Report on Eastern Europe, Russia, Caucasus and Central Asia - issue # 1/2009

In this issue:

- Russian submarine successfully test-launches ballistic missile

12:2701/11/2009

MOSCOW, November 1 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian nuclear submarine has successfully test-launched a ballistic missile, the Defense Ministry said on Sunday. "On November 1, the Northern Fleet’s nuclear-powered missile-carrying submarine, Bryansk, successfully test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile in the Barents Sea from a submerged position," the ministry said in a statement. "The warheads reached the target area at the designated time," the statement said.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20091101/156670130.html

- Next Bulava missile test-launch slated for Nov. 24

14:4002/11/2009

MOSCOW, November 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russia’s troubled Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) will be test-fired on November 24, a defense industry source said on Monday. He said the submarine would be launched from the Dmitry Donskoi nuclear-powered submarine in the North Sea. The Typhoon-class submarine, based at a naval facility in northern Russia’s Severodvinsk, is the only vessel in service with the Russian Navy capable of testing the new missile. The Bulava was last test-fired from the Dmitry Donskoi in the North Sea on July 15, but self-destructed soon after launch due to a defective steering system in its first stage. The Russian military expects the Bulava, along with Topol-M land-based ballistic missiles, to become the core of Russia’s nuclear triad.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20091102/156681816.html

- Moscow expects positive Iran response to fuel deal soon

16:2906/11/2009

MOSCOW, November 6 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow expects Tehran to accept the UN-sponsored nuclear fuel deal soon, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Friday. "We are counting on Tehran to make a positive response to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] in the very near future," Andrei Nesterenko said. "Any technical details that are bound to arise during the deal’s implementation can be addressed as it moves along."

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20091106/156734922.html

- Russian military plane crashes in Far East

00:4307/11/2009

MOSCOW, November 7 (RIA Novosti) - A Tu-142M3 reconnaissance plane from Russia’s Pacific Fleet has crashed in the Tatar Strait in Russia’s Far East, the Defense Ministry said in a statement on Saturday. Tu-142 Bear F is a Russian maritime reconnaissance/anti-submarine warfare (ASW) turboprop aircraft. It is a modified version of the Tu-95 Bear strategic bomber. "The plane was on a combat training mission when it disappeared from radar screens over the Tatar Strait," the statement said. The Tatar Strait separates mainland Russia from the island of Sakhalin. The crash site has been located at about 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) offshore by several ships and planes. The search for the crew is underway. A Russian military source told RIA Novosti that there were at least nine people on board the plane. According to preliminary data, the crash has been caused by a technical failure.

http://en.beta.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20091107/156740077.html

- Eleven people missing in Russian military plane crash

03:4507/11/2009

MOSCOW, November 7 (RIA Novosti) - There were 11 people on board the Pacific Fleet’s Tu-142 plane that has crashed off Russia’s Pacific coast, an Air Force source in the Far Eastern Military District said on Saturday. http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20091107/156741217.html Russia’s Pacific Fleet suspends flights of its naval planes 04:3307/11/2009 VLADIVOSTOK, November 7 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Pacific Fleet suspended on Saturday all flights of its naval aviation following the crash of a Tu-142 maritime reconnaissance plane in Russia’s Far East, the fleet spokesman said. "A special commission is investigating the causes of the crash of the plane, which had 11 people on board. The flights have been suspended until the investigation is complete. The search for the missing crew is still underway," the spokesman said. According to preliminary data, the crash was caused by a technical failure. The official confirmed that the remains of the plane were found on Saturday morning at the depth of about 44 meters (144 feet). A Russian Defense Ministry source earlier said that the Navy would deploy, if necessary, the advanced Pantera and Kalmar robotic deep-water rescue vehicles to recover the plane’s on-board recording devices.

http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20091107/156741482.html

- Crew of crashed Russian Tu-142 did not use life raft - source

12:0107/11/2009

MOSCOW, November 7 (RIA Novosti) - There is no indication that the crew of a Russian military Tu-142 plane that crashed late on Friday made use of emergency equipment, a highly-placed Air Force source told RIA Novosti on Saturday. "There is a life-raft on board the plane that is fitted with a special device that gives out a signal in the case of an accident," the source said. "At this moment, this search-and-rescue signal has not been detected."

