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MOSCOW, July 12 (RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday part of the blame for the killing of five Russian diplomats in Iraq in June lay with coalition forces, including the United States. "The abduction and murder of our diplomats is a great tragedy," he said in an interview with U.S. television channel NBC. After being asked whether he blamed the United States for that, Putin said: "If the United States and its allies assumed responsibility for Iraq when they decided to deploy their troops there, then of course, they are also responsible for the security of noncombatants, especially...

Ultranationalism among Russian youth and, to a lesser degree, in party politics as well as nascent official activity against xenophobia are receiving increasing attention by Russian and Western observers. Alarmed by the growing number of victims among foreign students, visitors from abroad and immigrants from Asia, Africa and the Americas, the Putin administration has started to take action against escalating skinhead violence. The Kremlin-directed Russian mass media reports now on a daily basis about attacks on foreigners and their—often, still hesitant—persecution by the procuracy. There is also frequent information on various central and local campaigns (concerts, demonstrations, meetings, etc.) to...

Russia Reform Monitor No. 1382 "Yabloko" leader Grigory Yavlinsky has said that President Putin may stay in office after his second and final constitutionally-mandated term ends in 2008 by merging Russia with Belarus. "An authoritarian system does not know how to change leaders," Yavlinsky told Gazeta.ru. "It is... not adapted to changing its leaders in general, so there will be systemic problems, in the sense that it will be difficult [for those in power] to give up nomenklatura property [and] posts, besides which there is the sense that Putin and the people around him have this Messianic feeling [that they]...

The amount of Russian espionage in the United States dipped after the Soviet collapse in 1991, officials and experts say, but rebounded by 1994 under then-foreign intelligence chief and later Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov. After the Sept. 11 attacks, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a "massive" expansion of intelligence-gathering in Western Europe and North America, Jane's Intelligence Digest reported. Officials and experts say Russian spying has increased significantly under Putin, a former KGB lieutenant colonel. "In 1989 and 1990, after the Berlin Wall fell, we all wanted to light candles and sing 'Kumbaya' and wait for the peace dividends to...

The Times March 25, 2006 Mole may have been fed false information By Michael Evans, Defence Editor THE revelation that a mole inside US Central Command was sending to the Russians secret operational material about the coalition plan to invade Iraq in March 2003 is the most extraordinary development to emerge since Saddam Hussein was found in a hole in the ground. However, the mole’s betrayal might have provided little assistance to the Iraqi dictator. It is conceivable that the material was either deliberately skewed to confuse the Baghdad regime or was out of date by the time that Saddam...

LAST SUNDAY, while returning home from Pakistan aboard Air Force One, President Bush received a telephone call from his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. The two men discussed several issues that threaten to disrupt U.S.-Russian solidarity in the war on terror--foremost, Russia's diplomatic support for Iran in the dispute over its nuclear program at the IAEA, and its decision to welcome Hamas, which recently won control of the Palestinian parliament, to Moscow. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is set to continue this dialogue in Washington this week in a series of direct talks with President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza...

Close your eyes and say it out loud: "G-8." Let the two syllables run across your tongue again: "gee-eight." What images drift into your brain?If you are like most Americans, I suspect that this simple psychological experiment will produce something like, "stuffy statesmen, boring meeting, prepackaged conclusions." Or maybe, "screaming protesters, riot police, prepackaged slogans." Or even, "turn the page and read something else."~SNIP~Perhaps you think it ridiculous to sound so apocalyptic about a meeting that most Americans find too boring to read about. But don't listen to me, listen to Andrei Illarionov, an economic adviser to Putin before he...

For a glimpse into Russian President Vladimir Putin's views on energy and foreign policy, one need look no further than his years in St. Petersburg in the 1990s. The key players in Russia's energy industry today, in fact, are Putin's former colleagues and mentor from that time. Putin, who had already spent more than 15 years as a Federal Security Service (FSB) agent, returned to school, studying at the St. Petersburg Mining Institute. One of the most prestigious academic institutions in Russia, it traces its history back to 1773. Since 1994 its rector has been Vladimir Litvinenko, who also serves...

Russia's enemy within An army conscript's amputations after a hazing underscore a military tradition slowly being exposed By Alex Rodriguez Tribune foreign correspondent Published February 13, 2006 CHELYABINSK, Russia -- Pvt. Andrei Sychov had a bad feeling about New Year's Eve. He knew older soldiers at the Chelyabinsk Tank Academy were bound to get drunk, which meant they would be prowling for first-year draftees to haze. When he called his mother, Galina Sychova, on Dec. 29, Sychova heard the dread in her 19-year-old son's voice. "He said he didn't want to see the drunken faces of the officers and soldiers,"...

