasia." And neither Eurasian security, nor world security, can be addressed without Russia, he stressed.

German-Russian Talks To Focus on 'Strategic Investments'

According to sparse information available, a special German-Russian economic summit on July 8 will not be a public event; it is not even clear whether there will be a press conference by the German Chancellor and the Russian President afterwards. The summit was agreed upon by Schroeder and Putin on the sidelines of the G-8 Summit in Georgia (USA), June 8-10, and it will be coordinated by the Chancellor's office and the President's office, directly.

Not more than about 30 leading representatives of German and Russian industry will attend. No further details are available, as of now. As to the nature of the "strategic areas of investment" that will be on the agenda, no official information is available, either. A source in the government pointed out, however, that a speech which Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder will give at the Financial Academy in Moscow, July 8, will be important.

Putin Visits Ingushetia After Bloody Raid

The Republic of Ingushetia in the Russian North Caucasus is adjacent to Chechnya, with which it was united as the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Republic during the Soviet period. On the night of June 21-22, several hundred armed guerrillas attacked six government installations in the Ingush town of Nazran, including the offices of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Security Service, the Ministry of Defense, and other "force" agencies. A defense was mounted during the night, mainly by Internal Affairs troops. Over 60 people were killed, including the Acting Minister of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia, Abukar Kostoyev, his deputy, and five officials of the Prosecutor's Office. Dozens more were wounded.

At a nationally televised early-morning briefing of President Vladimir Putin by the chiefs of the national force ministries, on June 22, Minister of Internal Affairs Rashid Nurgaliyev reported that the attacking units withdrew from Nazran around 4:00 a.m., evidently in the direction of Chechnya. A grim-faced Putin gave instructions to "hunt and annihilate" the attackers, but to try to take them alive. Later in the day, Putin flew to Ingushetia, where he ordered reinforcement of the airport in Nazran. In remarks there—again, nationally televised—he said to "find them all." Putin congratulated the troops that had retaken all the government buildings, but added that "the Federal Center evidently did not do enough to defend the republic."

Russian media emphasized that the attack was launched on the eve of June 22, the 63rd anniversary of Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union. Last month, Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov was assassinated on another World War II anniversary—Victory Day, May 9.

50th Anniversary Nuclear Energy Conference To Open in Moscow

Amid tense international differences in policies regarding nuclear energy, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei will open a week-long "International Conference on 50 Years of Nuclear Power—The Next 50 Years," in Moscow on June 27, the IAEA announced June 24. The event being celebrated is the start of the Obninsk power reactor, south of Moscow, which became the first in the world, in 1954, to produce electricity for a national 0grid.

ElBaradei will also meet with President Putin, Foreign Minister Lavrov, and atomic energy agency head Alexander Rumyantsev. ElBaradei is promoting non-proliferation schemes in support of President Bush's proposals, including the banning of uranium-enrichment technology for non-nuclear weapons states.

Meanwhile, the general director of the Center for Modern Iran Studies, Rajab Safarov, said at a news conference in Moscow July 22 that Russia has a good chance of winning the contract to build the second reactor at the Bushehr power station in Iran. Russia and Iran are expected to sign a protocol of intent to build the plant when Rumyantsev visits Tehran this summer, Safarov said.

Ukraine Against Involvement in Iraq

About 2,000 Communists and 5,000 Orthodox believers swarmed the central independence square in Kiev and marched to Parliament on June 22, demanding that Ukrainian troops be withdrawn from Iraq, Reuters reported. Many of the protesters called for Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma to don his uniform and get to Iraq. Kuchma, who faces a reelection race this year, has vowed to keep the troops in Iraq.

Russia and Argentina Discuss Economic Projects

(See Ibero-American Digest.)

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