India-Russia: News & Analysis

[Austin]

Manmohan Singh: India's relations with Russia and the multi-faceted nature
http://ria.ru/interview/20131019/971192745.html

On the eve of his official visit to Moscow by Indian Prime Minister answered questions from Russian journalists.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on October 20, will pay an official visit to Moscow. In the Monday, October 21, Singh will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the 14th annual Indo-Russian summit. Expected to sign several agreements. On the relations between Russia and India, which are characterized as special and privileged strategic partnership, in an interview with Russian journalists told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

- According to the Syrian issue India has taken a position, close to the Russian. Does this mean that we can expect closer cooperation between India and Russia on major international issues, in particular on the situation in the Middle East? What steps should be taken by Moscow and New Delhi in this regard?


- India and Russia have traditionally shared identical positions on regional and global issues, an important core of our strategic partnership. The conflict in Syria - is not only a tragedy for the people of this country, but also a threat to stability and security in the region, with potentially broader implications for the economy and security beyond its borders. The use of chemical weapons, regardless of who used it, highlights the dangers of conflict.

India has always believed that there is no military solution to this conflict, and consistently insisted that military intervention from the outside can only aggravate it. We have worked together with Russia on this issue, when India was part of the non-permanent members of the UN Security Council. There is an urgent need in the shortest possible time to achieve a political solution to the conflict, which must meet the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people. It is important to convene as soon as the conference "Geneva 2". I applaud the efforts of President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government to promote a political settlement of the conflict, and fully support the approach developed by Russia to the United States for the destruction of chemical weapons in Syria in a specific time frame.

- Tell us the most memorable memories of previous visits to Russia. What do you like best about our country?

- For many years, I visit your beautiful country with a rich history, along with Moscow and I was lucky enough to see the cities of St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. I have always admired the rich cultural, artistic and architectural heritage of Russia. With the greatest respect, I always relate to the genius and perseverance of the Russian people. But the strikes me most is the warmth and friendship of Russians to India, that the Indian people meet full reciprocity. Russia - a longtime and special partner of India. This relationship is unprecedented as an example of mutual understanding, trust, reliability and warmth. I greatly value our close and friendly relations with President Vladimir Putin and look forward to your next visit to Moscow for a dynamic annual summit with President Vladimir Putin.

- India has expressed a desire to develop cooperation with the Customs Union created by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. What are the interests of India in the Customs Union?

- We value our economic cooperation with Russia, as well as with Belarus and Kazakhstan. India has already signed a Free Trade Agreement or the Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Partnership with a number of countries such as Thailand, Singapore, and Japan, as well as ASEAN, and is negotiating a comprehensive agreement on trade and investment with the EU. The signing of the Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation with the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia will contribute to a significant strengthening of economic relations between India and your vehicle. From this, in particular, would greatly benefit trade and investment ties between India and Russia that organically complements other measures taken by the two countries to promote bilateral business contacts.

- What are your expectations for the next BRICS summit? What should be done to make the structure and mechanisms of the group more effective? What is the attitude of India to accept new members in BRICS?

- President Vladimir Putin is the chief architect of the formation of the BRICS. This is an important initiative in our multi-polar world. I am pleased to see that the BRICS become a solid international forum for the coordination and consultation on current economic and political issues of mutual interest. Adopted a number of new initiatives, including the establishment of a new development bank with a capital of U.S. $ 50 billion and a pool of foreign exchange reserves of U.S. $ 100 billion. This - the essential measures to promote trade and investment in emerging markets. BRICS countries also hold meetings in the fields of "twenty" to coordinate their positions on the issues discussed at the Summit. Last month, we held an informal meeting of BRICS leaders at the Summit of the "Group of Twenty" in St. Petersburg.

I expect that in the next BRICS summit to be held in Brazil, we will move forward on these issues. As for membership in the Forum, South Africa has recently become a member of the BRICS, and at the moment there are no offers on the further expansion of this association.

- What is your assessment of the two major joint Russian-Indian projects in the sphere of military-technical cooperation - the fighter of the 5th generation multi-role transport aircraft? When the first samples will be ready for test flights and entered service in the Indian Air Force?

- We consider the development of the fighter of the 5th generation multi-role transport aircraft as two of the flagship projects of Indo-Russian military-technical cooperation. They symbolize the transformation of our defense ties from previous relationships "buyer-seller" to a format that today includes joint design, development and manufacture of advanced defense products. Such projects also represent a high level of trust and synergy characteristic of relations between Russia and India in the field of military-technical cooperation. Happy is that both projects are progressing well, and the preliminary design phase for them is completed in the current year. The beginning of serial production will be preceded by a variety of complex and technical steps, including the detailed design and development of prototypes. We are interested in the fact that this whole process started as quickly as possible, and these new aircraft were introduced into the Indian Air Force.

- It is expected that in the course of your visit to Moscow to sign a number of agreements. What are, in your opinion, will consider this visit a success? What is the scope of the modern Russian-Indian partnership is the most important, relatively speaking, the "number one"?

- The relations between India and Russia have a truly multi-faceted, encompassing understanding at the political level, cooperation in the fields of energy, defense, growing trade and investment, cultural and educational ties, not to mention the warm friendship between our peoples. I believe that during my visit to Moscow will sign agreements on many of these areas. However, it is hardly appropriate to evaluate, or visit the summit as a success, based on the signing of an agreement or trying to sort through their significance as such. I believe that all important documents are signed by themselves and contribute to the strengthening of our specially privileged strategic partnership in various fields. The most important thing - it's a community of India and Russian approaches to international problems, as well as connecting us friendship and mutual trust, which allows us to carry out joint projects for cooperation in all fields.

- Last year, Indian officials have mentioned Russia among the countries that are supposed to provide a simplified procedure for obtaining tourist visas on arrival. When the Russians can be expected to take this decision?

- We strive to ensure that Russian citizens do not face any obstacles in traveling to India. India has introduced a rather liberal visa regime for Russian tourists and businessmen. In December 2010 our countries signed an intergovernmental agreement on simplification of requirements for mutual travels of certain categories of people, including tourists. I am pleased that the number of tourist visas issued by us in Russia, increased last year by 22 percent, and for the first 9 months of this year - by 55 percent. Hopefully this trend will continue in the future. As for the proposal to grant visas to Russian citizens on arrival, a decision on the matter is still pending.

- In accordance with the "road map" nuclear cooperation signed between Russia and India a few years ago, the two sides expressed their intention to build in India at about 14-16 nuclear reactors. The first of them is already in the final stages of commissioning at the NPP "Kudankulam". The second reactor to be completed soon. However, negotiations on commercial contracts for the construction of the number of blocks 3 and 4 are slipping. Are the current plans for the construction of the remaining 12-14 nuclear warheads? For four years India promises to announce a new platform for the implementation of a joint nuclear project, in addition to "Kudankulam". So, when did this happen?

- Cooperation in the field of civil nuclear energy is an important part of our bilateral partnership with Russia. We appreciate the Russian aid in the development of nuclear energy in India at the time when other states avoided interact with us in nuclear matters. I am pleased that the nuclear power unit number 1 NPP "Kudankulam" launched in July a critical power level and will soon have to start feeding electricity to the grid. The second reactor is in an advanced stage of construction. Russian and Indian companies continue negotiations to agree on pre-construction conditions at the plant "Kudankulam" nuclear reactor number 3 and 4, and I am sure that these contracts will be signed soon. India retains an interest in increasing the production of nuclear energy on the basis of cooperation with Russia and remains fully committed to the implementation of the "road map" signed during President Putin's visit to India in March 2010 We have already identified Haripur in West Bengal as an additional to "Kudankulam" platform for building nuclear power plants in cooperation with Russia. We also assure our Russian friends that if Haripur becomes ineligible, Russia will be given alternative site. I am convinced that cooperation between our countries in the production of nuclear energy will continue to deepen.

- It is assumed that by 2015 the volume of trade between Russia and India will reach 20 billion U.S. dollars. Do you think the plan realistic? What should be done to overcome obstacles and to accelerate the growth of bilateral trade, realizing the full potential of available? Are there any promising new projects that can give impetus to economic cooperation, for example, the supply of Corporation Oil and Natural Gas of India (ONGC) to build an oil pipeline between Russia and India?

