MOSCOW, May 25, 2009 (AFP) - The Russian foreign ministry voiced "concern" on Monday about North Korea's nuclear test but was still examining the situation, the RIA-Novosti state news agency reported.
"The information about the North Korean nuclear test evokes concern, but before reaching any final conclusions it must be carefully checked," the ministry's press service was quoted as saying.
Earlier on Monday, North Korea said it had staged a "successful" underground nuclear weapons test which was more powerful than its previous test of an atomic bomb almost three years ago.
South Korean officials said a tremor was detected around the northeastern town of Kilju, near where the first test was conducted in October 2006.
Russia has been a participant in the six-party talks aimed at convincing the reclusive Communist state to scrap its nuclear weapons programme, along with the two Koreas, China, Japan and the United States.
Russia is also a permanent, veto-holding member of the UN Security Council, which last month condemned a North Korean rocket launch, angering Pyongyang.
maandag 25 mei 2009
zondag 24 mei 2009
EU - Russia: no gas deal
Russia-EU Summit Ends with Differences Over Energy
EU Commission President Barroso, Russian President Medvedev, Czech President Klaus and EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana in Khabarovsk, 22 May 2009.
A tense summit meeting between Russia and the European Union has failed to provide assurances Europe will not face another mid-winter gas cutoff.
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has also warned that stronger European ties with former Soviet republics should not turn into an anti-Russian coalition.
Meeting in the city of Khabarovsk in the Russian Far East, Russian and EU leaders failed to bridge differences that block assurances of reliable gas supplies to Europe.
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said his country has no problem supplying the fuel or honoring its delivery commitments to Europe.
He blamed the continent's recent energy disruptions on the inability of Ukraine to pay for its own supplies. About 20 percent of Europe's supply of natural gas comes from Russia through Ukrainian pipelines. Mr. Medvedev says assurances should be provided by those who pay for the gas, and there is room here for cooperation.
The Russian leader notes that if Ukraine has the money, fine, though he expresses doubt that it does.
Russia prepared to help Ukraine.
President Medvedev said Russia is prepared to help Ukraine, but wants a considerable part of this work to be assumed by the European Union and countries interested in reliable and secure energy cooperation.
Russia is also seeking to replace the so-called Energy Charter Treaty, a 1990's agreement on integration of European and former Soviet energy sectors.
Moscow signed, but did not ratify the treaty, which would provide foreign commercial access to Russian pipelines. The European Union does not want the Charter scrapped, but EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Russia has put forth interesting suggestions. "We could consider those proposals in the process of revision of the Energy Charter Treaty," he said.
Moscow suspicious of EU partnership program
Moscow is also suspicious of the EU's Eastern Partnership Program with several former Soviet republics. President Medvedev warned in Khabarovsk that the outreach program should not turn into an anti-Russian coalition.
He says what concerns Russia is that in some countries, the European Partnership is seen as a partnership against Russia. The Kremlin leader says he does not have in mind EU leadership nor any of the partners at the table [in Khabarovsk], but rather other countries.
The Partnership Program is designed to enhance Europe's relationship with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.
Positive comments about summit
Despite tensions at the summit, Czech President Vaclav Klaus said the summit increased mutual trust between the EU and Russia. The Czech Republic holds the EU's rotating presidency.The venue chosen by Russia, the city of Khabarovsk, is near China, about 8,000 kilometers east of Brussels. President Medvedev made a point on Thursday of noting EU leaders would understand how great Russia is by having to fly so far.
Russia doing business with Syria
Syria Denies MiG Deal Cancelled
Syria on Sunday denied a report by the Russian newspaper Kommersant that Moscow had cancelled a $500-million deal agreed to in 2007 to sell the Damascus government eight advanced MiG-31 fighter aircraft. Kommersant cited pressure from Israel and Syria's inability to pay for the planes.
An official Syrian statement said, "This is part of attempts to undermine the friendly relations and cooperation between Syria and Russia." The statement was issued as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited the Syrian capital and met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. During the meeting, al-Assad told Lavrov that the Middle East peace conference that Moscow wants to organize this year should be properly planned ahead of time.