Welcome bear hug By Arnon Regular Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement that he would be willing to meet with Hamas leaders did not come as a complete surprise to Hamas, which is currently on a drive to obtain international legitimacy for its future government. Within 24 hours after Hamas won the Palestinian elections, its leaders had identified the Russian-Chinese axis, as well as a few European countries, as the place to concentrate its efforts to soften the stringent conditions for acceptance by the international community that are currently being set by the United States, Israel, Egypt and Jordan. Nevertheless, even...

Russia to meet pledge on air defense system deliveries to Iran MOSCOW, Feb. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Russia will meet its pledge on deliveries of air defense systems to Iran, a senior official said on Thursday. Moscow cut a 1 billion-U.S. dollar deal with Tehran in November to supply it with Tor-M1 short-range missiles. Russian officials said these missiles are air defense systems used only to bring down aircraft and guided missiles at low altitudes but cannot strike ground targets. "As you know, we have a contract on the delivery of anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran. There is no reason not...

Putin Rejects Suspension of Aid to Hamas-Run PA 20:21 Feb 08, '06 / 10 Shevat 5766 (IsraelNN.com) In an interview with Spanish media, published today, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his objection to suspending aid to the Palestinian Authority, regardless of the Hamas terrorist organization's position there. Putin is beginning a two-day state visit to Spain today. "It would be a big mistake to suspend aid to the Palestinians," the Russian leader said. "If we stop helping simple Palestinian citizens, are we going to eradicate terrorism and criminality? Of course not." Putin added that while Hamas is "considered as terrorist...

U.S. Senator John McCain has strongly criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for what he characterized as the undermining of democracy in Russia and abroad. McCain made his comments in a speech at an international security conference in the German city of Munich. The U.S. senator, a presidential candidate in 2000, said Russia appears to be pursuing autocracy both at home and abroad. He also said he seriously questioned whether the member states of the G-8 group of industrialized nations should attend a G-8 summit scheduled to be hosted by Russia in St. Petersburg later this year. McCain also criticized Moscow...

LONDON, February 6 (IranMania) - Russia urged Iran to provide "unequivocal answers" to mounting international concerns over its nuclear programme in a call for continued diplomacy with the Islamic republic, according to AFP. "Russia still believes that as long as possible it's better to keep the matter in the International Atomic Energy Agency's hands," Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said at the Munich Conference on Security Policy. "We expect unequivocal answers" from Iran, Ivanov said, referring to suspicions in Western capitals that Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb. Tehran insists it is setting up a peaceful atomic energy...

MOSCOW - Russia has moved to prop up some Central Asian regimes and boost its clout in the strategically important region. However, the Kremlin's new efforts followed moves by some Central Asian nations to diversify their energy policies and escape from over-reliance on Russia. The Kremlin has backed the Uzbek leadership's efforts to avoid destabilization or a "colored" revolution. "We do not need a second Afghanistan in Central Asia and we will act very carefully there," Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday, referring to Uzbekistan. "We do not need a revolution in Central Asia." In an apparent bid to avoid...

Russian President Vladimir Putin today held a wide-ranging press conference at the Kremlin before more than 1,000 reporters. He fielded questions on Central Asia, Chechnya, Belarus, Ukraine and a number of international issues, including Iran's nuclear dispute with the West and Hamas's recent victory in the Palestinian legislative elections. Prague, 31 January 2006 -- Originally scheduled to end after 90 minutes, Putin's annual press conference lasted more than three hours. The Russian president touched upon a wide range of issues, including such controversial ones as his support the Uzbek government after last year's military crackdown in the eastern city of...

Putin Touts Russia's Missile CapabilitiesPutin Boasts That Russia's Missiles Can Penetrate Any Missile Defense System, News Agencies Report By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press Writer The Associated Press MOSCOW Jan 31, 2006 — President Vladimir Putin boasted Tuesday that Russia has missiles capable of penetrating any missile defense system, Russian news reports said. "Russia … has tested missile systems that no one in the world has," the ITAR-Tass, Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies quoted him as saying at a news conference. "These missile systems don't represent a response to a missile defense system, but they are immune to that. They...

No one has evinced any interest in the suggestion from the alliance yet NATO is trying to intensify its activities in Russia's Caucasus. NATO officials have recently released two important statements. They particularly expressed their readiness to deploy NATO peacemakers in the conflict area of Nagorno Karabakh and render assistance in the cessation of long-standing hostility between Armenia and Turkey. NATO officer in charge of communication with South Caucasus, Romualds Razhuks, stated that NATO could deploy its peacemaking contingent in Nagorno Karabakh. The officer specified that such a measure could be possible upon the agreement of all parts involved in...