- The volume of trade between Russia and India has increased from 8.85 billion U.S. dollars in 2011 to 11.04 billion in 2012, representing about 25 per cent. If this rate will be maintained, by 2015, the volume of bilateral trade will overcome the barrier of U.S. $ 20 billion. Despite the fact that we are facing difficult challenges of the global economic environment, I am optimistic about the prospects of our trade and investment relations. We encourage building and strengthening business ties, including through the Indo-Russian Council of heads of enterprises and the India-Russia Forum on Trade and Investment. Our intergovernmental commission on trade-economic, scientific-technical and cultural cooperation contributed to the expansion of economic relations as a high priority. We would like to improve the exchange of information on business potentials of each other's achievements and capabilities of our companies. We strive to build mutual investments in areas such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, automotive, telecommunications, infrastructure, fertilizers and energy. Is constantly working to identify new areas of cooperation. One of the priorities is the hydrocarbon sector. We are considering the possibility of expanding its involvement in the Russian oil and gas sector and study the feasibility of the proposals on direct land transit of hydrocarbons from Russia to India. We are also asked to sign an agreement on comprehensive economic cooperation between India and the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, the preparation of which, we hope, will soon begin.

- Russian-Indian relations in the field of culture is still not implemented as intense as cooperation in the field of defense and other areas. Can we expect some breakthrough in this area, in particular, can accelerate the return of Bollywood films on Russian screens? Do you personally Russian cinema and literature? Can you name a favorite Russian books and movies?

- Cultural ties between Russia and India are based on the solid foundation of mutual understanding, respect, intimacy and delight art, culture, music, dance and cinema each other. In December 2013, we signed a Cultural Exchange Programme for 2013-2015. From September to December 2013 we are holding in Russia festival of Indian culture, in which, among other things, will be performances of six troupes in 10 Russian cities. In Moscow, working actively Cultural Centre of Jawaharlal Nehru, and the like are Russian cultural centers in India. We also hope that Indian films will become more accessible to the audience in Russian cinemas.

Russian literature is widely known and very popular in India. The works of Russian authors such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov, Ivan Turgenev and Mikhail Lermontov, are widely popular among Indian readers. Russian films such as "Burnt by the Sun", "Moscow does not believe in tears" and "Anna Karenina", earned a well-deserved recognition in India as well as around the world.

- Unique Roerich family is a kind of spiritual bridge between Russia and India. Roerich Museum in Kullu can be considered as a monument of world importance. The Russian side has repeatedly appealed to the Indian Government with a request to take the lead in the International Roerich Memorial Trust. Can we expect that the central government of India will take a more active role in heritage preservation and development of the Roerich Memorial Trust?

- Legacy of the Roerich in India is a valuable joint asset of both countries, and we will continue to take all necessary steps to ensure its proper preservation and development.

[rsingh]

Was it a written interview ? MMS does not speaks that much.

[Austin]

At Least 6 Killed in Attack by Female Suicide Bomber in Russia – Official

Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said that, according to eyewitnesses, the explosion took place “almost immediately after” the woman got on the bus.

“As of now, six dead people have been found, as well as the body of the suicide bomber” Markin said.

By evening, 28 people had been taken to hospital, including eight in serious condition, a city public health official told RIA Novosti. Around 50 people were believed to be riding the bus at the time of the blast.

The explosion took place at about 2 p.m. local time (10:00 GMT) in the Kransoarmeisk district in Volgograd, a city formerly known as Stalingrad.

State-run English language news channel RT quoted a local resident, identified only as Ilya, as saying the road at the scene of the blast was strewn with broken glass.

“I saw a woman sitting inside the bus. She was covered with blood and I couldn’t make out whether she was alive or not. She was just sitting there,” Ilya told RT.

[Austin]

Suicide bomber Naida Asiyalova and her husband - militant Dmitriy Sokolov

[Philip]

Reports from the Hindu on the Indo-Russian summit between PM MMS and Pres.Putin and agreements reached.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/i ... 257527.ece

India, Russia to boost defence ties

Updated: October 21, 2013

Vladimir Radyuhin

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Russian President Vladimir Putin duirng a meeting in Moscow on Monday.

Describing their defence relations as “a crucial element of the strategic partnership,” India and Russia vowed to enhance cooperation in the key areas of rocket, missile and naval technologies.

Following his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Indo-Russian defence ties were “unmatched by any other relationship” and Russia “will remain a key defence partner for India as we move into a stage of joint design, development and production of key defence platforms.”

In a joint statement issued at the end of the 14th Indo-Russian summit, the sides announced plans “to enhance cooperation in the fields of rocket, missile and naval technologies and weapon systems.”

Ahead of the summit, India and Russia agreed to extend indefinitely their 15-year-old partnership for producing the Brahmos supersonic anti-ship missile and to develop a still more potent hypersonic version of the missile.

The joint statement welcomed the completion of trials of the Vikramaditya aircraft carrier, the delivery this year of the Trikant frigate, the sixth stealth frigate Russia has built for the Indian Navy, as well as licensed production of the Su-30MKI fighter plane and T-90S tanks. The sides also noted progress in the construction of the fifth-generation fighter aircraft and multi-role transport aircraft.

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the defence industry, said India and Russia will discuss plans for further cooperation in aviation technologies and shipbuilding when Defence Minister A.K. Antony visits Russia next month for the commissioning of the Vikramaditya aircraft carrier and an annual meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission for Military-Technical Cooperation.

“We have drawn up a comprehensive package proposal in the sphere of helicopters and aircraft that should be of interest to India,” Mr. Rogozin told reporters on the sidelines of the summit. “We will also discuss plans for building new surface warships and submarines.”

India and Russia have also agreed to enhance cooperation in space technologies.

“We have decided to set up a new working group for Glonass [Russia’s equivalent of the U.S. Global Positioning System],” Mr. Rogozin said. “We have offered India to partner us in the Glonass programme and to set up two Glonass ground control stations in India.”

India is the only country to which Russia has agreed to give access to Glonass military-grade signals, which will enable the Indian military to greatly improve the accuracy of its land-, sea-, air and space-launched weapon systems.

Putin’s surprise gift to PM

A surprise gift from President Vladimir Putin to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at their summit on Monday unexpectedly highlighted that India’s relations with Russia went back much longer than is commonly assumed.

Indian officials said President Putin went beyond protocol to present a package of three items to Dr. Singh — one, an art work, the second, a map, and third, a coin from the Mughal era.

The art work was a print that depicted Nicholas II’s travels in India over two months in 1890-91, when he was still a prince, and yet to become a Tsar. He travelled across India, visiting several cities, including Madras, Bombay, Calcutta, Simla and Benaras.

The painting also shows him with an Indian maharajah, who he is said to have met during his travels.

It was only after his visit that the British colonial rulers finally gave permission for a Russian diplomatic mission, which opened in 1900 in Bombay. Tsarist Russia had requested permission for the consulate first in 1858.

The map was of 19th century India, also belonging to the Tsarevich. The third item, a coin dating back to the Mughal era, underlined the age old economic and trade links between India and Russia.

While presenting the gifts, President Putin also explained the history behind each, said Ambassador Ajai Malhotra, describing the three items as evidence that ties between the two countries went far longer back than 1947 when independent India and Soviet Russia first established diplomatic relations. It is an aspect of the relationship that was not spoken about in the Soviet era, but was being acknowledged now.

“President Putin’s giving the gift was a recognition that this is also a part of our history and it should be acknowledged,” Mr. Malhotra said.

Kudankulam, high point of India-Russia ties


Plant’s imminent connection to the grid cited as an example of robust civil nuclear cooperation

With the agreement on the supply of two more Russian reactors to the Kudankulam nuclear power project stumbling over liability concerns, both India and Russia on Monday seized on Unit 1’s imminent connection to the power grid to assert that bilateral civil nuclear co-operation was on track.

After his talks with President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was unequivocal about India’s relations with a decades-old friend and strategic partner.

“Relations with Russia are the highest strategic priority for us,” the Prime Minister declared, and said he had conveyed India’s commitment to “fully implement the road map on civil nuclear co-operation” signed by the two countries in 2010.The agreement envisages Russia supplying 15 to 18 nuclear reactors in locations across India.

“We have directed our officials to resolve all outstanding issues at the earliest,” Mr. Singh said, in an apparent reference to the 2010 nuclear liability law that has proved a stumbling block in finalising an agreement for Units 3 and 4 at the project in Tamil Nadu.

The joint statement the two sides put out after the summit, the 14th in an annual series, said the two sides “agreed to expeditiously finalise” the General Framework Agreement and the Techno-Commerical Offer for Units 3 and 4. India’s Ambassador to Russia, Ajai Malhotra, said negotiations were continuing and were down to “a word or two.”

In their separate statements, both Mr. Putin and Dr. Singh highlighted the imminent production of power from Unit 1 and that Unit 2 would be going critical next year.

