Hotest News from Russia

Russian Parliamentarians Call on Putin to Act in Crimea

2014/03/01

MOSCOW, March 1 (RIA Novosti) – The leaders of Russia’s upper and lower houses of parliament called Saturday on President Vladimir Putin to stabilize the situation in Crimea and protect Russian citizens.

The leader of Federation Council, Russia’s upper house, said the use of military force in the former Soviet nation could be justified after the opposition swept into power in Kiev last weekend.

“In this situation it would even be possible, on the request of the Crimean government, to bring in a limited contingent [of troops] to guarantee security,” Valentina Matviyenko said.

The partition of Ukraine has become increasingly likely in recent days as heavily armed men understood to be Russian soldiers have taken control of key facilities and blocked roads in Crimea.

About 60 percent of the residents of Ukraine’s southern peninsula are ethnic Russians with the remainder of the population made up of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars, who largely support the incoming regime.

The State Duma, Russia’s lower house, released a similar statement Saturday that said must Putin bring the situation in Ukraine under control.

“All available means” should be deployed to protect Russian citizens, said Sergei Naryshkin, a former head of the presidential administration and the current parliamentery speaker in the Duma.

The Crimea has been visited by a series of Russian Duma deputies in recent days, including former boxing champion Nikolai Valuev, former figure skater Irina Rodnina, and the first woman in space Valentina Tereshkova.

Pro-Russian protests calling for secession have taken place sporadically across the southern and eastern Ukraine since President Viktor Yanukovuych was toppled from power a week ago.

Meanwhile, international media has reported widespread military movements, believed to be units from Russia's Black Sea fleet headquartered in Crimea, including tanks and helicopters that began on Tuesday. Ukrainian officials have accused the Kremlin of provoking conflict and called on Russia to return all soldiers to their bases.

Mid Summer Snow in the Mountains

2014/03/01

It must be cool to find snow in the middle of July! But where? For example, in Kazakhstan.

It was a dull day.

Here in the plain the temperature is as low as 15C – such a summer is in the south of Kazakhstan.

The road was asphalted back in the Soviet times.

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Sochi Paralympic Flame Lit in St. Petersburg

2014/03/01

MOSCOW, March 1 (R-Sport) - The flame for the Sochi Paralympics was lit Saturday during a ceremony in St. Petersburg.

Set to pass through all eight of Russia's federal districts, the Sochi 2014 Paralympic torch relay began in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok on February 26. Its journey ends March 7 with the opening ceremony at the Fisht Olympic Stadium on Russia's Black Sea coast.

Among those who took part in the lighting ceremony in St. Petersburg were 1964 Olympic fencing champion Boris Melnikov and 1992 gold medal swimmer Dmitry Lepikov. Two visually impaired Paralympic champions from the London 2012 Games, middle distance runner Yevgeny Shvetsov and 100m sprinter Fyodor Trikolich, also took part.

Russia is a powerhouse of the Paralympic movement, trailing only China at London 2012 and Germany at the last Winter Games in Vancouver in 2012.

The Paralympic torch relay differs from the Olympic torch relay insofar as the Paralympic flame is lit simultaneously in several cities and unified into a single flame before the opening ceremony. The Paralympic relay is also shorter.

Amid Escalation Fears, Russia Says Kiev Sent Fighters to Crimea

2014/03/01

MOSCOW, March 1 (RIA Novosti) – Armed men dispatched from Kiev to the southern Ukrainian region of Crimea attempted an overnight storm of the local Interior Ministry, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

“As a result of this perfidious provocation several people were injured,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“This confirms that certain well-known political circles in Kiev are striving for the destabilization of the situation… we call on all those giving such orders from Kiev to show restraint.”

The allegation comes as international media report large scale Russian military movements in Crimea that have included tanks, helicopters and troops.

In recent days heavily armed soldiers in unmarked uniforms have occupied the region’s parliament, airports and other strategic points across the peninsula.

Reports from the regional capital of Simferopol on Saturday suggested that the military presence had been strengthened with the appearance of several manned machine gun positions around the parliament, which is flying the Russian flag after it was seized by unidentified gunmen earlier this week.

Ukrainian authorities have accused Russia of seeking to provoke a conflict. World leaders, including US President Barack Obama, have expressed their deep concern about the apparent Russian incursion into Crimea.

Interim Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said Saturday that Russia should immediately recall all its troops to the bases where they are normally located.

“If not, the responsibility for any armed confrontation provoked by the radicals being de facto supported by the Russian military will lie with the Russian leadership,” Yatsenyuk said.

Russia maintains that any military movements in Crimea are within the framework of a 1997 agreement regulating its use of Black Sea naval bases on the peninsula that it leases from Ukraine.

Self-defense squads, which maintain that they will resist orders from Kiev, have been forming in the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine since the opposition swept to power in Kiev last weekend

The Foreign Ministry said that the alleged assault on the Interior Ministry in Crimea on Saturday was fought off by some of these pro-Russian self defense squads. It did not specify which side suffered the casualties.

Gazprom Mulls Cancelling Ukraine Gas Discount Over Debt

2014/03/01

MOSCOW, March 1 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s state-run energy giant Gazprom said Saturday that Ukraine is $1.55 billion in arrears on payments for natural gas deliveries, which the company said may force it to cancel a discount on the fuel agreed in December.

Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told RIA Novosti that although relations with Ukraine remained good and that gas for onward delivery was being transited as required, payments still needed to be respected.

“What is owed is huge, not just for last year, but also debts for current deliveries,” he said, noting that Russia has issued a $3 billion line of credit for the express purpose of covering its gas debts.

Kupriyanov said “agreements on discounts mandated full and timely payment for deliveries.”

Ukraine’s national oil and gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy had as of February 14 paid Gazprom $1.28 billion for gas delivered last year and asked to postpone payment of what remained until April 15.

Gazprom said in early February that Ukrainian debt for 2013 deliveries stood at $2.63 billion, meaning that Naftogaz had around $1.35 billion still to pay at the middle of the month.

Naftogaz bought around 13 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia in 2013 at the rate of $400 per thousand cubic meters.

That price was substantially reduced in December to $268.5 per thousand cubic meters.

The discount was part of a raft of support mechanisms devised by Russia for Ukraine following the latter’s decision in late November to back away from signing a deal that would have deepened political and economic relations with the European Union.

Moscow has so far paid $3 billion out of a promised $15 billion loan, which was to be issued as payment for internationally listed Ukrainian bonds.

Critics of the loan and discount package have argued that it was devised as a bribe to induce Ukraine to cement its ties with Russia, spurn the EU and defer much –needed structural economic reforms.

The chances of the remainder of that Russian loan being provided looks slim since last month’s ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych, who was chased out of office at the culmination of three months-long protests initially provoked by his decision on the EU deal.

The gas discount deal looks similarly frail.

Under the arrangement between Naftogaz and Gazprom, the size of the discount was to be determined of the first day of every new quarter and formalized within ten days. Failure to renew the discount deal by April 10 will cause it to cease having effect.

Russia – Ukraine Gas Dispute

The incoming Ukrainian government confirmed by parliament this past week is viewed with deep suspicion by the Kremlin, which has nonetheless vaguely committed to cooperating with the international community on providing its western neighbor with financial assistance.

Interim Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk has warned of his country’s desperate financial state and that unpopular decisions would urgently need to be taken.

Delegations from the EU and International Monetary Fund are to visit Ukraine next week to assess the country’s needs as it faces a wave of looming financial and security crises.

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