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20091107/156744507.html

- Estonia rotates troops in Afghanistan

05:3007/11/2009

TALLINN, November 7 (RIA Novosti) - Estonia has sent fresh troops to Afghanistan as part of a regular rotation of its peacekeeping contingent in the south of the war-torn Central Asian country, the Estonian Defense Ministry has said. Estonian soldiers have been in Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) since 2003. About 300 Estonian troops are currently providing support to units of the British 19th Infantry Brigade in the Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan.

http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20091107/156742783.html

- November 4th, National Unity Day

Today Russia marks a state holiday, — National Unity Day. The holiday pays tribute to the feat of heroism of the people’s militia under the command of the Nizhni Novgorod merchant Kuzma Minin and Duke Dmitry Pozharsky of Suzdal, who drove Polish invaders out of Moscow back in 1612. The Voice of Russia has more. The event put paid to what was known as Time of Trouble and signified the start of the construction of the Russian State. The holiday dedicated to the remarkable development in Russian history was celebrated every year until the Russian revolution of 1917. And it was not until 2005 that National Unity Day was restored to the Russian calendar of memorable dates. It is held that in 2005 this country’s national holiday was moved from November 7th to November 4th, and one reason for this was to forgo the celebration of the Great October Socialist Revolution. The decision was made to replace one holiday with the other (rather than just stop celebrating November 7th) since Russians had got used to having a holiday in the first 10 days of each November.

04.11.2009

http://english.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=53888&cid=59&p=04.11.2009

- Russia’s Military Glory Day: another anniversary of the 1941 historic parade in Moscow’s Red Square

Today Russians celebrate Military Glory Day. An official procession is due in Moscow’s Red Square today to mark the 68th anniversary of the historic parade of 1941 in Moscow, which was then in the immediate battle area. The Voice of Russia has the details. Traditionally the more important of those present on the Red Square stands are the war veterans, of whom 45 took part in the famous 1941 military parade. 68 years ago Moscow was in the state of siege, with Nazi troops deployed in the immediate vicinity of the Soviet capital.

07.11.2009

http://english.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=54018&cid=59&p=07.11.2009

- Left marking the October Revolution day by rallies and parades

On November 7, 1917 revolution began in Petrograd with armed insurrection and ended with Winter Palace seizure, arrest of the Provisional Government and the declaration of Soviet power for the next 70 years. All ex-Soviet countries, except Belarus, do not recognize this holiday anymore. However, Moscow communists began to celebrate the 92nd anniversary of the revolution already on November, 6. They lay the flowers to Lenin’s Mausoleum in Red Square as it was closed on November, 7 for the parade. The communists were led by their head Gennady Zyuganov who spoke about Lenin’s ideas being especially relevant within the crisis. “Lenin showed how mottos worked in practice. His GOELRO plan for economic recovery and New Economic Policy were so efficient that we built 6000 factories and a high-tech industry in 10 years at that time”.

07.11.2009

http://english.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=54030&cid=59&p=07.11.2009

- Belarus celebrates anniversary of Bolshevik Revolution

12:3807/11/2009

MINSK, November 7 (RIA Novosti) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko congratulated the country on the 82nd anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution on Saturday. "Belarus respects this momentous date," the president said. The former Soviet republic continues to mark the anniversary of the 1917 Revolution that brought Vladimir Lenin to power and established over seven decades of communist rule in Russia and the Soviet Union. While November 7 is no longer a national holiday in Russia, having been replaced by the November 4 People’s Unity Day in 2005, Belarus continues to mark the event with a public holiday when it falls on a working day. Belarus has maintained many of the symbols and attributes of the former U.S.S.R., including the KGB security services and the Red Star on its national emblem.

http://en.rian.ru/exsoviet/20091107/156744835.html

- Belarus releases over 2,000 convicts to mark WWII liberation

21:3009/11/2009

MINSK, November 9 (RIA Novosti) - More than 2,000 inmates in Belarus have walked free under an amnesty dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the country’s liberation from the Nazis, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on Monday. "A total of 2,126 people have been released from correctional facilities," the official said. "More than 9,000 convicts had their sentences reduced by one year."

http://en.rian.ru/exsoviet/20091109/156770950.html

- Slovakia closes border crossings with Ukraine amid A/H1N1 fears

23:2807/11/2009

WARSAW, November 7 (RIA Novosti) - Slovakia will close on Sunday all border crossings with Ukraine, except for the car checkpoint in Vysne Nemecke, amid fears of spreading the A/H1N1 virus, the Slovakian interior minister said on Saturday. As of November 6, a flu epidemic had left 135 people dead and over 871,000 infected in Ukraine, the ex-Soviet country’s Health Ministry said on its website on Saturday.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20091107/156749426.html