Syria on Sunday denied a report by the Russian newspaper Kommersant that Moscow had cancelled a $500-million deal agreed to in 2007 to sell the Damascus government eight advanced MiG-31 fighter aircraft. Kommersant cited pressure from Israel and Syria's inability to pay for the planes.
An official Syrian statement said, "This is part of attempts to undermine the friendly relations and cooperation between Syria and Russia." The statement was issued as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited the Syrian capital and met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. During the meeting, al-Assad told Lavrov that the Middle East peace conference that Moscow wants to organize this year should be properly planned ahead of time.
dinsdag 19 mei 2009
Georgia v. Russia in Geneva
GENEVA (Reuters) - Georgia and Russia resumed security talks on Tuesday after international mediators and a U.N. report helped nudge Moscow's negotiators back to the table, officials said.
Delegations from Russia and the Moscow-backed rebel region of South Ossetia had withdrawn from the two-day talks in Geneva on Monday citing the refusal of another Moscow-backed rebel region, Abkhazia, to attend, due to a delay in a U.N. report.
"The formal discussions have just finished," a U.N. spokeswoman said. "Everyone participated."
A senior Georgian official in Geneva said that the closed-door discussions had lasted about 3-1/2 hours.
In the report on the U.N. mission in Abkhazia, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said tensions between Georgia and Russia, who fought a brief war over South Ossetia in August, were weighing heavily on the region, an important transit territory for Western gas and oil deliveries to the West.
Talks to date had helped to maintain a "relative calm."
MONITORING
It cites the official title of "United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia" but otherwise skates round the sensitive question of whether Abkhazia is part of Georgia or not.
"I hope that these efforts can lead to the establishment of a more stable security regime in the area," Ban said.
It is the fifth session between Russia and Georgia since September.
Tensions remain around areas of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, particularly Akhalgori in South Ossetia and the Kodori Gorge and Gali regions of Abkhazia.
The U.N. deploys 129 military observers, drawn from 30 states, and 16 police officers in Abkhazia.
Ban's report recommended that security zones with no armed forces or military equipment be enforced for 12 km (8 miles) on both sides of the ceasefire line, and restricted zones with no heavy military equipment for another 12 km on each side.
He also called for regular U.N. monitoring of conditions in the Kodori valley and regular meetings between Russian and Georgian officials to maintain calm and stability.
zondag 3 mei 2009
Sergei Bagapsh
Sergei Wasyl-ipa Bagapsh (Abkhaz: Сергеи Уасыл-иҧа Багаҧшь) (born March 4, 1949, Sukhumi) is the President of the partially recognized de facto independent Republic of Abkhazia, which is recognized by most countries as de jure part of Georgia. A former Prime Minister from 1997 to 1999, he was elected as President in 2005.
Sergei Bagapsh was born March 4 1949 in Sukhumi. Throughout most of his life he has lived in Abkhazia. Bagapsh graduated from the Georgian State University of Subtropical Agriculture in Sukhumi. During his studies he worked first in a wine cooperative and later as a security guard for the state bank. In 1972 he fulfilled his military service as the head of a sovkhoz following which he became instructor with the Abkhazian regional committee of the Komsomol. In 1978 Bagapsh became responsible for information in the central committee of the Komsomol's Georgian branch and in 1980 first secretary of the Abkhazian regional committee. In 1982 Sergei Bagapsh became secretary general of the communist party in the Ochamchira district. After the fall of communism, Bagapsh became a businessman and the representative of the Abkhazian government in Moscow.
Sergei Bagapsh was born March 4 1949 in Sukhumi. Throughout most of his life he has lived in Abkhazia. Bagapsh graduated from the Georgian State University of Subtropical Agriculture in Sukhumi. During his studies he worked first in a wine cooperative and later as a security guard for the state bank. In 1972 he fulfilled his military service as the head of a sovkhoz following which he became instructor with the Abkhazian regional committee of the Komsomol. In 1978 Bagapsh became responsible for information in the central committee of the Komsomol's Georgian branch and in 1980 first secretary of the Abkhazian regional committee. In 1982 Sergei Bagapsh became secretary general of the communist party in the Ochamchira district. After the fall of communism, Bagapsh became a businessman and the representative of the Abkhazian government in Moscow.
