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MOSCOW -- A ballistic missile that is to be a cornerstone of Russia's nuclear arsenal has completed its rocky test program and will be commissioned by the military, President Dmitry Medvedev announced Tuesday during a meeting with military officers. The Bulava ICBM, intended to arm a new generation of nuclear submarines, is a three-stage missile that can carry up to 10 individually targeted warheads at a range of 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles).

Brave new world: Russian president faces Facebook backlash after pledge to probe election fraudBy Laura Rozen | The Envoy – 2 hrs 38 mins ago Responding to the largest protests Russia has seen in two decades, Russia's social-networking president Dmitry Medvedev took to Facebook on Sunday to announce a new public inquiry into the country's disputed parliamentary elections. Critics of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's ruling party allege that it engaged in widespread voter fraud to win a parliamentary majority in the recent balloting. But if Medvedev was hoping to quell public outrage via his rather cursory Facebook announcement, the...

The first cracks have appeared in the façade of massive public support in Russia for Vladimir Putin. The reaction in Russia to his nomination for a third term as president was muted, and in a rare show of public disapproval, Putin was booed at a recent martial-arts match in Moscow. The reason is that the Putin era was built on pretense, but without the advantage of the Soviet era’s complete control over information. Inevitably, the pretense is beginning to wear thin. The first charade was, of course, the Medvedev presidency. Many in the West put faith in Medvedev’s liberal statements....

Russia’s national parliament, the Federal Assembly, has voted to restrict abortion for the first time in decades, in the face of a demographic decline that has reduced the population by 2.9% since 1992. The new law, which is expected to be signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, prohibits abortions beyond the 12th week of pregnancy, and imposes a mandatory waiting period of between two and seven days. Exceptions are permitted for economic hardship, which allows abortions up to the point 22 weeks of gestation. Join a Facebook page to end abortion here. Legislators discarded proposals by the Orthodox Church to...

The crucial economic signal for Russia last week was the price slide for the Urals oil blend below the $100 per barrel level, which is not only a symbolic watershed but also an inflection mark on which the Russian budget goes into red (Kommersant-FM, www.gazeta.ru, October 5). Prime Minister Vladimir Putin boldly dismissed this minor dip, asserting that oil prices remain at “acceptable levels” so that the real question for his government was how to distribute the surplus revenues (RIA Novosti, 5 October 5). Speaking at an investment forum, he took the argument one step further insisting that Russia was...

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ea4f7162-e69c-11e0-8c5e-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1Z177iHYc Russia’s prime minister Vladimir Putin will return to his post as president next year after he and president Dmitry Medvedev announced they were switching jobs. The announcement was made on Saturday at the annual conference of United Russia, the hegemonic party that controls two-thirds of Russia’s parliament. It put to rest intrigue over Mr Putin’s next move

Vladimir Putin declared on Saturday that he planned to reclaim the Russian presidency in an election next March that could open the way for the former KGB spy to rule until 2024. The announcement, greeted by a standing ovation at a congress of the prime minister's ruling United Russia party, ended months of speculation over whether he or President Dmitry Medvedev would run. The two have ruled in a power 'tandem' since Putin was forced by the constitution to yield the presidency in 2008 after serving a maximum two consecutive terms, and Putin said they had agreed several years ago...

The majority of Russians remain dissatisfied with the progress of democratization in Russia, a new poll has found. The Moscow Times reports that 62 percent of people recently polled in an All-Russia Public Opinion Research Centre survey answered that they are “dissatisfied with the development of democracy in Russia.” This number, however, is down marginally from the 73 percent who were dissatisfied with domestic conditions twenty years ago. Meanwhile, those who believe the country is showing progress are largely supporters of the ruling "United Russia" party, are under 45 years of age, and generally active Internet users. [Editors’ Note: Given...

