Russia in the News

 This article is critical to understanding certain undercurrents of US and Russian politics: The Happy-Go-Lucky Jewish Group That Connects Trump and Putin  4/9/2017 Politico: "This third way may explain the affinity Trump has found with a number of Chabad enthusiasts—Jews who shun liberal reform Judaism in favor of traditionalism but are not strictly devout. “It’s not a surprise that Trump-minded people are involved with Chabad,” said Torossian. “Chabad is a place that tough, strong Jews feel comfortable. Chabad is a nonjudgmental place where people that are not traditional and not by-the-book feel comfortable.”"

Russia News Archive 1997 - 2008

Putin: no need for Cuban, Venezuelan bases  12/4/2008 AP: "Today there is no need to build permanent bases" in Cuba and Venezuela, Putin said in response to a question. He said Russia has an agreement allowing its warships to use Venezuelan ports for refueling and resupply, "and I think the Cuban leadership would not refuse this."

Medvedev's Venezuela, Cuba trips set to rile U.S.  11/20/2008 Reuters 

Moscow seeks UN help to root out racism  11/19/2008 Russia Today: "In our view, it is totally inadmissible to glorify those who were involved in Nazi crimes, including whitewashing former SS members, such as the Waffen-SS unit that has been recognised as criminal by the Nuremberg Tribunal," said the Russian diplomat. Russia has repeatedly criticized some of the Baltic States and Ukraine for honouring its war veterans who served on the side of the Nazis."

Russia builds ties in United States' backyard  11/15/2008 LA Times: "President Dmitry Medvedev is to visit Venezuela, where President Hugo Chavez has been cultivating stronger military and economic relations with Russia. Stops in Brazil and Cuba are also planned."

UNODC Chief, Russia discuss efforts to combat drug trafficking  11/14/2008 UNODC: "Mr. Ivanov voiced concern about "relentless flows of illegal drugs", including through the so-called "northern route" crossing CIS countries and onward to Western Europe. «We consider UNODC an important partner in fighting the Afghan drug threat and support UNODC's cooperation with the regional security mechanisms active in Central Asia, such as the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization »."

Georgia Claims on Russia War Called Into Question  11/6/2008 NYT: "Newly available accounts by independent military observers of the beginning of the war between Georgia and Russia this summer call into question the longstanding Georgian assertion that it was acting defensively against separatist and Russian aggression. Georgia moved forces toward the border of the breakaway region of South Ossetia on Aug. 7, at the start of what it called a defensive war with separatists there and with Russian forces. Instead, the accounts suggest that Georgia’s inexperienced military attacked the isolated separatist capital of Tskhinvali on Aug. 7 with indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire, exposing civilians, Russian peacekeepers and unarmed monitors to harm. The accounts are neither fully conclusive nor broad enough to settle the many lingering disputes over blame in a war that hardened relations between the Kremlin and the West. But they raise questions about the accuracy and honesty of Georgia’s insistence that its shelling of Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, was a precise operation. Georgia has variously defended the shelling as necessary to stop heavy Ossetian shelling of Georgian villages, bring order to the region or counter a Russian invasion."

Russia’s Military to Check Cuba’s Missile Defense Facilities  10/27/2008 Kommersant 

Lithuanian Nazis become partisans?  10/3/2008 Ria Novosty: "Today, there are 2,800 Jews left in Lithuania. Still, the country's government is unable to ensure their security. In recent years, many friends turned into enemies. Since last September, Lithuania's Prosecutor's Office has been demanding extradition of a former member of Lithuanian NKVD (former Commissariat for Internal Affairs), Yitzhak Arad, from Israel, to sue him for killing Nazi collaborationists, who are now proudly called "partisans." The government is making every effort to put together the crimes committed by the Soviets and the Nazis, and have eventually made "Soviet" a synonym for "Nazi."

NATO closely monitors Russian warships on route to Caribbean  9/28/2008 Ria Novosti 

Notes from the Inside - South Ossetia and Abkhazia  9/25/2008 CounterPunch 

Putin says ties with Latin America a top priority  9/25/2008 AP 

McCain a.k.a. Mickey Mouse: the candidate for US presidents was the agent of KGB  9/18/2008 Moscow Post: "Chan Chong Duet, the chief of Vietnam prison of that time, informed The Moscow Post Far-Eastern reporter, that he remembered this American very well. According to his words, many of the soviet military men constantly watched by his ward. McCain father soon must be nominated to the post of Commander-in-Chief of one of the USA Fleets. Having known what a big shot fell into their hands, McCain was transferred to solitary ward. «It was special treatment, - Duet says, - his meals was another, and Soviet commanders spent much time in conversations with him. I don’t know the theme of their conversations. To tell the truth, once he was brought to my room, where he signed papers. Soon after that McCain was placed to hospital served by Soviet doctors. After that I have never seen him.»

Medvedev "would attack Georgia even if on NATO track"  9/12/2008 Reuters: "Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that even if Georgia were on a firm path to NATO membership, he would not hesitate to attack it under circumstances similar to last month's conflict."

Ossetia-Georgia-Russia-U.S.A. - Towards a Second Cold War?  9/11/2008 CounterPunch: by Noam Chomsky

U.S. Intelligence Sees It Russia’s Way  9/10/2008 Kommersant: "American intelligence confirms that the latest military actions in South Ossetia were started by Georgia and Russia’s position in the conflict was correct, says Republican California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. He said the situation reminded him of the Bay of Tonkin incident, which the U.S. used as a pretext for beginning the war in Vietnam."

US-Russian naval rivalries heat up over Black, Caspian, Persian Gulf seas  9/8/2008 Debka, Israel: "Washington is well aware of the talk in Moscow and Tehran in recent days about establishing Russian naval bases in Iran: Iranian Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea and an Iranian-held island in the Persian Gulf. The latter, if Moscow and Tehran reached agreement, would terminate US naval control of the Persian Gulf waters opposite Iran forces and drastically upset the balance of strength in the region. Washington’s response to this talk is its bid for a permanent Black Sea base."