President Putin said the talks “gave priority” to increasing the economic ties. The bilateral trade is only $ 11 billion, but both sides stressed that it had risen 25 per cent in the last year despite an adverse global situation.

The Russian President also stressed that the “quality” of Russian trade with India was also a matter of satisfaction, as it included machinery and equipment. Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh described as “visionary” the agreement between the two sides to study the possibility of an overland gas pipeline. India and Russia are also working on increasing ONGC Videsh Limited’s involvement in oil and gas exploration in Russia, where the company already has its largest investments.

With the OVL in talks with both private and state-owned Russian companies, Indian officials said more “positive indicators” on co-operation in the hydrocarbons sector would soon emerge.

In order to give economic ties a boost, India has also sought Russian support for concluding a Free Trade Agreement with the customs union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus.

Despite the reported Russian concerns about India increasing the diversity of its defence buying, both sides were emphatic that ties in this sector, along with nuclear co-operation, remained a strong pillar of the relationship.

Kudankulam: first unit synchronisation likely today

The much-awaited synchronisation of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project’s first reactor with the power grid is likely to happen on Tuesday morning as the last-phase work on electricity generation began on Monday midnight.

Once the power generated by the first unit is raised to 300 to 400 MWe, it will be connected to the national grid at Abhishekapatti on the city outskirts, which will mark the ‘synchronisation of the reactor.’

After the reactor’s behaviour following power generation is studied by the operational group, the readings would be submitted to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, the controlling body, for its ‘super check’. If the AERB is satisfied with the reactor’s performance, it would allow the KKNPP administration to increase the reactor’s power generation capacity to 500 MWe, 750 MWe, 900 MWe and 1,000 MWe in several phases.

“At every stage, we should get the AERB’s nod to take the quantum of power generation to the next level,” a senior official of the KKNPP, who was present at the site during synchronisation, told The Hindu.

Though the first reactor attained criticality on July 13 last after a prolonged delay owing to a range of reasons, the fine-tuning of hundreds of thousands of highly intricate systems including valves in the reactor, turbine and generator sections consumed enormous time for the Indian engineers and scientists as the 1,000 MWe VVER (Pressurised Water Reactor) technology, supplied by Russia, was quite new to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, the proponent of the Rs. 17,000-crore project.

After removing the anticipated and unforeseen problems with the help of engineers and scientists from Atomstroyexport, the Russian supplier of the reactor, in a phased manner, the KKNPP had to obtain permission from the AERB, the controlling body, to move the next step, which also took considerable time.

[JE Menon]

Things seem to be slowly getting back on track after a period of recalibration. Good.

[Austin]

Vladimir Putin's gifts to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had even Russian officials surprised

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh received an overwhelming welcome by President Vladimir Putin during his two-day visit to Moscow, delegation members pointed out today citing the example of special gifts that the Russian President gave Dr Manmohan Singh during their summit level talks in Moscow.

President Putin had personally studied the history of Russia-India relations going back to over 150 years and selected artefacts that depicted some of the events from the 1890s.

Apparently when the then Czar's son Nikolas the IInd visited India, he travelled to 30 major Indian cities between 1890-91. Here Nikolas met the Maharajas of Patialia and Kapurthala among other royalties.

A lithograph depicting those meetings, a map of India from that time and a Mughal coin of that period now in Russia was presented by Putin to Dr Singh as a special gesture. This caught even Russian officials by surprise, Indian delegation members said.

Earlier in the morning, Dr Singh was conferred an honorary doctorate by the Moscow Institute of International relations. Delivering his talk there, the Prime minister referred to the abiding relationship between the two countries.

"I consider it a matter of great honour that the Moscow State Institute of International Relations has decided to confer an Honorary Doctorate on me. I am conscious of the rich history of this great institution and its enormous contribution to Russian and international diplomacy.

"Your gesture today is yet another indication of the abiding affection of the Russian people for India and the strength of relations between our two countries, which I have experienced personally in many decades of public life," Dr Singh said.

[JwalaMukhi]

Putin, the man, has deeply studied Indian Psyche. Sycophancy and empty feel good gestures will buy lot Netas, and they are mostly babes in the wood when it comes to negotiations. Especially, when such things are offered to small men, who would get it to head. Poor MMS, hope he has enough time to recover from all the attention that he is getting and doesn't do some chanykian sharm-el-sheik kind of deals.

Wasn't MMS personally flattered when he could get the autograph of the author (Shri.Obama). of "Audacity of hope".

[habal]

Russia is deeply invested in Syria, maybe he is repaying his gratitude for India's support on Syrian issue.

[Austin]

Many important takeaways from 14th Indo-Russian Summit

Russia is an integral part of India’s foreign policy architecture and occupies prime space in the Indian ethos and Indians’ psyche. This is the message that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sought to convey to the Russian people through his extensive talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on October 14 which were breathtakingly expansive and covered virtually every aspect of bilateral cooperation.

There are a large number of important takeaways from the summit, many of which may not be visible right now. There are also vastly more important bilateral agreements which are not a done deal yet. And the two principles spent a good deal of their time in making these happen in the near future. Many of these agreements, which Singh and Putin discussed, will come about in a matter of weeks.


Five Agreements and What They Mean

Treaty on Transfer of Sentenced Persons: It will facilitate the process of social rehabilitation of persons sentenced in the other country by providing them the opportunity to serve out their remaining sentences (under certain conditions) in their country of nationality. The agreement, signed by Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and Russian Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov, is expected to boost consular cooperation between the two countries.

Memorandum of Understanding between India’s Bureau of Energy Efficiency and Russian Energy Agency in the field of energy efficiency: The MoU, signed by Indian ambassador in Russia Ajai Malhotra and Russian Energy Agency’s Deputy Director General Kiril Gadzatsev, aims at enhancing cooperation in the field of energy saving and energy efficiency, including through joint implementation of activities and projects by organisations/companies of both the countries. The forms of cooperation envisaged include exchange of best practices in smart grids, energy audits, energy efficient building designs and industrially efficient technologies.

MoU in the field of standardization and conformity assessment between Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and Russian Federal Agency on Technical Regulation and Metrology (GOST-R): The objective of this MoU, signed by Ajai Malhotra and GOST-R chief Gregory Alkin, is to facilitate closer technical cooperation in the field of standardization through exchange of information, practices and expertise. It is expected to have beneficial effects for trade and commerce where standards/conformity assessments form an integral basis for transactions.

Programme of Cooperation in the Fields of Science, Technology and Innovation between India’s Department of Science & Technology and Russia’s Ministry of Education & Science for the period 2014-2017: This imitative is aimed at deepening cooperation in the field of innovation and S&T through implementation of joint programmes and projects/exchanges involving educational, R&D and industrial institutions. The joint projects may also facilitate transfer of technology. The broad areas of cooperation include ‘sunrise’ sectors such as IT, nano-technology, environmental sciences and alternate energy. This agreement, signed by Sujatha Singh and Russian Education and Science Minister Dmitry Livanov, will also reinforce the existing robust exchanges between the scientific institutions of the two sides.

Programme of Cooperation in the Area of Biotechnology between India’s Department of Biotechnology and the Russian Ministry of Education and Science for 2014-2017: This agreement, signed by Ajai Malhotra and Dmitry Livanov, aims to broaden cooperation in the field of biotechnology and encourage industrial R&D and related investment flows. This is intended to be achieved through implementation of joint programmes, projects and exchanges.

The Biggest Concrete Deliverable

The two sides have been pro-actively engaged in deepening their cooperation in the energy sector and it is in this sector that the summit threw up its biggest concrete deliverable. Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) and Gazprom have agreed on a 20-year-long arrangement whereby Russia would be supplying to India 2.5 million tonnes of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) every year.

Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh has gone on record as saying that an additional one million tonnes will be added to this in the near future.

In this context, another area of big ticket agreement between the two sides is building a gas pipeline from Russia to India. The two sides agreed to set up a joint study group to explore the technical feasibility for achieving this objective.

These two agreements, as and when they become operational, will be game-changers. Together these would mean business worth billions of dollars for the Russians on an annual basis and that too for a long term. The former is likely to be operational much sooner.

Defence and sun-rise sectors

The 14th annual summit dealt with the subject of dramatically increasing the bilateral Indo-Russian trade by focusing on some innovative ways on the key sector like defence (the signs of which are likely to emerge in the coming months) and sun-rise sectors like pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, IT, alternate energy, nano-technology and environmental sciences – to name just a few.

The Indian side is understood to have assured the Russians that their prime place in the Indian defence sector will continue to remain, irrespective of India’s growing relations with other countries (read the United States, France and Israel). The Indians are likely to do this by throwing open the government-to-government route to the Russian defence companies.