U.S. to support Russia's mediation efforts in Libya10:12 12/07/2011 WASHINGTON, July 12 (RIA Novosti) - The United States will support Russia's crisis mediation efforts in Libya provided embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi steps down, President Barack Obama told his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on Monday. Obama spoke with Medvedev to "discuss a range of bilateral and international issues and to express his condolences on the tragic sinking of the MS Bulgaria," the White House said in a statement. Sunday's tragedy on the Volga River claimed dozens of lives, and Russia is holding a day of mourning for the victims on...

Memo to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev: next time you plunge into a crowd, don't forget to park your car first. Medvedev took his "Forward, Russia!" motto a bit too far in an incident captured on video, stepping from the driver's seat of an SUV and then frantically trying to hold the vehicle back as it kept moving towards a group of people waiting to greet him.

Kim Jong-il 'to Meet Medvedev' North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev may meet next week in Vladivostok, PrimaMedia, a news agency for Russia's Far East, said Thursday. Medvedev "will visit Vladivostok between June 29 and July 1 to inspect preparations for the APEC Summit there next year and there is the possibility of a summit with North Korean leader Kim during the visit," PrimaMedia reported. "This has been confirmed by several sources." If the summit takes place, it would be the first meeting between the leaders of the two countries in nine years. Kim and Putin...

Unlike Jack Nicholson's mother, who never saw the irony in calling Jack a “son of a bitch,” I'm hoping you'll appreciate another delicious irony. In a keynote speech at an international economic forum, a major political leader blamed the state's heavy role in the economy for stagnation. Government, he said, should “protect the choice and property of those who willingly risk their money and reputation.” ... the speaker was President Medvedev of Russia, the country whose government excesses inflicted misery and deprivation on its people. It is poetic irony, then, to hear Medvedev wax Jeffersonian while throwing overboard the Russian...

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday he wanted his US counterpart Barack Obama to win re-election next year, fearing that the two men's efforts to improve ties may lose steam under a new administration. "I can tell you directly -- I would like Barack Obama to be re-elected president of the United States maybe more than someone else," Medvedev said in an interview with the Financial Times whose full transcript was released by the Kremlin early Monday. "If another person becomes US president then he may have another course," he said. "We understand that there are representatives of a...

When Hillary Clinton famously called for a “reset” of Washington’s relations with Moscow back in early 2009, she should have called it by its more appropriate term, “surrender”. From caving in to Russian demands to scrap plans for Third Site missile defences in eastern and central Europe to signing on to the New START Treaty, US policy towards Russia under the Obama administration has been one wretched give away after another, even stretching as far as handing over sensitive information on Britain’s nuclear deterrent. Is it any wonder that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is now openly calling for Barack Obama’s...

President Obama had just finished touting the “outstanding relationship” he and Dmitry Medvedev have built between themselves and their nations – the American leader even used the “reset” button metaphor again – when the Russian president turned to the thorny issue of Washington’s plan to upgrade its missile defense shield, and uncorked a stunner. “I have told my counterpart, Barack Obama, that this issue will be finally solved in the future,” Medvedev told reporters in Deauville, France, “like, for example, in the year 2020.” It wasn’t merely that Medvedev had chosen a date almost comically far into the future to...

SKOLKOVO, Russia -- President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday warned of a new Cold War era if Russia and the West fail to agree on missile defense, in the first major news conference of his presidency. Despite the startling warning to the United States and Europe, Medvedev confounded expectations he would use the event to finally announce if he intends to seek a new Kremlin mandate in 2012 elections. Russia is increasingly worried about US plans to build missile defense facilities in ex-Communist eastern Europe and is also offended that NATO appears to have shunned its proposals for a joint missile...

SKOLKOVO, Russia (AFP) – President Dmitry Medvedev warned Wednesday Russia could pull out a new nuclear disarmament treaty and enter a new Cold War with the West if the two sides failed to agree on a new missile defence shield. Medvedev told reporters that the United States' decision to push ahead with the European shield despite Russia's objections will force Moscow "to take response measures -- something that we would very much rather not do."