Security treaties between Russia and South Ossetia and Abkhazia
MOSCOW — Russian border guards on Saturday began taking up long-term positions along the boundaries of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, an arrangement that will probably mean sustained tension in the two breakaway Georgian territories.
Security treaties signed on Thursday in Moscow between Russia and the two territories called for joint patrols in South Ossetia and Abkhazia for an unspecified period along the boundaries that separate the enclaves from the rest of Georgia. The State Department expressed “serious concern” over the arrangement, saying it violated Georgia’s territorial integrity and broke commitments made in a cease-fire agreement reached last fall.
The territories were at the heart of a war last August between Russia and Georgia; the conflict raised tensions between Moscow and the West to a level not seen since the end of the cold war. Heavy Russian armor poured into both territories after Georgia attacked Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. Russia then officially recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as sovereign nations, despite protests from Europe and the United States, and promised to guarantee their security.
Russian troops have been at the territories’ border since August, but the security pact signed on Thursday makes their role formal and permanent. It grants Russia’s border guards, a division of the Russian Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., any land or buildings needed to patrol the area. It also grants Russian border guards many of the rights of Abkhaz and South Ossetian citizens.
In an interview, Abkhazia’s president, Sergei Bagapsh, said 500 Russian border guards — not Defense Ministry troops — would perform joint patrols alongside 300 Abkhazians until Abkhazia could train enough personnel to secure the 60-mile border.
He said Abkhazia had negotiated for some changes to the agreement, among them ensuring that guards at the crossing in the Gali region, which has a large ethnic Georgian population, would be Abkhaz rather than Russian.
“People will be going to the markets; you cannot stop life,” he said. “We don’t want to build a Great Wall of China between Abkhazia and Georgia.”
But Georgian authorities said the move to long-term postings was dangerous. Shota Utiashvili, a senior official in Georgia’s Interior Ministry, said that though Russian soldiers had been staffing checkpoints since August, he worried that F.S.B. units “might be more willing to stage operations” along the Georgian border.
He said Georgian authorities were watching to see how heavily fortified the border would be.
In a statement released on Friday, Georgia’s Foreign Ministry said Russia “once more draws a line between itself and the entire international community, and again brutally tramples on fundamental standards and principles of international law.”
Security treaties signed on Thursday in Moscow between Russia and the two territories called for joint patrols in South Ossetia and Abkhazia for an unspecified period along the boundaries that separate the enclaves from the rest of Georgia. The State Department expressed “serious concern” over the arrangement, saying it violated Georgia’s territorial integrity and broke commitments made in a cease-fire agreement reached last fall.
The territories were at the heart of a war last August between Russia and Georgia; the conflict raised tensions between Moscow and the West to a level not seen since the end of the cold war. Heavy Russian armor poured into both territories after Georgia attacked Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. Russia then officially recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as sovereign nations, despite protests from Europe and the United States, and promised to guarantee their security.
Russian troops have been at the territories’ border since August, but the security pact signed on Thursday makes their role formal and permanent. It grants Russia’s border guards, a division of the Russian Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., any land or buildings needed to patrol the area. It also grants Russian border guards many of the rights of Abkhaz and South Ossetian citizens.
In an interview, Abkhazia’s president, Sergei Bagapsh, said 500 Russian border guards — not Defense Ministry troops — would perform joint patrols alongside 300 Abkhazians until Abkhazia could train enough personnel to secure the 60-mile border.
He said Abkhazia had negotiated for some changes to the agreement, among them ensuring that guards at the crossing in the Gali region, which has a large ethnic Georgian population, would be Abkhaz rather than Russian.
“People will be going to the markets; you cannot stop life,” he said. “We don’t want to build a Great Wall of China between Abkhazia and Georgia.”
But Georgian authorities said the move to long-term postings was dangerous. Shota Utiashvili, a senior official in Georgia’s Interior Ministry, said that though Russian soldiers had been staffing checkpoints since August, he worried that F.S.B. units “might be more willing to stage operations” along the Georgian border.
He said Georgian authorities were watching to see how heavily fortified the border would be.