What It Means

In a nutshell, all this boils down to just one thing. The Indo-Russian bilateral trade, currently pegged at a measly $11 billion, is set to grow big and fast, thanks mainly to some institutionalized mechanisms that were put in place in this summit. The results will start coming in months and the two sides are on course to achieve their target of $ 20 billion trade by 2015 months before that.

The writer is a New Delhi based journalist. His Twitter handle is @Kishkindha.

[Austin]

India interested in signing agreement on free trade zone with Customs Union

India is interested in signing an agreement on free trade zone with the Customs Union (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan), this issue should be considered seriously, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council at the level of the heads of states here on Thursday.

The Russian leader noted the words of Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev that Turkey asked to join the Customs Union. “I would like to inform you, dear colleagues, that another major economy, one of the largest economies in the world shows the same interest. This is India,” Putin said.

The Russian president recalled that the Indian prime minister had recently visited Russia.

“He asked me to raise the issue at our today’s meeting that India would like to consider the possibility to sign an agreement on free trade zone with the Customs Union. I believe that taking into account the size and scale of Indian market, the prospects of development in Asia in general, we should take this proposal very seriously,” Putin noted.

[ramana]

While US keeps dangling that all the time!!!

[Philip]

http://newindianexpress.com/opinion/poi ... 857378.ece

India-Russia bhai bhai was working well. Is our US-leaning PM risking it?

By T J S George

Published: 27th October 2013 06:00 AM

Last Updated: 27th October 2013 01:46 AM

Manmohan Singh, considered ineffective and unassertive, was noticeably effective and assertive on one issue: India moving closer to the United States. He succeeded so well that today India is seen as a strategic partner of the US in the Asia-Pacific theatre. This gives useful leverage to the US. What does it give to India? Certainly no leverage vis-à-vis Pakistan; the US has just re-started its massive economic aid to the country and continues to lend an attentive ear to renewed Pakistani pleas that it should mediate in Kashmir.

More worrying is the shadow India’s newfound closeness to the US casts on its relationship with Russia, a long-time partner, and China, an ambitious hegemonic power with which India must necessarily have healthy working relations. Manmohan Singh, a much-travelled Prime Minister, has just completed a trip that took in both Russia and China in one go. The ceremonials were impeccable. But the hard facts remained: Russia now has reasons to wonder about India’s directions while China will see India as part of America’s policy of strategically encircling it. As for America, it only wants more from India (trade-wise, for example). We are losers at all ends.

If we lose what Manmohan Singh himself called our “privileged strategic relationship” with Russia, the consequences can be grave. That Russia has been our largest defence equipment supplier since Independence is an interesting fact. Neither Britain as the retiring colonial master nor the US as the most powerful democracy of the time seemed all that interested in the new country’s needs. But Stalinist Soviet Union considered it worthwhile to help India build its basic muscles.

The qualitative nature of the relationship that developed was more significant than its quantitative dimensions. Russia was always willing to share strategic military technology with India. With arrangements for joint research and development, the two countries are engaged in building fifth-generation fighter aircraft and multirole transport jets. Already the Brahmos cruise missile, the T-90 tank and the Sukhoi fighter planes exist as living symbols of this cooperation. This was happening when the US opposed technology transfer and refused help even with cryogenic engines for India’s space programme. It’s a different matter that India’s space technology advanced far enough to make it a leader in the field.

There were of course irritants along the way. The Gorshkov-Vikramaditya’s delays extended from 2004 to 2013, the costs escalating from $974 million to $2.34 billion. India’s insistence on civil liability clauses prevented a deal on Kudankulam’s third and fourth reactors even on Manmohan Singh’s latest visit. But these are nothing compared to the way Russia stood by India on critical issues. When military defence had become impossible without satellite navigation system and it was clear that the US would never help in the event of an India-Pakistan showdown, Russia provided access to its Glonass system in 2011. India’s military facilities in Tajikistan bordering Afghanistan would have been impossible without facilitation by Russia. Such are the advantages that are put at risk by Manmohan Singh’s one-dimensional approach to global strategising.

China presents a study in contrast. With its ambitions to become the world’s leading superpower, China would like to keep India tied up in local disputes. Its military buildup along the Himalayas, its all-out collaboration with Pakistan and its economic bridge-building with states like Sri Lanka have achieved this goal to some extent. However, China’s ambitions are a cause for concern for Russia, too, especially with the increasing flow of Chinese migrants to Russia’s far-flung eastern Siberian province. A politically savvy India would have used this factor to its advantage by forging new ties with Russia and Japan. Instead, we see China militarily strategising with Russia through the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and through joint military ties with Central Asian countries. New Big Games are afoot—and the signals coming out of Delhi suggest that it is unable to cope. It’s a long way from the days when India led the non-aligned group that altered the way the world saw itself. When will we get a leadership we deserve?

[KrishnaK]

http://newindianexpress.com/opinion/poi ... 857378.ece

India-Russia bhai bhai was working well. Is our US-leaning PM risking it?

By T J S George

Published: 27th October 2013 06:00 AM

Last Updated: 27th October 2013 01:46 AM

Manmohan Singh, considered ineffective and unassertive, was noticeably effective and assertive on one issue: India moving closer to the United States. He succeeded so well that today India is seen as a strategic partner of the US in the Asia-Pacific theatre. This gives useful leverage to the US. What does it give to India? Certainly no leverage vis-à-vis Pakistan; the US has just re-started its massive economic aid to the country and continues to lend an attentive ear to renewed Pakistani pleas that it should mediate in Kashmir.

More worrying is the shadow India’s newfound closeness to the US casts on its relationship with Russia, a long-time partner, and China, an ambitious hegemonic power with which India must necessarily have healthy working relations. Manmohan Singh, a much-travelled Prime Minister, has just completed a trip that took in both Russia and China in one go. The ceremonials were impeccable. But the hard facts remained: Russia now has reasons to wonder about India’s directions while China will see India as part of America’s policy of strategically encircling it. As for America, it only wants more from India (trade-wise, for example). We are losers at all ends.

If we lose what Manmohan Singh himself called our “privileged strategic relationship” with Russia, the consequences can be grave. That Russia has been our largest defence equipment supplier since Independence is an interesting fact. Neither Britain as the retiring colonial master nor the US as the most powerful democracy of the time seemed all that interested in the new country’s needs. But Stalinist Soviet Union considered it worthwhile to help India build its basic muscles.

The qualitative nature of the relationship that developed was more significant than its quantitative dimensions. Russia was always willing to share strategic military technology with India. With arrangements for joint research and development, the two countries are engaged in building fifth-generation fighter aircraft and multirole transport jets. Already the Brahmos cruise missile, the T-90 tank and the Sukhoi fighter planes exist as living symbols of this cooperation. This was happening when the US opposed technology transfer and refused help even with cryogenic engines for India’s space programme. It’s a different matter that India’s space technology advanced far enough to make it a leader in the field.

There were of course irritants along the way. The Gorshkov-Vikramaditya’s delays extended from 2004 to 2013, the costs escalating from $974 million to $2.34 billion. India’s insistence on civil liability clauses prevented a deal on Kudankulam’s third and fourth reactors even on Manmohan Singh’s latest visit. But these are nothing compared to the way Russia stood by India on critical issues. When military defence had become impossible without satellite navigation system and it was clear that the US would never help in the event of an India-Pakistan showdown, Russia provided access to its Glonass system in 2011. India’s military facilities in Tajikistan bordering Afghanistan would have been impossible without facilitation by Russia. Such are the advantages that are put at risk by Manmohan Singh’s one-dimensional approach to global strategising.

China presents a study in contrast. With its ambitions to become the world’s leading superpower, China would like to keep India tied up in local disputes. Its military buildup along the Himalayas, its all-out collaboration with Pakistan and its economic bridge-building with states like Sri Lanka have achieved this goal to some extent. However, China’s ambitions are a cause for concern for Russia, too, especially with the increasing flow of Chinese migrants to Russia’s far-flung eastern Siberian province. A politically savvy India would have used this factor to its advantage by forging new ties with Russia and Japan. Instead, we see China militarily strategising with Russia through the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and through joint military ties with Central Asian countries. New Big Games are afoot—and the signals coming out of Delhi suggest that it is unable to cope. It’s a long way from the days when India led the non-aligned group that altered the way the world saw itself. When will we get a leadership we deserve?

It’s a long way from the days when India led the non-aligned group that altered the way the world saw itself.