Russian units raid Georgian airfields for use in Israeli strike against Iran – report  9/6/2008 Debka, Israel: "The raids were disclosed by UPI chief editor Arnaud de Borchgrave, who is also on the Washington Times staff, and picked up by the Iranian Fars news agency. The Russian raids of two Georgian airfields, which Tbilisi had allowed Israel to use for a potential strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, followed the Georgian offensive against South Ossetia on Aug. 7. Under the secret agreement with Georgia, the airfields had been earmarked for use by Israeli fighter-bombers taking off to strike Iran in return for training and arms supplies. DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report that flying from S. Georgia over the Caspian Sea to Iran would sharply trim the distance to be spanned by Israeli fighter-bombers, reducing flying time to 3.5 hours. Northern Iran and the Tehran region, where most of the nuclear facilities are concentrated, would be within range, with no need to request US permission to pass through Iraq air space."

Putin: U.S. military advisers in Georgia conflict  8/29/2008 Reuters: " He said the United States had used NATO to keep Europe under control after the end of the Cold War and that Russia was being artificially built up an enemy. "They needed an external enemy and Iran doesn't suit that role very well, and they want to resuscitate Russia as the threat," he said, adding that Russia could not be isolated."

Russian analyst points to link between Georgian attack and Iran  8/27/2008 RIA Novosti: "Col. Gen Leonid Ivashov, president of the Academy of Geopolitical Studies, told a news conference at RIA Novosti, "We are close to a serious conflict - U.S. and NATO preparations on a strategic scale are ongoing. In the operation the West conducted on Georgian soil against Russia - South Ossetians were the victims or hostages of it - we can see a rehearsal for an attack on Iran. There is a great deal of "new features" that today are being fine tuned in the theater of military operations." ...Ivashov said it was difficult to predict how other countries would react to a conflict with Iran, but according to him, "old Europe" would be reluctant for events to develop and to some degree would become Russia's allies. With regard to the Georgia-South Ossetian conflict, he said that one of the principal goals of NATO's "geopolitical operation" was to neutralize Russia as a global player."

Russia's oil boom may be running on empty  8/24/2008 McClatchy: "Most of the oil produced after the country's 1998 financial collapse has come from drilling and re-drilling old Soviet oil fields with more advanced equipment - squeezing more black gold out of the same ground - and efforts to develop new fields have been slow or non-existent. That strategy is potentially disastrous, said Valery Kryukov, who researches oil companies in western Siberia for a government-funded think tank. "If the situation which exists now stays the same, oil production will start to decline seriously in two years," Kryukov said in a phone interview from his offices in the city of Novosibirsk."

Making Money on a New Cold War  8/23/2008 Consortium News: "At the CIA, hard-line Director William Casey and his deputy, Robert Gates, purged CIA analysts who still insisted on seeing a Soviet decline. The only acceptable analysis was to agree that the Soviets were on the march and set on world domination. In reaction to this perceived Soviet threat, there was a massive expansion in U.S. military spending, combined with aggressive covert operations in dirty wars from Central America to Afghanistan. There, the Reagan administration sent sophisticated weapons to rebel forces that included Islamic fundamentalists, such as Osama bin Laden. Ironically, when the Soviet Union finally collapsed in 1991, the CIA analytical division was mocked for having “missed” this momentous event. Meanwhile, the U.S. news media credited Reagan’s vast military spending, especially his “Star Wars” missile defense program and the Afghan war, with “winning” the Cold War."

Russia sends aircraft carrier to Syria  8/20/2008 Barent Observer, Norway 

Russia calls off meeting with NATO  8/19/2008 Russia Today 

Two Morons: Bush and Saakashvili - "President Bush, Will You Please Shut Up?"  8/13/2008 CounterPunch: “So, why don’t you shut up? Oh and by the way, send some more of your military advisors to Georgia, they are doing a sterling job. And they look all funny down the night sight, all green.” The US is not a superpower. It is a bankrupt farce run by imbeciles who were installed by stolen elections arranged by Karl Rove and Diebold. It is a laughing stock, that ignorantly affronts and attempts to bully an enormous country equipped with tens of thousands of nuclear weapons."

Russia expands Georgia blitz, deploys ships  8/11/2008 AP: "A Russian general said Georgian forces directed heavy fire at positions around Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, early Monday, even though Georgia had claimed to be withdrawing from the shattered city and called for a cease-fire."

The Pipeline War: Russian bear goes for West's jugular  8/10/2008 Daily Mail: "The Georgians are outnumbered and outgunned in every department. Russia has about 697,000 troops, while Georgia has only 19,500 full-time regulars. And with Russia’s 1,200 combat aircraft confronting Georgia’s seven outmoded support planes, and 6,000 tanks against 100 ageing machines, there is no contest."

RIA Novosti hit by cyber-attacks as conflict with Georgia rages  8/10/2008 RIA Novosti: "RIA Novosti news agency's website was disabled for several hours on Sunday by a series of hacker attacks, as the conflict between Russia and Georgia over breakaway South Ossetia continued for a third day. Websites in both Russia and Georgia have been hit by cyber attacks since Georgia launched a major ground and air offensive to seize control of South Ossetia on Friday. Russia responded by sending in tanks and hundreds of troops. "The DNS-servers and the site itself have been coming under severe attack," said Maxim Kuznetsov, head of the RIA Novosti IT department."

Conflict spreads outside S Ossetia  8/9/2008 Al Jazeera: "A spokesman for Vladimir Boldyrev, Russia's army chief, was quoted as saying that Russian tank and artillery units had destroyed Georgian positions around the city. "The positions from which Georgian troops were firing ... have been destroyed by fire from artillery and tank units of the 58th army," Igor Konashenkov, the spokesman, said."