- Russia takes energetic steps to cope with the new flu

The swine flu situation in Russia is not so threatening but far from something to be unconcerned about. So far, over three thousand cases infected with the A/H1/N1 virus have been confirmed and fourteen lethal cases were registered. A large-scale vaccination campaign is expected to be launched in several Russian regions in few days. However, scientists are calling on people not to yield to panic linked with the new virus and insist that the new virus is not a pandemic. Children and young people are basically infected by the virus. The death rate among people over 30 years is significantly low. There are extremely rare cases of infection among old people. In short, the only thing that should be done is to vaccinate in time the people of the so-called high risk group and not to listen to those who create panic.

03.11.2009

http://english.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=53880&cid=59&p=03.11.2009

- Medvedev urges criminal liability for profiteers on flu epidemic

06.11.2009, 17.00

GORKI, November 6 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has instructed the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) and the Prosecutor General’s Office to watch so that distributors of pharmaceuticals and protective means do not profiteer on the new influenza epidemic, and if they expose unjustified price rises they should open criminal cases

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14506368&PageNum=1

- Most of Russian regions on flu epidemic verge – chief public health official

06.11.2009, 21.56

MOSCOW, November 6 (Itar-Tass) — Most of Russian regions are on the verge of a flu epidemic, Chief Public Health Official Gennady Onishchenko said on Friday. “The epidemic has begun in southeastern regions,” he noted. “The cold and flu situation in the northern hemisphere is the following: the sickness rate is high in five European countries, among them the UK, Ireland and Malta. The rate is medium in seven European states, such as Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy and Spain. The sickness rate is on the rise in 48 U.S. states and in ten regions of Canada,” he said. Onishchenko highlighted the cold and flu rate in Ukraine. “We are closely monitoring the A/H1N1 flu rate in Ukraine. Yet the media claims of the alleged border crossing restrictions are unfounded,” he said. “The only efficient method is personal preventive measures, which will protect an individual from regular and new flu.” Russia will help Ukraine handle the A/H1N1 flu epidemic, Health and Social Development Minister Tatiana Golikova told President Dmitry Medvedev earlier in the day.

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14506359&PageNum=0

- Oil and gas exploration in Krasnoyarsk

Prospecting and exploration of oil and gas deposit in Vankor, Krasnoyarsk region, one of the 10 largest projects in the world, is underway.

06.11.2009

http://english.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=53990&cid=57&p=06.11.2009

- Victor Yushchenko warns Europe of another “gas war”

Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko has found a new argument for reviewing the gas contract with Russia, which he is demanding from his country’s government. In an interview with the local television he said Russia might fine Ukraine for shortfalls of gas. This is quite right in principle. Under a gas contract concluded for the next ten years, Russia can demand that Ukraine pay for the difference in the volume of gas between the amount fixed in the document and the amount really purchased. Russian-Ukrainian gas relations, like those with the majority of European countries, are based on the principle of “take and pay”. In short, the minimum volume of gas that the buyer promises to purchase is determined every year. If the buyer purchases less than this volume by the end of the year he should pay for the difference partially. This year, Ukraine has a shortfall but Russia’s state-run gas company, Gazprom did not impose fines by taking into account the country’s difficult economic situation. In September, the Prime Ministers of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Yulia Timoshenko concluded an agreement that Ukraine would pay for the volume of gas it actually consumes. However, the Ukrainian President is behaving as if he hasn’t seen these agreements. Unsurprisingly, his behaviour is linked only with the January presidential election, says General Director of the Effective Politics Foundation, Kirill Tanaev.

06.11.2009

http://english.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=54001&cid=57&p=06.11.2009

- Ukraine gas problems linked to presidential polls - Medvedev

14:3607/11/2009

MOSCOW, November 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has linked Ukrainian problems with payment for Russian gas deliveries to the country’s presidential polls, due to take place in January. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in late October that his Ukrainian counterpart, Yulia Tymoshenko, had told him by telephone that President Viktor Yushchenko was blocking payments for Russian gas supplies. However, Tymoshenko said on Friday that despite difficulties, Ukraine’s Naftogaz had paid Gazprom in full for Russian gas deliveries in October. "In my view this is linked to the presidential campaign going on in Ukraine," Medvedev told Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine, adding that opposing forces were "hurting each other with the aim of scoring political points."

