Hotest News from Russia

Moscow Slams Arab League for Siding with Syria Opposition

2013/03/28

MOSCOW, March 28 (RIA Novosti) – Russia strongly condemned the Arab League on Thursday, calling its decision to admit the Syrian opposition as the country’s representative to the organization an abandonment of plans for a peaceful settlement.

At the 24th Arab League summit, which ended in Qatar’s capital Doha on Tuesday, Syria was represented by the Western-backed opposition Syrian National Coalition and its head Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow viewed the summit as an undoing of efforts to achieve a political settlement.

Lavrov said transferring Syria’s seat at the Arab League to the opposition grouping was in breach of rules of procedure, which he said required consensus for a country to be removed.

The decision was opposed by Iraq and Algeria, while Lebanon abstained.

Lavrov also cast doubt on UN and Arab League special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi’s ability after the Doha decisions to pursue his mandate to advance negotiations between the Syrian government and the opposition.

The remarks follow a statement on Wednesday from the Russian Foreign Ministry describing the Arab League’s decision to allow members to supply the Syrian opposition forces with weapons as a violation of international law.

The Arab League suspended the Bashar al-Assad regime’s membership in 2011 as punishment for violence against opposition forces. It offered the vacant seat to the Syrian National Coalition at a meeting in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on March 6.

About 70,000 people have died in Syria since the start of the uprising against President Assad in March 2011, according to UN figures. Russia, along with China, has faced widespread condemnation over its refusal to approve UN sanctions against Assad’s regime.

Moscow has repeatedly claimed it has no interest in seeing Assad remain in power, but that it is concerned that unilateral sanctions leading to his downfall could create a power vacuum and lead to more violence.

Putin Vows Yekaterinburg Revamp in Expo-2020 Bid

2013/03/28

BOCHAROV RUCHEI (Sochi, Russia), March 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday pledged to revamp transportation links in Yekaterinburg if the city wins the bid to host the World Expo-2020.

Putin told at a meeting of representatives from the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE) that the organization’s recommendations would be followed if the Urals city is successful in its bid.

Although World fairs do not necessarily yield tangible economic returns, they are often seen as a profile-building prestige event. Other countries hoping to host the expo in 2020 include Turkey, Thailand and Brazil.

Putin said efforts to develop Yekaterinburg will focus on road, the airport, and access routes.

Authorities would also support business is building up hotels, he said.

The Expo-2020 bid for Yekaterinburg, which is the capital of the Urals Federal District, was presented at the 152nd session of the BIE’s General Assembly in November by a team led by Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.

The presentation touted the potential Yekaterinburg Expo-2020 as “the capstone of a grand effort to reconnect Russia to the world.”

Yekaterinburg “is investing billions” on modern transportation systems, techno parks and one of the world’s largest housing projects, the team said in its presentation.

The other contenders competing to hold the Expo-2020 are Izmir in Turkey, Ayutthaya in Thailand, Sao Paolo in Brazil, and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

The next World’s fair is due to be held in Milan, Italy, in 2015 and that will be followed by the Expo-2017 in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana.

Russian Oil Company Staff Return to Libya

2013/03/28

MOSCOW, March 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russian oil company Tatneft said on Thursday that staff have returned to Libya for the first time since the energy-rich North African country was convulsed by a violent uprising.

Tatneft said it took its decision after a meeting in January between its executives and the president of the Libyan National Oil Corporation to discuss the resumption of company activities.

The return of the Tatneft spells a resumption of the substantial Russian commercial interests put at risk by the months-long uprising in 2011 that culminated in the toppling and brutal killing of long-standing dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

The Tatarstan-based company says it invested around $260 million in Libya over six years of operations in the country until it was forced to freeze all prospecting work and suspend its contract with the Libyan National Oil Company in March 2011.

Several leading Russian companies had signed profitable deals with Gaddafi’s government.

Russian railway monopoly RZD won a contract to build a 550-kilometer high-speed rail link between the Mediterranean coast towns of Sirte and Benghazi.

Oil company Gazprom Neft was also present in Libya, while state arms exporter Rosoboronexport had a contract to sell weapons to the country.

Russia lost around $4 billion in military sales to Libya due to the civil war and resultant UN sanctions on Tripoli, according to data from Rosoboronexport and the Federal Military-Technical Agency.

Prosecutor Says Extremism Law Is Behind NGO Checks

2013/03/28

MOSCOW, March 28 (RIA Novosti) – A recent series of spot checks on non-governmental organizations in Russia that caused outcry among rights advocates is aimed at establishing their compliance with laws against extremism and the legalization of criminal income, the Prosecutor General's Office said Thursday. Nationwide NGO inspections have been taking place since last month, and most observers had linked them to a new law that tightens control on NGOs and obliges those that receive foreign funding to register as “foreign agents.” Many NGO activists have complained of unexpected and time-consuming raids.

“In connection with information about prohibited organizations continuing their activities under a different name, as well as about newly formed ultra-nationalist and radical religious organizations, inspections on NGOs were conducted to verify, among other things, their compliance with legal requirements on countermeasures against extremism activities and legalization of income obtained by criminal means,” said Marina Gridneva, a spokeswoman for the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office.

The results of the inspections, she said, will help to identify positive and negative trends in the sphere of NGOs, as well as problems and possible solutions, including by amending legislation.

Gridneva added that the Prosecutor General’s Office will also promptly examine all complaints from non-governmental organizations concerning possible violations during inspections in their offices.

“All complaints from NGOs concerning violations of their rights and legal interests during the course of inspections will be considered promptly, and the complainants will be notified of the results,” Gridneva said.

According to Russia’s NGO Agora, which has provided legal support to many political activists, including the Pussy Riot punk band, over 80 organizations have been audited in 24 regions across Russia during the recent wave of checks.

Agora’s director Pavel Chikov, who is also a member of the Presidential Council of Human Rights, said on Thursday that inspections primarily targeted NGOs dealing with human rights and environmental issues, as well as organizations that influence public opinion.

“The Prosecutor’s Office is primarily interested in organizations that deal with the formation of public opinion, political activities … as well as organizations that receive foreign funding,” Chikov said. “The main focus is on human rights and environmental organizations.”

Earlier this week, state agencies confiscated a stack of documents from the offices of Amnesty International and also paid a second visit to the Memorial rights group. Also among those targeted this week were two German organizations: the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS), a political think tank with ties to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party.

The prominent organization Human Rights Watch and several regional offices of the French Alliance Française, an international organization promoting French language and culture, were also among those inspected.

President Putin Orders Large-Scale Military Drills on Black Sea

2013/03/28

MOSCOW, March 28 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to conduct a large-scale military exercise in the Black Sea region without prior warning, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

“Today at 4:00 a.m. the president and the commander-in-chief ordered the defense minister to begin a large-scale military exercise in the Black Sea region,” Peskov said, adding that the main aim of the drills is to check combat readiness.

According to him, the exercise involves up to 7,000 military personnel and 36 warships joined by rapid deployment forces, as well as airborne and special task forces.

Peskov did not rule out the possibility that Putin, as commander-in-chief of the Russian armed forces, could monitor the exercise, but declined to say when that might happen.

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