Armed Cossacks pour in to fight Georgians - Neighbours mobilise in anger at Tblisi's attack on enclave  8/9/2008 Guardian: "The two Ossetias are historically inseparable and residents of the northern republic were furious yesterday at what they described as the "Georgian fascist attack" on their neighbours. Many said they were willing to take up arms and travel to defend their relatives across the border in South Ossetia. Valentin Tekhti, 67, a teacher, said: "Our Ossetian brothers are dying. If we get the call, every man who can stand on two legs will go to fight." "

The two-faced, underhanded foreign policy of Georgia  8/8/2008 Pravda: "According to South Ossetian government sources, there were many civilian casualties in the city of Tskhinvali, a large part of which was destroyed. The Parliament house has burned down and several buildings are on fire. Apart from this, Georgian Su-25 Frogfoot aircraft strafed civilians in the village of Kvernet and attacked a Russian humanitarian aid convoy. Yet where is the criticism of the West against this blatant act of war crimes perpetrated by the criminal and murderous regime of failed lawyer Saakashvili?"

Did the FSB Betray Victor Bout?  3/22/2008 Nachrichten Heute: "Under the rule of the former President Vladimir, Putin Mogilevich and Bout were safe in Moscow. Now, when the President-elect Dmitry Medvedev is getting ready to do some “face-saving” in Russia, the old “kings” of the criminal underworld, serving the Kremlin as useful agents, are being dumped while new, still unknown replacements will take their place."

Blowback From Moscow by Patrick J. Buchanan  11/30/2007 AntiWar: "Putin is referring to the time of the "oligarchs" of the Yeltsin era, who looted Russia when its state assets were sold off at fire-sale prices. Putin is also accusing his opponents of attempting to use the Western-devised tactics of mass street protests to bring down his government. "Now that they have learned some things from Western specialists and tried them in the neighboring republics, they are going to try them on our streets." Putin is talking here about the "color-coded" revolutions that the U.S. and NATO embassies, the National Endowment for Democracy, and allied foundations and front groups engineered in Ukraine and Georgia. Governments tilting toward Moscow were dumped over and pro-Western regimes installed – to bid for membership in NATO and the European Union."

Hysterical Western Media Hype Flimsy Cyber War Against Estonia  6/2/2007 Alternet 

Russia accused of unleashing cyberwar to disable Estonia  5/17/2007 Independent: "A three-week wave of massive cyber-attacks on the small Baltic country of Estonia, the first known incidence of such an assault on a state, is causing alarm across the western alliance, with Nato urgently examining the offensive and its implications. While Russia and Estonia are embroiled in their worst dispute since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a row that erupted at the end of last month over the Estonians' removal of the Bronze Soldier Soviet war memorial in central Tallinn, the country has been subjected to a barrage of cyber warfare, disabling the websites of government ministries, political parties, newspapers, banks, and companies."

Mary Dejevsky: Caution... handle allegations of poisoning with care The real reason for Mr Litvinenko's plight many not be the one set out so confidently  11/20/2006 Independent 

Victor Bout: The World’s Leading Dealer in Illegal Arms  10/24/2006 Forward America 

Heavy Drinking and Suicide in Russia  9/1/2006 Soc Forces, NIH: "Russian levels of alcohol consumption and suicide are among the highest in the world. While observers have long suspected an association between the two, they were unable to investigate this hypothesis until recently due to past Soviet secrecy and thus a lack of data. This study took advantage of the newly available data during the post-Soviet era to examine the cross-sectional association between heavy drinking and suicide mortality in Russia. Aggregate mortality data for the Russian regions (n = 78) for the year 2000 were used to measure heavy drinking and suicide rates. Government data were used to control for the regional economic situation and strength of social institutions. Ordinary Least Squares regression was employed to estimate the effect of a proxy for heavy drinking on overall and sex-specific age-adjusted suicide rates. The results showed a positive and significant association between the two, and the association held for overall, male and female rates. These results not only confirmed an association between heavy drinking and suicide in Russia, but when compared to findings from previous studies of other countries they led to the hypothesis that a nation’s beverage preference may be as important as its wet/dry drinking culture in its sensitivity of suicide rates to alcohol consumption."

Russia has announced that it has paid off its $31.1 billion debt to foreign countries  8/23/2006 Wayne Madsen: scroll to Aug. 23, 2006 - "Russia's economic clean bill of health would not have been possible had not President Vladimir Putin not declared war on Russia's criminal oligarch's, many of whom have fled to Israel and who reside in that country with guarantees from extradition back to Russia to stand trial. However, in 2005 Russia did jail for nine years Yukos oil oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky -- a dual Russian-Israeli citizen. Not surprisingly, George W. Bush, acting on behalf of Israeli criminal interests and neo-con advisers, led largely by Bush's favorite author, Israeli former Soviet "refusenik" Natan Sharansky, demanded that Putin free Khodorkosvky. Putin ignored Bush's plea.''

Rice’s Plan to Inspect Russian Nuclear Sites Lost in Translation  4/21/2005 Moscow News: "Condoleezza Rice effectively admitted that the U.S. was set to inspect Russia’s nuclear facilities, and unequivocally demanded that Putin resign in 2008 after his second term in office expires. She also hinted that Belarus would soon see an “Orange Revolution”. Her Russian interlocutors pretended stubbornly that they didn’t hear anything, the Russian daily writes."

Resurgent Russia challenges US  3/18/2005 Asia Times: "By effectively controlling international oil prices, Russia could undermine US economic growth. More importantly, Russia could encourage the devaluation of the dollar by redenominating its substantial energy trade with Europe from dollars into euros. Redenomination, which is supported by both Russia and the European Union, would force Europe's central banks to rebalance their foreign exchange reserves in favor of the euro. Rather than establishing economic and geopolitical hegemony around the world, the "war on terrorism" is making the US increasingly vulnerable to a sharp economic recession delivered to Washington by Moscow. The Bush administration should consider this when formulating plans to expand US power into Russia's traditional sphere of influence or to undermine Iran's government. Without this consideration, Washington risks an economic war."