[Austin]

Diplomat says Russia wants to sell arms to India in bypass of ‘crafty contests’

NEW DELHI, October 29 (Itar-Tass) - Russia speaks in favor of supplying weaponry to India on the basis of intergovernmental agreements, Russian ambassador in New Delhi Alexander Kadakin told Indian television Tuesday.

Russia is furnishing India with the most advanced technologies at the moment, he said.

“We’re giving India the best of the all the best things at our own disposal,” Kadakin said. “We’re furnishing India with the most sensitive technologies. I just wonder what kind of bidding contests might have brought a nuclear-powered submarine to this country or the BrahMos cruise missiles, the best of their kind in the world today.”

“Russia would like India to become a great power and we’ve been doing everything in our power for that purpose over several decades,” he said.

Transactions worth billions of U.S. dollars should not be the only measure of Russian-Indian relationship because there is something much greater than that - something that no one would buy for whatever billions of rubles or rupees. It is the friendship and mutual magnetism keeping the two countries and peoples together, Kadakin said.

He stressed the importance of holding annual summits and highlighted the fact that Russia was the first country, which the Indian government established strategic partnership relations with in 2000.

[Haresh]

Can anyone please answer a question for me.

Has any Indian political leader, visited the school in Beslan which was attacked by moslem terrorists and laid a wreath for the victims?

[Lilo]

Can anyone please answer a question for me.

Has any Indian political leader, visited the school in Beslan which was attacked by moslem terrorists and laid a wreath for the victims?

Beslan is in north ossetia - which is a troubled region in Caucasus far away from Russian heartland - so probably not is what I guess.

[arun]

X Posted from the “India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011” thread.

New York Times quoting a Zhang Li, described as an expert on Pakistan at the Institute of South Asian Studies at Sichuan University in southwest China on the subject of the Sino-Pakistani deal to put up two nuclear generating reactors in Karachi.

Raises the questions as to why US, France and in particular Russia kept citing the Nuclear Supply Group guidelines prohibiting the supplying of nuclear reactors to countries who have not signed the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty without agreeing to accept IAEA full scope safeguards requiring India to go through the rigmarole of obtaining NSG waiver:

“My analysis is that this issue won’t trigger too much controversy,” Mr. Zhang said. “The Indian government will certainly respond, but I don’t think that this will fundamentally harm Sino-Indian relations, because it’s not something that has come out of the blue. China and India have exchanged views on this many times.”

On the supplier group’s likely response, Mr. Zhang said: “I don’t think the N.S.G. will formally raise this issue, because the experience in the past was that the members would reach an implicit understanding, and so this issue never caused a big fuss in previous N.S.G. meetings.”

From here:

New York Times

[Austin]

Sochi Olympics Preparation in Pictures

http://www.sdelanounas.ru/blogs/44316/


Total estimated costs of recent Olympics (including Games-related infrastructure)

Beijing 2008 $43bn

Vancouver 2010 $8.9bn

London 2012 $13.9bn

Sochi 2014 $51bn

[RSoami]

http://www.business-standard.com/articl ... 329_1.html

Russia honours three Indians

[ramana]

chetak what is the (de)meaning of above post?

[Austin]

SPIEGEL ONLINE

How Putin Outfoxed the West

[anmol]

Bandar's Happy New Year present ?

'Suicide bomber' hits Russia's Volgograd train station
by Daniel Sandfor, bbc.co.uk
December 29th 2013

A suicide attack on a train station in Russia's southern city of Volgograd has killed 16 people, officials say.

There are contradictory reports over the gender of the bomber, amid official claims it was a woman.

A suspected female suicide bomber killed at least six people when she attacked a bus in the city in October.

Moscow is concerned militant groups could be ramping up violence in the run up to the the 2014 winter Olympic Games in the city of Sochi in six weeks.
Orange flash

Sunday's explosion rocked Volgograd-1 station at around 12:45 (08:45 GMT) at a time when millions of Russians are travelling to celebrate the New Year.

A nearby security camera facing the station caught the moment of the blast, showing a bright orange flash behind the station's main doors.

The explosion shattered windows and sent debris and plumes of smoke from the station entrance.

Motionless bodies were laid out in the station forecourt while ambulances rushed those hurt to hospital. About 40 people are said to have been injured, including a nine-year-old girl whose mother was killed in the attack.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered law enforcement agencies to take "all necessary security measures" in the bomb's aftermath, said a Kremlin spokesman.

He ordered the most gravely injured victims to be flown to Moscow for treatment.

Security would be stepped up at train stations and airports, said a federal police spokesman.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast, but a spokesman for Russia's Investigative Committee, Vladimir Markin, said the incident was being treated as an act of terrorism.

An Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus region has led to many attacks there in recent years. Insurgents have also attacked big Russian towns.

Volgograd lies about 900km (560 miles) south of Moscow, 650km north of the North Caucasus and 700km north-east of Sochi.
'Head found'

The bomb used in the attack contained 10 kg (22 pounds) of TNT, was rigged with shrapnel and was detonated near the metal detectors at the station entrance, Mr Markin said.

"According to our information, the explosion was carried out by a female suicide bomber who approached a metal detector, saw a policeman there, got nervous and detonated the bomb stuffed with pieces of shrapnel," said Mr Markin.

He said the security presence had prevented a much higher death toll at the station, which was packed at the time of the blast as several trains were delayed.

RIA Novosti news agency said security sources were naming the attacker as Oksana Aslanova. She has reportedly been married twice to militants and is also suspected of being a friend of Naida Asiyalova, the suicide bomber who targeted the Volgograd bus in October.

However, the Interfax news agency later quoted an unidentified security source as saying "it has been established that the suicide terrorist was a man who had brought explosives to the station in a rucksack.

"His identity has been established," the source said, though he did not give details.

The agency said the suspect's head had been found at the site.

In July, Chechen insurgent leader Doku Umarov posted an online video urging militants to use "maximum force" to prevent the Games from going ahead.

On Friday, a car bomb killed three people in the southern Russian city of Pyatigorsk.

Send your pictures and videos to [email protected] or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPG1IkRFIQs[/youtube]

Suicide Bomber:

src: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_12_2 ... blic-1600/

[Austin]

Moscow Defense Brief

Evolution of the Terror Threat Facing Russia
Georgi Engelhardt

On October 21, 2013 a female suicide bomber blew up a bus full of passengers in Volgograd. Six passengers died at the scene; another woman died later in hospital; 37 people were injured. The bomber herself was also killed. She hailed from Makhachkala, in the troubled southern province of Dagestan, and belonged to a Jihadist group called The Caucasus Emirate (Imarat Kavkaz). The group consists of militant Islamists in the Russian North Caucasus and their sympathizers in the rest of the country.

The police and security services’ response to the attack in Volgograd was swift. Detectives quickly established who the suicide bomber was, and which radical group she belonged to. On November 16, five members of that group were killed in a security operation in Makhachkala.1 On November 19 the authorities reported that the leader of the group, Murad Kasumov, had also been killed, along with a senior ally.2

The bus bombing on October 21 was the first successful terrorist attack in central Russia since January 24, 2011, when the Ingushetia branch of the Caucasus Emirate detonated a home-made device at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport. Moscow itself, however, remains the terrorists’ prime target. An attack terrorists planned to stage on Red Square on the night of January 1, 2011, failed only because the female suicide bomber proved to be poorly trained. In July 2011 the FSB [Federal Security Service] seized four terrorists preparing a plot to bomb the Moscow-St. Petersburg high-speed train. On May 20, 2013, the FSB killed three militants of the Islamic Party of Turkestan group during a security operation in Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Moscow Region. All three hailed from the Republic of Bashkortostan; they had been trained on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and were preparing an attack in Moscow. In the latest security operation last November, 16 members of the Takfir wal-Hijra radical movement were seized in Moscow.

The bus bombing in Volgograd has once again shifted the focus to the North Caucasus and the terrorists operating not far from Sochi, the site of the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics. The Russian government has given assurances that unprecedented security measures are being taken ahead of the Sochi Olympics, and that athletes and spectators will be safe from attack.

Ever since the International Olympic Committee chose Sochi in the summer of 2007, the decision has been criticized for security reasons. The city is situated close to the parts of the North Caucasus that have long been regarded as the home turf of jihadist militants. Doku Umarov, the leader of the Caucasus Emirate, has often railed against the Sochi Olympics and threatened to disrupt the Games.

The territories around Sochi also hold a lot of painful memories for ethnic Circassians; these memories date back to the Russian conquest of the Caucasus in the 19th century. There have been attempts by various Circassian groups in Russia and abroad to organize an international campaign of condemnation against Moscow. But as of late 2013, it appears that the Russian government has managed to deal successfully with this potentially very damaging political problem. Moscow also seriously weakened the jihadist underground movement in the West Caucasus in 2011-2012.