http://en.rian.ru/exsoviet/20091107/156745643.html

- CIS defense ministers to talk military cooperation in Tajikistan

03:3010/11/2009

DUSHANBE, November 10 (RIA Novosti) - The council of the defense ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose association of post-Soviet countries, will meet in Dushanbe on Tuesday, the Tajik Defense Ministry said. Chief ministry spokesman Faridun Makhmadaliyev said the meeting in the Tajik capital would involve delegations from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. He said the council would discus military cooperation between the CIS member states and approve the 2010 agenda, as well as moves to develop a united air defense system by 2015.

http://en.rian.ru/exsoviet/20091110/156774701.html

- Russia guarantees Karabakh conflict regulation

Russia is ready to support that kind of regulation of Karabakh conflict, which will suit all the parties concerned. If they reach a compromise, Moscow will act as a guarantor of the regulation, deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told the “Republic Armenia” newspaper.

05.11.2009

http://english.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=53941&cid=56&p=05.11.2009

- Russian general says Georgia may start new war in the Caucasus

The chief of the Russian General Staff’s intelligence department Lieutenant-General Alexander Shliakhturov says Georgia is planning more attacks to regain control of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. According to General Shliakhturov, the Georgian authorities refuse to recognize the sovereignty of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and make no secret of their intentions to regain control of the territories, which declared independence in the early 90s. What makes it all worse, the general says, is that President Saakashvili’s policies are unpredictable and Tbilisi may succumb to the temptation to use force against the two republics any moment.

05.11.2009

http://english.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=53925&cid=58&p=05.11.2009

- Warsaw’s dangerous political game

Warsaw resorts to just about any argument here, from Russia’s refusal to equate Communism and Nazism all the way to the presence of the Soviet emblem on the Foreign Ministry’s headquarters in Moscow, which Polish leaders dismiss as a “symbol of totalitarianism”. Russia says it loud and clear that all this talk about its plans to attack and annex Poland is nothing short of being delirious and harkens back to the worst times of the Cold War.

05.11.2009

http://english.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=53960&cid=56&p=05.11.2009

- Russia to upgrade military industrial complex

In late November the Russian government plans to set up a working group which will be in charge of upgrade of national military industrial complex, Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov said at an industrial meeting. The working group is to control human and material resources of the Defense Ministry and all companies of the national defense industry. Russia’s President ordered to establish this group after visiting one of the enterprises of the defense sector in the Moscow region in October. Then the president stressed that the task of technical equipment of the armed forces required more efficient steps. One of the ways to solve the problem is to approve a relevant federal target program on developing military industrial complex. The second important thing is that heads of the companies should take steps to reduce cost price. The decision to upgrade military industrial complex was dictated both by the economic situation and national security needs. The working group will be in charge of re-armament of the national armed forces. It will also control the production of new arsenal and Russia’s military cooperation with other countries.

06.11.2009

http://english.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=53980&cid=58&p=06.11.2009

- Krasnodar police chief dismisses Maj Dymovsky for slander

08.11.2009, 19.11

MOSCOW, November 8 (Itar-Tass) — Krasnodar territorial police chief Lt. Gen. Sergei Kucheruk has decided to dismiss Maj. Dymovsky for slander, Interior Ministry spokesman Valery Gribakin told Itar-Tass. “The Krasnodar territorial police formed a group, which verified the video address of Dymovsky posted on the Internet. Results of the inspection were reported to Kucheruk on Sunday. The inspectors said they found no evidence to the major’s claims. Dymovsky slandered fellow officers,” Gribakin said. “Gen. Kucheruk decided to fire Dymovsky for slander,” he added. Meanwhile, Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev authorized an inspection of the Novorossiisk police department, whose staff member, Dymovsky, complained of ‘police abuse of power’ in a video address to the minister. “A commission of the Interior Ministry central staff will start the inspection on Sunday,” Gribakin told Itar-Tass. “The commission will verify the Dymovsky report and evaluate the general situation.” “Interior Minister Gen. Rashid Nurgaliyev will prepare a report for the president and the prime minister on results of the inspection,” Gribakin said. “Nurgaliyev ordered Krasnodar territorial police chief Lt. Gen. Sergei Kucheruk to suspend the duties of Maj. Dymovsky until the end of the investigation,” he noted.

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14509098&PageNum=0