Soviet-era bioweapons under threat: Pentagon  3/11/2004 AFP 

Putin Gives Army Chief Kvashnin Charge of Intelligence  11/4/2003 Debka, Israel 

Sharon in Moscow to Line up with Bush-Putin Global Strategy  11/3/2003 Debka, Israel: "Bush and Putin agreed to co-opt the Israeli prime minister to their project, which will undoubtedly yield personal, political, intelligence and economic changes over the years ahead. The two leaders are aware they face some rough passages, but are determined to forge ahead toward their uniquely ambitious objective which is, in a nutshell, the establishment of a shared American-Russian world hegemony based on the twin foundations of US economic and military strength and Russian oil wealth… This colossal project entails the building of a major new pipeline to ship West Siberian crude through a deepwater terminal near Murmansk inside the Arctic Circle from Russia to North America. The pipeline would not only reduce American dependency on Middle East oil, but bring a major oil source significantly closer to the American market than the Persian Gulf. Murmansk has two major advantages. It is a deepwater port, capable of handling the largest supertankers and, despite its location north of the Arctic Circle, isable to operate around the year. Construction is projected to begin in 2004 with the pipeline being ready for operation in 2007. Preliminary estimates put the total cost at between $3.4 bn and $4.5 bn, depending on the route finally chosen. According to the US-Russian program discussed at the St. Petersburg summit, some 13 percent of US oil imports will come from Russia by the year 2010, reducing the OPEC input from 51 percent of US consumption to 40-42 percent in 2010." This will be one of the first casualties of the impending problems with the Gulf Stream, which keeps Murmansk open year around.

Putin: Why Not Price Oil in Euros?  10/10/2003 Moscow Times: "President Vladimir Putin said Thursday Russia could switch its trade in oil from dollars to euros, a move that could have far-reaching repercussions for the global balance of power -- potentially hurting the U.S. dollar and economy and providing a massive boost to the euro zone. "We do not rule out that it is possible. That would be interesting for our European partners," Putin said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the Urals town of Yekaterinburg, where the two leaders conducted two-day talks."

German Sources Say Russia Might Price Its Oil in Euros  10/9/2003 Moscow Times 

Why Moscow won't back down  5/31/2003 Asia Times: "Given this reality, Russia should have every reason to believe it to be one of the next states, if not the next one, on the American list of targets if Washington restores its influence in neighboring Iran. Fear of such a scenario seems to be a major reason for the Russians to continue their multi-dimensional ties with Iran, including in the nuclear realm, to prevent its weakness and isolation, two tempting prerequisites for any future American designs on Iran."\

More nations condemn Euro army as a threat to Nato  5/1/2003 Telegraph, UK: "Russia added its weight, to the consternation of its erstwhile central European satellites, saying it considered "that yesterday's meeting marks the start of a process at the heart of the European Union". Igor Ivanov, the foreign minister, said Russia would "follow closely how it develops." " -- this Tory newspaper condemns the move and claims everyone else in Europe does too, much as it once claimed that many were for the war on Iraq.

But where are Saddam’s WMDs, Putin mocks Blair  5/1/2003 Daily Times, Pakistan: "Speaking at the end of what was supposed to be a fence-mending meeting with Mr Blair in Moscow, Mr Putin mocked the coalition’s failure to find any biological or nuclear weapons. He said UN oil sanctions should not be lifted until they came to light. Mr Putin reminded the grim-faced Prime Minister that the only reason he went to war was to eliminate the danger posed by Saddam’s weapons programme. “Two weeks later they still have not been found,” he told a press conference. “The question is, where is Saddam Hussein? Where are those weapons of mass destruction, if they were ever in existence? Is Saddam Hussein in a bunker sitting on cases containing weapons of mass destruction, preparing to blow the whole place up?”

Move gives Russian major critical mass  4/23/2003 Financial Times: "In what became negotiations between two purely Russian entities - principally between Mr Khodorkovsky and Roman Abramovich, the dominant Sibneft shareholder - few outsiders were involved."

Documents link Russia to Saddam  4/18/2003 Scotsman, UK: "The most serious allegations concern certificates, bearing the Russian twin-headed eagle, showing that five Iraqis had graduated in spy training from a Moscow organisation called the Special Training Centre. Checks this week show there is no private company by that name - increasing speculation that Iraqi agents attended an official Russian spy school. More documents from the same Baghdad villa - a secret service headquarters - claim Russia passed Iraq a list of freelance hitmen who could be hired for assassinations. Other papers found in the rubble of Iraq’s capital are claimed to detail how Russia passed Iraq details of phone calls between Tony Blair and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi."

Indian navy to hold exercises with Oman, US, Russia: report  4/13/2003 AFP 

Russia spied on Blair for Saddam  4/13/2003 Telegraph, UK: "Top secret documents obtained by The Telegraph in Baghdad show that Russia provided Saddam Hussein's regime with wide-ranging assistance in the months leading up to the war, including intelligence on private conversations between Tony Blair and other Western leaders. Moscow also provided Saddam with lists of assassins available for "hits" in the West and details of arms deals to neighbouring countries. The two countries also signed agreements to share intelligence, help each other to "obtain" visas for agents to go to other countries and to exchange information on the activities of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qa'eda leader."

Russian anger growing  4/12/2003 Russia Journal 

Putin warns US on more attacks  4/12/2003 The News, Australia: " "We are not going to export capitalist, democratic revolutions," the Russian leader told reporters as rumours in Washington allege that some elements of the US administration are mulling launching military operations against other Middle Eastern states. If we do, we're going to end up on a slippery slope to non-ending military conflicts. We can't let that happen," Putin said at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac after holding talks with them." - Russia has an important fleet positioned in the Arabian sea for joint exercises with the Indian Navy.