The jihadists are the only political force in Putin’s Russia that offer armed opposition to the existing political setup. As far as the Caucasian Wahhabists are concerned, the main drawback of the Russian political system is that the country is not ruled by Islamic law. All their other traditional grievances — such as the bloody history of the Russian conquest, suppression of ethnic freedoms, and corruption — are merely a corollary of that key problem.

The war waged by the Islamists in the Caucasus has continued non-stop on Putin’s watch. The transformation of Chechen ethnic separatism into a pan-ethnic jihadist movement began back in the mid-1990s. The second Russian campaign in Chechnya was triggered in August and September 1999 by two jihadist leaders, Shamil Basayev and Khattab (Thamir Al-Suwailem). During that campaign, the separatist component of the Chechen uprising was completely marginalized, and jihadists began to play the leading role. Back in 2002 the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, the virtual state proclaimed by the separatists, formally introduced Sharia law. After the death of its last president, Aslan Maskhadov, in March 2005, his successors (Abdul-Khakim Sadulayev in 2005-2006 and Doku Umarov since 2006) made the Chechen cause part of the greater Caucasus Emirate project. Proclaimed in 2007, the Caucasus Emirate is now the overarching framework that unites the jihadist underground movements all over Russia. It is to the head of the Caucasus Emirate that the leaders of the regional jihadist groups formally swear allegiance.

Meanwhile, Moscow’s military, security and police operations against jihadists have been fairly successful. The militants have sustained heavy losses over the past 15 years of counterinsurgency operations in the region. Khattab, the Saudi militant who trained a whole generation of bombers and field commanders at his Kavkaz training camp, was killed back in 2002. Shamil Basayev, the most experienced and talented leader of the jihadists, was eliminated in July 2006.

The loss of experienced field commanders has affected the nature and scale of the rebel attacks. They have not managed to pull off any successful large operations since the June 22, 2004 attack in Ingushetia. The last time they even attempted a major operation was in October 13, 2005, when they tried (and failed) to seize Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria. Since then they have abandoned all tactics that require complex preparations and coordinated actions by several groups with hundreds of fighters involved.

The jihadists now favor urban guerilla warfare, improvised explosive devices, and suicide bombings. They seldom operate in groups larger than 10 people these days. In the eight years since 2006 almost all the militants who were trained at the Kavkaz camp, and who had some experience of large combat operations, have either died or retired. Now that the Islamists do not directly control any territory in Russia, they cannot organize proper military training for their new commanders. The only kind of training they can still provide is for small hit-and-run operations.

Despite their military setbacks, the Caucasian militants have been fairly creative in resolving their funding problems. In 2004-2005 Moscow managed to pressure the Gulf monarchies to drastically reduce their financing of the jihad in the North Caucasus. In mid-2006 the rebel leaders blamed their lack of achievements on money problems: “Our Mujahedeen are now lacking only money,” Caucasus Front vice president Doku Umarov complained in April 2006. “We are capable of launching bigger operations but it all depends on our finances.” But then the jihadists identified a new source of financing: they began to extort money from local businessmen and officials. These officials, meanwhile, have money to spare thanks to endemic corruption and the generous funding the North Caucasus provinces receive from Moscow.

The jihadists have imposed a form of tax on senior civil servants and businessmen, saying that the money is due to them as the “legitimate Islamic authorities”. They have also been fairly successful in imposing Sharia law in various areas of day-to-day life. Many local shops have been intimidated into removing alcohol from their shelves. Several education officials who tried to impose a ban on the Islamic headscarf in school have been killed. Even fortune-tellers have been forced to close their shops because the practice is banned by Islam.

Inventive ways of channeling government money into jihad have freed the insurgents from their dependence on laborious and unreliable fundraising methods, and firmly established them as a force to be reckoned with. They are especially strong in Dagestan, where they had become a major feature of the local political landscape by early 2013. In other parts of the North Caucasus, however, their achievements have been much less spectacular. In Ingushetia they suffered a serious blow when the leader of the local underground movement, Ali Taziev (a.k.a. Amir Magas) was seized on June 9, 2010, and sentenced to life imprisonment in October 2013. In the West Caucasus, seven prominent commanders were killed in Kabardino-Balkaria in the spring of 2011.

In early 2013 the Russian Interior Ministry and the FSB stepped up their campaign against jihadists in the North Caucasus as part of preparations for the Winter Olympics in Sochi. On March 21 the authorities reported the death of Ibragim Gadzhidadayev, commander of the rebels in Gimri. He was killed at the home of the head of the Unstukul District municipal council. The rebels later claimed that Gadzhidadayev had managed to escape, but offered no proof. On June 2, the influential mayor of Makhachkala, Said Amirov, was taken into custody. It is widely believed that Amirov maintained contacts with the insurgents, and used them to further his own political and business interests.

On the whole, the Russian security forces have been fairly successful in their campaign against terrorism in recent years. There have not been any terrorist attacks in Moscow since 2011, and definitely not for lack of trying. The security services foiled a bombing in Moscow on New Year’s Eve 2013; prevented a bombing on the high-speed train service between Moscow and St Petersburg; and foiled another plot in Orekhovo-Zuyevo. Groups of extremists are being seized in and around Moscow on a fairly regular basis.

The question is, how long will this relatively successful period last? Effective military and security operations against the jihadists have clearly slowed the growth of their political sway and reduced the scale of their military activity, which peaked in 2009-2011. But these operations are much less effective against the underlying political and social processes that feed the extremism — namely the radicalization of young Muslims in Russia as a whole, and in some of its regions in particular.

Back in the 1990s the jihadists were active only in Chechnya and parts of Dagestan. By now, however, they have established their presence in the rest of the East Caucasus (Dagestan and Ingushetia) and made major gains in the west of the region (Karachayevo-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and parts of Stavropol Territory). Their growing activity in the trans-Volga region could also trigger an eruption of violence at any moment.

The Russian government has tried various instruments to deal with this problem. It has been giving support to moderate Islamic leaders; investing in Islamic education; and stimulating the migration of young people from the North Caucasus to central Russia in an effort to “let off demographic steam”. The latter tactic, however, has also brought some unintended consequences; cultural differences between ethnic Russians and migrants from the North Caucasus often lead to ethnic tension and clashes all over the country. Meanwhile, corruption in the Russian higher education system has severely undermined the role of universities as “cauldrons of adaptation and integration” for students from the troubled provinces.

As far as the ethnic situation is concerned, internal migration from the North Caucasus has been compounded by mass immigration from the overpopulated Central Asian states of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. This trend started to gain momentum at the turn of the century. Since President Putin took office in 2000, a whole new Muslim community of expatriates from Central Asia has emerged in Russia in addition to the two old ones (the Tatars/Bashkirs and the North Caucasus Muslims).

Despite growing discontent among ethnic Russians, the government in Moscow has no plans for a U-turn on its migration policy. That policy is seen as a major instrument of Russian influence on the Central Asian regimes. By coming to Russia in search of job opportunities, millions of young males from these countries substantially reduce the demographic and social pressure back home, and their remittances support not only their own families but the local economies as well. The Russian business community, which is facing a deficit of cheap unskilled labor, is also a major lobbyist for immigration from Central Asia.

Apart from adding to ethnic tension in central Russia, Central Asian migrants are fertile ground for radical Islamist movements. The Hizb-ut-Tahrir party, which arrived in Russia in the 1990s along with refugees fleeing the Islam Karimov regime in Uzbekistan, began to recruit Russian Muslims in the early 2000s. The party was banned in 2003; nevertheless, it is very active in the Moscow and the Volga-Urals region, despite the arrest and conviction of more than a hundred of its activists. The latest campaign organized by Hizb-ut-Tahrir in Russia was a series of pickets, with protesters accusing the government of oppressing Muslims. The pickets were organized in small oil-producing towns, in larger cities in the Urals and Volga regions, and even on Red Square in Moscow. Several party cells have sprung up in Dagestan, where the first large Hizb-ut-Tahrir rally was held in Khasavyurt in September 2012. Previously, the party’s distinct form of Islamist propaganda, which focused on the establishment of a Caliphate in Central Asia, did not get much traction in the Caucasus.