In a statement released on Friday, Georgia’s Foreign Ministry said Russia “once more draws a line between itself and the entire international community, and again brutally tramples on fundamental standards and principles of international law.”
vrijdag 1 mei 2009
NATO (Brussels) expells two Russian spies
Russia considers NATO's decision to expel two Russian diplomats in Brussels a "gross provocation" based on an "absolutely invented pretext", the Russian foreign ministry says.
"A gross provocation has been carried out against two employees of Russia's permanent office at NATO, whom the alliance's security functionaries want to expel from Brussels on an absolutely invented pretext and without any distinct explanation," it said in a statement.
The expulsion threaten to undermine a recent thaw in Russia-NATO relations, the ministry said, adding that unnamed "forces" opposed to improved ties were behind the incident.
"This disgraceful action fundamentally contradicts statements by NATO's leadership on its readiness to normalise relations with Russia," it said.
"For us it is clear that behind this provocation stand forces which are not interested in giving a stable character to the noted trend towards normalisation."
Earlier on Thursday NATO diplomats in Brussels confirmed that the alliance had expelled the two diplomats in retaliation for a spy scandal in which a former Estonian official passed secrets to Moscow.
The officials included a Russian political counsellor and a son of Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's ambassador to the European Union, one diplomat said.
Former Estonian defence ministry official Herman Simm was arrested last September in a case which has proved deeply embarrassing for Estonia after suggestions that NATO secrets may have been leaked to Russia.
Estonia, a Soviet-ruled republic until 1991, joined NATO and the European Union in 2004 and has rocky relations with its powerful neighbour Russia.
Simm pleaded guilty to treason and was sentenced in February to 12 years and six months in prison.
"A gross provocation has been carried out against two employees of Russia's permanent office at NATO, whom the alliance's security functionaries want to expel from Brussels on an absolutely invented pretext and without any distinct explanation," it said in a statement.
The expulsion threaten to undermine a recent thaw in Russia-NATO relations, the ministry said, adding that unnamed "forces" opposed to improved ties were behind the incident.
"This disgraceful action fundamentally contradicts statements by NATO's leadership on its readiness to normalise relations with Russia," it said.
"For us it is clear that behind this provocation stand forces which are not interested in giving a stable character to the noted trend towards normalisation."
Earlier on Thursday NATO diplomats in Brussels confirmed that the alliance had expelled the two diplomats in retaliation for a spy scandal in which a former Estonian official passed secrets to Moscow.
The officials included a Russian political counsellor and a son of Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's ambassador to the European Union, one diplomat said.
Former Estonian defence ministry official Herman Simm was arrested last September in a case which has proved deeply embarrassing for Estonia after suggestions that NATO secrets may have been leaked to Russia.
Estonia, a Soviet-ruled republic until 1991, joined NATO and the European Union in 2004 and has rocky relations with its powerful neighbour Russia.
Simm pleaded guilty to treason and was sentenced in February to 12 years and six months in prison.
Russia expands the list of banned US meat imports
Russia has expanded the list of banned U.S. meat imports. In addition to U.S. pork, they have also banned U.S. beef and poultry from certain U.S. states.
The bans apply to meat and poultry produced in California, Kansas, New York, Ohio and Texas, where cases of influenza have been reported.
U.S. Meat Export Federation quickly denounced Russia's decision. USMEF President and chief executive officer Philip Seng described it among the "demonstrated overreactions" by certain trading partners.
The American Meat Institute also is trying to spread the word. In a statement, AMI quotes Keiji Fukuda of the World Health Organization as saying, " Right now we have zero evidence to suspect that exposure to meat leads to infections."
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk on Tuesday urged all trading partners to base their decisions on scientific evidence per international obligations.
The bans apply to meat and poultry produced in California, Kansas, New York, Ohio and Texas, where cases of influenza have been reported.
U.S. Meat Export Federation quickly denounced Russia's decision. USMEF President and chief executive officer Philip Seng described it among the "demonstrated overreactions" by certain trading partners.
The American Meat Institute also is trying to spread the word. In a statement, AMI quotes Keiji Fukuda of the World Health Organization as saying, " Right now we have zero evidence to suspect that exposure to meat leads to infections."
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk on Tuesday urged all trading partners to base their decisions on scientific evidence per international obligations.
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