Russia

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Putin Promises to Help Sliding Russian Economy

With many paychecks weeks behind, crisis reminds nation of '90s collapse

(Newser) - Vladimir Putin proposed steps yesterday to stabilize the Russian economy as layoffs and deferred wages cause rising insecurity about the nation’s finances, the Wall Street Journal reports. Russian firms now owe $145 million in delayed wages to 300,000 people, and those figures may actually be higher—a fifth...

Russia Paves Way for Return of Putin
Russia Paves Way for Return of Putin
Nov 21, 2008 12:04 PM CST

Russia Paves Way for Return of Putin

Parliament extends term of president; early elections could follow

(Newser) - Russia's lower house of parliament approved a change to the constitution that extends the term of the president from four to six years, CNN reports. The move is widely seen as a bureaucratic maneuver that will lead to the return of Vladimir Putin as president. The upper house of parliament...

Georgia Needs Our Help&mdash;Not a Seat at NATO
Georgia Needs Our Help—Not a Seat at NATO
OPINION
Nov 20, 2008 7:14 AM CST

Georgia Needs Our Help—Not a Seat at NATO

Investment, not guns, is the way to face down Russia: Kristof

(Newser) - Nicholas Kristof travels to Tbilisi, where ambitious, America-loving Georgians live in fear of a resurgent Russia. The United States needs to support this capitalist enclave in the Caucasus, writes the New York Times columnist—but not by letting it join NATO. The reason? President Mikheil Saakashvili may be brilliant and...

Russian Pardon Effort Tests Medvedev

Thousands sign online petition to free woman jailed by mentor Putin

(Newser) - A grassroots effort to pardon a convicted lawyer could allow Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to bolster the liberal image he's worked to create, but to issue the reprieve he must stand up to Vladimir Putin. Svetlana Bakhmina was arrested during one of Putin’s crackdowns on corruption at state oil...

Medvedev Hopeful That Obama Will Thaw Relations

Russian prez cites 'great aspirations'

(Newser) - Russia’s president believes Barack Obama’s presidency “will act to overcome problems which have accumulated” between his country and the US, he said in Washington. “We have great aspirations” for Obama’s White House, Dmitry Medvedev added. Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, who moderated the meeting,...

Russian Nuclear Sub Accident Kills More Than 20

(Newser) - An accident aboard a nuclear-powered submarine in a training exercise has killed more than 20 people, Russian news agencies are reporting. State-run RIA-Novosti cites navy spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo as saying a fire-extinguishing system went into operation in error Sunday aboard the submarine during tests in the Pacific Ocean. The...

Report Rebuts Georgian Claims About Invasion

It suggests nation shelled S. Ossetia to provoke Russia

(Newser) - Independent military observers have published new accounts that contradict Georgia's claim that it was acting defensively against Russian aggression. The reports suggest instead that the small Georgian army moved into Tskhinvali unprovoked, unleashing artillery and rocket fire without discrimination at civilians and unarmed monitors. It also discounts the claim, made...

Medvedev, Putin Move to Tighten Grip on Russia
Medvedev, Putin Move to Tighten Grip on Russia
ANALYSIS
Nov 6, 2008 7:20 AM CST

Medvedev, Putin Move to Tighten Grip on Russia

Extending president's term would lock in power for a generation

(Newser) - Dmitry Medvedev's proposal yesterday to extend the Russian president's term from 4 years to 6 looks like another step in Russia's "alarming and rapid drift towards authoritarianism," the Guardian reports. The move came as a Russian newspaper, citing sources in the Kremlin, claimed that Medvedev could resign as...

Russia Will Move Missiles Near Poland

Installation would 'neutralize' US shield in Central Europe

(Newser) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev delivered an aggressive speech against the US today, threatening to deploy short-range missiles and perhaps its navy to “neutralize” US plans for an anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. Moscow perceives the American defense system—which Washington says is intended to deter “...

Georgian Cluster Bombs Killed Own Civilians

Human rights group says 3 killed by malfunctioning bombs

(Newser) - The cluster bombs Georgia used during its war with Russia malfunctioned on an “absolutely massive scale,” killing at least three civilians, and leaving the country littered with deadly unexploded bombs, according to new research from Human Rights Watch. The Georgian Ministry of Defense said the findings were “...