In Minsk they will long remember the evening of April 11th, 2011, when an explosion at the ‘October’ subway station took the lives of 11 people. The law enforcement bodies after their first examination of the scene now have no doubts as to what to label the explosion: this is an act of terrorism, the likes of which modern Belarus has never before known. How it was According to Minsk police, the explosion occurred at 17:55 on the platform of the ‘October’ subway station near the second car of a train that was heading in the direction of the Culture...

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has said Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's description of the UN resolution on Libya is "unacceptable". The rare rebuke came hours after Mr Putin criticised the resolution, which authorised military action to protect Libyan civilians. Mr Putin said the resolution resembled "medieval calls for crusades". Russia abstained from voting on the resolution, under which air strikes are being carried out on Libyan targets. Mr Medvedev told Russian news agencies: "Under no circumstances is it acceptable to use expressions which essentially lead to a clash of civilisations. Such as 'crusade' and so on. "It is unacceptable. Otherwise, everything...

Medvedev rebuts Putin over Libya In a rare faceoff with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday he stood by Moscow's decision not to veto the UN Security Council resolution on Libya. "Russia did not exercise [the veto power] for one reason: I do not consider this resolution to be wrong. Moreover, I believe that this resolution generally reflects our understanding of what is going on in Libya," Medvedev said. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin earlier on Monday likened the UN Security Council resolution on Libya to a medieval crusade call. In response to Putin's comments,...

Many Western experts today portray Russia as a country spiraling down into totalitarianism, slowly (or not so slowly) following the path of the Soviet Union, whose authoritarian regime crumbled under growing pressure from an emerging civil society. Prevailing opinion attributes this authoritarian U-turn to the nature of the contemporary Russian political elite. Members of this elite (as argued by many Western analysts, including Ian Bremmer) are recruited disproportionately from the so-called siloviye structury, that is, the law-enforcement bodies and security services, which trace their roots to the Soviet-era military and secret services.1 These assumptions join to offer what is on...

This year started quite symbolically in Russia. In the last days of 2010, government authorities decided to demonstrate their power and their intolerance for being challenged: The verdict issued at the farcical trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev had no relation to jurisprudence; leading opposition figures were detained for as many as 15 days on purely political grounds. These heavy-handed actions set a peculiar stage for President Dmitry Medvedev's address at the World Economic Forum. Nevertheless, the intelligent and well-informed audience in Davos enthusiastically applauded his nice words about Russia's economic modernization and dynamic democratic development. International business leaders...

Some members of the European Parliament (MEPs) deemed yesterday’s resolution on Russian non-compliance with the rule of law to be much too soft, and now seek sanctions against Russian officials implicated in human rights abuses. As reported in the media, the European Parliament has three enumerations: there is the ‘Khodorkovsky list’, which includes those involved in imposing harsh sentences in the Yukos case; the ‘Magnitsky list’, with the names of those accused of the death in jail of the lawyer for Hermitage Capital Management; and the ‘Nemtsov list’, in which appear the persecutors of Russian opposition leaders. The latter list...

“In the early stages of the disease this parasite enters the blood, while in the later stages its affects the central nervous system and leads to death.” – from Wikipedia Anyone living in a poor country that has a palace to be built for himself, such as (Putin’s palace) in Gelendzhik, should go to prison, and for a very long time. Judging by what we know today this is probably V.V. Putin, the Prime Minister. If not Putin, then show me - I want to see this man! It is not hard to find who did this. Other than Putin,...

24-year-old Zeynap Suyunova, arrested in Volgograd and suspected of involvement in an explosion at a Moscow shooting club on December 31st, confessed to security services that her accomplices were planning two terrorist attacks in the capital - one of them at the airport, reports Life News. There is no official confirmation of this information. A day earlier the National Antiterrorism Committee would only state that interrogation of suspects in the shooting club blast had prevented of two terrorist attacks in Dagestan. According to the official version, the planned New Year’s Eve bombing in the capital and the attack on Domodedovo...