Indian navy to exercise with Russian vessels soon  4/10/2003 IRNA: "A powerful Russian naval flotilla, consisting of missile cruisers, amphibious warships and patrol ships will hold their first ever joint exercises with Indian warships in Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal early next month. Ten frontline warships of the Russian Pacific and Black Sea fleet and an equally strong Indian naval flotilla of warships, submarines and helicopters will carry out anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare and air defense exercises, Indian naval spokesman said here. This is for the first time in over a decade that such a powerful Russian naval flotilla would be conducting war games in the Arabian Sea, adjacent to the Persian Gulf where US forces are engaged in operations over Iraq."

Tide of anti-US sentiment rises in Russia  4/9/2003 The Age, Australia: "But Putin has to deal with anti-American sentiment among the public and parts of the elite. Polls show strong anti-war, or anti-US, feelings. About 90 per cent were opposed to the military operation in Iraq a month before it began, and 71 per cent said the US was itself a security threat, while only 45 per cent thought Iraq was. The media has assumed an anti-US tone, and a popular Sunday news show yielded an astounding result: 80 per cent of the relatively liberal audience said they hoped Iraq would win the war."

RAMZAJ DISCONTINUES OPERATION  4/8/2003 IraqWar.ru: "Events of the last 2 days have made further work of Ramzaj group in its current format impossible. With the embassy personnel and journalists having left Iraq and most of Iraqi information services evacuated from Baghdad, analysis of the situation in Baghdad and Iraq as a whole becomes ineffective." This group was the source of we have labeled 'Daily Russian Military Intelligence Briefings' for lack of a real title. While some say this shutdown is a result of Condi's trip to Moscow, it seems evident that the group was getting its material from the Russian Embassy. Their product was generally quite high and has helped many understand the war better, including London stock traders who made a killing using their reports.

Russian Defence Ministry Intelligence Information Pops Up on the Internet  4/7/2003 Izvestia: "A strange new character, who publishes his materials on the war in Iraq under the name 'Ramzaj', the pseudonym of the legendary Soviet intelligence officer Richard Sorge, has appeared on the net. What is quite amazing, is how accurately he describes events occurring in the Persian Gulf. He is leaving world news agencies in the dust! It's not just a question of accurate predictions and prognostications, the conviction is growing that Ramzaj is passing along real intelligence information."

Russia accuses US authorities of media deception over Iraq  4/2/2003 Australian Broadcasting Corp: ""We have all seen the bias in the information provided, the violations of the rights of journalists and the way they deceive the American public and the international community as a whole," a spokesman for the press ministry said in a statement, as quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency."

US protests at Russian arms sales to Baghdad  3/24/2003 Guardian: Pooty-poot ain't playing ball - "The United States protested to the government of President Vladimir Putin Saturday for refusing to stop Russian arms dealers from providing illegal weapons and assistance to the Iraqi military. Bush administration sources said one Russian company was helping the Iraqi military to deploy electronic jamming equipment against US planes and bombs, and two others had sold anti-tank missiles and thousands of night-vision goggles in violation of UN sanctions. They said Moscow has ignored entreaties from Bush administration officials concerned about the threat to US forces."

Abuse of Chechens was illegal, says Putin  3/19/2003 Sydney Morning Herald: "The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has admitted for the first time that Russian military operations have gone beyond legal limits in Chechnya. In a televised address to the rebel republic, Mr Putin said that federal troops' sweep operations, where civilians are routinely arrested and disappear, were a "plague on the people". "

Russia "will not allow" new Iraq U.N. draft  3/8/2003 Reuters: "A senior Russian foreign ministry official, hinting at a possible use of veto, says Russia will do all it can to block a proposed new U.S.-backed resolution on Iraq."

US hints at fresh sweetener to stop Russia using veto  3/5/2003 Times, UK: "But even as Mr Ivanov spoke, it emerged that Britain and America are looking at ways of amending their “war resolution” to help to win over wavering countries. They are examining drafts that might help enough of the United Nations Security Council’s six undecided countries to back it. They need five of the six — Chile, Mexico, Pakistan, Guinea, Cameroon and Angola — to back a resolution. One option is to introduce a mechanism alongside the resolution giving President Saddam Hussein a deadline to produce chemical and biological weapons, or concrete evidence of their destruction."

Russia hints it may use UN veto to block force against Iraq  2/20/2003 Yahoo: "Along with France and China, the other veto-wielding powers on the Security Council, the Russians favour weapons inspections continuing and Fedotov was quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency as saying they would not support a resolution authorising the use of force. Ivanov, in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, appeared to go even further by actually addressing the question of a veto. "It's an extreme measure to be used in a reponsible way," the Russian minister said."

Internet journalist who developed anti-Chechen site killed  1/13/2003 Ummah News: "Vladimir Sukhomlin, a 23-year-old software developer and Internet journalist, was abducted and brutally killed in Moscow on 4 January, "The Moscow Times" and other Russian news agencies reported on 13 January. According to the reports, Sukhomlin was on his way to meet a potential client when his car was stopped by two police officers and he was forced into a waiting Lada passenger car. Two police officers from the Moscow Oblast town of Balashikha, who were identified only as Goncharov and Vorotnikov, were arrested on 9 January, according to "Izvestiya" on 13 January, and they reportedly told police they had been paid $1,150 to kill Sukhomlin… He also created the website chechnya.ru, which was designed to counter the pro-separatist site kavkaz.org. According to a colleague quoted in "The Moscow Times," Sukhomlin was also developing software for the Defense Ministry."

Majority of Russians want peace talks with Chechen rebels  1/9/2003 AFP 

Russia in Iraq row  12/27/2002 Herald Sun, Australia: "RUSSIA yesterday widened a UN Security Council rift over Iraq when it openly disputed Washington's claim of having proof Baghdad was hiding weapons of mass destruction from UN inspectors. "No-one can provide the slightest evidence," Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov said."

Russia shocked by elite forces' killing spree  12/8/2002 Guardian, UK: John Muhammed and Timothy McVeigh's comrades in Russia, hard at work.