The North Caucasus has been plagued by terrorism for more than 15 years. In the Volga-Urals region, however, the government has so far been able to prevent an escalation of armed violence. There have been a few clashes since late 1999, but the terrorist cells are usually eliminated at the early stages. For example, after the assassination of Valiulla Yakupov, a moderate Muslim leader, and an attempt on the life of the Mufti of Tatarstan, Ildus Faizov, in July 2012, the terrorists who perpetrated the attacks were killed the following autumn. But a radical Islamist underground has already emerged in this strategically important part of Russia, whose territory is crisscrossed by key oil and gas export pipelines and dotted by petrochemical facilities, as well as other vulnerable targets for terrorists. Islamist militants from Central Russia are now fighting for their jihadist cause from Afghanistan to Syria; they also make up the majority of the Russian prisoners currently held in Guantanamo.

Jihadists from the Volga region are especially dangerous because they threaten the critical energy transit infrastructure and industrial facilities concentrated in that part of Russia. “We will punch your pipelines full of holes,” ranted the self-proclaimed Emir of Bulgaristan when he claimed responsibility for launching four home-made missiles at the Nizhnekamskneftekhim chemical plant on November 16, 2013.3 “We will attack your oil, petrochemical and strategic facilities. We will derail your passenger trains.” The missile attack on the chemical plant failed to inflict any damage. But the Tatarstan province has recently seen a series of arson attacks against Orthodox Christian churches. This looks more Middle Eastern than the methods traditional in the North Caucasus. The government is so concerned that in the autumn of 2012 it restricted travel to the city of Novy Urengoy, a major gas industry center, due to fears of attacks by the various radical groups that have emerged in the region’s growing Islamist underground.

Meanwhile, growing pressure by the security forces has prompted Russian jihadists to look beyond Russia’s borders for training and getting combat experience. For example, they have been active in Waziristan (northern Pakistan), the traditional stamping ground of the Pakistani Taliban. But the biggest magnet for Russian Islamist militants is probably Syria. The country is closer to southern Russia than Iraq or Afghanistan/Pakistan. There are convenient transit routes available via Turkey. The jihadists can easily hide themselves among the millions of Russian tourists who travel to Turkish resorts every year. Once inside Turkey, they can slip to camps on the Turkish-Syrian border, and then cross to territories controlled by the Syrian rebels.

One important difference between Syria and places such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq is that in Syria the jihadists are fighting government forces, not U.S. troops. The Syrian regime has a Soviet-type army, armed with Soviet weapons. It does not have the latest military technologies, and it has no access to attack drones, which are hunting the mujahedeen with deadly efficiency across vast territories from Yemen to Afghanistan. In Syria, the rebels have the political support of not only the Gulf monarchies, but the Western powers as well. That makes life so much easier for the Islamists fighting against Assad.

That is why Syria has become a place where Al Qaeda can recuperate after heavy losses sustained in other parts of the Middle East in recent years. The country has become a safe haven for the military wing of Al Qaeda, the Jabhat al-Nusra, as well as the organization’s political and propaganda wing.

What does the Syrian jihad offer radicals from Russia and other CIS states? The benefits are numerous, including:

Experience of urban warfare against Soviet/Russian type armed forces;

Experience of large-scale sabotage and hit-and-run attacks against infrastructure and industrial targets;

Opportunities for networking with global jihadists. In that sense, Syria is playing the role Peshawar did 25 years ago, when the Pakistani city became the home of the “Afghan Arabs” who later formed the core of Al Qaeda.

After the killing of such prominent Saudi commanders as Khattab (in 2002) and his successor Abu al-alid (2004), the numbers of foreign jihadists fighting in Russia began to decline. The Russian secret services then picked off, one by one, the remaining emissaries of foreign extremist organizations. As a result, Russian militant Islamists found themselves cut off from the mainstream of the global jihad. That isolation became especially obvious in 2010-2011.
Now, however, the participation of Russian militants in the Syrian conflict has largely resolved that problem. Even at the propaganda level, such figures as Tarkhan Batirashvili (a.k.a. Umar Shihani, or the Chechen) are now among the most prominent international faces of the global jihad. The same applies to a somewhat lesser extent to Ayrat Vakhitov (a.k.a. Salman Bulgarskiy), a native of Russia’s Tatarstan province who spent time in Guantanamo.

Another reason why Syria is important is that the war there has not lived up to the expectations of the foreign mujahedeen. In 2011 and 2012 they flocked to the country in the hope that it would soon become another Libya. They expected a quick victory over the Syrian regime, led by the “heretic” Alawites. But their hopes have been dashed; the Assad regime is still fighting, and the conflict has turned into a war of attrition. The natural rotation process among the foreign militants and veterans has already begun. Some of them are coming back to their home countries, having become all the more dangerous for the connections and combat experience they have gained in Syria.

Estimates of the numbers of Russian jihadists who have fought in Syria range from 200 to 2,000. The government has said on several occasions that 400 Russian extremists have been involved in fighting in the Middle East. Apart from natives of the Russian North Caucasus and the Volga-Urals region, hundreds of militants from Central Asian countries, including Kazakhstan, have also fought against Assad. In view of the growing Central Asian diaspora in Russia, the return of these militants from Syria will further contribute to the radicalization of the Russian Muslim community.

The Russia security forces have scored some major achievements in their campaign against terrorism. Nevertheless, the terrorist threat in Russia remains high. Worse, there is a clear potential for that threat to grow even more deadly thanks to the restoration of contacts between Russian jihadists and Al Qaeda militants fighting in Syria; the return of these Russian jihadists home from Syria; the Russian government’s determination to allow an unrestricted flow of migrants from Central Asia; the emergence of terrorist cells in new regions, including the parts of Russia with major oil and gas production or transit infrastructure; and the lack of an effective strategy for de-radicalizing the Russian Muslim community.

1. http://www.regnum.ru/news/accidents/1733285.html

2. http://ria.ru/incidents/20131120/978323651.html

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNPFekXn ... sJLj8xrlLg

[Anindya]

Yet another terror attack in Russia - back to back...

Rush-hour blast kills 14 on trolley bus in Volgograd, Russia; 3rd deadly attack in four days

[Austin]

Seems like a well planned co-ordinated attacks before Sochi Olympics starts for maximum PR.

Expect Western press to come up with sob pro-terrorist stories and how chechnians are being treated badly for decades and this is the reaction

[Kamboja]

Prince Bandar making good on his promise to disrupt the Sochi games with terrorist attacks if Putin didn't stop supporting Assad?

http://www.infowars.com/saudis-threaten ... a-support/

[uddu]

if this is true then expect Bandar to be Bhandarified soon. Saudi will go up in smoke pretty soon. This is Russia and their response will be swift.
Mullah poked the Bear.

[Madhusudhan]

There has got to be a Syria connection here - And potentially even some western intelligence links since they are smarting from how Russia prevented them from taking over Syria.

[Lilo]

Prince Bandar making good on his promise to disrupt the Sochi games with terrorist attacks if Putin didn't stop supporting Assad?

http://www.infowars.com/saudis-threaten ... a-support/

VLADIMIR RADYUHIN writing in frontline said the same in september.

The Syria game had some delicious moments, such as a secret visit to Moscow by Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan on July 31. Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief offered Putin a deal: Moscow should stop its support for Damascus and Riyadh would reward it by keeping oil prices high, safeguarding Russia’s gas exports to Europe, and buying billions worth of Russian weapons.

Putin had no intention of cutting deals with Prince Bandar, called by the media “CIA’s man in Riyadh”, but now he knew what Saudi and U.S. secret services were up to. An old KGB hand, Putin did not miss Prince Bandar’s veiled threats when he offered to “protect” the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia against Chechen rebels and warned that there would be “no escape from the military option” if Moscow did not dump Assad. Therefore, reports that Saudi Arabia was behind the August 21 chemical attack did not come as a surprise to Putin

http://www.frontline.in/world-affairs/t ... ?css=print

.

[ashish raval]

Looks like KGB needs to in action after completion of games. Interesting times ahead.

[Austin]

I doubt Saudi or any country would ever openly threaten Russia or any other country with terrorism threat for geo-political objectives.

No one at the highest level would ever do that.

Likely this is Chechnian trying to gain most Eye Ball prior to Sochi when world media attention would be there ....individual suicide bomber are always hard to track.

RIP to the Dead and Speedy Recovery to the Injured.

[Kamboja]

I doubt Saudi or any country would ever openly threaten Russia or any other country with terrorism threat for geo-political objectives.

No one at the highest level would ever do that.

Likely this is Chechnian trying to gain most Eye Ball prior to Sochi when world media attention would be there ....individual suicide bomber are always hard to track.

Don't the Saudis already have connections to the Caucasus Islamists through the Gulf funding networks? I would think that if Bandar wanted to, he could easily 'suggest' a target to a local group while still maintaining plausible deniability (the preferred SOP for those who use Islamist proxies).

