Russia and Central Asia News Digest
Putin Visits Nuclear Center
President Vladimir Putin visited the Russian Federal Nuclear Center (RFNC), formerly known as the closed city of Arzamas-16, in Sarov on July 31. Speaking to scientists at the famous weapons lab, Putin said the facility was still, "without any exaggeration, of strategic importance for Russia." In recent years, the scientists have lived and worked in straitened circumstances, due to slashed funding during Russia's liberal economic reforms.
Putin expressed his continuing commitment to weapons development, including in the nuclear field, and took public note of the fact that RFNC specialists are currently producing novel nuclear weapons designs. He told the scientists: "It would be appropriate to discuss today a number of problems that are important for the secure and stable development of our nation. The quality of nuclear armaments, which have been and remain the foundation of Russia's security, should measure up to the highest standards, with respect to their universality of application, efficiency and security."
Putin presented service awards to Dr. Yuri Trutnev, deputy scientific director of the Center, and leading design engineer Yevlaliya Loshchinina. Calling their institution "the most powerful contemporary science center in the world," Putin said the RFNC brings together "the talents and knowledge of whole generations of great scientists. This is mighty intellectual, production, and scientific and technological capital, which must be fully in the service of the country." He called for measures to ensure that all the research centers coming under the Ministry of Atomic Energy, be utilized for a broad range of R&D projects. While at the present time "you are concentrating on perfecting nuclear weapons systems that are in the design stage, or have already been designed," Putin said he was also impressed by the briefing he received on new types of non-nuclear weapons.
In addition, the President stressed the importance of using the RFNC's designs "for civilian production, using the most advanced nuclear technologies for peaceful purposes."
In comments after his closed-door discussion with the scientists, Putin said that Russia's "remaining a great nuclear power" is essential, "including for the purposes of non-proliferationso that the quantity of potential importers of your wares not increase."
In other remarks, Putin appeared to be responding to concerns expressed by the scientists, about Russia's continued adherence to the nuclear test ban and other limitations on nuclear experimentation and testing. He said that he is committed to supporting the scientists' theoretical and applied research, but also to carrying out international obligations Russia has assumed, such as adherence to the test ban.
U.S. Specialists To Be Allowed in Russian Closed Cities
On July 17, the United States and Russia reached agreement to allow Americans and other foreigners into the closed cities of Seversk and Zheleznogorsk, the Associated Press reported, in connection with a project to shut down Russia's last two plutonium-producing reactors. The foreigners will be helping to build fossil-fuel-burning power plants. Under the agreement, Russia has pledged to close the two plutonium-producing reactors, one in each of those cities, but not until five to eight years hence, after the fossil-fuel plants have been completed to replace them as electricity sources. U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, who co-signed the agreement with Minister of Atomic Energy A. Rumyantsev, said, "Replacing these reactors with fossil fuel energy is critical to eliminating the production of weapons-grade plutonium in Russia and closing these facilities."
President Meets Patriarch
President Putin was in the Sarov area, not only to visit the Russian Federal Nuclear Center, but also to take part in ceremonies marking the 100th anniversary of St. Serafim of Sarov, a major figure for the Russian Orthodox Church. On the same day as his meeting with nuclear scientists, Putin also met with Patriarch Aleksi II of Moscow and All Russia. An atmosphere of national consolidation and patriotism hung over these events, as the Patriarch thanked the scientists of the country's main weapon's lab, for their help and support in organizing the fete for St. Serafim. He also thanked Sergei Kiriyenko, the Presidential Representative to the Volga Federal District, and Nizhegorod Province Governor Gennadi Khodyrev, for funding the construction of a new church in Sarov, dedicated to St. Serafim.
Putin Responds to North Caucasus Hospital Bombing
In an Aug. 2 statement, Russian President Vladimir Putin said of the previous day's truck-bombing at a military hospital in Mozdok, North Ossetia, "This act of terror is further evidence of the inhumanity and cruelty of the bandits, who are trying to destabilize the situation in the North Caucasus. But the terrorists will not impose their criminal will. Their bloody deeds will not stop the process of political settlement and restoration of a normal, peaceful life." Putin conferred with Federal Security Service (FSB) chief Nikolai Patrushev and Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov about the attack, which killed at least 45 people.
Italian Prime Minister Visits Moscow
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy travelled to Moscow July 29 for a working visit, on which Russian leaders placed special importance, in light of Italy's position as President of the European Union for the second semester of 2003. According to reports in the Italian press, both sides said the talks were productive. Berlusconi and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed preparations for the EU-Russia summit in Rome, which will take place on Nov. 5-6. Berlusconi invited Putin to make a private visit to Rome, prior to the summit.
According to La Stampa, Putin will meet Pope John Paul II on that occasion, perhaps opening the way for an encounter between the Pontiff and Patriarch Aleksi II, head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Whereas Berlusconi spoke of his "vision for a great Europe," which would include Russia, Turkey, and Israel, Putin focussed on the need to implement concrete plans now, taking a series of small but definite steps toward this objective. Putin said, during the six-month period of Italy's rotating Presidency of the EU, he hoped that real progress would be made, and not "abstract discourses of politics." He stressed that, among the decisions made at St. Petersburg, most important was the creation of an "open economic space." The issue of visa rules was also discussed.