In spite of regularly occurring acts of terrorism around the world, a normal person cannot get used to these cruel acts of violence against entirely innocent persons, people whose only ‘guilt’ is that they are have a different nationality, religion, or political view. Each terrorist attack that results in human casualties is therefore perceived by the vast majority of people around the world as a personal tragedy, regardless of the country where the crime takes place, especially since the victims of such attacks are increasingly citizens of different countries. The bombing at Domodedovo airport on January 24th, and the resulting...

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that the most effective way to resolve a severe economic crisis is through the Private Sector - not big government: VIDEOText: "Simple and often populist solutions, in ninety cases out of one hundred, are wrong, or prove to be wrong, or perhaps even prove to be worst out of all the possible options. A vivid case in point is a tendency of trying to resolve economic problems through nationalization, including the nationalization of financial institutions. "In the [recent era and] period of financial crisis,...

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev took an Epiphany dip in the holy waters of the Jordan River on Wednesday. Epiphany, also know as Theophany, is one of the Great Christian Feasts. The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates it on January 19 in line with the Julian calendar. The Russian leader visited a Russian Orthodox center for pilgrims, currently being built near the area where Jesus Christ is believed to have been baptized by John the Baptist. "Visiting the Jordan River on Epiphany Day is a great joy for any Orthodox believer. I'm convinced that the hotel will soon take in its first...

JERICHO, West Bank (AP) — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev gave a political boost to the Palestinians on Tuesday, backing their claim to east Jerusalem as a capital and their demand that Israel must freeze all settlement construction before peace talks can resume. Medvedev, who was visiting the West Bank for the first time as president, spoke during a joint news conference with his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas. .... Medvedev said Tuesday that the Palestinians have the right to a viable state with east Jerusalem as a capital. The Russian leader also sided with the Palestinian demand that all settlement construction...

Russia needs to “purge” criminals from government, President Dmitry Medvedev said today, as he promised to step up his fight against corruption. “I believe we’ve managed to clean things up at the federal level in recent years,” Medvedev said in a live question-and- answer session with the heads of Russia’s three main television channels. “But at the regional level, there are a lot of people who work according to a different code and there we need to carry out purges.” In the capital Moscow, which accounts for nearly a quarter of Russia’s gross domestic product, there is “unprecedented” corruption, which...

Strategy: The heirs of Ronald Reagan abandon his legacy and dream of defending America from nuclear attack. Our security will rest on ambiguous language and vague assurances, not on the genius of U.S. technology. Peace in our time, or should we say appeasement in our time, as a sufficient number of GOP senators signed on the New START treaty to give the Democrats and President Obama the 67 votes needed for ratification. The Hill reported that Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., became the 10th Republican to support the treaty on Monday. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., was No. 9, saying on Monday...

WikiLeaks cables: Dmitry Medvedev 'plays Robin to Putin's Batman' US diplomats consider Vladimir Putin to be the real ruler of Russia despite handing over presidency to Dmitry Medvedev Vladimir Putin still pulls the strings in Russia, with President Dmitry Medvedev a more junior figure who "plays Robin to Putin's Batman", US diplomats have said in frank dispatches from Moscow released by WikiLeaks. Since Putin stepped down as president in 2008, political analysts have been scrambling to assess whether he – or his handpicked successor, Medvedev – is Russia's real leader. After leaving the Kremlin, Putin immediately became prime minister. Secret...

ZiL Concept Zavod imeni Likhachova (literally "Factory named after Likhachov", although better know as ZiL) is a Russian manufacturer of heavy equipment and armored vehicles like tanks or amphibious transporters, but is also responsible with the production of armored luxury automobiles for Russian diplomats. Despite the fact that ZiL passenger cars are priced at the equivalent of models from Maybach and Rolls-Royce, they are largely unknown outside the former Soviet Union and production rarely exceeds a dozen per year. In cooperation with the Russian government and a third party design studio, the company has just uncovered a new presidential limousine...