Bush pledges to honor Russia's economic interests in Iraq  11/21/2002 AP: "Russia's economic interests in Iraq will be honored if Saddam Hussein is toppled by a U.S. military operation, U.S. President George W. Bush said in an interview broadcast on Russian television Thursday. "We have no desire to ... run the show, to run the country," Bush told NTV, according to a transcript provided by the station. "And we understand that Russia (has) got interests there, as do other countries. And, of course, those interests will be honored."

Nerve gas killed Russian hostages  10/26/2002 UPI: "Footage aired on independent television in Georgia shows doctors reputedly with hospitals in Moscow saying the several dozen hostages who died in Saturday's dramatic rescue were poisoned by the gas Russian forces used to wrest control of the Chechen-held theater… A Chechen-born film director who recently filmed a documentary about Pankisi Gorge told UPI: "We are sorry for the innocent lives that have been lost (in the Moscow hostage crisis). We know what it's like because our own (Chechen) people have died for the past decade day after day."

Plan to destroy Russian weapons nears collapse  10/1/2002 usa Today: "The facility was designed to wipe out one of the world's most worrisome stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction: nearly 2 million artillery shells and missile warheads filled with deadly nerve gasses. Stored in open racks in a cluster of wooden warehouses in the town of Shchuch'ye, they're among the most portable, ready-made weapons of mass destruction a terrorist could obtain. Even the smallest shells, which fit in a briefcase, can kill 100,000 or more if set off in a crowded city."

'Suitcase Nukes' Pack Little Risk  9/26/2002 LA Times: "In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, another look at the threat posed by suitcase nukes is particularly urgent. The Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies undertook such a study. It used its database (available to the public through the Nuclear Threat Initiative at www.nti.org), carried out additional information searches and conducted interviews. The results represent perhaps the first encouraging news in this area in the last year."

Russia's Overtures to 'Axis of Evil' Nations Strain Its Ties With U.S.  8/31/2002 NYT: Pooty Poot is not obeying his Imperial Majesty -- "A flurry of Russian overtures to Iraq, Iran and North Korea — nations the United States calls an "axis of evil" — is exposing strains in the newly forged relationship between Presidents Bush and Vladimir V. Putin, American and Russian officials say. In recent weeks, Mr. Putin's government has conspicuously pursued a range of economic and diplomatic accords with all three countries — from proposals to drill for oil in Iraq and build nuclear reactors in Iran to a warm meeting between Mr. Putin and North Korea's reclusive leader, Kim Jong Il, in Vladivostok on Aug. 23."

39 Russian soldiers killed in Chechnya clashes  8/1/2002 The News, Pakistan: "Chechen rebels claimed Wednesday to have killed 39 Russian soldiers in the last few days in intensive clashes in the south of the breakaway republic, the Echo of Moscow radio station reported, quoting a Chechen separatist web site. However, the Russian military only acknowledged the deaths of seven Russian border guards. Chechen rebels also said they had wounded more than 50 Russian servicemen, Echo of Moscow added."

Russia 'thinning out' Chechens  7/23/2002 BBC: "An international human rights organisation has accused the Russian military of a campaign of executions in Chechnya to deliberately reduce the break-away republic's male population. In a report released on Tuesday, the International Helsinki Federation (IHF) alleges that Chechen men are regularly abducted and murdered during sweep and search operations by Russian special forces."

Aids legacy of the Russian dolls  6/30/2002 Sunday Herald: "But the trap is about to be sprung. Until 1996, the rate of contamination by HIV was very low. In 1994 just 158 cases were recorded, but now the federal Aids centre estimates that there are more than one million infected people. Critically, the rate of infection in Russia and neighbouring Ukraine is higher than anywhere in the world. Because HIV only began its march through Russia in the mid-1990s, the full implications of its threat are still dimly perceived across the country. It takes anywhere from 10 to 12 years for HIV to develop into full-blown Aids and for people to start dying from the disease, so it could be at least another five years or so before the full horror of what is happening is fully understood. Most Russians write it off as a marginal problem. They still tell you it's not a big issue -- and that, in any case, most of those affected are drug addicts and social outcasts. This is partly because the full consequences of the spread of HIV infection have yet to be felt but perhaps also because Russians are already overwhelmed by other apparently more urgent problems."

Aids legacy of the Russian dolls  6/30/2002 Sunday Herald: "But the trap is about to be sprung. Until 1996, the rate of contamination by HIV was very low. In 1994 just 158 cases were recorded, but now the federal Aids centre estimates that there are more than one million infected people. Critically, the rate of infection in Russia and neighbouring Ukraine is higher than anywhere in the world. Because HIV only began its march through Russia in the mid-1990s, the full implications of its threat are still dimly perceived across the country. It takes anywhere from 10 to 12 years for HIV to develop into full-blown Aids and for people to start dying from the disease, so it could be at least another five years or so before the full horror of what is happening is fully understood. Most Russians write it off as a marginal problem. They still tell you it's not a big issue -- and that, in any case, most of those affected are drug addicts and social outcasts. This is partly because the full consequences of the spread of HIV infection have yet to be felt but perhaps also because Russians are already overwhelmed by other apparently more urgent problems."

Harvard-Russia Spat  6/28/2002 Moscow Times: "The U.S. Department of Justice has asked a federal judge to order Harvard University and two men accused of mismanaging an economic reform program in Russia to repay the government $102 million. The government sued two years ago, alleging that staff of the now-defunct Harvard Institute for International Development had invested in companies directly affected by advice they gave the Russian government." HIID was also the home of a former Cuban "political prisoner" who in fact was jailed for embezzlement.

Soviet 1971 Smallpox Outbreak Worries Experts  6/15/2002 Reuters: "Experts said on Saturday they were worried by a leaked report that describes an outbreak of smallpox in the Soviet Union more than 30 years ago -- one they say may point to the testing of a smallpox biological weapon."