Berlusconi, who was visiting Moscow for the third time this year, also communicated to Putin the "personal appreciation" of President Bush, whom he met last week. Bush and Putin are to meet in September.
Russia and Iran Review Transportation Projects
Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Gholam Reza Shafei said Iran is adamant on constructing the North-South Corridorby sea from India to Iran, then overland and the Caspian Sea into Russiaand he expressed hope that other signatories to the agreement will also do their utmost in expansion of related infrastructural facilities, reports IRNA. Speaking July 24, he said that Russia understands the importance of the corridor in boosting trade between the regional states.
Shafei called on Armenia and Azerbaijan and their neighbors to resolve the dispute over the Karabakh district, "hence removing the hurdles in the way of railroad transportation, and agreement by Russian officials to let the Iranian-registered trucks travel in the northern Caucasus." Referring to closure of the railroad between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which connects Jolfa to Russia, Shafei expressed hope that by resolving differences between Yerevan and Baku, the railroad would be reopened soon.
Russian Transportation Minister Sergei Frank also stressed the importance of the corridor, and outlined Russian plans for expansion of facilities in the Russian ports. He added that an important Euro-Asia conference is to be held in September in St. Petersburg, and invited the Iranian ambassador to attend the gathering.
Shafei also conferred July 23 with the Russian First Deputy Transport Minister, Vladimir Yakunin, on expansion of economic cooperation, mainly on the North-South corridor. The two sides also reviewed results of the second meeting of the Council to coordinate establishment of the North-South corridor, held in Tehran on April 29. They also discussed investments made by the Iran and Russia for modernizing port facilities in the Caspian Sea.
The agreement on a North-South international transportation corridor connecting India, Iran, and Russia to Europe, has been signed by Iran, India, Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. Other countries, such as Oman and Tajikistan, are expected to join the treaty in the near future.
Russian-Iranian Relations as 'Geopolitical' Target
The Wall Street Journal of July 31 featured an attack on cooperation between Russia and Iran, from the pen of Ilan Berman of the Washington-based American Foreign Policy Council. Berman's article, "The Great Game Goes Nuclear," argued that Russian-Iranian relations have become a "geopolitical alliance," with more than economic collaboration involved. He said it was a matter not only of Russia's assistance to Iran, to complete its Bushehr nuclear plant, and to build five more in the next decade, but also of Russia's training hundreds of Iranian scientists and technicians. Berman accused Russia of helping Iran's weapons programs, including the Shahab-3 missile.
According to Berman, Iran constitutes a threat to the region. "Over the past year and a half, the U.S. intelligence community has quietly been warning American policy-makers that Iran's strategic expansion has given it the ability to virtually hijack the Gulf oil supplies if it wanted." The article concluded, "The White House, preoccupied by Iran's nuclear advances, is now ratcheting up its rhetoric toward the Islamic Republic. But Iran's nuclear program is just the beginning. At some point, the United States must also address the broader regional challenge posed by a rising Iran. And when it does, the true measure of its success will lie in severing the relationship between Tehran and its chief broker." That means Moscow.
Russian Prosecutors Warn Prime Minister
A spokesman for the Russian Prosecutor General's office has upped the ante in the battle around Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Yukos oil company. At a press conference July 28 on current investigations into economics crimes, Natalya Vishnyakova, deputy head of a directorate in the office, insinuated that statements by Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov could qualify as obstruction of justice. Kasyanov had publicly commented that the arrest of Yukos official Platon Lebedev in his hospital bed, and his continued pre-trial incarceration, ran counter to civilized practice. Vishnyakova said, "Mikhail Kasyanov's statements ... were, to put it mildly, improper. To put it another way, this could be seen as pressure on the court, since it is the court that decides on the detention of an individual." Vishnyakova added that the remarks were a violation of the separation of powers. Five times in the course of the 40-minute press conference, she denied that the Prosecutor General's investigations were politically targetted.
Khodorkovsky, meanwhile, in brief remarks to a correspondent of the scandal sheet Novaya Gazeta, charged that the legal attacks on his and other companies were designed to transfer control over the Russian corporate sector to "the men in epaulets." Those words evoke the image of the recently exposed police officials running protection rackets in Moscow and elsewhere, who have been dubbed "the werewolves in epaulets," but they also allude to the "force agency" (police, military, etc.) associates of President Putin. Russian media continue to speculate on the events around Yukos as a war within the Presidential Administration, where at least one group has allegedly been preparing to dump Kasyanov.
On July 29, Putin himself spoke out against prosecutorial excesses. He took the opportunity of a ceremony on the promotion of previously appointed military and security agency leaders to higher ranks, to say that investigations of economic crime should be carried out "with regard for the rights of individuals," and should not turn into a type of "campaigning." Putin also stated, "The reorganization of the force ministries is complete.... No additional changes are necessary, and all relevant gossip should be cease."
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