In his videoblog, Mr Medvedev spoke about the lack of real competition in the political arena, heavily dominated by the pro-Kremlin United Russia party. "This stagnation is equally damaging to both the ruling party and the opposition forces," he said. Russia's marginalised opposition has accused the authorities of harassment - a claim denied by the Kremlin. The opposition has also frequently complained of being denied access to airtime during recent election campaigns, saying the authorities give unfair advantages to United Russia.

President Barack Obama, capping a far-flung Asian trip of mixed results, assured Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday that getting the Senate to ratify the START nuclear weapons treaty is a "top priority" of his administration. "I reiterated my commitment to getting the START treaty done during the lame-duck session," Obama said, noting that Congress returns next week for its postelection session. In talks with Medvedev on the sidelines of the summit of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Obama also reiterated his support for bringing Russia into the World Trade Organization, calling Russia "an excellent partner." His bilateral talks with...

President Obama assured Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday that the lame-duck session will be used to ratify the START nuclear-arms treaty. According to the White House pool report, Obama gave his commitment to his Russian counterpart as the two met, both lauding their friendship and relationship built up over the past two years. "I reiterated my commitment to getting the START treaty done during the lame-duck session," Obama said at a photo op, calling passage of the treaty a "top priority" of his administration.

Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev go to Church frequently, kiss precious icons of the Virgin Mary and seek political and moral counsel from the Russian Orthodox Clergy. Furthermore, to the surprise of many Americans, particularly Evangelical Christians, Vladimir Putin wears a Christian cross with him at all times. On ABC's Good Morning America Anchor George Stephanopoulos recently interviewed Russian President Dmitry Medvedev: STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me ask you, the American public doesn't know all that much about you personally. But I was fascinated to be-- in reading your biography to learn many of the details. You were brought up in Soviet...

There’s more to Schwarzenegger than Skolkovo – California’s out-going governor is already preparing for life after office with a drive to promote the environment. And in Moscow’s Higher School of Economics he outlined his ideas on energy efficiency to students, highlighting the green legacy of his regime in the US. California’s dreams come true Schwarzenegger said at the conference that California is becoming a world leader in energy efficiency and environmental programmes. “We have built hydrogen fueling stations along the roads. We promote renewable energy. We passed legislation AB32, whereby we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent...

CNN's Senior International Correspondent in Moscow Matthew Chance interviewed the former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov on Wednesday.In a revealing and candid discussion, Luzhkov told CNN that "we are losing democracy inside the country," and refuted rumors that he was planning to leave the country. Russia, Moscow (CNN) -- Chance: Mr. Luzhkov, you were the mayor of Moscow for 18 years until last month when you were unceremoniously fired by the Russian president. Why do you think that you were dismissed?

Russia’s Puppet President is endorsing a bill that will increase the powers of the Federal Security Service, once known as the KGB. ’The new proposed law returns to the FSB the power of the special services of a totalitarian regime,’ a statement signed by prominent pro-democracy and human rights activists said. ‘The initiators, most likely, intend to create an instrument for mass intimidation of people who are dissatisfied, dissidents and critics of the authorities – including the FSB.’ In a rare moment of hilarity, the AP noted that Medvedev’s approval of the legislation has “raised doubts” about the President’s commitment...

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered a radical restructuring of the country’s armed forces command system with an aim to reform the Soviet-era military behemoth into a ‘lean but mean’ force capable of fighting the modern network centric warfare. The decree signed by Medvedev also aims to reform the logistic support system of the armed forces. “Under the Presidential decree existing six military districts will be reorganised into four united strategic commands (USC) and an integrated logistic support system,” Chief of the General Staff, Army General Nikolai Makarov announced Wednesday. Under the reformed command structure The Moscow and Leningrad military...