Media Assistance Concept Paper, USAID/Belarus  5/15/2002 USAID: "My findings about the basic operating conditions of the Belarusian non-state media largely concur with the IREX’s assessments in its quarterly report (Oct.-Dec., 2001), workplan (11-01-01 to 4-30-02) and Media Sustainability Index Report (2001). While the latter Index assigned low scores to all five studied attributes of independentmmedia sustainability (legal norms, professional journalism, plurality and objectivity of news, business management and supporting institutions), I also observed specific success stories in all five attribute areas."

Russian accuses government of attacks  5/15/2002 Philadelphia Inquirer: "From London, where he fled in November 2000, Litvinenko, 39, talks to anyone who will listen about the Federal Security Service's alleged role in apartment-house bombings that killed more than 300 people in Russia in 1999. He claims to have vital evidence stashed in a suitcase waiting for independent investigators. Many Russians have questioned the official version of the 1999 events, which blames the bombings in Moscow and the southern city of Volgodonsk on Chechen rebels. But prosecutors have shown little interest in the contents of Litvinenko's suitcase."

Deflecting the truth  5/8/2002 Al Ahram: On 25 April ORT reported that the Saudi army was pushing troops to the Jordanian border. The main news bulletin led with the latest events in Bethlehem and an Armenian monk who escaped from the church was featured mumbling unintelligibly about "hostages... calling for help." A handsome IDF spokesman was posed against a luxurious hotel talking about the "30 terrorists" barricaded inside, the rest being "simple citizens whom the IDF had nothing against" but who "regretfully are unwilling to leave the church for some unknown reason." This was a sharp change in tone from the IDF's previous announcements which accused the Palestinians of holding the monks and an Italian TV crew hostage and which were disproved when the TV crew left the church of their own volition, 24 hours after entering it. This vehement pro-Israeli bias becomes all too obvious on the Russia's Internet news sites. No restraint. No doubt. Equating Palestinian terror with the hated Chechen militant "murderers" is the policy followed by all major news sites. The online press also displays the same trend. The death of dreaded Saudi- born Chechen warlord Khattab, also known as "Black Arab," caused jubilation all over Russia and was hailed as a triumph of the secret services who reportedly delivered him a poisoned letter.

Russian oil and U.S. security  5/7/2002 Petroleum World: "Even if the Russians were to succeed in getting the capability to reach American oil buyers, there should be no illusions: the displacement of the Persian Gulf in America's energy market is going to be neither total nor swift. Yet a sizable Russian presence in American markets over the next decade will be enough to provide a critical safety margin for energy prices and increase stability in American oil supplies."

Powerful governor dies in helicopter crash  4/29/2002 Sydney Morning Herald: Putin consolidates power? "Alexander Lebed, the tough-talking former general who emerged as a strong challenger to former Russian President Boris Yeltsin and was credited with ending Moscow's 1994-96 war in Chechnya, was killed yesterday in a helicopter crash."

Russian troops refuse combat  4/11/2002 Boston Globe 

Al Qaeda Linked to Russian Arms Broker  2/16/2002 LA Times 

Russian Oil To Flood Markets, Sabotage OPEC Production Cuts  1/28/2002 Stratfor Strategic Forecasting 

Pro-Putin cult urges return to Soviet 'glory'  1/27/2002 Telegraph, UK: 1984, the good old days: "Mr Yakimenko's latest attempt to indoctrinate members, aged mainly between 14 and 30, is a proposal to "purify Russian literature". Modern "liberal" books, which depict the difficulties of modern Russian life, have been damned by Walking Together. The group has in turn published thousands of copies of a book of stories recounting the Red Army's "glorious victories" during the Second World War. These books were offered free in exchange for "corrupting" works."

Berezovsky’s Party Office Looted  12/19/2001 Gazeta, Russia: "Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky, currently in self-imposed exile and on the federal wanted list in Russia, said on Friday that he has evidence that the Russian special services were involved in the atrocious apartment bombings in Moscow and Volgodonsk in September 1999.Nearly three hundred people died when three apartment blocks were destroyed by powerful explosive devices."

Russians arrested for selling uranium  12/7/2001 Independent, UK 

THE WAR IS A TRAP  11/20/2001 Pravda 

Russian Official Reveals Attempt Made to Steal Nuclear Materials  11/13/2001 Washington Post 

3,500 Russian troops killed in Chechnya: Kremlin  11/1/2001 Dawn, Pakistan: "The Kremlin conceded on Thursday that nearly 3,500 Russian soldiers and 11,000 rebel fighters have been killed in Chechnya in a 25-month war that officials again vowed would continue until the last rebel was dead… The office of Sergei Yastrzhembsky gave no estimates of civilian casualties, which human rights group fear may stand in the tens of thousands. The spokesman added that between 1,500 and 2,000 rebels, many of them mercenaries from Arab states, were still operating in the republic, primarily in the southern mountains which have served as the fighters' base since the start of the war. The official toll has been consistently disputed by Russia's Soldiers' Mothers Committee, which, quoting hospital and morgue documents, says that the true casualty figure may be three times higher than Moscow admits."

Russia to commit quarter million combat troops  10/31/2001 The News, Pakistan 

House Dems Lose Russian Nukes Move  10/30/2001 AP 

Moscow stance over Taleban splits coalition  10/23/2001 The Times, UK 

Russia To Ban Foreign Religious Sects  10/23/2001 Lenta.Ru 

Moscow: U.S. 'blitzkrieg' has failed  10/23/2001 WorldNetDaily, US: this christian fundamentalist site is in partnership with Debka, the Israeli Intelligence portal.

Russia bolsters Northern Alliance  10/22/2001 BBC: a profound insult to most afghani - "President Rahmonov at one point referred to Mr Rabbani as the president of Afghanistan. They were later joined by the military leader of the Northern Alliance, General Mohammad Qassim Fahim. Mr Putin called him the "Afghan minister of defence" - apparently not by accident. Mr Putin ruled out any role for the Taleban in a future government, saying they were "linked with international terrorists".