[Kamboja]

Has Modi made public what he wants in terms of policy towards Russia should he become PM? I would hope he pays more attention to cultivating the relationship than MMS has.

[Austin]

Don't the Saudis already have connections to the Caucasus Islamists through the Gulf funding networks? I would think that if Bandar wanted to, he could easily 'suggest' a target to a local group while still maintaining plausible deniability (the preferred SOP for those who use Islamist proxies).

They do , The wahabis have connection every where including India and 9/11 , but its hard to prove a direct hand from the state.

[Gerard]

Rogozin Congratulates New Year To NATO With ICBM Photo

http://inserbia.info/news/2013/12/rogoz ... cbm-photo/

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has sent a congratulation message to NATO for the upcoming year in a very unusual way.

Rogozin posted a photo on his Twitter account, of Russian intercontinental missile. In front of the missile are Russian officers with Santa.

The message with the photo is:”I congratulate the New Year to our friends from NATO.”

[Austin]

That photo is of older Topol and Rogozin was based in NATO HQ as Russian Rep before he moved to new position as Deputy PM.

Either way NATO wont be amused

[nachiket]

Looks like KGB needs to in action after completion of games. Interesting times ahead.

There is no KGB anymore. I guess its descendants won't be anywhere near as ruthless. If this had happened during Soviet times (it probably wouldn't), anyone responsible even if it was Bandar himself, would have been in several pieces by now along with his entire immediate family.

[Austin]

7 Reasons That Russia Is Not The Soviet Union

National Review published a rather overheated piece the other day that contained an entertaining line: “Russia has become the Soviet Union with a better suit”. The idea that Russia is fundamentally the same as the Soviet Union is a popular one, particularly on the political right where “Soviet” has for decades served as a synonym for “bad.” Barely a day goes by without someone bemoaning Putin’s “Soviet” character or the “neo-Soviet” policies that Russia pursues in its part of the world.

However this idea is deeply mistaken and extremely misleading, and can only be held by deliberately ignoring a huge amount of contradictory information. Indeed, by focusing on the minor and superficial similarities between present-day Russia and the USSR we ignore a great deal of what actually makes Russia unique.

I’m under no illusion that I will conclusively end peoples’ habit of substituting “the Soviet Union” for “the Russian Federation,” but I thought I would draw attention to some of the most glaring differences between the two. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but here are seven important reasons why the Russian Federation and the Soviet Union are not the same:

1) Parts of the Soviet Union are now members of NATO and the EU – it should be obvious that Russia has irrevocably lost all of its “satellite state” in central Europe, but Moscow’s loss of influence has been so severe that several countries that were constituent parts of the USSR are now members in good standing of the West. The Baltics might not have been the secret to Soviet power, but they were important industrial, technological, and military centers that are now completely and totally off-limits to Russia. Several other post-Soviet countries (such as Azerbaijan and Georgia) engage in security cooperation with the West of a sort that would have entirely unimaginable when they were mere union republics. That is to say that Russia is not the Soviet Union because parts of the actual Soviet Union are now in a Western military alliance.

2) The Russian federation is much more Russian than the Soviet Union - Westerners have a habit of substituting “Russian” and “Soviet,” as if they are one and the same. They weren’t. By the late 1980′s the Soviet Union’s population was a little more than 50% ethnically Russian. Before it fell apart, the pre-Soviet Russian empire had roughly the same percentage of ethnic Russians. The Russian Federation, on the other hand, is currently about 80% ethnically Russian. Minorities play an important (and growing!) role in Russia today, and make up a growing percentage of the population. Ethnic Russians, though, are simply far more culturally, religiously, linguistically, and numerically dominant in the Russian Federation than they were in the Soviet Union. That doesn’t magically solve all of Russia’s many problems with non-Russian minorities, but it does show that these conflicts are very different than those which characterized the USSR.

3) No single political party has a complete monopoly on power - The Communist Part of the Soviet Union was, for almost all of Soviet history, the only legal political party. All other organized political groupings and any other political activity that took place outside the confines of the party were automatically illegitimate. It’s not a surprise that the whole structure came crashing down shortly after Gorbachev removed the communist party’s political monopoly: the USSR was created, and deliberately designed to function, as a single-party state. United Russia’s influence, while significant, pales in comparison.

4) Russia is not a garrison state - The Soviet Union was one of the most thoroughly militarized societies in history and it consistently spent somewhere between 20 and 30% of its entire GDP on the armed forces. No one knows the actual level of Soviet defense spending, even the best estimates have margins of error of somewhere between 1 and 2% of GDP, but the entire Soviet economy was heavily influenced by military considerations. Manufacturers of civilian goods, for example, almost always had to have a “dual use” capability to manufacture military hardware, something which had a predictably deleterious impact on efficiency. The Russian Federation, according to SIPRI, spends somewhere between 4 and 5% of total GDP on defense. This is a bit high by international standards, but it’s nowhere near the level the Soviets reached and is actually lower than the current level of American military spending.

5) Russia has a convertible currency - This might seem rather dry and academic in comparison to the previous reasons I’ve outlined, but it actually goes to the heart of what distinguishes the Russian Federation from the Soviet Union. The USSR, of course, exercised extremely tight control over foreign trade and the use of foreign currencies. Unless you were a high-ranking party official, one could not simply walk down the street, pop into a currency exchange, and convert all of one’s rubles into dollars. It wasn’t allowed. So although the ruble had a headline exchange rate which made it appear strong, in practice there was a thriving black market in which the “real” value of the ruble was only a small fraction of its official one. That is no longer the case. The ruble can fluctuate in value, and in fact is currently experiencing pronounced weakness, but people are free to buy and sell rubles as they see fit.

6) Russia’s economy is (mostly) a free market - This was hinted at in #5, and is without a doubt the most fundamental distinction between the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. Russia’s current economic system is highly imperfect, and suffers from weak legal institutions, corruption, an underdeveloped financial sector, and a host of other flaws. But what Russia does not suffer from is what the Soviet Union suffered from: massive economic distortion through state subsidies and outright fiat. The Soviet Union’s policy to contain inflation was not to raise interest rates or limit bank lending but to make inflation illegal. Inflation was banned and prices on a host of important goods were frozen (consumers, of course, paid the increased cost through ever-more-pervasive shortages). The Soviet treatment of unemployment was similar. The Soviet Union sought to lower unemployment not through tax credits or through loose monetary policy but by making unemployment a crime and forcing enterprises to boost their payrolls. Stories abound of Soviet grocery stores that had four different ticketing systems and ten different cashiers. This sort of inefficiency wasn’t some mysterious manifestation of eastern barbarism, it was an entirely predictable result of Soviet economic policy. Russia is by no means a Randian paradise, but the level of direct state intervention in the economy is simply not comparable. Prices on consumer goods are liberalized, the labor market is liberalized, and huge chunks of the economy operate on essentially free market principles.

7) Russia has open borders - The “iron curtain” was not just a poetic contrivance, it was very real, and incredibly violent, way of limiting the free movement of people. The curtain was necessary because the communist systems could simply not offer their populations the same standards of living that prevailed in the West. Given a free choice, people in the East would move West in massive numbers, something which would not simply humiliate the communist governments of Eastern Europe but would put their very survival at risk. This was actually happening in East Germany when the Berlin wall was first built, and it would have become an increasingly serious problem as time went on. Hundreds if not thousands of people died trying to make their way out of the communist bloc into the West, while tens of thousands of other managed to somehow make it past barbed wire, moats, guard dogs, and snipers. Trying to leave Russia today involves nothing of the kind. Each year thousands of Russian citizens exit the country without any special drama: they simply get a visa, get on a plane, and leave. The Soviets placed extremely strict limitations on foreign travel, understanding well that open borders would make the entire system untenable. A Russia with open borders isn’t perfect, but it is almost impossible to exaggerate how different it is from the Soviet Union.

The fact that Russia differs from the Soviet Union does not, of course, mean that it is good. Just as Soviet is not a synonym for bad, “not Soviet” is not a synonym for good. As should be clear, though, the Russia Federation and the Soviet Union have some fundamental differences. From its position in the international order, to the strength of its armed forces, to its migration policies, to the nature of its political and economic systems Russia is not the USSR. Anyone who suggests otherwise either doesn’t know much about the Soviet Union or has a political axe to grind.

[Austin]

Sochi 2014 Olympics Infra in Photograph

http://www.sdelanounas.ru/blogs/45715/
http://www.sdelanounas.ru/blogs/45716/