Despite California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger plunging job approval ratings and waning biceps, he still had time for a ho-hum visit with President Medvedev at Cisco HQ in San Jose on June 23rd. The President met with Cisco CEO John Chambers and members of the Cisco executive team over TelePresence and got to make a video (wink,wink). Following this discussion, Chambers and Viktor Vekselberg signed an MoU to confirm Cisco's commitment to the Skolkovo project. Arnold was very quiet so I don’t think he will be back!...

MOSCOW (AFP) – Iran is close to having the potential to build a nuclear weapon, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday in the clearest indication yet of Russian alarm over Tehran's atomic drive. "Iran is nearing the possession of the potential which in principle could be used for the creation of a nuclear weapon," Medvedev said at a meeting with Russian diplomats quoted by Russian news agencies. Russia, traditionally a diplomatic and economic ally of the Islamic republic, in the past took a milder line against Tehran than Western powers but recently noticeably hardened its position. Iran has over the...

‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ movie was released on March 19, 1921, but the classic poster of the silent film ended up as a backdrop of the ‘burger and fries’ meeting between the presidents of the USA and Russia in 2010. Some argue the poster representing the art in Germany between the two World Wars was an odd choice for a photo-op. Others believe that the movie about mad-men murderous horror dreams was a nice touch. Most likely some innocent aid did not pay attention to details. In case somebody in the White House is collecting ideas about posters...

US President Barack Obama knew about the FBI operation to smash an alleged Russian spy ring before meeting President Dmitry Medvedev last week, but did not raise it at the talks, an aide said. But the White House said the revelations, which were condemned by Russia, would not interfere with the effort by both sides to 'reset' their relations, which has been pursued ever since Obama took office last year. The alleged operation was busted just a few days after a warm summit between Obama and Medvedev at the White House at which both sides made an elaborate effort to...

... "The choice of timing was particularly refined," Lavrov said sarcastically, referring to the fact that the arrests occurred after Obama met with Medvedev on Thursday for a visit widely seen as the latest step in the "reset" of relations between the former Cold War rivals. A source in Obama's administration said the president was not happy about the timing of the arrests, but investigators feared that some of their suspects might flee, The New York Times reported. The arrests might have been spurred by an FBI sting operation on Saturday in which one of the, Anna Chapman, was given...

"SCHWARZENEGGER FLEXES MUSCLE FOR MOSCOW, WHILE OBAMA IGNORES WARNINGS FROM RUSSIAN DISSIDENTS" International News Analysis Today June 29, 2010 By Toby Westerman SNIPPET: "California governor, and former film superhero, Arnold Schwarzenegger has pledged to lead a trade mission to Russia and assist "in any way possible" Russia's drive to develop its own high tech "Silicon Valley." U.S. president Barack Obama has also promised his backing in facilitating the flow of U.S. technology to Russia. The eager participation of Schwarzenegger and Obama in exporting U.S. technological capabilities came during Russian president Dmitry Medvedev's three day visit (June 22-24) to the United...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-obama-and-president-medvedev-russia-us-russia-business-summit Home • Briefing Room • Speeches & Remarks The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 24, 2010 Remarks by President Obama and President Medvedev of Russia at the U.S.-Russia Business Summit U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 3:08 P.M. EDT PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, good afternoon, everybody. It is a pleasure to be here with my friend and partner, President Medvedev, and I want to thank him again for his leadership, especially his vision for an innovative Russia that’s modernizing its economy, including deeper economic ties between our...

Medvedev and Obama ordering at Ray’s Hell Burger in Arlington, Virginia. WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday that the United States and Russia had reached agreement to resume exporting U.S. poultry products to Russia and his administration would support Moscow's accession to the World Trade Organization. "Russia belongs in the WTO," Obama told reporters at a joint news conference with President Dmitry Medvedev. He also declared that the two countries have "succeeded in resetting" their relationship but acknowledged differences in some areas, such as Moscow's tensions with Georgia. "We addressed those differences candidly," he said. And Obama announced...