A new front opens against Russia  10/21/2001 Washington Times: "A joint force of Chechen and Georgian militants is carrying out attacks on Abkhazia, a breakaway province of Georgia. The militants are attempting to open new fronts against Russia, weakening Moscow's military strength and control over both Abkhazia and Chechnya. "

Russian military suspected as source of anthrax  10/18/2001 Independent, UK 

Russian Officials Ordered Not to Travel to U.S. -- What Do They Know?  10/17/2001 Newsmax, US: "Russian President Vladimir Putin apparently is prohibiting nearly all government officials from flying to the United States during the next three weeks," the Omaha World-Herald said Oct. 10.

Expert: Russia Knew in Advance, Encouraged Citizens to Cash Out Dollars  10/17/2001 Newsmax, US: Russian press accounts and other activities by the Russian government this summer indicate that the Russian knew in advance that something would happen to America, including a "financial attack" against the U.S. During the past three months, Russian media and officials have encouraged citizens to cash out of U.S. dollars pending an economic collapse there after an "attack."

War looms in Black Sea enclave  10/15/2001 The Guardian, UK 

Putin gambles on support for US action in Russia's back yard  10/11/2001 AFP 

Moscow Fortifies Georgia Border  10/11/2001 Moscow Times 

Semion Mogilevich, the "Brainy Don"  10/10/2001 Profaca Mario's Cyberspace Station: Extensive files on a man hunted for selling nukes to Al Qaeda

Semion Mogilevich  10/10/2001 Gangsters Inc: Hunted for selling nukes to Al Qaeda - "Allegations of Mogilevich's devilish array of criminal activities are extensively detailed in the reports: The FBI and Israeli intelligence assert that he traffics in nuclear materials, drugs, prostitutes, precious gems, and stolen art. His contract hit squads operate in the U.S. and Europe. He controls everything that goes in and out of Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport, a "smugglers' paradise, " says Elson. Mogilevich bought a bankrupt airline in a former Central Asian Soviet republic for millions of dollars in cash so he could haul heroin out of the Golden Triangle. Most worrisome to U.S. authorities is Mogilevich's apparently legal purchase of virtually the entire Hungarian armaments industry, jeopardizing regional security, NATO, and the war against terrorism. In one typical criminal deal, Mogilevich and two Moscow-based gangsters sold $20 million worth of pilfered Warsaw Pact weapons from East Germany, including ground-to-air missiles and 12 armored troop carriers, according to the classified Israeli and FBI documents. The buyer was Iran, says a top-level U.S. Customs official ho requested anonymity…. Like mob bosses everywhere, Mogilevich couldn't sustain his empire without the help of corrupt police and politicians. There is one documented example of a criminal associate of Mogilevich mingling with American politicians. In March 1994, Vahtang Ubiriya, one of Mogilevich's top lieutenants, was photographed by the FBI at a tony Republican Party fundraiser in Dallas, says an FBI report."

Manhunt on for Bin Laden's Russian nuke connection  10/10/2001 Geostrategy Direct, US: "Spanish authorities are investigating a Russian organized crime figure for his ties to the al-Qaeda terrorist group headed by Osama Bin Laden. Semion Mogilevich is suspected by Spanish intelligence and security police of being connected to Bin Laden and his group’s efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction material and components on the black market. Mogilevich is a Ukrainian by birth who carries an Israeli passport. U.S. intelligence officials said Mogilevich may be a key connection to efforts by al-Qaeda to acquire so-called "suitcase" tactical nuclear weapons that Russian officials have said are not completely accounted for since the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. A Bin Laden associate, Algerian Hamal al-Fadl, has told U.S. Investigators that he was in charge of seeking to acquire suitcase nuclear bombs on behalf of Bin Laden. Mogilevich is suspected of attempting to smuggle uranium into France from Russia using several members of his crime family. He is believed to be somewhere in southern Spain and a manhunt is underway for him, according to intelligence sources."

Why was Russia's intelligence on Al-Qaeda ignored?  10/5/2001 Jane's, UK 

Russian interior ministry promises FBI information on bin Laden, wants help on Chechnya  10/5/2001 AP 

Cooperation on Terrorism Deepens U.S.-Russia Ties  10/5/2001 IHT 

U.S. says Russia fights terror in Chechnya  10/4/2001 Baltimore Sun 

'Seismic seachange of historic proportions' in US-Russia ties: Powell  10/4/2001 AFP 

Sergey Snegov: There Will Be No War. It Is Not Needed  10/4/2001 Pravda 

Russia will lose Central Asia if it gets involved in Afghanistan - Zhirinovskiy  10/4/2001 BBC 

Moscow Formalizes Arms Deal With Iran  10/3/2001 Moscow Times 

Putin Proposes Closer Ties With EU  10/3/2001 Moscow Times 

As US-Russian Force Prepares to Go into Afghanistan, Mid East is Temporarily Sidelined  10/3/2001 Debka, Israel: Russia’s 201st Motorized Rifle Division Is Beefed up with Commando Units and New US anti-Terrorist Equipment: Prepares to Join US Forces in Crossing from Tajikistan into Afghanistan’s Pamir Mountains

Russia exploits the war dividend  9/26/2001 The Guardian, UK 

Putin offers a 'real partnership' in West's battle  9/26/2001 Independent, UK 

Analysis: Pitfalls for Moscow  9/26/2001 The Guardian, UK 

Rusia decide participar en 'la nueva guerra' en Afganistán  9/24/2001 El Mundo, Madrid 

USAID/IREX Institutional Parnerships Project  12/31/1997 USAID: "IREX signed 22 partnership subagreements worth about $25 million in USAID provided funds in the spring of 1995. As this fiscal year and our third full year running the project both end, only one of the 22 is still drawing down its funds-all others have closed out their projects and have submitted or are working on their wrap-up reports. Our own time and funding as project managers ends on March 31, 1998."