Russia Bails Out Its Richest Man
Russia Bails Out Its Richest Man
Oct 30, 2008 12:20 PM CDT

Russia Bails Out Its Richest Man

Metal mogul Deripaska gets $4.5B handout to help pay loans from Western banks

(Newser) - The Russian government has agreed to loan $4.5 billion to metals magnate Oleg Deripaska to help him pay off a loan to a group of Western banks. While the state bank overseeing the bailout would not confirm the news, three newspapers have reported that Deripaska, who is considered Russia's...

'Circle of Pain' Snags Emerging Markets, Too
'Circle of Pain' Snags Emerging Markets, Too
OPINION
Oct 27, 2008 12:41 PM CDT

'Circle of Pain' Snags Emerging Markets, Too

Krugman: Russia et al. not immune after all to crisis' vicious cycle

(Newser) - Only a few weeks ago, it seemed the main fronts of the financial crisis were the Western banking system and mortgage market. But now the crisis has spread to emerging markets like Russia and Brazil. As Paul Krugman writes in the New York Times, the mantra of “decoupling”—...

US, Russian Commanders Hold First Post-Georgia Talks

Secret meeting is first between chiefs since Georgian conflict

(Newser) - Ranking US and Russian military commanders met face to face for the first time since the Georgian crisis, the AFP reports. Few details emerged from the Helsinki meeting, but it appeared to be a first step toward a mending of relations. Michael Mullen, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,...

Russian Role in CIA Agent's Murder Probed

Questions linger over 1993 killing as Georgia's geopolitical significance surges

(Newser) - The first shot of a new cold war with Russia may have been fired into a CIA station chief's head in 1993, the Wall Street Journal reports. A vodka-swilling villager was swiftly jailed for the killing of Freddie Woodruff, the top US spy in newly independent Georgia, but that man,...

Russian Activist Lawyer Poisoned by Mercury

Ill, she misses hearing on journo's murder

(Newser) - French police are probing the mercury poisoning of Russia's leading human rights lawyer, the New York Times reports. Toxic pellets were found in the car of Karinna Moskalenko in Strasbourg. She had been due to attend the Moscow trial of men accused of involvement in the murder of her late...

Russia-Georgia Talks Break Down

UN court tells nations not to target breakaway groups

(Newser) - Georgia-Russia peace talks broke down today when Russian officials skipped a plenary session, Reuters reports, and the two sides failed even to agree on whether to include officials from South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the closed-door meeting. Each side bitterly blamed the other amid continuing tensions emanating from the five-day...

Palin's Schedule Shows Minimal Time for Foreign Policy Meetings

12 hours during 19 months as Alaska gov.

(Newser) - Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin might be able to see Russia from her home state, but her actual foreign policy experience boils down to about 20 meetings and just 12 hours, according to the governor’s official calendar obtained by Mother Jones. Most of the Alaska governor’s interactions with...

Medvedev Calls for Anti-US Alliance

Tries to drive wedge between Europe and America

(Newser) - Dmitry Medvedev was in France today, mending bridges with Europe while laying the world’s problems—economic and otherwise—at America’s feet, the Telegraph reports. Medvedev blamed US “economic egotism” for the financial breakdown, and accused it of reviving its Russian containment policy and reigniting the Cold War....

Credit Chill Spreads to Russia
 Credit Chill Spreads to Russia 
Oct 8, 2008 4:31 PM CDT

Credit Chill Spreads to Russia

Georgian war spooked foreign investment, destabilized economy

(Newser) - The credit crisis has officially reached Russia, revealing just how fragile the Russian economy is, BusinessWeek reports. Stocks fell so much this week that the government today suspended both exchanges to stem further loss. But the country's reliance on foreign cash—disappearing as investors flee—is bound to affect more...

Russian Army Leaves Georgian Buffer Zones

Troops will stay in breakaway regions; EU forces to remain

(Newser) - Russian troops have withdrawn from the “buffer zones” that separate the secessionist republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia from the rest of Georgia ahead of Friday's deadline, the BBC reports. Though Russia plans to keep 7,600 troops inside the breakaway republics themselves, the move "paves the way...

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